Somewhere...

Somewhere, the late Abe Gibron is smiling. Gibron coached the Bears over the stretch of three horrible seasons, 1972-74, when they went a collective 11-30. But Gibron was only an assistant coach for the Munsters in 1971, when they lost 6-3 in a battle of field goals against the Broncos at Mile High Stadium on December 5th. Bears’ quarterback Bobby Douglass was sacked nine times and threw two interceptions. I remembered watching that game while watching the Munsters lose 6-3 last night to the visiting Seahawks at Soldier Field. Caleb Williams was sacked seven time while throwing one interception. You can see why I thought this was that and that was this. This—past or present, you pick—is what the McCaskeys and their lackies want the people of Illinois to contribute $2.4 billion for a new lakefront stadium. Not then, not now.

Three and Ouch

Pity the poor Bears. Really. They face the Seahawks today, for their third game in eleven days. If there’s any consolation, they’re not alone. Yesterday, four teams—Chiefs, Ravens, Steelers, Texans—did likewise in order to satisfy the “need” for NFL Christmas-Day programming. That’s five teams subjecting their players to a whole bunch of punishment with minimum time to recover. The Seahawks, who play the Munsters at Soldier Field tonight, will be playing for the third time in twelve days. I’m guessing what a difference an extra day won’t make for accumulated aches and pains. The NFL is a ravenous beast. Network broadcast deals aren’t enough anymore to satisfy owners. Now, they’re going after streaming revenue, as evidenced by Netflix doing yesterday’s games and Amazon Prime tonight’s contest. Bears’ and Seahawks’ fans will be able to watch the gam the old-fashioned way, on free TV. How generous of the overlords. That the NFL Players Association agreed to this schedule highlights the union’s weakness vis-à-vis the owners. From what I can tell, players are also going into “Macho” mold—we’re football player, dammit, we can take it. Get back to me in twenty years, guys.

A Gift to Myself

I couldn’t just have Michele buy me a White Sox team autographed team ball for Christmas, so I bought one, too. A hearty welcome to the 85-77 1962 Sox. There are three HOFers—Luis Aparacio, Nellie Fox and Early Wynn. As for Floyd Robinson, I can’t get over how small and legible he wrote his name. Plus a shoutout to Dom Zanni and Dean Stone. Charlie Maxwell, I think that’s your autograph. As to the name directly below Turk Lown’s, I haven’t a clue. It could be Eddie Fisher, or Al Weiss. No, check that. I’m going with Sherm Lollar. Yes, we have a match and a Merry Christmas.

Old-school

Who’d have thought it, me claiming to be just like my late father-in-law? In many way, especially sports, Bob was very old-school. It was a factor of time and place, the Chicago Public League in the 1940s. Bob played football and basketball, two “bladder” sports, as he put it. Playing the line or starting at forward, it was all the same to him. You kept your head down, plowed through the opposition and did your best to win the game. You did not showboat, which may or may not have been a term he used. Old-school Bob sat and watched college sports, less with envy for a chance he never had—running up and down hills in Korea with a bull’s eye on his back got in the way—than irritation with the constant celebrating. I can only imagine what he would’ve made of the end zone spectacles that have become a staple in college and the NFL. The danger is to turn this into a racial thing, to point out the Bears’ Tyrique Stevenson to the exclusion of everyone else for being unaware of the adage about laughing last and best. But I got tired long ago of Cole Kmet, the pride of Notre Dame, swinging for the fences after every touchdown he catches. You’re still stuck on a crappy team, Cole. Head down, plow ahead, do your best to win. It worked for Bob, it works for me.

Crickets

Another game, another loss, and I don’t mean for the Sad Sox. Lions 34 Bears 17. In these parts, athletics is politics. I’m willing to bet that early in the year the McCaskey war room fashioned a plan for pressuring the General Assembly into opening up the purse strings to help pay for a new mega stadium. It hinged on drafting Caleb Williams. From there, the propaganda machine took off. I just did a quick Google search for “Kevin Warren lakefront stadium.” My, the Bears’ president and CEO was very chatty between March and October, from when fan interest was building behind the team, which happened to have the first selection in the draft, to when the Munsters had themselves a 4-2 record. Now, at 4-11, it’s crickets. I wonder why.

He's Back

From all indications, Sammy Sosa and the Cubs have kissed and made up. On Thursday, Sosa issued a statement in which he admitted, “I made mistakes,” when “There were times I did whatever I could to recover from injuries in an effort to keep my strength up to perform over 162 games.” His former team responded by inviting Sam-a-la to the 2025 Cubs Convention. Whatever. I root for the other team in town and should be the last one to throw stones given the condition of the glass house I call home. What gets me, though, are those local sports’ people who think Sosa needs to get on his hands and knees; beg for forgiveness; and detail what PEDs he used, when, and from whom. To those Sosa critics who reported on him back in the day, allow me to ask a question or two. Why didn’t you call him out at the time? What, you didn’t notice anything along the lines of a science experiment? In which case, shame on you.

Perchance...

Here’s something that you don’t see every day—the Bulls beating the reigning champions Celtics on the road. But that’s what happened last night for the first time in three years as the visitors scored a 117-108 upset in Beantown. The win moved coach Billy Donovan’s kids to 13-15, which would be good enough to put them in the NBA playoffs. What’s interesting is the team features a bunch of young players plus three “old” guys—Lonzo Ball (27); Zach LaVine (29); and Nikola Vucevic (34). LaVine and Vucevic have been playing lights out while Ball playing at all on his surgically repaired left knee pretty much qualifies as a medical miracle. All three are considered trade bait. There should be no rush to move anyone quite yet. Let’s say by some miracle the Bulls win their next two games, a rematch with the Celtics tomorrow at home followed by a visit Monday from Giannis Antetokuounmpo and the Bucks. In which case, why mess with a good thing? We’ll see. Did I mention that Donovan was nominated to the basketball HOF?

Playing with Fire

You reach a certain age, and the past becomes a potential problem. A person can confuse then with now, never a good thing. So, best to tread lightly in yesteryear. That said, I’m treading, in the form of a family tree that looks for all the world to consist of White Sox team autographed balls. The idea is to get balls from the year my parents married (1939) and my in-laws (1953); the year of my birth (1952) and my wife’s (which I won’t divulge here); Clare’s (1991); Chris’s (1990); the grandchildren and so on. Along those lines, I just got a ball with autographs that include Chico Carrasquel and Virgil Trucks; if you gotta ask, you don’t the Sox past. At some point, I want to include balls from the years my sisters Barb and Betty were born, 1942 and ’46, respectively. Hello, Mike Tresh and Dairo Lodigiani. Plus I have a sister-in-law and brother-in-law and….

Cut-rate

You can’t make this stuff up. The Sad Sox are changing the name of their home mall to “Rate Field,” per a rebranding by their partner, the former Guaranteed Rate mortgage company. Apparently, the new logo will feature a red arrow above the word “Rate.” The arrow happens to be pointing down, sort of like it is for a franchise that lost 121 games this season. If the new logo gets put up at the ball mall, Sox fans will have a field day come the first ten-game losing streak of the season.

The Stink

As expected, the Bears lost to the Vikings last night 30-12, as quarterback Caleb Williams spent most of the game running for his life while his offensive line looked on as the opponents they were supposed to be blocking chased the guy they were supposed to be protecting. Things are so bad, the stink so great, that general manager Ryan Poles may get the axe after just three seasons. Hiring Mickey Eberflus was like the White Sox hiring Mickey Mouse. Poles should ask Rick Hahn how that worked out. Mouse had a big hand in the Sox going 41-121, which works out to a .253 winning percentage. Right now, the Munsters’ record stands at 4-10, or a .286 wp. If McCaskeys Kids lose the last three games of the season, as more than a few experts predict, that will leave them at 4-13, which will leave them at .235. They need one more win to put their wp at .294 and better than the Sox. The saying goes that those who hesitate are lost. And fired, from the looks of it.

Extra! Exstra!

It’s nothing short of delicious. The NFL has created 24/7 in-season coverage (and the rest of the year, for that matter), and the Bears are part of it. I’m guessing the McCaskeys wish they could turn back the clock to the 1970s. But, No, the Chicago media is full of stories going into tonight’s game that pits the 4-9 Munsters against the 11-2 Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium. Oh, will that Viking horn blow. Bears’ Nation is—pun alert—all atwitter over the stalled development of rookie quarterback Caleb Williams along with the head-coaching vacancy. The worse Williams does every game, the more intense the twitter, if you will. I have nothing against Williams; he sure didn’t ask to lead the league in being sacked. Fifty-six body-pounding times, no less. I’d love to see the Munsters pull off an upset, but I wouldn’t bet on it. Whatever happens, an avalanche of coverage will start on Tuesday morning.

You Have Got to be Kidding Me

The White Sox website posted a story on Friday about the team’s interest in Japanese ace starter Roki Sasaki. This, despite April Fool’s being 3-1/2 months off. I mean, what’s their pitch—come to a team looking to break its own record for losses in a season? Kiss the postseason goodbye and focus on fundamentals? Lose, grin and bear it? No 23-year old in his right mind is going to sign with this organization, not until it shows it can win, as in 90+ games a season. And that, my friends, won’t be happening anytime soon.

Fun to Watch

I’ll say this for the 2024-25 Bulls—they’re entertaining, a bunch of guys who can shoot the ball. Can they play defense? If the best defense means averaging 118.7 points a game, then, yes, they can. That way, the 121.9 points a game opponents average doesn’t count. Does a team with an 11-15 record have a shot at the postseason? Sure, why not? What I like is the change from last season. DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso have moved on, and it’s like they were never there. Gone, pretty much, are the mid-range jumpers and isolation, along with anyone who cared about defense. All of that is offset by the massively improved (offensive) play of a healthy Zach LaVine and Lonzo Ball along with a miraculously rejuvenated Nikola Vucevic. I can see effort here, which no doubts reflects on coach Billy Donovan, the only head coach/manager in Chicago who speaks in everyday English and believes in player/coach accountability. If the Bears and White Sox had sought out those qualities in previous hires, maybe they would’ve had records good enough to seduce the General Assembly into funding both teams new stadiums. The better the Donovan Bulls do, the greater the pressure on the Bears and White Sox to get it right, for a whole bunch of reasons.

A McCaskey House of Cards

This week, the Bears got what they wanted, a property tax bill that will save them in the neighborhood of $5 million a year in property taxes for their 326 acres in Arlington Heights. The village and two area school districts signed on, or gave in, whichever you prefer. Here’s the thing. How serious can the team be about building a $2 billion stadium there—not to be confused with the $4.7 billion one they want on the lakefront—if it’s so important for them to save a relative pittance on their tax bill? It all comes down to smoke and mirrors, the combination of which is intended to minimize project funding the McCaskeys will be responsible for. Lucky for state residents and any members of the General Assembly in need of a spine that the Munsters are their own worst enemy. Hardly anybody wants to go to bat for a 4-9 team on a seven-game losing streak. Ditto any team with a 41-121 record looking for new digs on the public dime.

On the One Hand...

The White Sox traded someone who won six games last seasons and nine games in a four-year career for four Red Sox prospects, all of them top-fourteen caliber and all of them from a system ranked third or seventh out of 30, depending who you believe. On the other hand, the Sox traded away Garrett Crochet. What it comes down to is this is a trade made necessary by Jerry Reinsdorf’s refusal to sign pitchers to big contracts. If Mark Buehrle couldn’t get paid what he was worth, Crochet didn’t have a chance. This is a reality Sox fans have to accept until the day Reinsdorf leaves the building, front entrance or back. That said, it could be worse. With Kyle Teel, the White Sox now have two hot-shot prospects behind the plate, Edgar Quero being the other. Plus Korey Lee. Not a bad logjam to have going into spring training. In addition, we got outfielder Braden Montgomery, who’s supposed to know how to hit, a rarity among White Sox outfielders in 2024. Montgomery, though, suffered a broken ankle before the Red Sox drafted him in the first round this summer. So, there’s that. But it’s December, I might as well be optimistic. The White Sox also acquired infielder Chase Meidroth, who had 105 walks to go with a .437 OBP in Triple-A last season. The seven homeruns could indicate another Nick Madrigal, or not. Again, it’s December, I’ll go with not. Did I mention it’s December, a time to count one’s blessings? For me, that means no more Mickey Mouse managing the White Sox and at least a glimmer of hope that next season will be better than last. Now, if Reinsdorf would just sell, I might even break into a smile.

Burger Time

Clare left a text with Michele this morning to tell me that ex-Sox third baseman Jake Burger had been traded from the Marlins to the Rangers for three minor leaguers. This should give Texas a lineup with considerable pop: Burger, Corey Seager, Adolis Garcia, Marcus Semien. Burger and Semian. The Sad Sox sure can trade ‘em away for nothing, can’t they?

Offensive

The White Sox have an offensive coordinator, whatever that is. At least I know who Grady Sizemore is. Which is more than I can say for the other hires on new manager Will Venable’s eleven-coach staff. By my count, five of twelve have major-league experience, with Sizemore and Venable leading the way. The other three are variations on a cup of coffee, or a pot at best. The last time the Sox lost 100-plus games was 1970. The housecleaning afterwards brought in new manager Chuck Tanner and three coaches to join holdover Luke Appling. Two of the new hires were Tanner buddies, base coaches Joe Lonnett and Al Monchak. The other one? Pitching coach Johnny Sain. I’ll be over the moon ecstatic if Venable comes anywhere near Tanner in ability. But holdover pitching coach Ethan Katz is no Johnny Sain, and none of the other guys except Sizemore can come close to Appling. Maybe ol’ Aches and Pains just stood there in the third-base coaching box, but Walt Williams once told me, “I liked him,” and I suspect he was talking about more than a pleasant personality. Appling could hit, and he no doubt shared what he knew with anyone willing to listen. Did I mention that a team that ranked near the bottom in every hitting category—including runs, hits, homeruns, batting average and on-base percentage—kept its hitting coach? Tanner and his four coaches took the Sox from 56 to 79 wins. Let’s see if Venable and company can come close to that.

Beltin' Bill Melton

Michele and I were in NYC last week, so news of Bill Melton’s death came via phone call from Clare. It took some of the fun out of seeing the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. I remember Melton winning the AL homerun crown by hitting his 33rd homer on the last day of the season in 1971. It was a Thursday day game, and I had my dad’s car to drive to De Paul. Of course, the radio was tuned to the Sox game. Chuck Tanner had Melton batting leadoff so he’d get more at-bats; the homerun came in the third. Crown in hand, Melton gave way to Walt Williams. Wherever I was going, back home or to school for a late class, I had dreams of what next season might be. With the Sox trading for Dick Allen in the offseason, who know, they might’ve slipped past the A’s in 1972, if not for the devastating back injury Melton suffered after he fell off a roof in the offseason. What might have been. Not that Sox announcer Harry Caray cared. Melton was Caray’s default Sox player to ride. If Melton couldn’t regain his 1971 form, it was because he didn’t try hard enough. The attacks continued for four years, until Melton was traded after the 1975 season. The irony, of course, was that Melton became a Sox analyst himself. Melton was at the SoxFest Clare and I attended in 2019. I was tempted to ask him about Caray only to decide against it. I’m pretty sure what he would’ve said, though, that he always focused on the play, not the player. And that’s to his credit.

Goodbye, Columbus

The NCAA men’s basketball season is heating up, with local favorites Northwestern and Illinois both looking to return to “the big dance.” Whether or not that happens, both teams will look different. Gone are NU star guard Boo Buie and Illinois guard/forward Terrence Shannon Jr. Buie was all-world his last two seasons with the Wildcats. In 2022-23, he averaged 17.3 points and 4.6 assists a game. Then, last season, he improved 19 points and five assists. Both seasons, Buie powered an underdog program into the D-I tournament. Shannon spent two years at Illinois. In 2022-23 he averaged 17 points and 4.6 points a game; last year it was 23 points and four rebounds. Shannon’s play helped get the Illini back to the tournament after a one-year absence. What a difference a year makes. Both players entered the NBA draft in June. Buie went undrafted, after which he played for the Suns’ summer-league before signing with the Knicks; he’s now on a two-way contract with them. Shannon was picked by the Timberwolves in the first round but has only played 3.7 minutes in four games. Buie is 6’2”, Shannon 6’6”. Players that size have to possess superior skills just to make an NBA team, let alone start. All Buie and Shannon can do is hope they demonstrate those skills before another flood of players enters the draft. The odds are slim, at best. Reading a little Philip Roth may provide some comfort in the meantime.

Profiles in Courage

Well, what goes around comes around. Now, Mickey Eberflus knows what it’s like to be blindsided, just like Caleb Williams has been game after game this season. Eberflus had a regularly scheduled, day-after-the-game Zoom call with reporters yesterday morning; said he was “confident” he’d be coaching the Bears’ next game against the 49ers. Then, Boom! A couple of hours later, he’s fired. At no time, though, did any of the Three Stooges show their faces. Not Moe, Curley or Larry, not McCaskey, Warren or Poles. Just some released statements. Talk about profiles in courage. Not.

Nowhere to Hide

“Completely botched,” said CBS announcer Jim Nantz, who called the Bears-Lions’ game; “In my 70 years of coaching, I’ve never seen dysfunction [as Bears’ coach Mickey Eberflus demonstrated at the end of his team’s 23-20 Thanksgiving Day loss] cost a team an opportunity to win the game,” offered ex-Cowboys coach and HOFer Jimmy Johnson afterwards; “How in the world can that happen?” asked Chicago’s own Jason Benetti, who called the game on national radio. Da Bears. With his team moving down the field in the closing minutes for what looked to be the most improbable of wins, the Bears suddenly went all Eberflus, with two penalties and a sack. Then, with 32 seconds left on third-and-26, it took Caleb Williams 26 seconds to get his offense organized and snap the ball, with a pass falling incomplete to end the game. Did I mention the Munsters had a timeout left? Or that Eberflus told reporters, “I think we handled it the right way”? The man is clueless. So, what does that say about GM Ryan Poles, team president Kevin Warren or team chairman George McCaskey? You tell me.

Penny-wise

Apparently, one of the reasons the Sad Sox parted ways with Gavin Sheets is they’re paring payroll and Sheets is now arbitration-eligible. I’m guessing this is the same reason they let Nicky Lopez go. I wonder, do Jerry Reinsdorf and Chris Getz think that fans pay to watch them watch games? And where’s the motivation for players to excel? I mean, other than to get traded or released? Talk about bush-league organizations.

Watchful Waiting

Garrett Crochet trade rumors are in the air, all day all the time at least through next week’s winter meetings. Tired of hearing where Crochet is going and for who(m)? Then check out these Luis Robert Jr. trade scenarios! I get it, more or less. This is exactly how the hot stove league has always operated, with one rumor topping the next and so on. It’s just that social media puts the rumors on steroids. I prefer that steroids and sports don’t mix. What really ticks me off is reading the various trade packages involving Crochet; never once do I see one chiefly from the White Sox perspective. No, it’s a Red Sox or Phillies or Yankees fan writing into The Athletic to propose these two broken bats and a prospect. Mlb.com ranks the White Sox with the eleventh-best minor league system; the Red Sox seventh; the Phillies sixteenth; and the Yankees eighteenth. Why would you want prospects from a system worse than yours? Supposedly, the Orioles with the third-best system are interested in Crochet. If he goes anywhere (and, really, why should he other than for the fact that Jerry Reinsdorf doesn’t want to pay him what he’s worth?), it’s there.

Tough Times

These are tough times for professional sports teams, and I’m not talking win-loss records. In a world gone upside down, local and state governments aren’t falling all over themselves to help build new stadiums the way they used to. In St. Petersburg, the city council hasn’t funded repairs to Tropicana Field, with its hurricane-damaged roof, possibly due in part to an impasse over a new Rays’ stadium; my guess is the Rays want more public funding than the $600 million offered to help cover a $1.9 billion project. Truly, my heart bleeds. Closer to home, the White Sox can’t drum up the mildest of interest in a publicly-funded (or -subsidized, it depends on the day of the week) stadium in the South Loop. And let’s not forget the Bears, who’ve been huffing and puffing for a new stadium since they bought land in Arlington Heights back in early 2023. Only the best-laid plans of mice and clueless team executives didn’t count on neighboring school districts refusing to play nice and let the Bears determine how much they’d pay every year in property taxes. Now, the team has reached a sort-of agreement with Arlington Heights and the affected school districts. I say “sort of” because nothing hasn’t been voted on yet, and, even if everybody signs on, it may not matter. Why? Because the Munsters want a ton of public funding, and the state of Illinois isn‘t interested. The McCaskeys are a sad lot, trying to shake down schools for money; then playing Chicago off against the suburbs; then saying they’ll look into an alternative lakefront site. They might even play on the moon, provided somebody else picks up the tab and they get to control the shuttle contract—and oxygen franchise. In Chicago at least, the teams may stink, but the politics behind them never ceases to amuse.

You Can Say That Again

Bears’ soon-to-be-ex head coach Mickey Eberflus told reporters after his team’s 30-27 loss to the Vikings in overtime yesterday, “We’ve got to coach better down the stretch. It’s an everybody thing.” [today’s Tribune] Eberflus is right on that, if nothing else. Forget about Cairo Santos having another long field goal blocked or a missed two-point conversion. Here’s the play that shows just how bad a coach Eberflus is. It happened with 6:32 left in the game and Minnesota up by eight. Vikings’ quarterback Sam Darnold went out of the game with a leg injury, to be replaced by backup Nick Mullens. Guess who hadn’t thrown a pass all season? Yup, Mullens, who faced third-and-thirteen at the Minnesota 27. Guess who completed a pass for fourteen yards and a first down? Darnold immediately returned and led the offense downfield for a field goal, a drive that took 5:26 off the clock. Where was the pass rush? As soon as I see the backup coming in for what’s an obvious passing situation, I’m throwing everything and everybody at him. Mickey and the boys apparently felt otherwise. With 1:56 remaining in the game and no timeouts left, qb Caleb Williams engineered a touchdown, two-point conversion and a field goal—after a successful onside kick, no less—to tie the game and send it into overtime. Williams is looking more and more like the future of the franchise. Mickey and the boys, not so much.

Penny Wise?

The White Sox declined to offer a contract to Gavin Sheets, ending the 28-year-old’s four-year run with the team. God forbid Sheets should win a raise in arbitration. According to Clare, who once saw him up-close, the lefthanded-hitting Sheets could’ve passed for a tight end in the NFL, at 6’5” and 235 pounds. Instead, Larry Sheets’ son tantalized with his power. I swear those 46 career homeruns should’ve been double that number. Now, we’ll see. Someone will take a chance on Sheets, his hometown Orioles, maybe, (he’s hit .328 against them) or the Yankees (.404). Whoever it is, Sheets will get to prove the problem was his old team, not him. Personally, I can’t wait.

Bob Love

I was a junior in high school when the Bulls acquired forward Bob Love and a whole bunch of things, including forklift driver and graduate student, when they traded Love to the Nets eight years later. He was part of a team that meant more to me than Michael Jordan ever would. Love teamed up with Chet Walker; Jerry Sloan; Norm Van Lier; and Tom Boerwinkle (plus Clifford Ray and Bob Weiss) for a run of successful, blue-collar ball the likes of which Chicago had never seen before and never since. Sorry, Tom Thibodeau is no Dick Motta. Every spring, my world teetered on some sort of brink, because of school or work or women or some combination of all three. Watching the Bulls grind out a win with their half-court offense and in-your-face defense provided a safe harbor. If they never won it all, they still kept me from losing it all. Love died on Monday, the last of the starting five. No more Jim Durham behind the mic, no more Butterbean of Chet the Jet. Just echoes, ever fainter.

Hey, Big Spender

This is all you need to know about the franchise known as the Chicago Sad Sox—on Wednesday, they signed outfielder Austin Slater to a one-year deal for $1.75 million. Over the course of an eight-year major-league career, Slater has hit .252 with 40 homeruns; 171 RBIs; and 210 runs scored. In comparison, free-agent Juan Soto last season hit .288 with 41 homers; 109 RBIs; and 128 runs scored. Slater has a 4.5 career WAR per baseball-reference.com to Soto’s 36.4 over seven seasons. These aren’t baby steps for the Sad Sox but more of a dead-cat bounce.

Speech Patterns

For someone who detests the way New Yorkers act like they invented the game of basketball, I admit to a bromance with Long Island native Billy Donovan. Why can’t all coaches, regardless the sport, talk like Donovan? Ever since Mike Ditka was fired, the McCaskeys have sought ought masters of word salad to coach the Bears, the only exception being Lovie Smith, who enjoyed letting the media know how much he detested them. Now, we have Mickey Eberflus. By this time next year, it’ll be another Eberflus. The White Sox had their Ditka in the person of Ozzie Guillen. No more of him for Jerry Reinsdorf, whose idea of the perfect manager was Mickey Mouse, except for his inability to win a game. As for Will Venable, we’ll see. As for Craig Counsell of the Cubs, yeah, he acknowledges his team’s faults, but that’s about it. Back to Donovan. This remark in yesterday’s Sun-Times, about his team’s defensive woes, was typical: “I always say it comes down to the physicality part, to loose basketballs, to taking a charge. I mean, we’ve taken two charges all season [over fourteen games]. For our team as small [as the Bulls are compared to the competition], somebody’s going to have to put their body” on the line. Well said, and more of it, please.

The Sounds of Silence

The recently-formed Women’s Professional Baseball League has announced plans for a six-team league starting in 2026. As the father of a female athlete who started in baseball before jumping—or being pushed—to softball, I can only wish them well, but… According to an AP story on the league that ran in the Sunday Sun-Times, stats for 2023-24 show some 473,000 girls playing high school softball vs. 1,300 in baseball. That gives you an idea as to the uphill climb the idea of women playing baseball faces. Here’s another—crickets from MLB. No mention of MLB on the WPBL website and no mention of the WPBL on mlb.com. What, Rob Manfred and friends are afraid of a little competition?

Help Wanted

Imagine this. Yesterday, the Bears were down by one point against the Packers, with 35 seconds left in the game and the home team on the opposition’s 30-yard line. They ran the ball for two yards, let the clock run down to three seconds and attempted a field goal. What would Tom Brady have done with those 35 seconds? I ask because Brady was part of the broadcast team. I’m pretty sure he said there was time for still another play after the run, but I really would’ve like to see was the look on his face and his body language as the Munsters decided to let the clock run down for a 46-yard field goal attempt by Cairo Santos. Guess who missed? Guess who lost, 20-19? Forget Brady. What would any good team have done? Do you think Joe Burrow or Josh Allen would’ve handed the ball off? Matt Stafford or Jared Goff? No, but the Munsters did because, as soon-to-be ex-coach Mickey Eberflus put it in the postgame press conference, something bad could’ve happened if they had run another play. Play not to lose, and odds are you’ll lose. Which brings me to one of my favorite quotes, that the Bourbons of France learned nothing in exile and forgot nothing when restored to the throne. Same goes for Eberflus and the people who hired him.

Bush League

MLB still likes to refer to itself as “the national pastime.” I wonder why. The Rays have announced they’ll play next season at Steinbrenner Field, the Yankees spring-training site, while repairs are made to the roof at Tropicana Field. Hurricane Milton did a number on it back in October. Meanwhile, the A’s will play the next three seasons at Sutter Health Park in suburban Sacramento while their new home is being built in Las Vegas. Capacity at Steinbrenner Field will be 11,000 and 14,000 at Sutter Health Park. The mind boggles. Games 3-5 for the 1959 World Series between the White Sox and Dodgers drew 276,750, or over 90,000 a game. On three separate occasions during the regular season, the original Yankee Stadium drew crowds in excess of 80,000. But that was then, and this is now. Act bush league, be bush league.

Like Father, Like Son

We were a family of White Sox fans, passing on the pain from one generation to the next. So, when the Sox decided to leave WGN Ch. 9 after the 1967 season, my dad went out and bought a converter box so we could watch our heroes on UHF station Ch.32. A clear picture was beside the point. Then-owner Arthur Allyn thought that by moving the games to a new station, he could get his team more exposure. That worked in so far as the broadcast schedule increased (I think), but not that many fans went out and bought converters. From then on, the Sox wandered through a broadcast desert while the crosstown-rival Cubs had WGN all to themselves. And when WGN went to cable, the Cubs went nationwide. You’d think Jerry Reinsdorf would follow the adage of “Once burned, twice wary,” but, No. Reinsdorf took the Sox and Bulls to a new regional sports network with Danny Wirtz bringing the Hawks along because he doesn’t know any better, I guess. Only Comcast, the biggest cable provider in these parts, can’t agree with the Chicago Sports Network on the carriage fee. So, rather than stream CHSN at $19.99 a month per team (or $29.99 a month for all three), I went out today and bought an indoor antenna that will allow me to pick up CHSN from WJYS-Ch. 62, a UHF station. Here’s looking at you, Dad.

Don't Come Crying

Baseball franchises are divided between the haves and have-nots, real and pretend. You can put the Yankees; Mets; Red Sox; and Dodgers in the former and most everybody else in the latter. How to explain mlb.com, then? Go on the website, and it’s Juan Soto, all day every day, just like it was Shohei Ohtani last offseason. If not Soto, then the next top-rated free agent. Scott Boras and his fellow agents must love how the daily barrage of stories creates a fan frenzy to sign their clients, yesterday if not sooner. Fast-forward to the end of the next collective bargaining agreement, and you can bet ownership will be crying poor, even though its publicity machine—and mlb.com is nothing if not a publicity machine—treats free-agent signings like an auctioneer working a gullible crowd with money to burn. So, if Soto gets his $700 million-plus contract, don’t come crying to me, and be careful about passing the cost onto your fan base. The peasants are grumpy these days.

What a Coincidence

Wow. On the same day the Bears did something they hate to do—fire a coach in-season—they did something they love to do. The Munsters showed offensive coordinator Shane Waldron the door at the same time it was reported the team is reconsidering a site just south of Soldier Field for their new stadium. In other words, they were willing to let go of someone who showed he was absolutely clueless about to build an offense around rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, and this after only nine games. In McCaskey Land, that qualifies as the speed of light. But, again, what a coincidence that move happened on the same day as those reports about the old Michael Reese hospital site suddenly looking pretty good to the Munsters. If true, that would be the second city site to go with the original Arlington Heights site. Of course, any such interest is predicated on government ponying up $2.5 billion, give or take, for the project. Only in Chicago, only with the Bears.

Peat and Repeat

Bears’ head coach Matt Eberflus addressed the media yesterday and showed the world who he is—a human-resources’ guy in way over his head on the sidelines. Eberflus used terms like “temperature”; “chemistry”; “relationships.” Add “process,” maybe his favorite word of all, and you can see what I mean. Who hired this guy, Rick Hahn? No, wait, it was Ryan Poles, and who hired him, Jerry Reinsdorf? No, the McCaskeys. And there you have “distinction without a difference” in action. By the way, have Eberflus and ex-Sox manager Mickey Mouse ever been spotted in the same room at the same time? I doubt it.

Best-laid Plans

Oh, this is rich in a karmic sort of way. Over the last two years or so, the White Sox and Bears have looked to maximize leverage against city and state in pursuit of public subsidies for a new stadium, all of which depended on team performance. Did I mention that Reinsdorf’s Sad Sox went 41-121 or that ex-player Dave Stewart was said to be heading a group interested in taking the Sox off of Reinsdorf’s hands and nobody seemed to care? Wet noodles make for weak leverage. Your Chicago Bears are a tub of wet noodles right now. General manager Ryan Poles went out and selected Caleb Williams with the first pick of the draft and surrounded him with receiving talent. Team president and CEO Kevin Warren then went on the offensive on how the Chicago lakefront is crying for new, domed stadium to be subsidized by the likes of me and run by the likes of Warren. Up until fifteen days ago, the plan was working swimmingly. Then came Tyrique Stevenson making possible a Hail-Mary win for the Commanders followed by a loss to the Cardinals followed by yesterday’s stinker of a 19-3 loss to the previously 2-7 Patriots. No touchdowns for straight games; fifteen sacks of Williams over those games, including nine yesterday by a team that had only sixteen coming into game; absolutely no game plan to go with absolutely no offensive line. Oh, and crickets from Poles and Warren. Chicago is facing a deficit in the neighborhood of $1 billion while Illinois is looking at a $3 billion hole. And the owners of two dysfunctional franchises want money to build new facilities. It’s funny, it’s sad, it’s karma.

Fall Back, Crying

We arrived early for babysitting duty yesterday, which meant I was there for my grandson’s arrival home from preschool. “I want to play sports,” were the first words out of his mouth before he even walked through the front door. When Clare noted the lack of sunlight necessary for throwing, hitting, and catching, Leo responded with a flood of tears. Welcome to standard time, my boy. Figuring this might happen, I cleared a plan of action, for the two of us to have the back room to ourselves; you don’t want to hit a six-week old sister/granddaughter with one of those palm-sized footballs. Maeve stayed with Michele in the living room while the boys worked their mischief in back. It was about 45 minutes of mayhem, grandson standing two feet away from Grandpa to throw a ball and the old man fearing for his sight if not his life. When I threw the ball, he mostly caught it and then ran for a touchdown. Unlike other times, there was no “Touchdown, Packers!” shouted on crossing the imaginary goal line. Eventually, the football gave way to a book on Thomas the Tank Engine, and, by bedtime, we were that much closer to a return of daylight savings time.

Waste of Time?

I see in the Sun-Times today that White Sox GM Chris Getz hired a director of hitting. Both the position and its initial occupant are mysteries to me. Getz went on to say, “We’ve tasked our analysts to be more specialized, and we’re beginning to build some really cool stuff that’s going to help create competitive advantages in a lot of areas.” Oh, boy. Kids and their gizmos. The thing I like about Will Venable, Getz’s new hire for manager, is that he was a nine-year MLB veteran. A successful manager doesn’t have to have played in the big leagues, but it helps. For every Joe Maddon and Earl Weaver, there seem to be a whole lot more Mickey-Mouse types. I don’t want to see an organizational approach to hitting based on tech alone. For the umpteenth time, let me offer the best approach to hitting, as articulated by hitting coach extraordinaire—and sixteen-year MLB vet—Bill Robinson: “A good hitting instructor is able to mold his teachings to the individual. If a guy stands on his head, you perfect that.” Anything else is a waste of time.

He Gone Soon

The NFL has created this 24/7/365 behemoth that keeps football on every fan’s mind, which is a great thing for any team .500 or above. But it gets dicey when a team stinks. All the NFL hype-cycle does then is to remind people just how bad their team is, and the Bears are stinky bad. They showed it again yesterday with a 29-9 loss to the Cardinals. The Munsters have no offensive line and, basically, haven’t had one for the past five seasons. Stick a rookie quarterback like Caleb Williams behind a bunch of doormen who make way for the opponent’s pass rush, and you’ve got trouble. The Chicago media keeps reminding people 24/7 that Williams has been regressing the past two weeks and losses. Not so head coach Matt “Mickey” Eberflus; there’s no there there, no demonstration of talent from which to recede. Mickey’s record in two-plus seasons is a woeful 14-28, and a pathetically woeful 3-18 on the road. Veterans went public last week with doubts about coaching decisions made in the 18-15 “Hail Mary” debacle against the Commanders while 24/7 coverage stoked speculation over how or if Eberflus would discipline Tyrique Stevenson for being out of position on the Hail Mary. The answer to that question is Mickey held out Stevenson for the first two defensive series and then brought him in. The Munsters are all about pride in legacy—Halas, Ditka, Butkus, etc. The slap on the wrist is not going to play well in Soldier Field come Sunday when the Bears face the Patriots. If Eberflus and co. can’t beat a 2-7 team, it’s going to get really ugly. And it may get ugly because of another bonehead decision by the coach, to keep his quarterback in for the entire game even when he was down by twenty points late in the game. With the clock winding down and Williams scrambling to avoid a seventh sack, an Arizona defender landed on his ankle. After the game, Coach Mickey said he had Williams in to work on the two-minute drill. Right. Thanks to the NFL creation of an all-football, all-the-time environment, Bears’ fans will be reminded again and again just how bad their head coach is. He gone soon.

Stupid Is...

Has anyone seen a Bulls’ or Blackhawks’ game recently? Odds are, No, unless you’ve got the right streaming service or, get this, an antenna to pick up the TV signal. Welcome to Jerry Reinsdorf’s latest genius idea, the Chicago Sports Network. Just try finding it. Reinsdorf walked away from NBC Spors Chicago, taking not only the Sad Sox and Bulls with him, but getting Danny Wirtz to follow along with the Blackhawks. Only the greatest mind ever in all Chicago sports didn’t bother securing a carrying agreement with Comcast, with its 4.7 million Chicago-area subscribers. Oops. So, no facetime via Comcast with new Sox manager Will Venable to go with no games for Blackhawks’ and Bulls’ fans. I can’t speak about the Hawks, but at least the 3-3 Bulls look interesting—in the box scores, that is—with a run-and-gun offense made possible by the team moving on from DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso. Rumor has it that any agreement between Reinsdorf’s Folly and Comcast will involve putting the sports’ channel in a more expensive package. No, thanks. If and when it comes time to watch baseball come spring, I’ll go buy an antenna. Thanks, Jerry.

Tiny, Baby Steps

The White Sox hired a new manager yesterday in the person of Will Venable, a nine-year major league veteran and Princeton graduate with a degree in anthropology. I’m guessing Mickey Mouse didn’t do his senior thesis comparing baseball in the U.S. and Japan. Right now, the only certain positive here is that the odds are Venable won’t be Mouse 2.0. What will he be? We’re about to find out. I’m guessing GM Chris Getz wants to keep pitching coach Ethan Katz. We’ll get a better sense of who Venable is and wants to be when the rest of the coaching staff is announced.

Goodbye to 2024

Some Fall Classic—Aaron Judge dropped a ball hit right at him; Gerrit Cole couldn’t be bothered to cover first base on a groundball; Austin Wells got called for catcher’s interference. Plus the Yankees blew a five-run lead to lose game five and the Series to the Dodgers, 7-6. Shohei Ohtani Series MVP? Judge? Nope. Freddie Freeman with his twelve RBIs was. Ohtani went 2-for-19, Judge 4-for-18. So, big teams, big stage, pop-gun results. Bring on 2025 with two different participants, please. Oh, and Aaron Boone will be out as Yankees’ manager. It’s never good to remind people of Mickey Mouse.

Class Act

After watching last night’s World Series’ game, I’m coming to the conclusion that all athletic contests should be played without fans present. Take Yankee Stadium, please. Two morons in right field challenged Mookie Betts in the bottom of the first inning as he leaned into the stands for a foul fly by Gleyber Torres. One fan pried the ball out of Betts’ glove while the other held onto Betts’ throwing arm, to give the other clown more time. The umpire ruled fan interference, and, for all I know, that bad behavior fueled the Yankees to a 11-4 win. The ball-prying clown told ESPN, “I patrol that wall, and they know that.” No, buddy, you’re entitled to watch a game and try to catch a ball that comes your way. If you’re so deluded as to think you’re part of the team (roving thug, maybe), you need help.

They Asked

Clare called last night to ask if I saw Aaron Judge strike out, which he’s done twenty times this postseason. My daughter is proving how spot-on that Progressive Insurance ad campaign is, the one about turning into your parents. She saw a Yankee go fishing for an outside pitch, and she caught herself saying, “And where would that ball have gone had he managed to hit it?” I’m flattered by the imitation. Afterward, Michele asked, “What’s wrong with Aaron Judge? He looks terrible.” I told my wife that, when a hitter goes bad like this, it’s likely one of three things—age, injury, or a slump, something no player can avoid. Judge is 32 and coming off a season where he hit 58 homeruns to go with 144 RBIs, so I’d say it’s not age. An injury? It’s possible the Yankees are trying to keep one secret, but I doubt it. That leaves a slump, which can happen anytime. Unfortunately for Judge, it’s in a World Series where he’s being paired against Shohei Ohtani. Ironically, Ohtani is hitting .091 to Judge’s .083. Freddie Freeman is lapping them both with three homers and a .333 BA, but I digress. My wife also asked, “How can he get out of a slump?” to which I answered, “By getting some hits.” This is where the mental part of the game comes in. Judge has to control the urge to swing at everything and, instead, stay small. Some singles to the opposite field could lead to an avalanche of homers. A slump can turn that quickly. Judge has had pretty decent stats in the postseason until this year, which coincides with his first World Series’ appearance. Some guys have all the luck. Right now, Aaron Judge is not one of them.

Sounds Familiar

Oh, boy. The Munsters lost yesterday in D.C. 18-15 on a Hail Mary pass play that started with cornerback Tyrique Stevenson busy taunting Washington fans instead of being in position. Then, Stevenson ended up tipping the ball into the hands of Commanders’ receiver Noah Brown. Oh, Bears. Wait, there’s more. Stevenson, who also picked up an unnecessary roughness penalty and got beat on a 61-yard reception, didn’t address the media after the game. Coach Matt Eberflus and tight end Cole Kmet did but needed to say different things. Eberflus talked taking lessons from the game while Kmet offered that “to obsess over the result of what happened I think is just a little immature.” Kmet then clarified that he was referring to players, not reporters. Whatever and whichever. He’s wrong either way. One game in the NFL is equivalent to nine games in MLB. That means the Bears now find themselves on what would be a nine-game losing streak for a baseball team. At nine games, I want my manager ticked and demanding accountability from his players, his staff and himself. Mickey Mouse was incapable to doing that, which is one of the reasons he’s now an ex-manager. If there’s a silver lining in this Bears’ loss, it’s that Eberflus will be joining him in the unemployment line sooner than later.

Smart Money

In baseball, there’s a direct correlation between winning and spending. The team with the biggest payroll doesn’t necessarily win it all, but I think the team with the biggest payroll reflecting money spent smart does. Take this World Series. The Yankees spent more on their payroll than the Dodgers, $303.3 million vs. $249.8 million according to USA Today. The Dodgers, though, look to be getting more for their dollar than the right-now pretty-hapless Yankees, who are down 0-2 in the Series after falling by a score of 4-2 last night. New York went with Carlos Rodon to face Yoshinobu Yamamoto, or the $162 million pitcher vs. the $325 million pitcher. It wasn’t even close. Rodon couldn’t get out of the fourth inning, giving up four runs on three homeruns. Compare that to Yamamoto, who went 6.1 innings, giving up one run on one hit. You get what you pay for. With Rodon, the Yankees went hook, line and sinker for the stats agent Scott Boras fed them. What they forgot is Rodon’s history of injuries, which have affected his pitching. The Carlos Rodon who pitched for the Sad Sox was better than the journeyman who posted a 3.96 ERA in the regular season. Yes, Yamamoto was injured, too, in the regular season, but he still posted an ERA nearly a point lower than Rodon’s. The proof was in the pudding, as they say. But I’m not going to jump on Aaron Judge here. Judge is having a terrible postseason with nineteen strikeouts in 40 at-bats to go with a .150 BA. Granted, not much of a return on a $360 million contract, but Judge is the guy who dragged his team into the postseason. Right now, he looks to be having a Ted Williams World Series. I’d take either of them to get me there. By the way, has anyone seen the Yankees’ Marcus Stroman, he of the $37 million contract? That’s what a 4.31 ERA in the regular season will do to a guy.

Get a Grip, Guys

The Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman hit a two-out, tenth-inning grand slam last night to beat the Yankees 6-3 in game one of the World Series. It was the greatest game of all time, from what the announcers said and what I read in The Athletic today. Please. Those of us who don’t live on either coast know otherwise. Of greater interest to me was MLBPA executive director Tony Clark calling out teams for the way they handle pitchers. Clark charged that the current analytics-driven mindset is to “have pitchers, starting and relievers, [give] max effort for the period of time that they [teams] can have them. As soon as they seem to run out of gas, as the data suggests they’re going to, [teams] recycle them out and [get ready] to burn out another pitcher.” [today’s online Tribune sports’ section] The story also noted that fastball velocity is up over the last ten years, along with pitcher injuries. Fastballs that used to average 93.3 mph in 2014 are now averaging 95.5 mph, an increase that has seen a near doubling of the number of pitchers who go on the IL, to 484 this past season. So, why not teach more pitchers the knuckleball?

Progress Report

My grandson called—OK, his mom called and put him on the phone—yesterday afternoon to tell me, “Grandpa, I hit the ball over the fence!” In fact, he did it five times, both a testament to his talent and his mother’s resilience. Clare was pitching to Leo just a month after undergoing a Caeserean. Amazon child, that one. Leo has been putting the ball over a six-foot fence into the neighbor’s yard for the past two months, which isn’t bad for a kid three years and three months old. I said something about him clearing the Green Monster, but he didn’t understand. Monsters give him pause, even the ones he can hit a ball over. So, now, I just tell him what a good job he’s doing. He's hitting the ball at least forty feet, in part because both his parents were college athletes and because he likes to make the ball go far. Clare said he’s striding into pitches, which I think is a good habit. I also suggested she emphasize the good stuff that happens when he follows the ball all the way to the bat. You can never start too early. Now, all I have to do is stick around to watch my grandson play organized ball.

Certified Genius

When last we checked in on Sad-Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, he was hinting loudly he would be open to selling the team. And voilà, Dave Stewart appeared. The ex-pitcher is, or was, heading up a Nashville group that wants to bring major-league baseball to the Volunteer State. That Reinsdorf’s operation is in any sense major league is, of course, subject to debate. Then, the other day on the news, Illinois governor JB Pritzker once again threw cold water/a wet blanket/choose your cliché on the idea of the public subsidizing for a second time a Reinsdorf baseball stadium. If Reinsdorf was sending a message that he might move the team, Pritzker either didn’t hear it or didn’t care. Whichever, it leaves Reinsdorf on the short end of a power play. Now, Clare just got off the phone to tell me Rob Manfred has weighed in on the subject. So, I went online and found a story on CBS Sports in which Manfred called Chicago an “anchor city.” While saying Guaranteed Rate Whatever is in a “tough” location, Manfred added he was confident that “things are going to work out in Chicago and that we’re going to continue to have two teams in Chicago.” Which sort of takes some more leverage away from Jerry Reinsdorf, now doesn’t it? Oh, and I’d be more than willing to show the Commissioner how to get to 35th and Shields. Last and not least, Reinsdorf has started a sports network that nobody seems to want to pick up, or at least Comcast. Right now, unless Bulls’ and Blackhawks’ fans go out and buy an antenna to get the station on regular old TV, they’re pretty much out of luck. Nothing like building the fan base with a de facto blackout of games. Other than that, though, everything is going according to plan in Jerryville.

Whatever

Well, the baseball establishment got what it’s been praying for, a matchup between possibly the two biggest big-market teams for the World Series. Yankees vs. Dodgers, like I care. Yes, they’re both very good teams, but I wouldn’t classify either as great. The Yankees strike me as top-heavy, with Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Juan Soto and maybe Austin Wells. In my fantasy world, I’m challenging everyone up and in. The pitching isn’t that great, especially if bad Carlos Rodon shows up and the defense? I mean, Judge in centerfield. Yikes. The Dodgers might be a position player deeper, or maybe not. With all due respect to Shohei Ohtani, this year he’s a DH pure and simple. Great hitter but not necessarily a great player, this year. The pitching’s pretty thin, and what it might come down to is…Mookie Betts. Now, this to me is a player who’s earned the monster contract. Anyone who volunteers to move from the outfield to shortstop and second base gets my vote. I also have a sense of Betts being a clutch hitter, so we’ll see. This is a coastal Series. I live in between. Not that big a deal to me.

The High Cost of Doing Business

According to a story that ran in USA Today back on April 3rd, the top three payrolls in baseball are the Mets ($305.6 million) followed by the Yankees ($303.3 million) and the Dodgers ($249.8 million). The Sad Sox came in at fifteenth with a $143 million payroll. Poor Jerry Reinsdorf (double-entendre intended). He’s spent his life as a team owner trying to keep payroll down, first via collusion, then during a strike where he urged fellow owners to hold out for a salary cap. Only he got caught colluding and struck out on a salary cap. What Reinsdorf has always wanted is the NFL’s “cake and eat it, too” advantage, where the players do all the work and the owners pocket most of the profits. That’s why the Bears’ begging for public money to help build a new stadium is so egregious. Football has a salary cap. The Bears’ payroll is the Packers’ payroll is the Lions’ payroll. The McCaskeys just stink at identifying talent worth paying for. Metropolitan Chicago has a population of just under nine million. If Reinsdorf moves the White Sox to Nashville or sells to a group that does, the Sox will draw from a metro area with a 1.3 million population. How is that going to work without a salary cap? One of two ways. Possibility number one is that new owners are willing to lose bushels of money to bring a World Series to Nashville, in which case that will be a first. Ownership that doesn’t care about long-term return on investment just doesn’t happen in American sports. Possibility number two is that fans will be content with coming close like the Guardians did, reaching—but not winning—the ALCS with a $93.3 million payroll. And how is that working in Tampa? Moral of the story—if you want to be one of the last two teams standing in October, you better be willing to spend. Jerry Reinsdorf isn’t and never has been.

David and Goliath

Jhonkensy Noel and David Fry played heroes last night in Cleveland for the hometown Guardians in their come-from-behind, ten-inning 7-5 win over the Yankees. Noel blasted a two-out, game-tying homerun in the bottom of the ninth while Fry launched a 1-2 pitch for the game winner. Both balls may still be travelling. They were, as White Sox fans might say, upper-tank shots. The crowd went delirious, and no one looked entitled, just Midwestern glad to see David take down Goliath. But David needs to do that three more times for it to count. Go, Guardians. Make Aaron Judge chase down balls in centerfield.

Finally

I tell people on occasion that Jerry Reinsdorf and I are in a game of actuarial chicken. It could be me, but I think Reinsdorf just blinked. The Athletic reported yesterday The Chairman may be ready to sell his interest in the Sad Sox and has been engaged in talks with a group headed by ex-A’s pitcher Dave Stewart. Because the Sox were born under a bad cloud, fans are now reading how Stewart and company have been trying to bring an expansion team to Nashville, also a rumored destination for the Sox. But all that matters right now is the blink; anything else is smoke. Baseball abandoning a major market for a mid-sized market (at best) makes little to no sense, like stories that fail to identify anyone else in Stewart’s group. Unless Stewart made some incredible investments with that $19.9 million baseball-reference.com says he earned during his career, there are some unidentified deep pockets behind him. And Reinsdorf’s other team, the Bulls, are undertaking a joint, multi-billion dollar development project with the Hawks for the area around the United Center. You think that project will get a TIF district from the city—or anything else, for that matter—if the Sox move? And you mean to tell me there are no local investors looking to buy in? Like I said, ignore the smoke, give thanks for the blink.

Overkill

Boy, I haven’t seen Bobby Witt Jr.’s name mentioned lately. I wonder why? Up until last week, MLB.com couldn’t get enough of Witt and a handful of other players. Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Francisco Lindor—you get the drift. The names power the brand, and baseball these days is all about branding. And heaven help those who fall by the wayside in the postseason, like Witt or Gunnar Henderson or Tarik Skubal. Everybody loves a winner, the baseball establishment hates all losers. So, it goes. Which makes me wonder what’ll happen when the next Ernie Banks comes along. Like that falling tree in the woods, will anybody notice? Banks spent most of his career on woeful Cubs’ teams; think a skooch better than the present-day Sad Sox. And what positive coverage did they get? At some point, we’ll get to the World Series MVP; that’s the guy who’ll matter the most, according to Rob Manfred and MLB.com. Something about that doesn’t feel right. I’ve got to stop looking at the photos around me, of Minnie Minoso and Monty Stratton and Smead Jolley and…

Zeke Bonura

It was probably 2018, when Daniel Palka blazed through the South Side during his only full season in the majors. Palka could hit balls very far and did it often enough that the TV broadcasts started to show an updated list of most homeruns by a White Sox rookie. Somehow, Clare caught a game I missed and saw a name she was sure nobody born before 19XX had ever heard of. The quiz ensued, and I responded, “You mean Zeke Bonura?” For the next two or three years, every game seemed to have a graphic with Bonura’s name on it. And who was Zeke Bonura? A first baseman who spent the first four years of his seven-year career on the South Side; and, just like Daniel Palka, Bonura could hit the ball far. But he could also hit for average, which would explain his .317 BA and .396 OPB for the Sox. In addition, he averaged 110 RBIs during his time on the South Side. Why they traded him at age 28 is beyond me. Not long ago, I saw a Willard Mullin-like cartoon of Bonura—“The Bull of the Sockyards”—for sale on eBay. Zeke is shown driving a car with teammates on the roof, with the notation he was voted most popular player in Chicago and awarded a car “for driving home so many mates”; on the auction block for holding out each spring; and throwing some leather at first base despite being “heavy-legged.” The cartoon I had to have, and I do. I framed it for display in the basement. Before I took it downstairs, Michele sent a picture to Clare to let her know this is both a Palka and Bonura household.

Hop to It

What George McCaskey lacks in football savvy he make up for in gall. Speaking to the Tribune’s Colleen Kane on Friday, McCaskey gave an update on the search for a new stadium, to be built largely with funds not coming from the McCaskey family. “We want to go where the best deal is possible, where it’s most feasible—financially, politically, geographically.” I’m tempted to point out a good place for the heirs of Halas to go, but manners prevent me from being so blunt. At the same time McCaskey was trying to shake the money tree, henchman Kevin Warren was pushing for the General Assembly to get cracking so the Bears could start a-buildin’ next year. Yeah, hop to it. But McCaskey and Warren might want to tell NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to shut up. One of the selling points for a new stadium is that it will allow the Bears to get a Super Bowl. But then Goodell said the other day he could seed the Super Bowl being played outside the U.S. If that were to happen, wouldn’t that lessen the odds for Chicago getting one, let alone two, for its publicly subsidized plaything?

He Said What?

The Dodgers shut out the Padres 2-0 last night to advance to the NLCS. Kiké Hernandez and Teoscar Hernandez homered to account for both LA runs. After the game, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports asked what made this Dodgers’ team different from others. Before answering, Hernandez asked if they were live. When Rosenthal said, Yes, they were, Hernandez responded, “The fact that we don’t give a f***.” Go, Mets.

Proof's in the Pudding

Did I say something about Dylan Cease needing to prove himself if he wants to get paid big bucks once he hits free agency after 2025? Well… Cease went 1.2 innings in game four of the NLDS against the Dodgers, giving up three runs (all earned) on four hits and a walk while striking out one in a 8-0 LA win. Yes, Cease was starting on three days’ rest, and, for what it’s worth, he went 3.1 innings on Saturday, which doesn’t seem like a lot. On the other hand, Cease needed 82 pitches to get there. Any way you look at it, not a staff-ace performance. I hate sounding like a shill for management, but, if I’m the one shelling out the dough, I want performance in return. This doesn’t apply only to Cease, who’s still making a relatively modest $8 million this season. Look at the Phillies. Signing Kyle Schwarber; Bryce Harper; Trea Turner; and Nick Castellanos hasn’t translated into any World Series rings. In fact, it’ll be the Mets moving on to the NLCS after beating Philadelphia in four. Long story short—no matter the payroll or the hype surrounding a team or whatever Mickey Mouse told reporters in his postgame comments, wins and losses are what count, most of all in the postseason.

Crunch Time

This is interesting. The Padres are giving the ball to Dylan Cease tonight in the hopes of eliminating the Dodgers after last night’s 6-5 win gave San Diego a 2-1 lead in the NLDS. Interesting because Cease started game one just four days ago and couldn’t get out of the fourth inning, despite having two- and three-run leads to work with. At the risk of repeating myself, anyone wanting to be paid like the staff ace needs to pitch like one. The Padres are at home, and, if last night was any indication, the crowd will be nothing short of electric. It's all on you, Dylan.

Harry Chappas

I’m at that point in life where no visit to baseball-reference.com is complete without glancing at the “In Memoriam” listing of names. That’s where I found Harry Chappas’. His was not a happy story. A 5’7” shortstop, Chappas had stints with the White Sox from 1978 to 1980, between the ages of 20-22. These were bad Sox teams, with owner Bill Veeck looking for ways to recapture the excitement generated by the “South Side Hitmen” of 1977. Which led Veeck to push the notion that Chappas was a mere 5’3”, a king-sized Eddie Gaedel, if you will. After his career ended, Chappas told Sports Illustrated, “I began to realize that Bill Veeck just wanted me to be a gimmick to put people in the seats.” [SI, 9-29-1997] In which case, so did Sox announcer Harry Caray. I can’t remember a player who suffered more from Caray’s “love-em to hate-em” routine. That was Harry Caray, those were the late ‘70s White Sox. Chappas batted .245 with 45 hits, 26 runs scored and twelve RBIs over the course of his career. He appears to have had a hard life after baseball and died last month at age 66. Not all memories turn golden with the passage of time.

Rumors

Let’s see. One online rumor I read has Buck Showalter pushing to be the next manager of the Sad Sox. If so, no. Showalter might’ve worked in place of Tony LaRussa, definitely as a replacement for Ozzie Guillen, but, now, at 68 Showalter’s too old. According to Jon Heyman in the New York Post of 10-3-24, Rick Hahn wanted to hire A.J. Hinch to replace Rick Renteria but was vetoed by…wait for it, Jerry Reinsdorf, who insisted on LaRussa. If so, Hahn must wake up every morning cursing cruel fate. Hiring Hinch probably would’ve saved his job, and it would’ve kept Jake Burger on the South Side and… There are all sorts of names being mentioned for the Sox job; none of them move me one way or the other. I’d offer it to Guillen, provided he knew what he was getting into. Otherwise, let the “process” play itself out.

Same Old Same Old

There are lots of ex-White Sox players in the postseason. Why? It’s not because the front office can’t find talent. It’s because the front office doesn’t know what to do with talent once it finds it. Of those players who saw action yesterday (not including extended cup-of-coffee Tommy Pham), Yankees’ reliever Tommy Kahnle and Padres’ right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. performed well, the Padres’ Dylan Cease and the Dodgers’ Michael Kopech not so much. Kahnle threw .2 scoreless innings in New York’s 6-5 win over the Royals in the ALDS while Tatis went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored in San Diego’s 7-5 loss to the Dodgers in the NLDS. That leaves former teammates, now adversaries, Cease and Kopech, both of whom looked like they were still with the Sad Sox. Cease couldn’t hold a three-run lead his team gave him in the first inning, instead giving up a game-tying three-run homer to Shohei Ohtani with two out in the bottom of the second. Bad Dylan was on display with a walk that made possible the homerun, on a 2-1 pitch. Walks, pitching from behind—not how you cash in come free agency, Dylan. Cease was up to his old, frustrating tricks in the fourth after his teammates gave him a two-run lead the inning before. Two one-out singles ended his night and put on the tying runs. Cease’s line reads 3.1 innings; five runs allowed, all earned; six hits; two walks; and five strikeouts. Which brings us to Kopech. The wild one entered the game in the eighth inning, sandwiching two walks around a strikeout. With the Sox, that would have been enough to lose, but the Dodgers are a major-league team, so Kopech escaped without giving up any runs. I wouldn’t want Kopech back; just too much can go wrong with him. Cease, I don’t know. He went 14-11 with a team that won 93 games, and he’s never won more than fourteen in a regular season. If I’m robbing the bank to sign a topflight pitcher (see Zach Wheeler), I want better stats than that. Like the Sad Sox are going to sign quality players, right?

Mistakes by Rank

Sad Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf long ago made it clear that the biggest—and probably only—regret in his life was letting Tony LaRussa go. Where does that leave Terry Francona? Francona started his coaching career in the White Sox organization and even managed Michael Jordan at Double-A Birmingham. Francona’s first MLB managing job came in 1997, with the Phillies. The immortal Terry Bevington was at the helm of the Sad Sox that year. So, there are mistakes and mistakes in the world of Reinsdorf, some people who got away he regrets and some he doesn’t. Francona must fall in that second category. I mean, he was available to manage and interested in returning to the dugout. The Reds signed him to a reported three-year deal yesterday. Managers who win two World Series don’t come around that often. The Sad Sox must think they can do better, unless, of course, they contacted Francona and were turned down. But wouldn’t we know if that were the case?

Pony Up?

Pete Alonso hit a three-run homer in the top of the ninth last night to give the Mets a come-from-behind 4-2 win over the Brewers that puts New York in the NLDS against the Phillies. Alonso has said he patterns himself after Paul Konerko. “When I kept watching on TV, it was, ‘I want to be like that guy. I want to be like Paul Konerko.’” [Tim Britton article in The Athletic, 7-30-2019] And last night, he was. Alonso is a free agent come season’s end. If Jerry Reinsdorf is serious about regaining the trust of White Sox fans, he can make a run at Alonso. I doubt Paul Konerko would mind.

Three's A Charm. Right.

Let’s do a quick review of Sad Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf as a judge of managerial talent. In 2020, he fired Rick Renteria and took a pass on AJ Hinch as his replacement, going instead with his old pal, Tony LaRussa. How did that work out? Hinch and his Tigers, the team that did hire him (along with announcer Jason Benetti, by the way), just swept the Astros on the road and move on to face the Guardians. Once LaRussa proved physically unable to handle the everyday grind of managing, Reinsdorf settled on Mickey Mouse as his replacement. Interesting that the Royals, at the time also in the process of hiring a new manager, passed on Mouse, their bench coach, and instead settled on Rays’ bench coach Matt Quartaro. The Royals lost 106 games their first year under Quartaro, five more than the Sad Sox under Mouse. And this year? They swept the Orioles in Baltimore to move and face the Yankees. I wonder why Kansas City didn’t want Mouse, who was a longtime part of the organization? Anyway, I’m sure Reinsdorf and the Sox will get it right this time. Three’s a charm. Right?

Duck!

With baby Maeve coming home from the hospital last Friday, we’ve been on grandparent duty this week, which in my case means throwing lots of batting practice to Leo. At three years and two months, my grandson wouldn’t seem to be much of a threat at the plate, but that’s just what he wants you to think. Swing and miss, I take a step closer to make my next pitch. Swing and miss, another step in, then another, then…Whack! A line drive to the head. Repeat. And a couple of minutes later, Whack! again, followed by the second stern lecture on why it’s not funny to hit someone in the head, “Do you understand?” I doubt it. So it falls on me to stay back and try to find Leo’s sweet spot, which will allow me to be in position to field any comebackers. Still, the kid shouldn’t be able to hit a wiffle ball so hard, not at three years and two months.

Collateral Damage

Perhaps the biggest victim of the Sad Sox collapse is Eloy Jimenez, he of the homerun swing and multiple injuries. Eloy showed a world of promise his first two seasons, in 2019 and 2020. His rookie year, he hit 31 homers in 122 games. The injuries started piling up in 2021, and, well, now he’s gone, shipped off to Baltimore and demoted to the minors last month. Go on the Orioles’ website to their 40-man roster; Eloy is the only one wearing his cap to the side. New organization, same Eloy, which is too bad. If he’s ever going to reach anything close to his potential, Jimenez needs to grow up, which was never required of him with the Sox. Ex-manager Rick Renteria wasn’t afraid to bench players, including Yoan Moncada and Tim Anderson, and he probably would’ve grown tired of Eloy’s “Hi, Mom!” routine had he not been fired after the 2020 season. Tony LaRussa, of course, couldn’t be bothered to show Eloy right from wrong. LarRussa let the man-child be. And now Eloy’s stuck in Norfolk, uncertain what the future holds.

Do the Math

By winning five of their last six games, the Sad Sox achieved 12.2 percent of their win total for the year. That’s what going 41-121 will do for a team. And here I thought I was tough. Lenyn Sosa continued tearing the cover off the ball yesterday, going 3-for-4 with a three-run homerun. Sosa hit .339 in his last 30 games to lift his BA from .213 to a season-ending .254. Not that baseball-reference.com is impressed. All that hitting got Sosa a -0.4 WAR. Are we talking Ryne Sandberg here or the second coming of Nellie Fox? No, but still, there are real signs of life at second base. Rejoice. And third base, too, if the front office doesn’t screw things up. Bryan Ramos went 2-for-4 batting behind Sosa and knocked in two. It’s like a light clicked on for Ramos in his last seven games. The .261 BA is just OK, but the six RBIs kind of stand out. This guy’s the future in the same kind of way Jake Burger could’ve been. But the real hope for improvement next year lies in the pitching. Jonathan Cannon won yesterday to give him a 3-1 record in September. Build around Garrett Crochet with Cannon; Sean Burke; Davis Martin; and Drew Thorpe, and you might have something. But what do I know?

Perchance To Dream

Rookie pitcher Sean Burke has pretty much come out of nowhere to give the Sad Sox three straight quality starts good for a 2-0 record and 1.42 ERA over nineteen innings. Yesterday, the 24-year old righty threw five shutout innings in the rain in Detroit. Sox 4 Tigers 0. More, please. Bryan Ramos hit his third homerun of the season, Andrew Benintendi his twentieth; again, more, please. Heck, Andrew Vaughn even reached 70 RBIs on the season. I’m tempted to say good baseball is contagious, what with four wins in five games. But that would mean bad baseball’s contagious, too, and it is. I mean, 121 losses in 161 games sure looks like proof of that.

How To

How do you lose 121 games in a season? Like this: Start by bringing in reliever Jared Shuster to relieve Garrett Crochet—he gone come December—in the bottom of the fifth inning of a scoreless tie. Then watch as Shuster sandwiches a single around two walks before throwing a wild pitch and giving up a sacrifice fly. Tigers 2 Sad Sox 0. Wait, there’s more. Have Fraser Ellard relieve Shuster in the bottom of the seventh of what’s now a 2-1 game. Watch as Ellard manages to record an out before giving up two doubles and a walk and a wild pitch, good for another two runs. Your final score is 4-1 with the Sad Sox collecting all of three hits. Wait, there’s more. Sox infielder Nicky Lopez was a little ticked that some, many, of the fans who showed up for the last home series were “cheering against us” and hoping for a loss. “But we understand it was a tough season for all of us, even the fans.” [quote from story in today’s Sun-Times] Nicky, you guys did the losing. You made it tough on yourselves, with help from the front office and ownership. I doubt you understand much of anything going on at 35th and Shields.

The Curious Case of Lenyn Sosa

Sad Sox second baseman Lenyn Sosa went 2-for-5 with two RBIs yesterday in a 7-0 win over the hapless Angels. Sosa missed a three-run homerun in the bottom of the first by a couple of feet. You’d think the 24-year old had himself a good day, regardless. Not according to baseball-reference.com, which lowered Sosa’s WAR from -0.6 to -0.7. This could only happen to a Sad Sox player. I’m guessing Sox manager Mickey Sizemore will keep Sosa in the lineup against the Tigers, so we’ll see if Sosa keeps having his WAR get dinged for performing. Anyway, Sosa did what he did while Bryan Ramos scorched the ball three times, good for one hit and an RBI. On to Detroit, where the Tigers are fighting for a wildcard spot and won’t be feeling sorry for a team with a record-tying 120 losses. Stay tuned.

Perspective

The Sad Sox dodged their destiny a second straight time by beating the Angels 4-3 in ten innings last night. Andrew Benintendi is really shoring up his trade value, what with his second walk-off hit in two games. Too bad Chris Flexen starts today, or good thing that Flexen gets the call. It’s all a matter of perspective. Like hearing Sox GM Chris Getz tell reporters interim manager Mickey Sizemore is in the mix for the permanent gig. And Sizemore’s done what, exactly, to earn consideration? Oh, right, he’s a Getz hire, and he speaks word salad when necessary. Lenyn Sosa and Korey Lee both homered last night. Sosa is hitting .385 over his last fifteen games and .313 over his last thirty. Considering that he’s batting .248 on the season, that tells you how big a hole he dug for himself. And his fielding—the Angels pulled off a suicide squeeze last night, with Sox reliever Justin Anderson fielding the bunt. Anderson wanted to throw to first, but nobody was covering the bag. First baseman Andrew had charged in for the bunt, which should’ve meant Sosa moved over to cover first. He didn’t, and all that nice hitting gives him a -0.6 WAR according to baseball-reference.com. So, the Sad Sox have their second baseman for 2025, or they don’t, depending on your perspective. Ditto behind the plate with Lee. The twelve homeruns are nice, the .211 BA not so much. His arm is a tad above league average in throwing out runners, which is good, though the 33 wild pitches strikes me as a little high. Add it up, and you get a 0.2 WAR. Perspective, please. You have to wonder about Sizemore’s. Lee homered and doubled last night, he sits today for Chuckie Robinson. Add a -.6 to Lee’s WAR to get Robinson’s. Like adding one to 120.

History Delayed

Sad Sox rookie starter Jonathan Cannon threw six shutout innings against the Angels last night, not that it got him a win. In fact, the bullpen was set up to take yet another loss in what promises to be a record-breaking season. Then something happened. With the Sox down 2-0 in the bottom of the eighth, Zach DeLoach, he of .170 batting average, doubled with one out. Next up was pinch hitter Bryan Ramos, who finds himself in an odd situation at the age of 22. Ramos, through no fault of his own, is not GM Chris Getz’s guy at third base; no, Miguel Vargas, he of the .164 BA, is. So, Ramos isn’t getting quite the amount of playing time you’d expect for twelfth-ranked prospect in the organization. Yes, Ramos is hitting .188, but consider this. When he pinch hit Saturday in San Diego, the bases were loaded with 1 out; the temptation was to swing for the fences. Ramos went from a 1-2 count to work a walk, laying off two big breaking balls in the process. A walk led to a run but not a chance for Ramos to start last night. That didn’t stop him from doubling in the first run of the evening; there’d be another two after that. Sad Sox 3 Halos 2, defeat #121 delayed for another day. If this team ever crawls out from under the mess owner Jerry Reinsdorf has made of it, players like Cannon and Ramos will be doing a lot of the heavy lifting. Assuming the front office sees the talent in front of its face, that is.

Other, Better, Things

We had Leo over yesterday, part of the preparations for the arrival of his baby sister. My daughter has raised her son to expect hitting a ball between the time he gets out of pre-school and supper, weather permitting. Yesterday, it just happened to be at Grandma and Grandpa’s. I’m amazed to see the course of his development. For a while, now, he’s wanted people to pitch to him. The kid’s going on three years, three months, so this is pretty unique, at least to me. I can’t say that he showed particular talent hitting live pitching, at least not until yesterday. Two balls went into the neighbor’s yard and one ball slammed off the garage window; the ball’s plastic, so no damage. That’s the thing. The ball’s plastic, between the size of a baseball and a twelve-inch softball; it shouldn’t go that far, but did yesterday. By spring, Leo should be moving onto the bat his mother used at that age, similar in size to a Little League model. It’ll be plastic, which means I’m less interested in his power than in him making steady contact because the barrel will be half the size of the one he’s using now. I can’t wait for spring. And it has nothing to do with the Sad Sox.

Owning Up

Micky Sizemore is really doing Jerry Reinsdorf and Chris Getz proud. The more he gets asked about setting a record for ineptitude, the more he dismisses its significance. Yesterday, the Sad Sox blew yet another late-inning lead to lose 4-2 in San Diego for a record-tying 120th time. It was the MLB-worst 36th blown save to go with 48 bullpen losses. And remember, there are six games to go. Today’s Sun-Times caught Sizemore letting the ex-player speak for just a few seconds about how breaking the record will “put a bitter taste in all our mouths” before breaking into Mickey-Speak with, “It’s [breaking the 120-loss record] not something we’re focused on. Everyone outside this room is more obsessed with it than us. [We need to] Put it behind us and get ready for the next series at home.” In other words, ignore rather than own up to the obvious. And that, my dear friends, is exactly how you guarantee that this will be an excruciatingly long, painful rebuild.

Reaping and Sowing

How does a team lose 119 games in a season, with seven left to break a record for futility? By reaping what it sows. Last night in San Diego, the Sad Sox fielded a lineup where six of nine batters were hitting under .214 and four under .178. If that didn’t guarantee still another loss, starting Chris Flexen with his 5.09 ERA sure did. Padres 6 Sad Sox 2. Looking at you, Chris Getz. How does an organization reach 119 losses, with more beckoning? By allowing a general manager to allow Mark Buehrle to walk and another to trade Fernando Tatis Jr. for James Shields. Any team that conducts a manager search and settles on Mickey Mouse is asking for trouble, and this one got what it so richly deserves. Interim manager Mickey Sizemore reflected the organizational cluelessness of his employers by telling reporters yesterday, “It’s not always about the wins.” [quote in today’s Sun-Times] Oh, really? Then, how do you get to the postseason? By amassing losing streaks of twelve, fourteen and 21games, in one season? Do tell, Mr. Reinsdorf, do tell.

Ghosts

The Sad Sox are 0-100 this season when trailing after eight innings. That includes last night 3-2 loss in ten to the Padres. But hats off to Sox second baseman Lenyn Sosa, who tied the game with a two-run homerun with two out in the top of the ninth. Sosa hit a 100.4 mph fastball from closer Robert Suarez into the leftfield stands. Sosa is batting .370 over his last seven games, .368 over his last fifteen. It looks like someone is making the most of the chance handed him. Too bad baseball games don’t (usually) end in a tie; that way, loss #118 could’ve been avoided, or at least delayed. Instead, Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a walk-off single. Somewhere, Rick Hahn should be holding his head in his hands, regretting yet again the trade that sent Tatis to the Padres for James Shields, who was well past his expiration date. Everyone in the world knew that, except Hahn and the man who employed him. The TV cameras caught ex-Sox starter Dylan Cease laughing it up in the Padres’ dugout, and who could blame him? His team has an outside chance of catching the Dodgers in the NL West and should make the playoffs even if they don’t. Somewhere, Sad Sox GM Chris Getz is crossing his fingers in the hope that Drew Thorpe recovers from elbow surgery and those two other prospects he got from San Diego for Cease (pitcher Jairo Iriarte and outfielder Samuel Zavala) pan out. But don’t hold your breath. Did I mention Cease has a no-hitter among his fourteen wins for the Padres? Or that a record the Mets have held since 1962 is about to fall?

Fire Sale

At the 2016 winter meetings, Sad Sox GM Rick Hahn traded Chris Sale for Michael Kopech, Yoan Moncada and two prospects who never developed as hoped. How White Sox, that. Sale spent seven seasons with the White Sox, going74-50 with a 3.00 ERA. In the seven seasons since, he’s 64-33, with an ERA a shade north of 3. From 2019-2023, he went 17-18. This year, the 35-year old lefty has gone 18-3 with a 2.38 ERA for the Braves. Cy Young, anybody? Jerry Reinsdorf would point to that 2019-2023 stretch as a reason not to sign pitchers to long-term contracts. As for the other side, there’s what Sale did for the Sad Sox and what he’s accomplishing this year with Atlanta. The Sox could’ve gone after their first-round draft choice from 2010 instead of signing Erick Fedde and Chris Flexen, but that wouldn’t be the Sad Sox way. IN January, the Red Sox traded Sale and $16 million to the Braves, who are paying him $16 million this season and $22 million the next with an $18 million club option for 2026. [figures from mlb.com, 1-4-24] Fedde signed with the Sox for $15 million over two years and Flexen $1.75 million. Penny-wise to say the least. Signing a player of Sale’s caliber would’ve sent a clear message. Going after Fedde and Flexen does, too. I could talk about Kopech and Moncada, but, really, why bother?

In Case You Were Wondering

How does a team lose for the 117th time in 153 games? Do what the Sad Sox did and start three players all batting under .175. And then manage the bullpen so that Chad Kuhl is your choice to hold a one-run lead in both the tenth and eleventh innings. Angels 4 Sad Sox 3 in thirteen innings. This is not a good week to be Jerry Reinsdorf, which sort of makes it a good week for White Sox fans. First, Reinsdorf’s little boat tour of the South Loop site for his new publicly-subsidized if not fully-funded stadium laid an egg. Then, today The Athletic ran a story by Brittany Ghiroli and Ken Rosenthal that traces all the team’s problems back to one source, the Chairman himself. My favorite adjective used in the story—“calcified,” as in Reinsdorf’s “views on the game.” Oh, and his team is going to set the modern-day record for most losses in a season.

Carrot and Stick

The Sad Sox reverted to form last night in Anaheim, losing 5-0 to the Angels. That’s the nineteenth shutout loss in 152 games played, or 12.5 percent of the schedule so far. The Cubs and Sox are tied for most shutout losses in a season with 32, so good news there. That’s one record that won’t be broken. On Monday, Jerry Reinsdorf and the developer for his proposed stadium sponsored a boat tour of the site on the Chicago River. Things did not go as planned, with a number of state legislators finding other things to do. What a difference half a lifetime makes. Back in the 1980s, local politicians were falling all over themselves in the rush to “save” the White Sox for Chicago. That ship has sailed, if you’ll pardon the pun. This time around, members of the General Assembly laissez faire attitude about public funding for a stadium. That can only mean one thing. Watch for the rumors to start about the Sox looking to move. Mark my

JMI, part II

Andrew Benintendi hit two homeruns last night while Andrew Vaughn and Lenyn Sosa each hit solo shots. Sosa is hitting .345 over his last fifteen games, .444 over his last seven. Sad Sox 8 Angels 4. On the mound, rookie Jonathan Cannon delivered another decent-plus start for the win. Cannon went 6.2 innings and could have been charged with giving up just two runs if not for manager Mickey Sizemore’s unjustified faith in reliever Chad Kuhl; both the runners Kuhl inherited scored. Same old same old, in my imagination or otherwise. This ups the Sad Sox record to 36-115. To put it mildly, they have to win tonight to have any chance of escaping a date with the record books.

Just My Imagination

If only it were late April, or mid-May even, the Sad Sox turning a corner by firing their manager and showing signs of life. Then, I could get excited by a series win over the A’s. Rookie Sean Burke won his first major-league start, with five solid innings of two-run ball. Gavin Sheets homered for the second straight game while Bryan Ramos added a double and a home run. Sox win, 4-3. But this isn’t a team turning corners. Instead, it’s trying to stave off the humiliation of suffering the most losses in a season. The ’62 Mets had 120; after 150 games, their record stood at 37-113. The Sad Sox are 35-115 Imagine that.

Oh, Happy Day

The Sad Sox won their 34th game 149 games into the season, beating the A’s last night 7-6 on a walk-off homerun by Andrew Benintendi in the bottom of the ninth. Maybe that will increase Benintendit’s trade value in the offseason. According to Paul Sullivan in today’s Tribune, the Sad Sox are sponsoring a boat trip on the Chicago River to where they want a new, publicly-subsidized stadium built for them. Far be it from me to wish another Titanic on the passengers. A Marie Celeste would do just fine.

18-16

No, it’s not the last year the White Sox finished above .500, but a combination of two humiliating statistics. With last night’s 2-0 shutout loss to the A’s, the Sad Sox were shut out for the eighteenth time this season while also managing to lose for the sixteenth straight time at home. Consider this: Twelve percent of the games played by the Sad Sox have resulted in shutout losses, and over fifteen percent of the losses have been shutouts. Yet Jerry Reinsdorf is proud of the professionalism shown by his organization. Right. Last night, the “brain trust” continued its routine of setting up Garrett Crochet for defeat. The lefthander pitched four innings, giving up one run, just enough to be tagged for his twelfth loss of the season. Teammates either could not be bothered to score a run for Crochet, or they don’t know how. It’s hard to tell which. I can only hope Reinsdorf has been on hand for each one of the last sixteen home games.

Company Man

Hawk Harrelson came out of the woodwork to say this to Sam Blum in today’s The Athletic about Jerry Reinsdorf and the White Sox, “As long as Jerry’s there, there’s going to be an effort to improve.” Really? Harrelson also said, “This is the worst team that I’ve ever been around, that I’ve ever been associated with. And I’m not associated with them anymore.” OK, now tell me how to fix things. But Hawk couldn’t because that would involve speaking hard truths about at least one person he’s always bowed down to. Mercy.

Silver Lining

How does a team lose for the 114th time in 147 games? By letting the opposition score four two-out runs courtesy of two infield singles. Oh, and by striking out eighteen times. Guardians 6 Sad Sox 4. How does hitting coach Marcus Thames keep his job, at least to the end of the season? By having a boss like team owner Jerry Reinsdorf, who finally deigned to say something about the mess he heads up. Yesterday, Reinsdorf released a statement, which read in part, “Everyone in this organization is extremely unhappy with the results of this season, that goes without saying. This year has been very painful for all, especially our fans. We did not arrive here overnight, and solutions won’t happen overnight either.” Huh, the last time Reinsdorf ventured out, he said the team owed it to the fans to “get better as fast as we can possibly get better. Speed is of the essence.” [all quotes from today’s Tribune] What a difference a year makes. Wait, there’s more. Reinsdorf said he was impressed by the “continued work” and “professional attitude” players and other team employees have demonstrated this year. Well, that explains how Thames stays employed. On a personal note, Michele and I went to yesterday’s game, where I was able to keep a promise I made to our grandson. The tickets, for two seats eleven rows back of the Sad Sox dugout, cost less than the parking did. The great part about going to a game with a few thousand people in attendance is you know the players can hear you. If only they’d taken my suggestions. The Guardians’ Kyle Manzardo hit a foul ball into the stands in the third inning. I didn’t even bother to track the ball, which had to fall a good ten-to-fifteen rows back of us. I didn’t account for the bounce, which took it to the row behind us. Still, I was too busy working my scorecard to pay attention until I saw a ball rolling at my feet. I picked it up, and now Leo has what I told him I would get him.

Agency

No hits for Bryan Ramos last night, but a decent game nonetheless. Ramos made a really nice play at third to throw out Lane Thomas in the eighth inning from deep behind the bag, and he lined out so hard in the ninth to end the game that he sent third baseman Jose Ramirez sprawling. Guardians 5 Sad Sox 0. What really bothered me, other than the Sad Sox losing their fourteenth straight at home and 113th on the season, was a comment GM Hahn-Getz made Monday. Hahn-Getz admitted he wouldn’t have been surprised if the team he’d assembled coming out of spring training went on to lose 100 or 105 or 110 game. He just didn’t think they’d be on the verge of breaking the MLB record for losses in a season. “But this is the cards we’ve been dealt at this point.” [quote in today’s Tribune] It's a bad sign when the guy dealing the cards thinks someone else is responsible. But that’s where we are.

Who Knew?

Last night, Sad Sox rookie third baseman Bryan Ramos got his first start in five games since being recalled from Triple-A Charlotte. Ramos responded by hitting his first major-league homerun, a towering fly to left in a 5-3 Sad Sox loss to the Guardians. The Sox sorry record stands at 33-112, or two worse than the pace set by the ’62 Mets. To hear Sad Sox manager Mickey Sizemore talk about trying to find at-bats for Ramos, you’d think the Sox were 112-33. Fat chance. In a season like this, you take the tiny victories where you can find them. The homerun probably put Ramos back in the lineup tonight, that and Miguel Vargas going 0-for-3 to lower his average to .110 (10-for-91). What I like about Ramos is what Ozzie Guillen repeated on the postgame show yesterday. During Ramos’ first go-around with the Sox in May, Ozzie said Ramos should stay at third, with Yoan Moncada switching over to second. That’s what just about everyone not employed by the Sad Sox feel about the 22-year old. Please, please, Bryan, get some more hits tonight.

A Win! A Win!!

The Red Sox must really stink, letting the Sad Sox score five in the ninth for win number 33 on the season, 7-5. Wow, Bryan Ramos even got to pinch run in the ninth. Fenway was a kaleidoscope of green and red, sunshine and shadow on a September afternoon. The place breathes history. Then again, so did Comiskey Park.

32-111

It seems to me that a starting pitcher is motivated by the opportunity to win a game. Not Garrett Crochet, not with the Sad Sox. You see, Crochet is on a leash of around 50 pitches. So, unless he can reach five innings, he has absolutely no chance of getting a win. Instead of achieving the impossible against the Red Sox last night, Crochet proved all too human, going through his allotment of pitches in just two innings, giving up four runs in the process. Red Sox 7 Sad Sox 5. It was Crochet’s eleventh loss of the season, his team’s. 111th. The ’62 Mets were 35-108 after 143 games. According to mlb.com, Bryan Ramos is the twelfth-best prospect for the Sad Sox, but you could’ve fooled me. Ramos hasn’t appeared in any of the three games since being recalled, and he’s not in today’s starting lineup. Nice to see the Sox brain trust thinking about next season.

Friday Night Lights and the Green Monster

I spent last night watching my son-in-law coach his high school football team to a 31-0 nonconference win. Or I should say I caught glimpses of the game while chasing my grandson around the endzone seating. Words on my tombstone: Grandpa, chase me! So, I didn’t get to see the Sad Sox lose for the 110th time this season, 3-1 in Boston, until I fast-forwarded through TIVO. Yeah, somebody for the Red Sox put a ball over the Green Monster to make the difference. What new? Davis Martin pitched well again. In his last seven starts totaling 35.2 innings, Davis 3.28 ERA and 1.21 WHIP. The twelve walks are a little concerning, but the performance is still noteworthy. So, too, how manager Mickey Sizemore is handling Bryan Ramos, called up to replace an injured Brooks Baldwin—two games glued to the bench. Yeah, that’s what White Sox fans want to see, if Lenyn will ever crack .225. Move over, Amazin’ Mets.

The Green Monster

My three-year old grandson has what I call 1-12 power. Any longtime Start-O-Matic player should know what I mean. Way, way back in the day, players with big power, low batting-average numbers received cards where the homeruns required you to get snake eyes or boxcars with two of three dice thrown; two dice are yellow, the other white. Long story short, it was hard to get 1-12 or 3-2 (and next to impossible roll 1-2, or three ones). Hence, 1-12 power. What this means in practical terms is that most times Leo will dink the ball off the tee or swing at and miss pitches thrown his way. But every once in a while, he rolls that 1-12 with his bat and lines the ball at your head or other places. Wednesday, he hit me in one of the other places. On Labor Day, he put the ball in our neighbor’s yard to the north, this with the tee just a few feet from the fence on the south, so the ball went a good 25 feet on the fly. He’s also cleared a six-foot fence at home. Interesting and encouraging. So, as I was trying to catch my breath after getting hit in that place, I mentioned that, one day, he might put a ball over the Green Monster. My bad, because right now Leo’s world is populated with werewolves and monsters. Luckily, the Sad Sox are visiting Fenway for a weekend series starting tonight. Mom or dad will show him that the only people who should fear this particular monster are lefthanded pitchers. Or anyone on the Sad Sox.

All Bad Things Come to an End

The Sad Sox snapped their twelve-game losing streak last night in Baltimore, topping the Orioles 8-1. Jonathan Cannon picked up the win to put his record at 3-9, which is pretty good by Sox standards. In all fairness to Cannon, he’s stuck on a terrible team, and he does show flashes, not that it matters. This is a team that let Mark Buehrle walk, rather than pay him what he was worth, which in my book was a lot. Buehrle left after the 2011 season, so he never got to team up in the rotation with Chris Sale. Now, that would have been something, Mr. Get-the-ball-and-throw the-ball paired with Mr. Try-and-hit-this-pal. No, Kenny Williams in all his brilliance thought Buehrle and his two no-hitters could be replaced by the likes of Philip Humber and Jake Peavy. Gosh, I wonder why nobody calls Williams to offer him a front-office job. No Buehrle and Sale pairing, no Dylan Cease and Garrett Crochet. Add Cannon to those two, and you’ve got yourself the makings of a staff. Oh, well. Maybe we can make it two in a row with a win in Boston tomorrow. You never know.

Getting Better?

Sad Sox manager Mickey Sizemore wants his team to focus on “getting better,” not avoiding the MLB record for losses in a season. The Keystone Kops may not be focused on futility, but they sure aren’t playing anything resembling major-league baseball. Orioles 9 Sad Sox 0. That’s sixteen shutout losses on the season; one more and over ten percent of the Sox schedule will consist of games where they couldn’t score just one run. Right now, the losing streak is at twelve. So, they could break either the AL record of 21, which they already set this season, or even go for the ML record of 23. You never know. Nick Nastrini started and lost, giving up seven runs—four earned—in 1.2 innings. Nastrini is 0-7 with a 7.79 ERA up here, 3-9 with a 5.24 ERA in Triple-A. By process of elimination, where do you think he belongs? Three unearned runs scored in the second when third baseman Miguel Vargas crashed into left fielder Andrew Benintendi going after a ball Benintendi could’ve caught coming in. Oops, bases loaded. Wait, they’re empty now. Did I mention the six hits, five singles, the Kops punched out? And, hey, Benintendi had a double. Somebody squirt me with the seltzer bottle.