8 Years After The White Sox Fleeced Boston For The Chris Sale, The White Sox Have Fleeced Boston In A Blockbuster Trade Again
Forgive the headline. It wasn't just pure, unadulterated clickbait, it was a flat out lie. Sorry, but clicks pay the bills.
We'll get to the trade itself in a moment.
At this exact moment, my mood right now is the polar opposite of what it was 8 years and 5 days ago to this day.
"But WSD, wtf are you talking about? What was 8 years and 5 days ago? JUST GET TO THE GODDAMN POINT!"
Well, that was last date the White Sox and Red Sox last made a blockbuster trade like this, when the White Sox sent Chris Sale to Boston for Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech and 2 flyers.
Back in 2016 I understood gutting the big league roster to the studs and building the organization from the ground up. Get the best prospects possible via trades and international signings, then really hit the gas pedal in 2019 or so. I mean, it just worked for the Cubs. It just worked for the Astros. It works YoY for the Rays and other clubs. It seemed like prospect hoarding was the way to go at the time, and I was more than cool with it.
Well, it didn't work. Clearly. Fast forward a handful of years and the White Sox are on the heels of losing the most games in a single season in the HISTORY of Major League Baseball and now the new-ish front office was tasked with dealing the best LHP in baseball.
Again.
What the fuck ever.
The White Sox have lost 102 games and 121 games in the last 2 seasons and are 1000% losing 100+ again this year.
Hmmmm. That's weird to me. Didn't the Chairman himself say he doesn't have time for a full on rebuild? He sure did!
Here's a transcription of Jerry Reinsdorf's quotes following the 102 loss season in 2023:
“It was absolutely the worst season I’ve ever been through. It was a nightmare,” Reinsdorf said. “It’s still a nightmare. It’s embarrassing. It’s disgusting. All the bad words you can think of is the way I feel about the 2023 season. It absolutely was just awful.
“If I were a fan, I’d be pissed. I’d be very angry. But at the same time, this is the first really, really bad year. We won the division in ’21, we were .500 last year. That’s nobody’s goal to be .500, but that’s still average. This is the first disaster. This is the first real disaster.”
“Since I’m older, I feel more of a sense of urgency,” said Reinsdorf, who turns 88 in February. “But I wanted to win from the first day. If you ever sat with me during a game, you would see somebody who wants to win even when we are 30 games under .500. I don’t want to make predictions, but in this division and with the core of talent that we have, I would hope and I expect that next year is going to be a lot better than this year. How much better? I don’t know. But look at the core of this team.”
“My message is, we are going to do everything in our power to get back to where we want to get to,” Reinsdorf said. “If we don’t succeed, it won’t be for lack of trying. Nobody wants to be bad. We gotta get better.”
Is there a SINGLE quote in here that didn't end up being a complete and total lie? I don't think ONE of them did. Not one. Not a single fucking one.
Fuck it, I'll even break it down:
- The 2023 season was followed up with the worst season in MLB history
- The organization would LOVE to be .500 consistently, because that "carrot" (Sox fans know exactly what carrot I'm talking about) would absolutely be dangled in front of the fans with a league average team
- There has been zero sense of urgency. In fact, Reinsdorf has instructed Getz to shed as much payroll as he possibly can. I know this for a fact because people in the organization have told me this. You can't get better if you actively tell the people in charge of constructing your roster to make it as cheap a roster as possible, wins be damned
- They have done nothing to get better. NOTHING. Once again, they will 100000% lose 100+ games again. It's not a prediction, it's an inevitable fact
Sure, there will be some fans that are gung ho about the trade. I personally DETEST being lied to, however, and that pulls a thick ass blanket over my rationality as a fan. I'm that pissed off and disgusted with Jerry Reinsdorf and how he runs his organizations. If he doesn't give a shit about putting a quality product on the field, why should I invest my time, money and emotional well-being into his product?
Eh, whatever. Fuck him.
Let's look at the trade, I suppose. The White Sox just traded a LH Justin Verlander for 4 prospects that may or may not be any good. Here are their MLB Pipeline snippets:
Kyle Teel, C:
Braden Montgomery, OF:
Chase Meidroth, MIF:
Wikelman Gonzales, RHP:
They didn't and weren't netting Roman Anthony or Marcelo Mayer, which to me is egregious and a surefire sign from the baseball gods that the White Sox SHOULD HAVE FUCKING EXTENDED CROCHET, but the depth of the return is very good. There's a good chance all of these players sans Montgomery will be in Chicago in 2025.
But like…
I just can't get excited about it because I know the owner will not supplement these players with quality free agents at any point. Not now, not ever.
I mean, Andrew Benintendi's 5 year, $75MM deal is the biggest contract he's ever doled out. That's 10x LESS than what Soto just signed for. It's fucking insanity and there is no end in sight. Well, at least not until father time inevitably sends Jerry packing. That's just the unfortunate truth.
Forgive me for being down and sullen about this trade. It's just that Jerry Reinsdorf brings out the worst in me. Now that I'm insanely fit (I ran a 6:04 mile the other day just for shits and abide by the RFK healthy lifestyle, nbd), have incredible hair, have a smokeshow GF and am one of the hottest men walking planet earth, the only stressor in my life is Jerry Reinsdorf and how he runs the Chicago White Sox. But guess what? I VOW to ride out his evil reign as owner. If the White Sox are ever any good again, and that's a big if, it's "watch out" for you bitches.
OH AND PS - THE WHITE SOX PICK 10th NEXT YEAR BECAUSE OF THE NEW DRAFT LOTTERY RULES!!! THEY CAN'T EVEN TANK RIGHT!!!!!! hahaha
Jerry Reinsdorf is such a loser