Snatching

Yesterday, the White Sox hit three homeruns, including two two-run shots by Luis Robert Jr. and pulled off a kind-of steal of home (Nickey Lopez out at second, Braden Shewmake safe at home but not credited with a steal). They still lot to the Tigers, 7-6 in ten innings. It bears repeating—if you’re going to be bad, go young. The Sox were ahead 6-4 going into the seventh when manager Mickey Mouse brought in 32-year old Dominic Leone, who promptly got the score tied. And something else bears watching, with consequences better sooner than later. Eloy Jimenez batted with the bases loaded, one out in the bottom of the seventh and gave the Tigers just what the doctor ordered, a third-to-first double play. Then, with Detroit ahead 7-6, a runner on second and nobody out, Jimenez popped out to third on the first pitch he saw. That’s four baserunners stranded in two at-bats that generated three outs. All of which is how you snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Play Ball

Leo and his parents came over to color Easter eggs this morning. It’s a family requirement, and the kid did himself proud. After we cleaned up, my grandson ushered everyone into the living room while we headed for the back porch, door closed. From there, it was a combination of air guitar with song accompaniment (“Paw Patrol, Paw Patrol,” repeated ad infinitum); checking on the squirrel in the backyard; keeping an eye out for wolves ( a concern of his right now); and throwing whatever ball he could get his hands on. Oh, and hitting. He teed up the mini-basketball and took a swing. Once was enough. I gently advised that, starting next week, we’d commence hitting in the backyard, squirrels and wolves notwithstanding. I also encouraged him to try and hit everything on the sweet spot, which for this bat was the label. It looked like he understood. We’ll see soon enough.

One Down, 100-Plus to Go

Good thing spring training doesn’t count, or else the White Sox record would stand at 9-21 instead of just 0-1 after yesterday’s 1-0 shutout loss at the hands of the visiting Tigers (with Detroit’s new play-by-play man Jason Benetti calling the game). Trust me, it only goes downhill from here. Starter Garrett Crochet was everything you’d want. In his first-ever start, Crochet gave up one run on five hits over six innings, striking out eight without a walk. Crochet threw 87 pitches over six innings to 24 in one inning of relief for Michael Kopech, by the way. The Sox offense consisted of three singles, with not a runner reaching second base and the last seventeen batters all going down ever so sadly. In case you were wondering, Jake Burger had three hits and three RBIs for the Marlins. But, hey, Yoan Moncada didn’t get injured, yet. The announced crowd was 33,420, nearly 7,000 short of a full house. I’m guessing it’s the largest crowd of the year.

Like I Said

I guess the White Sox got half the message—yesterday, they sent some players out onto the street to pass out hot dogs, but it was the wrong street, as in State. That, or one street too few. Andrew Benintendi and Gavin Sheets manned the corner of State and Lake, which, last time I checked, qualifies as North Side real estate, generating all the goodwill that comes with free food and the presence of pro athletes. But they couldn’t do this on 95th Street? What, not enough players? Last time I checked, Nickey Lopez grew up in the southwest suburbs. Our new second baseman couldn’t put in an appearance? But, hey, a picture and story made its way into today’s Sun-Times, and the Sox will take all the attention they can get, especially if it doesn’t entail losing or counting all the empty seats at Guaranteed Rate Whatever. They probably even liked the story about new Sox broadcaster John Schriffen and the man he replaced, Jason Benetti. Sorry, the guy still looks like a deer caught in the headlights, and I don’t mean Benetti.

Take the Ryan, Exit at 95th

Michele and I went to a St. Patrick’s Day party on the South Side in Morgan Park, which doesn’t sound out of the ordinary until you get a load of my last name and I tell you a few stories about my dad. Let’s just say he wasn’t a fan. But a good time was had by all. We took 95th Street west to Harlem on our way home, through the heart of White Sox country. The number of Sox signs and hats and jerseys on display would make you think we were a only few blocks from Guaranteed Ratre Whatever. And I got to wondering. When was the last time anyone from the Sox travelled 95th Street to gauge the mood of Sox fans? Who in the organization would even know how to get there? When the team vice president in charge of looking out the window let play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti walk, the message was loud and clear—people like him, a South Sider born and bred, don’t matter. The same goes for all those folks I saw wearing the colors. I have a feeling they’re going to be returning the disdain Jerry Reinsdorf on down has shown them since forever, and then some. Play ball.

Ignorance is...Ignorance

This morning, Bears’ president Kevin Warren announced the team’s focus for a new stadium has shifted back to Chicago, the lakefront to be exact and just south of their current home at that. Wait, there’s more. As quoted in today’s The Athletic, Warren exhibited one shaky grasp on Chicago history. “It will set this city up for greatness for the next 100 years,” he said from Orlando, where NFL owners are meeting. “If you go back and look at the Daniel Burnham [P]lan from 1932, you’re talking about a vision. He set the vision for the World’s Fair.” Where to start? How’s this: The Burnham Plan dates to 1909, not 1932. And his mention of the 1933 World’s Fair amounts to gibberish. Yes, the fair was centered around Northerly Island, and Burnham called for the creation of a series of such offshore islands, but how somebody who died in 1912 set the “vision” for a world’s fair twenty-one years later is beyond me. And last time I read the Plan—can you say that, Kevin?—Burnham didn’t mention anything about a World’s Fair. I also happen to have a book about the Century of Progress done as kind of coffee-table book. It notes a connection between the Burnham Plan and the “City Beautiful” movement, with the fair connected to Burnham through a couple of degrees of separation. But you have to take time to read the text carefully. Otherwise, you’re bound to say something wrong. Warren also called the lakefront area around the museum campus the “most beautiful piece of property in the country.” Yeah, and the Bears don’t own it. The people of Chicago do, and they shouldn’t give it away to a bunch of grifting Munsters.

Silver Linings

Well, here’s a real silver lining. After yesterday’s 7-3 loss to the Rockies, the White Sox close out spring training with a 9-20 record, but there’s somebody worse, by winning percentage at least. That honor belongs to the Twins, whose 8-18 record translates into a .308 percentage, as opposed to .310 for the Sox. And the Twins are the consensus pick to win the Central Division. Other glimmers of hope? Not really, although GM Chris Getz did give Jesse Chavez and Touki Toussaint their walking papers (while bringing back outfielder Kevin Pillar. Go figure.). Beyond that, the talent is so bare the Opening Day roster isn’t set three days before the first pitch of the season. And I guess this qualifies as good news of a sort. Catcher Max Stassi is suffering from general soreness from missing last season due to injury. That opens the door to Korey Lee. If you’re going to be bad, be bad with youth. Lee is 25 to Stassi’s 33. Nothing personal, Max.

Countdown

Spring training is supposed to be the time when you can dream about breakout seasons leading to the postseason. Not with the White Sox. Going into today’s game, their record stands at 9-19, which comes out to a .321 winning percentage. Call it the Mark of the Mouse. Last season, Sox manager Mickey Mouse “led” his team to a 61-101 record, with a .377 winning percentage. I don’t know about you, but I see a pattern here. If nothing else, new GM Chris Getz has proven adept at moving deck chairs. With Rick Hahn in charge, I’d expect Mike Moustakas and Kevin Pillar to make the Opening Day roster. Instead, they got released earlier this week. By my way of thinking, this shows Getz is looking to the future, not the past, and that’s a good thing. Mickey Mouse as manager is not. I’m more than happy to be wrong here, to the point I’ll go back to referring to Mouse by his given name if the Sox are over .500 by the end of May. But truth be told, by that time I expect to see either a new manager in place or a list of possibilities to fill what will very shortly become a managing vacancy on the South Side.

How Generous

According to a story in today’s Sun-Times, the Bears are pushing a lakefront makeover via their latest stadium proposal. How generous of them. The Munsters’ plan would include a year-round restaurant and improved public access to Chicago’s Museum Campus just north and east of Soldier Field. These and other great ideas come in at an estimated $1 billion, with the public picking up the tab. Who wouldn’t want to partner with an organization currently fighting its tax bill with school districts in and around Arlington Heights, where the Bears bought property? Marshall Field was a Chicago philanthropist; without him, there might not be a University of Chicago or a Field Museum of Natural History. Julius Rosenwald was a Chicago philanthropist; without him, there would be no Museum of Science and Industry. In comparison, the McCaskeys are just a bunch of poseurs looking for a free lunch at public expense. No, thank you.

Voices

Sometimes, Michele and I celebrate our wedding anniversary over dinner, other times, over breakfast. Today, with a light snow reminiscent of the flurries that met us a couple over 40 years ago, it was breakfast. The thing about this time of year is, there’s always a mix of golf, baseball and basketball on. I’m pretty sure the brother-in-law I didn’t like took control of the TV at my parents to put golf on, just a few hours before we all left for the big event. I can’t remember what tournament it was, I can barely remember him, a man who did not do right by my sister Betty. I drove to the wedding, located in a hotel just behind the Merchandise Mart. That means the radio would have been on to a White Sox game, Harry Caray behind the mic. I can barely remember the sound of the voice of a man who did not do right by all those players he badmouthed. I miss Ed Farmer, whose voice I have no problem recalling, so much I find it hard to listen to Sox games on the radio now. No disrespect intended, D.J. and Len. I seem to recall other anniversary breakfasts, with the radio on, but not like today when I listened to Northwestern play Florida Atlantic in the NCAA Men’s Tournament; college basketball isn’t really my thing. No, right now, it’s echoes of Jim Durham calling a jumper by Scott May. That would have to mean an early Sunday afternoon. I mean, who has breakfast at night? Or maybe it was David Greenwood.

Before My Very Eyes

I went on my computer to check the score of the White Sox-Reds game yesterday. Before I was done running down the box score, a 1-1 tie after six became 2-1 Cincy in the top of the seventh, courtesy of a homerun. Time to check email. That took, oh, 45 seconds or so. After that, I went back to Gameday on mlb.com. Chad Kuhl with a lifetime 4.98 ERA had given up a second gopher ball. Reds win, 3-1, dropping the Sox record to 8-17. No team has lost more games this spring. Can’t wait for Opening Day. Central Division cellar, here we come.

Counting Down

Nine days to the start of the baseball season (Dodgers-Padres in Korea doesn’t count, sorry), and I’m not feeling it. Maybe it’s me. Or not. I need to get a baseball magazine, if there are any still in business. Just a few years ago, I could find Athlon, Lindy’s and Street and Smith nestled among the girlie magazines. Now, only Lindy’s survives, and I’m pretty sure the tending arrow for the White Sox will be pointing down. I can’t even find anything on eBay worth buying. Oh, there was a 1974 Sox picture pennant I could’ve gotten for $31, and this is the first picture pennant I can remember seeing from the ’70s. But it’s not a group photo, just a bunch of head shots. No thanks. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so I went on baseball-reference.com a few hours to go to see how many ballplayer pictures I could identify. Only two out of twelve, but, hey, a Sox fan who can name ex-Cub George Altman, who last played for the North Siders in 1967, not too shabby, I’d say. One more thing—today just so happens to be Altman’s 91st birthday. Happy birthday, my man, and many more. Now, I feel better, even about the Sox. From what I can tell, odds are either Zach Remillard or Danny Mendick will make the team as a utility player. Maybe if I’m extra good in the days ahead, they both will.

Growth

For some reason, the Bulls have kept my attention this season. Maybe part of me wants to avoid thinking about the impending disaster that the White Sox promise to be starting next week. But there’s more to it than that. Starting with head coach Billy Donovan. Whatever his X’s and O’s skill level, Donovan is a master communicator; when he talks, he says something. He also holds players accountable, this without recrimination, at least in public. And then we have the development of guards Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu; I shudder to think what this team would be without them. White looks to be the frontrunner for most improved player in the NBA. Dosunmu is just better. The third-year guard from Illinois let slip this week that he keeps a journal. Let me repeat, he keeps a journal. As Dosunmu explained, it’s helped him chart his progress from last year to this, just as he thinks it will this season to next. Saturday, Dosunmu scored 34 points with nine assists against the Wizards; last night against the Trail Blazers, it was 23 and 10. Oh, and three turnovers combined. More of that please. The Bulls won both games to pull, once again, to within a game of .500, with the Rockets up next. After that, the Celtics. Depending on how those games go, Dosunmu could have plenty to write about.

In the Headlines

I saw a story in today’s The Athletic, “Cubs roster projection: Jobs up for grabs as Craig Counsell challenges front office.” It seems the new Cubs’ manager wants a roster that will allow him to play the game he wants to, as opposed to just accepting the roster given him. Somehow, I doubt there’ll be a story like that written about the White Sox anytime soon. Jobs up for grabs as Mickey Mouse challenges front office? Please. Mouse does as he’s told. Probably always has in baseball and always will. You think Jerry Reinsdorf wanted someone with a mind of his own? That ended when GM Larry Himes got the axe back in 1990. The second headline of note, from today’s mlb.com: “Here’s who’s on top to start the season.” In other words, the power rankings. The Sox come in at 28 out of 30. That’s down one since the last ranking on January 1st. Maybe Mouse will print and post the story in the clubhouse for motivation. In which case, bad idea.

He Gone, Contd.

Well, the obvious finally became official yesterday, when the Bears traded quarterback Justin Fields to the Steelers for sixth-round or fourth-round draft pick, depending how much Fields plays next season. Munsters’ GM Ryan Poles better hope Fields falls flat on his face, because, if he succeeds, this will highlight the difference between the two franchises, both founding pillars of the NFL. Hint: It has something to do with ownership. The Steelers are and always have been operated by the Rooney family in the same way the Bears are a Halas/McCaskey entity. The Steelers used to be hapless back when the Munsters were Monsters, but that all changed since the dawn of the Super Bowl Era, six Super Bowl championships to one. Since 1969, the Steelers have employed three head coaches—Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin. The Bears? Would you believe twelve? Trust me, there’s no need to list them. For my money, what Fields may have lacked in physical skills he more than made up for in leadership. Consider the opening of the statement he released after the trade was announced: ”Can’t say thank you enough to the city of Chicago for taking me in and embracing me.” He went on to thank ownership, the organization and his “brothers,” aka teammates. This is one savvy, just-turned-25-year old. I’m pretty sure his new teammates will have no problem taking to him from the get-go. It’ll be the same player part of two different organizations and systems. Let the comparisons begin.

Sammy, Sammy, Sammy

Ex-Cub Sammy Sosa was back in town for the first time since 2007. And, yes, Sosa still resides in the land of denial. If I heard him correctly in a TV interview, Sosa thinks he has HOF-worthy credentials. He also continues to refuse to bring up PEDs, as if that will make the taint go away. It won’t. In addition, Sosa mentioned that he and the Cubs are moving in the direction of some sort of reconciliation. If true, this I want to see, especially the look on Tom Ricketts’ face when Sosa starts waving to the Cubie faithful. Which leads me back to that “if true” part. I’m not holding my breath because Ricketts isn’t the type to hold his nose.

And One Foot Out the Door?

Yesterday, White Sox GM Chris Getz announced that Michael Kopech will start the season in the bullpen. Kopech says he’s disappointed. Me, I’m more curious. What makes Getz think Kopech will do any better out of the pen? For his career, Kopech is 12-22 with a 4.26 ERA starting and 3-3 with a 4.66 ERA relieving. Moreover, he has a 5.40 ERA in the first inning. Wouldn’t that also hold for him coming into the game in the seventh or later? Two things stand out here, starting with the fact Getz was the one announcing the move. Where was manager Mickey Mouse? Probably deferring to the boss. Expect Mouse to do that all the way up until the day he gets fired. Second, I think Getz is letting Kopech know he has to produce, now. A career 12-22 mark with a 4.26 ERA as a starter doesn’t exactly help the righty’s case that he should continue in the rotation. His career stats in relief pretty much tell me the same thing. We’ll see.

He Gone

Well, Dylan Cease’s feet are somewhere else now, with the Padres, to be exact, as San Diego prepares to open the season in Korea. The White Sox traded the 28-year old righthander for three prospects and a veteran reliever. The names don’t really matter because three of the players are pitchers, two of them rookies. If those two show promise, the front office will try to sign them to team-friendly deals that takes them through their arbitration years. If they don’t agree, they’ll become trade-bait. And, if they do sign and continue to improve, they’ll get traded before their walk year, like Cease. This is how things have gone and will continue to go as long as Jerry Reinsdorf owns the team. For Sox fans, it’s turning into a game of actuarial chicken. Great.

The Mouse That Roared

White Sox manager Mickey Mouse grew testy yesterday when a reporter asked him about Dylan Cease being on the team’s Opening Day roster: “I don’t know. I mean how am I supposed to know that?” [mlb.com/video/pedro-grifol-addresses-dylan-cease-trade-rumors]. Mouse continued along this vein with, “ I don’t know where other teams are, what their urgency is. I have no idea. I leave that to our major-league scouts, our general manager, the front office.” Mickey, what you should have said was, “All I know is I want him here, but it’s not up to me,” and change the subject. I wouldn’t compliment Cease the odd way you did, by saying, “He is where his feet are,” then adding, “I am where my feet are.” Last time I checked, that was true for anyone not the victim of some terrible injury. Cease struck out eight Reds last night over 3.1 innings. A 14-1 win puts the Sox spring record at 5-13. So, obviously, trading Cease would solve all the team’s problems A humbler suggestion for GM Chris Getz, if I might: Make it a monster deal, with Yoan Moncada and/or Michael Kopech part of the mix. And keep working on that list of candidates to replace Mouse, who doesn’t sound long for the job.

Waiting for Godot, and Others

In his first start of the spring, Michael Kopech needed 45 pitches to get through two innings of work. It’s been all downhill since. In his second start, Kopech threw 32 pitches over 2.2 innings, including two hits, three walks and three runs (two earned). Yesterday, it was 2.1 innings, four hits, two walks, four earned runs. Oh, and two of the hits left the park. That gives our projected #3 or 4 starter a 7.71 ERA on the spring with a 1.71 WHIP. All the numbers are clearly trending the wrong way. Either Kopech is a special talent the White Sox so far have failed to develop, in which case they need a new pitching coach, or he’s a player who’s never going to pan out. What worries me even more is he’s starting to do the “I’m all good” thing the way that Dallas Keuchel and other pitchers with diminishing skills resort to when the bad outings start to pile up. A team can wait for only so long. Even the White Sox.

Hold Onto Your Wallets

Without officially turning their backs on Arlington Heights, the Bears announced today their interest in building a domed stadium in the parking lot south of Soldier Field, along with a willingness to contribute $2 billion in private funding. If you’ll pardon the pun, that’s rich. This is an organization fighting tooth and nail to lower the tax assessment on the property it bought in the northwest suburbs; the McCaskeys couldn’t care less about the optics of trying to force school districts into taking less funding. We’re a founding franchise, dammit! And all this talk about the fan experience. The Bears were going to build their own entertainment district on their own property; they can’t do that on public parkland. It’s not even sure they can build a new stadium there. Oh, excuse me. A public body will build it for them, so that makes it all OK. But none of this means the fans have been forgotten, so sirree. How much of that $2 billion will be coming from issuing new personal seat licenses? I’d go so far as to say the team would increased seating capacity just to get more PSL revenue, but I am skeptical by nature. I’d also be careful about any kind of public-private “partnership” offered. The Bears are going to want control of concessions/parking while offering to pay a minimal rent. These guys don’t want to fund schools. You think they’re going to pay their fair share all of a sudden? Of course, the team could go about 1-1/2 miles south on the lakefront to the old Michael Reese hospital site, with 48 acres just waiting to be developed. Yet not a peep about this site. I wonder why. For that matter, if it’s going to be a domed stadium, why does it have to be on the lakefront at all?

So What?

Scott Merkin did a story on the White Sox website today about all the pitching the Sox have. Really? How does a 5.58 team ERA, second worst in baseball, qualify as good pitching? Or a .274 opponents’ BA, third worst? Or a 1.58 WHIP, worst? I wonder if Merkin looked at himself in the mirror after writing, “There is some depth within this mound crew,” a conclusion I certainly wouldn’t reach. But let’s say he’s right. Dylan Cease, Garrett Crochet and Michael Soroka have all looked good so far (part of the inflated ERA coming from Touki Toussaint’s 59.40 and Bryan Shaw’s 27.00). And let’s say Michael Kopech figures it out and/or Eric Fedde proves to be the bargain of a lifetime. Then what? If, by some miracle, the Sox get off to a hot start, trading Cease would stop things, posthaste. And the Sox really don’t want to keep Cease. A., he’s a pitcher. B., he has Scott Boras for an agent. He gone, sooner than later. In this scenario, where GM Chris Getz addresses reporters about the importance of long-term gain over short-term advantage, fans will voice their unhappiness, and Jerry Reinsdorf dislikes fans almost as much as he does pitchers. Nothing here strikes me as cause for optimism. But, hey, I’m a Sox fan.

Goodbye, So Long…

The White Sox sent down twelve players yesterday, including Oscar Colas, who started last season as the answer to a nagging problem in right field only to play his way onto the bench. Manager Mickey Mouse broke the news, telling Colas he had “a good camp.” [story on today’s team website] If true, what a weird way of rewarding a player. Then again, is 3-for-16 really a good camp? The Sox also sent down starter Jake Eder, acquired for infielder Jake Burger at the trade deadline last July. Manager Mouse has called on 22 pitchers this spring; Eder was not one of them. So, unless things change drastically, Colas and Eder will go down as Rick Hahn’s parting gift to his ex-team. To which I can only say, thanks a lot.

How Long Can This Go On?

Well, I almost made it to the end of the Bulls’ game last night against the Warriors. With 6:20 left and Chicago ahead by one, I set TIVO on record and went to bed; call it a bad feeling, plus sleep calling. I mean, the Bulls hadn’t won in Oakland/SF since 2015. Oh, me of little faith. With Satan, the wonder basset, sharing the couch first thing this morning, I watched those last six-plus minutes. Really, a 125-122 win against Steph Curry and Klay Thompson? How the mighty have fallen, or, in this case, slipped to 33-29. You know things are going your way when Draymond Green fouls out with 58 seconds left in the game tied at 116. Not only did Green get called for a moving screen on Alex Caruso, Caruso survived the hit. No mean feat, that. DeMar DeRozan and company have now pulled to within one game of .500 for the first time since game five of the season back in early November. DeRozan was DeRozan, with 33 points in 39 minutes. Somebody 34-years old is going to run out of gas before long, if he hasn’t already but doesn’t know it. Not that head coach Billy Donavan has much choice but to ride DeRozan hard. The Bulls’ bench is pretty thin due to injury and a front office that isn’t exactly an astute judge of talent. Maybe I should mention here the Clippers, at 40-21, are up next. What are the odds for a 4-0 West Coast road trip? I’m guessing it all depends on a certain 34-year old forward.

Neither Nor

Michael Kopech made his second start of the spring yesterday, and it was pretty much like his first, only worse. Kopech went 2.2 innings against the Dodgers, giving up three runs (two earned) on two hits, three walks and a HBP. He threw 32 pitches while facing fourteen Dodgers in an eventual 12-9 loss. Also yesterday, Sox manager Mickey Mouse wouldn’t say Kopech was going to be one of his starting pitchers. Why, pray tell, would you put him in the bullpen? A clean inning just isn’t part of his mindset. Maybe I should mention here that the big Texas righthander is 27-years old. How much longer do you wait for him to put it together? If I were in charge, I’d pretty much make it clear that I wasn’t looking at strikeouts or ERA to make my decision; it would be WHIP. Anything over 1.25 by the end of spring training, and I’d find myself another pitcher. Kopech’s WHIP stands at 1.29 after two starts.

Or Get Off the Pot

The Bulls are off on the West Coast, playing too mediocre and too late for me to stay up. Monday night I checked in before going to bed. They were down nineteen to the Kings pretty late in the third quarter. Nighty-night. Lo and behold, Coby White and company stormed back in the fourth quarter, outscoring Sacramento by eighteen for a comeback win, 113-109. Shame on me for losing faith. Or not. White scored 37 points to 33 for DeMar DeRozan and 20 for Ayo Dosunmu. After that, ick, as in Alex Caruso shooting 1-for-10 on the night, including 0-for-6 from beyond the arc. That’s this Bulls’ team in a nutshell, the good and ugly fighting it out on the floor night after night. Jerry Reinsdorf’s other team is 5-5 over their last ten games, with wins against the Cavs, Pelicans and Kings, good teams all. The losses come against good teams and bad teams, the Celtics and the Pistons. It all adds up to a 29-32 record. It’s either 30 wins or 33 losses after tonight’s game in Utah. The Jazz are basically the Bulls-West, at 28-34. You have to win against an opponent like this. We’ll see.

Yeah, Right

According to today’s Sun-Times, the developer working with the White Sox has reached out to the Bears to create what he calls a “financing partnership.” This I got to see. Would it be a partnership like two wolves hunting, or two lions? Maybe two jackals, but jackals aren’t known to share. And the whole idea here is to share whatever flows into the public trough. Again, this I got to see. The optics also promise to be awful for Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson, if he’s seen as a self-proclaimed “progressive” championing public funding for not one but two stadiums that will only increase the value of billion-dollar franchises. Plus, to make it all happen, the McCaskeys would have to work in tandem with Jerry Reinsdorf. See “jackals,” above. Would they both want entertainment campuses? Are the Bears now thinking of renting their new home? What happens if and when Reinsdorf hints he’ll move the team if the funding isn’t forthcoming? Oh, the questions when jackals partner up.

Club Mouse

When spring training started three weeks ago, everybody mentioned the great vibe the White Sox had in camp. So far, the vibe has translated into a 3-8 record. The Sox are last in all of baseball with a .211 Ba; 25th in runs scored; and 21st in homeruns. About the only part of the offense that’s gone as manager Mickey Mouse wants is stolen bases, where the Sox rank eleventh. Did I mention pitching? The team ERA is 5.90, which comes out to 26th best in baseball! The emphasis on better control is really showing, too, not—the Sox are tied for sixth most in walks. All of which makes it hard to get excited about them being tied for fourteenth in strikeouts, with 88. In contrast, Sox hitters have struck out 99 times, seventh most. All I can say is, if this continues into the regular season, GM Chris Getz better have a list ready of candidates to replace Mouse, starting with Ozzie Guillen.

What's Pitching Got to Do With It?

Dylan Cease made his spring debut for the White Sox yesterday, pitching two scoreless innings. No doubt, Jerry Reinsdorf feels vindicated (and vindictive, too. That’s just part of his nature.). You see, the Sox acquired Cease, back in 2017 along with Eloy Jimenez, in a package involving pitcher Jose Quintana. And Quintana was the textbook free-agent signing for the Sox, a minor leaguer. You see, pitching for pitching, and at some point in the not-too-distant-future, pitching for rainbows and unicorns. Last year, the Sox acquired Gregory Santos from the Giants for pitcher Kade McClure (do you see a pattern here?), and Santos had himself a nice rookie year, with a 3.39 ERA and five saves in 60 appearances. So, they traded him last month to the Mariners for outfielder Zach DeLoach and reliever Prelander Berroa. Berroa is being touted as a possible closer sooner than later. Off of yesterday’s appearance against the Rangers, I’d say, No, unless six earned runs in .2 innings qualifies. Of course, there’s always Bryan Shaw. He went a whole inning and only gave up four runs. Yeah, the Sox have this pitching thing down cold.

Same Old Same Old

First, the good news on Michael Kopech—he struck out five batters in two inning of work yesterday in his first start of the spring. The bad news—it took him 29 pitches to get out of the first. In comparison, the second inning took a mere sixteen pitches. Did I mention Kopech went 3-2 on six batters? Teams don’t win when their starters spend half the day getting six outs, which goes a long way explaining why the White Sox don’t win with Kopech on the mound. Another reason is the team’s pitching philosophy based on the belief pitchers are interchangeable. The Sox will prove this idea even if it kills off their fan base. This is an organization that alienated Jack McDowell; let Mark Buehrle walk; and failed to build a team around Chris Sale, so they traded him. Jerry Reinsdorf doesn’t like committing long term to pitchers, which leads to rotations that are a patchwork of rookies and castoffs and wannabes. Kopech and Jonathan Cannon and Erick Fedde, oh my. The Sox had a 6-2 lead against the Cubs going into the bottom of the fifth yesterday, the North Siders’ two runs coming courtesy of one inning of work by Jesse Chavez, he of the 24.00 ERA. Chavez looked lights-out, though, compared to Touki Toussaint, who gave up six runs, four earned, in .1 inning of work. That comes out to a 108.00 ERA in case you’re wondering. The Sox went on to lose, 10-6. But, hey, it’s only spring. They’ll find out which pitchers can pitch before the month is out. Or they won’t. Either way, it’s only pitching, which is why they can trade away Dylan Cease.

Almost Fun

The nice thing about the split-squad White Sox winning two games yesterday is I can back away from the ledge, if only for a day. On top of that, the people I’m rooting for to make the team all had themselves a good day. Starting with Gavin Sheets. The big guy hit two homeruns against the Royals and looks more comfortable at the plate, something he said he’s been working on. Sheets could be good for, oh, 200 homers in his career if he has in fact put things together. Players with sweet lefthanded swings tend to play for a very long time, provided those swings lead to hits. Zach Remillard and Danny Mendick aren’t so blessed, two righthanded hitters who, at the age of 30, are fighting for a roster spot. Remillard homered, and Mendick drove in two runs against the Mariners, and that’s good, to an extent. Because the odds are stacked against them. Neither is on the 40-man roster, and both of them are tied to the old regime of Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn, though new GM Chris Getz should be quite familiar with the duo from his days as director of player development. Still, that may not be enough to get either of them to stick with the team come Opening Day. Teams talk about grinders, then collect or discard them according to need. That’s baseball, which is a lot like life.