White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf made clear that his ballclub has every intention of continuing to add to its major league roster this summer, Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago reports. Levine had posited recently that the team could buy now and sell in July if things don’t pan out, but the owner shot down that theory.
Though the report doesn’t contain any direct quotes, Levine says that Reinsdorf offered that “he had no plans for anything but a full-out attack on helping his front office find a way to win now.” In short, it seems that Chicago could continue to be one of the most active buyers over the coming weeks.
I recently examined that very subject, focusing on the areas that the South Siders could target for improvement. An outfield addition seems paramount, but it’s also possible to imagine moves behind the plate or in the staff, with both the rotation and pen seemingly susceptible of improvement. We also listed many of the top trade candidates in a post earlier today.
The Sox have fizzled of late after a blistering start to the year, but they’re still hovering around .500 and are right in the thick of things in a four-way AL Central race. It remains to be seen how much cash the club is willing to commit to bolster the roster after opening the year with about $114.5MM on the books. Of course, that figure doesn’t include the $13MM that would have been owed to Adam LaRoche had he not retired this spring.
Chicago already took on about $27MM for this season and the two to come by adding James Shields, as well as another $1MM for the signing of Justin Morneau. But it stands to reason that the organization could still take on more salary, which may help reduce the need to part with young talent while adding major league pieces.
Yawn.
Next?
If Reinsdorf is indeed still around, he needs to hire 2 trucks, one for the Bulls and one for the sox. Clean house. He needs to admit he put the wrong people in the wrong positions and move forward.
Like I mentioned in the “Trade Targets” post, Reinsdorf and Kenny Williams will simply not do a tear down. It’s not their M.O, They are perennial buyers. While sometimes it’s not what’s best for the long-term, they just never give up on any season… any.
Generally speaking you are correct.
However, the White Sox have been sellers during some summers, including 2013 when they began their most recent re-tool by dealing veterans such as Matt Thornton, Jake Peavy and Alex Rios for a host of prospects that included Brandon Jacobs, Avisail Garcia, Frankie Montas and Leury Garcia. They also traded some disposable veterans like Adam Dunn, Alejandro De Aza and Gordon Beckham in August of 2014.
Most White Sox fans also recall the infamous “white flag” trade at the 1997 summer deadline that had them sending three MLB pitchers (Wilson Alvarez, Danny Darwin, Roberto Hernandez) to the San Francisco Giants for six minor league prospects including future relievers Keith Foulke, Bob Howry, Lorenzo Barcelo and SS Mike Caruso.
While true, it’s been over a decade since they traded a major piece near the deadline. The Peavy/Rios/Thronton summer was out of the ordinary for the White Sox, but all of these guys were well past their prime. Even just a few of the guys this year on the trade block (Caro-Go, Braun, Lucroy, Chapman, Miller) are better than anyone the White Sox have traded away in some time.
@ michaelc35 Try googling “1997 White Sox White Flag Season”
I’m aware of the trade, hence the term “in over a decade.” Also, I wouldn’t consider this one example from the last 20 years to point to any sort of pattern.
I started writing a post defending the Sox about how that division is eminently winnable until I started thinking about their lineup. Egads man. Now I’m torn between “I’m not sure why they’re doing so poorly” (Abreu) to “what did you expect, they’ve been mediocre for a while (Frazier second half 2015, Lawrie most of his career). Rollins had to be expected; we’ll see what Anderson brings.
The Sox are in a classic stuck-in-the-middle situation. They have some really nice pieces on the pitching staff (Sale, Quintana, Rodon isn’t bad for his age/cost). They have a couple of nice position players (Abreu, Eaton). They have a couple of guys who everybody thought would be better than they have been, whether this year (Frazier) or their whole careers (Lawrie, Garcia). Complicate it all with a division that nobody is running away with–and frankly no team looks capable of running away with–and it’s tricky.
But they do need to decide. If they want to be in, they can’t do it with fringe additions like Shields and hoping Morneau recovers and hits. If they’re out, they can restock that system real fast with the chips they have.
That’s exactly right.
Both the Tigers and Indians have the pitching and/or offense to run away with the division. The Indians have the greater advantage of having top prospects to go get that piece or to promote and add a spark.
@kenster84 Should both of these teams still be contending at the deadline and looking to make a move, the Tigers will definitely be looking to add pitching and the Indians will absolutely look for a bat (most likely in the OF). As a White Sox fan, I hope they stand pat and don’t improve any further, haha.
@jb226 It’s so disheartening to read about and watch these good pieces (slumping or not) and then see the likes of Saladnio, Avila, Navarro and others in that lineup every day. The aforementioned are obvious major league players, but they are backups and depth pieces, not starters IMO. This team lacks depth; when Frazier gets the night off from his current slump, removing just one good bat makes the lineup look 1,000 times worse. I fear a move for a guy as talented as someone like Bruce or CarGo still wouldn’t be enough to ignite this lineup.
LOL. Good luck!
Believe me, we need it, haha.
Straight from the horses mouth, or at least Bruce Levine’s. LOL
Look at the White Sox and the Bulls, both owned by Reinsdorf. They both excel in mediocrity because he’s loyal to a fault. Jerry doesn’t know how to self-evaluate and is his own worst enemy. He lets guys like Gar/Pax and Robin Ventura stick around his organizations because they’re “his guys,” but those same people are hurting their respective teams.
He should have fired Ken Williams years ago. He chose to promote him to VP instead.
While Williams still clearly has his hands in the cookie jar that is team personnel decisions, Rick Hahn is the GM, Do you have an issue with him? I’m genuinely asking.
I still believe Reinsdorfs gone and Williams and Paxon are running the Sox and Bulls. What a shame. Failure at its best. just look at the yes men they’ve hired to coach. How’s that working out? Both are buffoons who don’t know how to build a team.
Jerry Reinsdorf was also the owner when the Bulls won 6 NBA titles, as well as the 2005 World Series with the White Sox, the first in Chicago since 1917. He is the most successful Chicago sports owner most fans remember…or not named George Halas.
Well yeah, he hired the guy that drafted Michael Jordan. And good for him! But that’s about it on the “most successful Chicago sports owner” front.
Jerry Reinsdorf had no input into any of these championship teams other than hiring the GM (Rod Thorn) who drafted Michael Jordan? If fans are going to criticize JR for his role in the hiring of Kenny Williams, John Paxton and Robin Ventura then they ought to applaud him for some of his more successful hires, including Jerry Krause, Phil Jackson, Ozzie Guillen and yes, Kenny Williams.
Reinsdorf may be overly loyal to a fault, but who among us wouldn’t wish to have a boss like him?
Btw-Reinsdorf, besides being arguably the most successful sports owner in Chicago history, also has been among the most influential in two major sports. He helped mold the NBA into what it is today and had the other owners followed his lead during the MLB labor strife of the mid-1990’s, the sport would be better off today with some sort of a salary cap rather than settling for a luxury tax that has done little to bridge the gap between the have’s and have-not’s.
As a great baseball fan since his youth in Brooklyn, Reinsdorf has always been concerned with the overall welfare of MLB as much as his own personal ownership concerns. Many of his ideas would have benefited baseball long term, including fans of small and mid-market teams.
Reinsdorf, like his predecessor Bill Veeck, has also been a leader when it comes to minority hiring in MLB, which has always seemed to lag behind the other major U.S. sports. Similar to Veeck, Reinsdorf has also not been among the richest owners in MLB, having less personal wealth than the owners of most clubs, including small market ones, since he has owned the White Sox.
Actually, Jordan was already on the team when Reinsdorf bought it for just $16 MM in 1985.
Yes, barely. Michael Jordan was drafted in the summer of 1984 prior to the 1984-1985 NBA season. Reinsdorf finalized the purchase of his controlling interest in the team in March of 1985. “While we closed the transaction in March, the deal was actually agreed upon in September of the prior year, when Michael hadn’t played yet,” Reinsdorf acknowledged. “None of us knew what we had in him.”
That’s a very long time ago. What has he done lately other than give way too much power to Williams and Paxon. Those two are arrogant boneheads who can’t build a team. Embarrassing.
unless the next set of moves is replacing Kenny Williams and Robin Ventura, color me skeptical that they can ‘buy’ their way out of their current mess