What's the Point?

“South Siders unveil their vaunted southpaws/Sox give’em the old 1-2,” read the headlines on the White Sox team website today, to which any living, breathing, thinking fan should respond, so what? Sox rookie starters Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith both threw scoreless innings in yesterday’s 3-1 loss to the Padres (that’ 0-5 in you’re keeping count). Schultz needed eight pitches, Smith recorded three strikeouts. Again, so what? First off, there’s next to no chance either of them sees Chicago for any extended amount of time until September, if then. Next, let’s say they’re both as good as advertised. You know what that means, right? A low-ball extension offer followed by a refusal followed by a trade. It’s the Reinsdorf way. And what’s the Chris Getz/Will Venable plan here, make it like t-ball where everybody plays? Yesterday, Kyle Teel got two at-bats but didn’t catch; today, Omar Narvaez catches. Yesterday, Jacob Gonzalez and Jacob Amaya split time at short; one’s going to be in the minors while the other is a career .182 hitter whose presence on an MLB roster indicates a team short on talent. Where was Colson Montgomery? Oh, he plays today. Things need to change, or all those empty seats I saw on TV—courtesy of the antenna I bought because the new Sox/Bulls/Hawks sports’ channel still doesn’t have a deal with major cable companies—is going to translate to empty seats on Opening Day and every other home date in 2025.