Recalculating

What to make of one series that finds the White Sox 1-2 after yesterday’s 3-2 loss to the Angels? Well, the team ERA stands at 1.00, which is pretty much to die for. Oh, but the team batting average. When you throw out a bunch of guys who “hit” at a .196 clip, there’s trouble in River City, my friends. Now, let’s turn our attention to Triple-A Charlotte, where the Knights are 3-0 after sweeping Gwinnett. Top prospects Edgar Quero and Kyle Teel had themselves quite a weekend; Quero went 5-for-11 and Teel 6-for-12 with an eye-popping nine RBIs. And these guys aren’t in the majors, why, exactly? As for Colson Montgomery, look out below. The not-so-long-ago gem of the organization is already slumping, as evidenced by a .077 BA (1-for-13) with a stomach-turning nine strikeouts. Montgomery hasn’t hit above .244 since his promotion Double-A Brimingham during the 2023 season. This is the Sox prospect I expect to see on the move soon. Back to Double-A.

Bah, Humbug

The downside to rooting for a team or two is the losing. In Chicago, that means a lot of downside. Yesterday, the White Sox lost 1-0 because the lineup Will Venable threw out there couldn’t touch an OK+ pitcher (Jose Soriano) and Mike Clevinger couldn’t field his position. Bah. A little over five hours later, the Bulls lost 120-119 to the visiting Mavs because Klay Thompson and Anthony Davis always scare the bejesus out of them and they committed way too many turnovers, nineteen vs. six for Dallas. Plus the Bulls missed five free throws. Humbug. Fortune does not smile on sloppy play, guys.

Is This Anything?

How can it not be, when Josh Giddey sinks a 47-footer from half-court to beat the visiting Lakers Thursday night, 119-117? Oh, the look on the face of that LA fan was priceless. Don’t let the door hit you on the way to the airport, my friend. I think we can now officially move past the “they should be tanking, not winning” take that filled the airwaves the past week or so. And let’s not worry what Joe Cowley brought up in today’s Sun-Times, how much it will cost to keep Giddey and Coby White around. Right now, those two get the rest of the regular season, which comes out to nine games, and the postseason to show what they’re about. Until then, just enjoy the ride, or, as the great philosopher Bobby McFerrin once urged, don’t worry, be happy. Like scoring nine points in the final 12.6 seconds when you’re down by five. Makes me smile.

Cruel to be Kind

The White Sox beat the Angels 8-1 yesterday at (Cut)Rate Field to go above .500 for the first time in two years. Truly, baby steps. Sean Burke continues to look like a major-league starter, throwing six shutout innings on a mere three hits and zero walks. Oh, gosh, only three punchouts, which means the 25-year old righthander pitched to contact. Whatever. If Burke’s a keeper, maybe Lenyn Sosa is, too. Sosa hit the ball hard twice before connecting for a two-run homerun in the bottom of the eighth. All I’m asking for, Lenyn, is consistency at second base and at the plate. After that, it would be wrong to get too excited. Andrew Benintendi cranked a three-run homer to put the game out of reach in the eighth, so could for him. Chris Getz is still likely to spend the entire season trying to move Benintendi, though. Along with Luis Robert Jr., who hit a double and played a nice centerfield, and Mike Clevinger, who struck out Jorge Soler on a full count with the bases loaded in the top of the eighth. Austin Slater, who homered in his first White Sox at-bat, is more likely to get released when the time comes, unless he puts up some nice numbers that will net a midlevel prospect from somebody. Miguel Vargas? Two hits, one of them the saddest of dying quails. He didn’t do anything to hurt his chances at third base, but time will tell. Ditto for Andrew Vaughn, who really needs to get off to a good start for a change. As for Korey Lee, he’s a gone catcher walking, unless Kyle Teel and/or Edgar Quero fail to make it out of Triple-A. Anyway, it’s baseball, and that’s all I can ask for.

What I Want

What I want from the White Sox, first off, is for them to play hard and with a purpose. Under ex-manager Mickey Mouse, those proved to be two impossible goals. Next, I want to see young talent playing at 35th and Shields, the sooner the better. I don’t want to watch ballgames with the Cannon Ballers, Barons or Knights. If the Sox are going to be compared to a bunch of minor leaguers, put those minor leaguers on the major league roster. Last and by no means least, I want Jerry Reinsdorf gone. Hope springs eternal on a day such as this.

A Big Gamble

With the White Sox posting an over/under of 53.5 wins in gambling circles, there’s not much to do other than wait. But the Cubs, well, we can have some fun with them. The modus operandi for the North Siders seems to be a mix of retreat and confusion. Are they a big-market team or not? Kind of depends on the day of the week you ask. And Tom Ricketts does show signs of turning into Jerry Reinsdorf light when it comes to team payroll, as in small is never enough. Kids or veterans? Again, it depends on the day and the lineup card. Matt Shaw has gotten the nod at third, Pete Crow-Armstrong is a ball of excitement in center field and the top of the order. But what about right field? That’s the current home of Kyle Tucker, Jed Hoyer’s big offseason acquisition. Tucker is a talented 28-year old lefthanded hitter with 125 career homeruns and a .274 BA, stats that indicate he’ll be close to or at the top of the list of free-agent talent come season’s end. Will the Cubs sign him; let him walk; or trade him come July? Depends on the day of the week. What’s interesting is that Tucker is off to a slow start, hitting .100 in spring training while going 1-for-8 in the two games against the Dodgers. I mention this because of Cam Smith, the 22-year old prospect the Cubs traded for Tucker. Hoyer drafted the righthand-hitting Smith in the first round last June, and all the Florida State product did was hit .313 over three levels of the minors (low-A, high-A, Double-A), with seven homers and 24 RBIs. Wait, there’s more. In spring training, Smith hit .342 with four homers and eleven RBIs. Guess who Houston’s new right fielder is? With 32 minor league games under his belt, Smith makes his MLB debut in near-record time, third fastest ever for a position player taken in the draft. Hoyer has taken a real gamble here. If he signs Tucker who then settles into a nice career on the North Side, then he wins, how much depending on how well Smith does in comparison. If Tucker is one-and-done, not good, unless Smith is a bust, in which case no-harm-no-foul. Me, I remember the Sox trading Tommie Agee for Tommy Davis. When in doubt, go young. Had the Cubs gambled on Smith and Smith began producing from the start, money that might have gone to sign Tucker could have gone to an extension locking up Smith for a nice, long time. But, at the end of the day, not my team, not my gamble.

Conventional Wisdom

According to the pundits, there comes a time in the NBA season where every team has to decide whether to soldier on or tank it. After trading Zach Lavine, the Bulls were supposed to go into tank mode in order to have a shot at the latest flavor of the week, Duke forward Cooper Flagg. And they tried, sort of. Coach Billy Donovan had his team playing hard and losing close. In the first eight games after the LaVine trade, the Bulls went 1-7. Only now, they’ve gone 8-2 in their last ten games, including a 4-2 road trip that ended last night with a 129-119 win over the Nuggets. What say the wise ones? Andy Masur on WGN’s GN Sports Sunday night pretty much summed up the consensus reaction among sports’ people with a shrug. Yeah, it was nice to beat LeBron and the Lakers, but what does it really mean? No doubt, another win did little to change Masur’s mind or that of any of the other skeptics. We’ll see over the next three games, all at home, against the Lakers, Mavs and Thunder. Take two out of three there, and you’ve got something. Otherwise, it’s… Far be it from me to jump on any bandwagon connected to team executive v.p. Arturas Karnisovas, but I have to admit he did something right by trading LaVine (and Alex Caruso in the offseason) and drafting Matas Buzelis. Somehow, Karnisovas has stumbled his way onto a core of Josh Giddey, Buzelis and Coby White. Consider last night. Buzelis wasn’t much of a factor with ten points and four rebounds, but Giddey and White, oh my. Giddey had 26 points to go with seven rebounds and nine assists while the red-hot White poured in 37 points. After that, Donovan plays mix and match with his bench, which he does quite well and which—again, it pains me to say—Karnisovas has made possible with the acquisition of guard/forward Kevin Huerter and forward/center Zach Collins plus the offseason signing of center Jalen Smith. Once he gets healthy, guard Tre Jones belongs to this group, along with Lonzo Ball, Dalen Terry and Julian Phillips. It’s actually enough to make me all but forget that Partrick Williams is still with the team. Like I said, it’s fun, and we’ll know if it means anything in another three games.

Is This Roster Anything?

Four days from now, the White Sox take the field for Opening Day against the Angels at (Cut) Rate Field. As to who the starting nine hitters will be, your guess is as good as mine. As of Monday morning, the team still has five catchers in camp, six, if you include minor leaguer Adam Hackenberg, who’s having himself a nice spring with two homeruns and a .385 BA. But, with all due respect to Casey Stengel, there comes a point when you can have too many catchers, passed balls be damned. The starting rotation is pretty set, barring an unforeseen Tommy John surgery, but the bullpen is, as they say, a work in progress. Personally, I can’t wait to see Mike Clevinger coming in to close. Thing is, that’s probably a better option than Michael Kopech. Infield, outfield—who knows? Brandon Drury looked set to make the team, until he broke his thumb the other day and then got cut. Mike Tauchman was supposed to play right, but he’s injured, along with shortstop-apparent Josh Rojas. Really, you hold your breath every time a Sox player steps into or out of the dugout. I’m looking hard for bright spots, and about the only one I can find is the likelihood of Bryan Ramos making the team. Bryan, if you want to stay, hit from day one. Otherwise, a catcher might take your spot.

Is This Anything?

The Bulls beat LeBron and the Lakers by 31 on the road last night? Pinch me, I’m dreaming. Better yet, don’t. As soon as I have nice things to say about point guard Tre Jones, he goes down with a sprained left foot and could be out two weeks. Not to worry, though; this is the guard-heavy Bulls. Just insert Josh Giddey and watch him come within two steals of a quadruple double (points, assists, rebounds, steals). I didn’t even know there was such a thing. And let’s not forget Coby White or Matas Buzelis. White scored a game-high 36 points while the 20-year old Buzelis added a career-high 31. Now, if Giddey, White, Buzelis and company can pull off an upset in Denver tomorrow, definitely don’t pinch me. Oh, should I mention that prized White Sox prospects Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith both got rocked in their respective, split-squad starts yesterday or that Drew Thorpe will be the fifth Sox pitcher this spring set for Tommy John surgery? Naw, that’d just kill the dreamy buzz.

Grasping at Straws

By scoring six runs in the top of the ninth against Cincinnati yesterday, the White Sox pushed their spring record to 10-16, which is actually better than the Guardians, Mainers and Marlins; same as the Angels; and one less win than the Reds and Padres. Who knew? If their real record looks like that come May, I’ll be happy. Right now, though, there’s way too much emphasis on a future that doesn’t extend beyond Triple-A. This pitcher, that hitter, all with an ETA that sometime after Opening Day. The problem with that is no one will want to show up at 35th and Shields if there aren’t (m)any new, young faces in the dugout. The longer those faces stay in the minors—and the longer Jerry Reinsdorf holds onto the team—the less likely it is for Will Venable to make like another rookie Sox manager. Chuck Tanner took a team that went 56-106 in 1970 and pushed it to another 23 wins in ’71. (Note: Technically, Tanner wasn’t a first-year manager in 1971. He got his feet wet managing the last sixteen games of the 1970 season.) That’s the standard I’m holding Venable to, with GM Chris Getz to Roland Hemond. As for Jerry Reinsdorf, he couldn’t hold a candle to John Allyn.

Is This Anything?

Maybe if the Bulls had traded Zach LaVine last summer, they’d be playing like this from the start. All I know is the Zach-less Bulls are doing a mean imitation of a decent basketball team. Right now, they’re two-thirds of the way through a six-game trip against Western Conference teams. So far, it’s been losses to the Rockets and Suns and wins against the Jazz and Kings, with the Lakers and Nuggets to finish things off. Talk about a trip from hell going OK, so far. Because the front office has assembled a guard-centric roster, it only makes sense to go with a de facto three-guard offense, with newly acquired Kevin Huerter switching over to small forward. This makes for a younger, more athletic team, quite unlike anything Arturas Karnisovas has assembled since he took over in 2020. Last night, Huerter scored 25 points in a 128-116 win over the Kings while Tre Jones, another piece of the three-way trade in February that sent LaVine to Sacramento, scored fifteen points with seven assists. With Jones at point, Coby White can operate as shooting guard, which he did last night to the tune of 35 points. Billy Donovan and company would have to win their last twelve games of the season to finish over .500. Still, it makes me wonder what could have been and what it all means, if anything.

Eat It Up

This is what matters to the White Sox—the menu, not the roster. The past couple of days, Chicago news outlets have been showering the Sox with free publicity. Want to get something to go with that Campfire Milkshake? Well, check out Korean (hot) dogs or the Changeup Bubble Waffle. As for any player moves that promise to add another twenty or so wins over last year’s pitiful total of 41, move along, nothing to see here. Listen closely, and you can hear my father rolling over in his grave. We went to Comiskey Park to watch baseball. On the way home, we picked up something to eat. I saw rookie Cisco Carlos make his major-league debut against the Red Sox on August 25, 1967. Carlos threw six shutout innings against a Boston lineup that feature Carl Yastrzemski; George Scott; Reggie Smith; and Rico Petrocelli. The soon-to-be 27-year old righthander held the visitors hitless until two out in the fifth inning. Ken Berry hit a walk-off single for a 2-1 right Sox win. That game feels like it happened yesterday. Funny, but I have no idea what we ate.

Two Down, 120 to Go

The Cubbies lose two games in Tokyo, and my South Side starts to show. Another 120 losses, guys, and you beat our record. Go, Cubs, go. If I were a Cubs fan (perish the thought), I’d be a little ticked at having to start the season close to two weeks ahead of everyone else (except the 2-0 Dodgers, of course). This has got to hurt team rhythm, if there is such a thing, and I think there is. Maybe all this rushing explains why Jed Hoyer put the immortal Jon Berti on the roster instead of Nicky Lopez, who can at least catch the ball. If I were a Cubs fan (see above), I’d also start to wonder about manager Craig Counsell. At least Joe Maddon had a shelf life. Counsell’s supposed savvy in the dugout translated into a 83-79 record, which seems a tad modest given his five-year, $40 million contract. And talk about a cure for insomnia. Alas, honesty forces me to admit Will Venable sounds like an excited Counsell, if there is such a thing. That said, 0-2. Keep up the good work, everyone.

Arizona Dreamin'

The White Sox have named 25-year old Sean Burke as their Opening Day starter. The righthander has all of nineteen innings pitched in his MLB career. I’m not complaining. Burke looked good last September over the course of those nineteen innings, going 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA in three starts. Expected to follow Burke in the rotation are Jonathan Cannon; Davis Martin; Martin Perez; and someone known but to God and manager Will Venable. Burke, Martin and Perez have all looked good in their spring starts while Cannon looks like he wants to pitch himself back to Triple-A, with a 10.32 ERA in four starts. As for the unknown fifth starter, we live in different times. Because prospects Hagen Smith and Noah Schultz have shown enough to be part of the conversation. By this time next year, I’m sure they will be. But rebuilds can’t be rushed, especially if it means the Sox devoting one season of control over them in what would be a “lost” season. Never mind that fans would pay to see those two along with Burke, Martin and Perez. Pitching for Sox, not the Barons. Oh, well, I can dream.

Another Bite

Veteran slugger Joey Gallo asked for his release yesterday, and the White Sox complied. The 31-year old with 208 career homeruns and a .194 BA wants to convert himself into a pitcher. Let’s see, the last position player I can remember who pulled that off was Anthony Gose, who’s now trying to catch on with the Mets. Gose, though, made the switch starting at age 27. And the results have been modest at best, 32 innings spread over parts of three seasons. Gose is 3-0 in that time with a 4.78 ERA over 31 relief appearances. A long, long time ago back when I was a baby, Dick Hall switched from the infield to the pitcher’s mound, and he had himself a nice 16-year career mostly as a reliever. But it doesn’t happen often for the simple fact that throwing strikes on a consistent basis is hard to do. Otherwise, Bobby Douglas would be the greatest two-sport athlete in Chicago history.

Glass Ceilings Made Secure

Because the Cubs open up against the Dodgers in Tokyo on Tuesday, the Tribune felt the need to pull together a baseball-preview section. As a certain president might say, sad. This is paste-and-cut at its most basic, without a single Trib writer contributing a story. Still, one story in particular caught my eye, “Calling their shots: 5 former players are running baseball operations in the majors. More could be on the way.” According to Jay Cohen of the AP, the Giants; Mariners; Rangers; Red Sox; and White Sox are all headed up by former MLB players. So, everything old is new again, though two of the people in question do have Ivy League degrees. I happen to think experience counts, especially in coaching—which is different from managing—and maybe in the front office, too. If more former players are in fact headed to the front office, here’s the thing: That’s not a good trend for women. Why? For the very simple fact that there has never once been a female MLB player. Over at The Athletic, I read a story about the value of pitching labs. The story shows a young woman working a computer as a college pitcher looks to be throwing hard, which is what pitching labs are all about. The story also mentions a woman who set up a lab at Wake Forest much-visited by MLB clubs. Nothing new here. From what I’ve seen, women coaches in baseball tend to have a tech connection. They either operate the gizmos or base their hitting/pitching coaching on data from the gizmos. So far, though, female, tech-reliant coaches haven’t reached the major leagues. And what happens when tech loses its appeal? Roger Craig, who twice lost 20-plus games in a season for the Mets, reinvented himself as a pitching guru by coming up with the split-finger fastball. Maybe Craig would’ve done it sooner with the help of tech, but the point is as an ex-pitcher of some success in the majors (74-98 for his career), Craig kind of knew what he was looking for. An ex-hitter never could’ve done it. How can someone who’s never pitched? Long story short, from where I sit, women will always be an afterthought in baseball whether in the front office or the coaching ranks until they establish themselves on the field first.

What Goes Around Comes Around

A very long time ago, Jerry Reinsdorf huffed and puffed his way to a new stadium for the White Sox. Really, good times to be an owner. Fast-forward 35 years, and Reinsdorf can’t get anyone to fall for his antics. He’s hinted at selling and/or moving as part of his ploy to get money from the General Assembly to build at least part of another ball mall for him. Really, bad times to be an owner. Gone are the days of the public picking up the entire tab. Now, teams are expected to contribute. Part of Reinsdorf Ploy 1.0 was the threat to move into a domed stadium in St. Petersburg. In the greatest of all ironies, the Rays are desperate to leave the place, only nobody will build them a new home, and they really don’t have the money and/or the will to contribute to the cost of construction. The same with Reinsdorf. After getting the cold shoulder in Springfield, he made vague statements about sharing building costs without ever specifying how much. Right now, the Bears can’t get a dime from the General Assembly, and Ploy 2.0 just hangs there like a balloon caught in a tree, slowly deflating until it falls to the ground. If the Rays move, that’s one less place for Reinsdorf to threaten to go to. And, if he tries to move the Sox anytime soon, he may find his unpopularity will follow him. I mean, who wants a grumpy, 89-year owner whose track record consists of one World Series win in 44 seasons? Talk about karma. And now I see the A’s don’t have a finalized deal yet with Oakland. Truly, what goes around comes around, and I couldn’t be happier.

Cry Me a River

Maybe if we weren’t in the midst of Bears-a-palooza somebody might pay attention to what’s happening in Florida, which is nothing. And that matters a whole bunch to the White Sox. You see, nothing’s happening in St. Petersburg but was supposed to. The Rays were all in as part of a grand redevelopment project that included a $1.3 billion stadium for them. All they had to do was come up with their part of the funding, in the neighborhood of $700 million. Yesterday, ownership announced, no can do, without saying exactly why. The first thing to point out here is that this was the market Jerry Reinsdorf threatened to move to if he didn’t get a new stadium. Folks, people may play baseball in Florida, but they won’t pay to watch it played. The inability of a MLB team to participate in this kind of venture shows just how much times have changed since the late 1980s. The public wants private skin in the game when it comes to new stadiums. The Rays got no skin. Now what? Does ownership threaten to move? Does it sell? If they move, that’s one less place for Reinsdorf to threaten to go to if he doesn’t get a new stadium in Chicago. And even if the Rays are sold to local ownership, the situation serves as a cautionary tale about big urban redevelopment projects featuring stadiums. They’re not a shoe-in to get done. Reinsdorf may have to promise to kick in more money than he’d like to in order to get what he wants where he wants. And people like me will make a point of telling the public why it’s a bad idea to give it to him. So, things could get interesting regardless how many games the Sox win.

Textbook

Talk about shock and awe. Yesterday, the Bears trotted out three of their latest acquisitions—offensive guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson along with defensive tackle Grady Jarrett—to meet the media. Only the media acted like it was the second coming. Everywhere I looked, it was the three Bears saying this, that and the other. The craziest, or most confused, was Thuney, who made it sound like he was going to the Chiefs, where he won four Super Bowls, instead of the Munsters of the Midway, a team that hasn’t even played in four Super Bowls. Again, this is how the NFL juggernaut works. Consider that the Sun-Times offered up four pages on the Bears plus an attack on ex-Bear Justin Fields by columnist Rick Morrissey. Four plus one equals five pages of Chicago football coverage, folks. That includes an obit for John Johnson, a defensive tackle who played on the Bears from 1963 to 1968. When White Sox star pitchers and Joel Horlen (2022) and Gary Peters (2023) died, you needed a magnifying glass to read about it. All hail the juggernaut. Oh, and the Munsters have two more new Bears to introduce today.

Repeat After Me: It’s Only Spring Training

Nothing says trouble like sending one of your top prospects to the minors, which the White Sox did yesterday with shortstop Colson Montgomery. Lack of hitting, bad back, one or both. Take your pick. GM Chris Getz is peddling the line that he wants Montgomery “in a very good spot” when the Sox call him up. In a good spot, as in Triple-A? Folks, everyone this side of Ted Williams is going to slump at some point in a season. Hoping Montgomery puts up good numbers for Birmingham only delays seeing how he handles adversity on the big-league level. On top of that, I keep thinking Ron Hansen, a long-ago talented shortstop for the Sox done in by a…yup, bad back. Tell me this isn’t that. You can’t? I thought so. Oh, and ex-Sox Gavin Sheets has five homeruns for the Padres, including two yesterday against…yup, his old team. Good thing we have Bobby Dalbec.

Dazed and Confused

The Chicago news broadcasts yesterday came this close to treating the Bears’ signing three free agents as breaking news. Thank you, NFL juggernaut. As far as I could tell, nobody in local media knows the difference between baseball and football free agency. Here’s a hint—there’s a lot more talent available in one than the other. Football may reign supreme, but, in comparison to the national pastime it’s replaced, the best free agents are in baseball. Maybe it’s because of football’s hard salary cap. The Bears signed two defensive linemen and one center. What that means is their old teams didn’t want them, didn’t see their value vs. other, most likely, younger players. In baseball, it’s not so much that teams don’t want to sign their players to extensions, but they can’t afford to. This is apples to oranges, but here goes—the Bears didn’t sign anyone close to Juan Soto or Alex Bregman, even, in terms of talent. Yes, an NFL team can strike it rich in free agency, like the Eagles did with Saquon Barkley last season. Far more likely, though, talent is acquired through trades, usually in the form of draft pick(s) in exchange for player(s). Ex-Bears’ GM Ryan Pace did that all the time. Yes, he got burned giving away valuable draft capital for players he overvalued. Regardless, that’s how talent gets moved the majority of times in the NFL. So, pardon me if I’m not jumping onto the Bears’ bandwagon just yet. Super Bowl LX? No, more likely, bust.

Virtue Signaling

On Saturday, the first-ever college-level women’s flag-football game in the state of Illinois took place, with Rockford University beating Illinois Benedictine, 32-0. It was no accident the game took place at the Bears’ indoor, Halas Hall facility. The Bears love flag football because it allows them to have their cake and eat it too, to signal a commitment to women’s sports that has next to no chance of affecting the structure of pro football. That’s precisely why team president Kevin Warren showed up to opine before the TV cameras. Talk, unlike a privately-funded stadium, is cheap. Here's part of a story posted on the team website on February 5: “Girls flag football has seen exponential growth in Illinois throughout the last four years, and the Bears have been there every step of the way. By hosting coaches clinics, player jamborees and the state's first ever girls flag championship, the Bears have made a clear commitment to expanding the exposure of young women to sports and the opportunities that being a student-athlete can provide.” Will that support have much impact on the composition of coaching staffs and front offices? Do you think Warren would be there if it did?

One More Than the Other

The White Sox beat the Dodgers 5-2 yesterday, with a Rule 5 pitcher I never heard of striking out Shohei Ohtani twice. Too bad it doesn’t count, although it sort of does. What counts for sure is the Bulls winning last night against the Heat in Miami, 114-109. Wow, two wins in a row on the road. Twenty-two-year old Josh Giddey may actually be the real deal as a guard who can both shoot and pass; at least over the past month or so he has, which makes the trade that sent Alex Caruso to Oklahoma City not look so bad. I mean, a guy can hope. It’s also been interesting to watch center Zach Collins play; The Bulls got him in the three-way deal that sent Zach LaVine to Sacramento last month. Hmm. Collins looks to be a decent player, physical and with a soft shooting touch. On top of that, he’s all of 27, which makes him seven years younger than Nikola Vucevic. You can see the age difference every time Collins runs down the floor. What does it all mean? Just a two-game winning streak, but one that allows the Bulls’ front office to argue they aren’t total screwups. Right now, that’ll have to do.

Gone

We’re in the middle of redoing ceilings in the basement and on the back porch. What doesn’t kill me—think dust, and plenty of it—will make the house more appealing. I guess. A quarter-century ago, Clare and I would practice in the basement, usually in the fall and winter. She’d hit a wiffle ball or throw a league. Ever so often, a ball struck the ceiling, leaving more of a line than a mark. Early on, Michele also got hit in the head with a wiffle ball while she tried to work on the computer. It didn’t take too many errant throws to get her upstairs. In between gasps for air, I can see how good a job the contractor’s done. One thing is missing, though. I’ll have to get my grandson down here to do some hitting and throwing.

Why I Follow Sports

No doubt it’s different in NYC and LA, where gobs of money go into teams that win far more often than not. Chicago’s different, always has been. Mike Ditka once said Bears’ owner George Halas tossed nickels around like manhole covers. That’s pretty much the modus operandi in these parts. With the White Sox, they’re either too poor to compete (Bill Veeck) or act like they’re too poor to compete (Jerry Reinsdorf). Whatever team you root for in Chicago, you don’t go in expecting championships. It's individual performance that counts. I have a sense of what Luke Appling and Ted Lyons did a very long time ago, Minnie Minoso and Billy Pierce a long time ago, Mark Buehrle and Paul Konerko in what seems like a day ago. Plus Billy Donovan. If he knew what was good for the Bulls as an organization, Donovan would sit on his hands and let his team lose, again and again in order to get a better spot in the draft. But there was Donovan last night coaching his players to a comeback win on the road in Orlando, 125-123 over the Magic. Any night Coby White scores 44 points, you know it’s special. The win gives the Bulls a 25-38 record, as mediocre as it gets, or a little worse. Donovan—and for that matter, White—are Appling toiling away in obscurity, trying their best because that’s what they expect of themselves, whatever the result of the game. Which is what I look for in Chicago sports.

Bears' Nation

24/7/52/364—All day every day every week of the year, that’s the amount of time the Chicago media devotes to news of your Chicago Bears. Anything left over goes to the other teams, pending breaking Bears’ news. The Munsters, fresh off their 5-12 “triumph” of a season, are commanding every platform out there this week. Why? Because they’ve acquired two offensive linemen, one 28 and the other 32. Breaking news—they just acquired a “blocking” tight end. Never mind players at that position are supposed to be able to block and catch the ball. Bears’ management doesn’t even require one of those skill sets. The really irritating part is how the other teams make it all possible. The Bulls, Hawks and White Sox are somewhere between awful and mediocre, which means minimal coverage. The Cubs are mediocre-plus, which means any extra coverage is usually devoted to columnists complaining how cheap they are. August used to belong to the Munsters. Now, March does, too.

Aches and Pains

What, me worry? Colson Montgomery is supposed to be part of the White Sox rebuild, only A) he can’t play because of injury and B) he can’t hit when he does play. The 23-year old shortstop has played in all of three games this spring, with one hit in seven at-bats. The problem? Back spasms, or so they say. Montgomery was limited to 64 games in 2023, also due to back problems. Either the Sox can’t scout healthy players, or they can’t keep players healthy. Neither possibility says anything good about the organization. And, yes, this is where the cranky old baseball fan says, “There are too many injuries. It’s all because of guys bulking up.” Maybe I’m right, maybe not. In a way, I see the Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong as the canary in the coal mine here. PCA strikes me as a real throwback to when the leadoff hitter had speed first, power later if at all; the guy strikes me as scary fast. I just want to see how many games he can play. I don’t mean this out of any South Side sour grapes. I just wonder if the Cubs employ a different training/conditioning regimen for their players or if there’s something special about this particular player. Is it possible PCA doesn’t hit the weight room the way other players do? Could Chris Getz and the Sox learn something? Perish the thought.

Not My Problem

Back in the day, I truly hated the Cubs. It’s a South Side thing, and I won‘t even say the feeling’s mutual. Sox fans have never bothered to ask. But I’m a more mellow person now. So, I’ll try not to laugh at the show Sammy Sosa is putting on at spring training in Mesa. Yesterday, I read how he thinks players will listen to what he tells them because he has the career numbers to back it up. And, today, let’s just say things went from silly to absurd. The Sun-Times ran a column Bob Nightengale did for USA Today. Well, technically a column but in truth more of a puff-piece and trial balloon to get Sosa and fellow PEDs-ers into Cooperstown. To call it journalism would be a stretch. Nightengale also talked to Mark McGwire, who admitted to kind of feeling bad about taking PEDs, and Sosa agreed. You see, “There was no testing. There were no rules. We didn’t break any laws.” So says Sosa. Nightengale went on to write, “If truth be told, PEDs were nearly as common as chewing tobacco” in the time of McGwire and Sosa. But everyone looked the other way, and there were no rules. It’s called the honor-system, guys, or a conscience, or the ability to tell right from wrong. Maybe Nightengale wasn’t around then to point out how big McGwire, Sosa, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens had gotten, but other reporters were out there. Crickets. No rules, no testing. I guess for some people that means, anything goes. Enjoy your Sammy-la, Cubs fans. You can keep him.

You Can Bet on It

So, Donald Trump says he’s going to pardon Pete Rose and wants him in the HOF while at the same time Commissioner Rob Manfred announces that he’s is considering a petition from Rose’s family to remove Rose from the ineligible list, which would just so happen make him eligible for election to Cooperstown. Trump seems to think it was OK for Rose to break the cardinal rule of baseball since “Charlie Hustle” only bet on his team to win. Yeah, because he had to stop after getting caught. You think Rose wouldn’t have bet the other way once he racked up serious debt to gamblers? But let the powers that be have their way on the matter, provided Manfred at least acknowledges any change to Rose’s status demands reconsideration of Buck Weaver’s and Shoeless Joe Jackson’s. The one didn’t bet against his team in 1919, and the other may have taken the money and played to win, anyhow. How ‘bout it, Commissioner?

Crickets

Well, not only did I save a boatload of money by not buying anything off my eBay watchlist, the White Sox were in fact worth checking out, to the tune of an 18-9 win over the Mariners. Another two hits and two RBIs for Lenyn Sosa. I guess I should be happy both papers had stories on the game, what with beggars (at 41-121) and choosers. Still, I can’t shake the memory of how newspapers used to be on the lookout for…what is it, oh, right, news, as in, did Justin Ishbia buy up any minority shares of the White Sox by the Friday deadline mentioned in other accounts? Crickets. But both papers felt the need to run stories on the Bears. Tell me, isn’t 5-12 a whole lot like 41-121? Or is there something about a .294 winning percentage I’m missing?

For a Few Dollars More

You know things are tough when Lenyn Sosa is the sole bright spot during White Sox spring training, but that’s where things stand with a 1-6 team. Better to get my baseball fix elsewhere, provided I don’t turn into a junkie running through his cash. Because my eBay “watchlist” list could be a very dangerous place to visit. I save stuff I have no intention of buying, or so I tell myself. Like the photo of John Montgomery Ward, a long-ago player, manager and early critic of the reserve clause. The seller wants $30,000, give or take. For $365 I can have a team picture of the 1935 White Sox, with 33 player autographs included. A shot of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis at Comiskey Park has an asking price of $169.99 while a view of the park being set up for a boxing match is going for $225.45. A wire photo of Moe Berg will set me back a mere $195. Or I could always take the plunge and buy an autographed ball. There are two from the pennant-winning ’59 Sox, one for $937.05 and another at $1,284.99. Both have 26 autographs, so it comes down to condition. You be the judge. When in doubt, consider Frenchy Bordagaray, a goofball outfielder from the 1930s and 1940s who tried to get away with wearing a mustache while a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Manager Casey Stengel informed Bordagaray that is there was going to be one clown on the team, “it’s going to be me.” Bordagaray shown twirling his mustache: $112.99. On second thought, I think I’ll check and see if Sosa is in today’s starting lineup against the Mariners.