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What in the world are you guys talking about? Public ownership isn’t happening and it’s not worth wasting a billionth of a second talking out. It’s absolutely wild to me that there are actually posters trying to paint going from Jerry to Ishbia as anything but a positive.

He brought on elite talent who didn't mesh. If that's our problem here, OK. That would be way better than having the worst team in the sports history.

Based on the entire history of baseball, it is quite literally impossible to get worse than last year.

I'll take my chances over the current owner who already doesn't "spend so much money on great players."

Ishiba’s first order of business will be firing anyone with University of Michigan ties.

Kinda shitty to interview Noah's dad during his one inning. Let the guy watch.

White Sox fans are so miserable that when news leaks that the team may get a new owner, we're arguing on a message board that maybe we don't want a rich owner who has a history of spending because it might get worse. You know the expression "The grass isn't always greener?" Well, in this case, there's actual grass over there vs. a barren desert with nothing but tumbleweeds and dust devils here and now.

Love Autumn popping off here. God tier poster saying it like it is. The low effort, drive-by, substance-less s%*# posting by the usual suspects like it's their day job has made this place a straight up unpleasant place to interact. It sucks having to dredge through the copious muck to unearth any quality discourse. Here's hoping it doesn't seep it's way into the minor league threads. I appreciate your effort and posts Autumn. Hope they continue.

IMO JR was at least an average owner his first 30 or so years. Had some division winners, a WS, some interesting teams. But the last 10 or 12, he has really been hard to be worse. And if you think about it, he's been worse with the Bulls. Unlike Sox fans, Bulls fans have acted like Cubs fans and still showed up after they got horrible, which is really something, because before Jordan, the Bulls had to be really good to draw. Yet, despite all the money he made being awful, he wouldn't go over the luxury tax, just a big middle finger to all those paying hundreds to attend Bulls games.

The suns were just in a conference finals. It's much easier to get "worse" than that.

Maybe I'm an asshole, but I don't think an 89 year old (and if it's few years, a 92 or 93 year old or whatever) should be running anything.

I'm excited for another year of White Sox baseball. Its a new year and i'm hoping for better things in 2025. I renewed my season tickets recently and I'm looking forward to Opening Day 2025.

Wouldn’t mind if he plays himself off the roster

Schriff just said TA is having a great spring. He is 0-6 to start.

Agreed because if the current ownership’s effort is what we see for the next decade, I’d rather just not be a fan of baseball

Worse than the ownership group trying to avoid setting the worst record in the history of the game in back to back seasons? I will bet on the new ownership group all day, every day.

They absolutely were not pissed when they went and acquired three of the top players available in the offseason lmao. The Suns results aren’t indicative of the owners messing with anything, they let the GM spend what he wanted to spend and it’s not working out due to injury

I know people are super down and rightfully so, but there is actual stuff to look forward to this year. First & foremost, we will have a sizable group of young players on the major league roster this year. On the positional side, you start with current top 100 prospects in Montgomery, Teel, & Quero. In addition, you have a former top 40 prospect in Vargas and a former fringe top 100 prospect in Ramos. And on top of that, you have a super versatile player in Baldwin who put up a 150 wRC+ in the upper minors last year, another infielder in Meidroth who put up a 132 wRC+ in AAA due to a .437 OBP, and a third infielder in Sosa who put up a 173 wRC+ in Sep/Oct and who was overall a league average hitter last year per Statcast despite his chase & walk issues. While this group obviously lacks the star potential that the previous rebuild core possessed, there is a lot of depth here and I’m confident that we can quickly build a foundation of good 2+ win players across the infield and at catcher. IMO, it will be super fun to watch. On the pitching side, the major league rotation will lack the level of intrigue that the 2024 version possessed. There is no TOR ceiling type arm like there was with Crochet last year and Fedde was more interesting as a potential trade chip than Martin Perez. Regardless, there is a lot to be excited about even if the Big Three arms don’t arrive this year. Year 2 of Davis Martin post TJS is going to be super interesting. He’s coming off 10 starts of league average production and should only get better as the rust wears off and and he gets more work in with Bannister (sounds like he’s added a sinker to his already vast arsenal). Cannon may lack a high ceiling, but he already looks a legit BOR major league starter who will soak up a ton of innings. Can he be more than? Burke may be the most interesting arm on the roster next year. Massive dude with four legit pitches who Keith Law is a big fan of and who cracked a Fangraphs’ top 25 pitching prospect list based on projected peak major league performance. He has a chance to be super valuable SP if he can stay healthy and harness his command. And while he won’t be ready for OD, Thorpe is high on my list of must follows for next year. I think the prospect community and this site are sleeping on this kid way too much. I get Region’s Park is super pitching friendly, but we’re talking about a consensus top 100 prospect (who was as high as the 50’s) who just put up a 1.35 ERA across 11 starts last year. Yes, he didn’t look great in his last handful of major league starts, but there is strong reason to believe the kid was not 100% healthy at the time. I personally believe with a little improvement to his 4 seamer and repertoire changes that allow for less reliance on it, he can develop into a solid mid rotation starter. And given the length of this post, I won’t go into much detail regarding the minors, but this is the deepest system we have had in over a decade or more. The rotations will be loaded throughout. There are actually some high upside positional guys worth following in B. Montgomery, Wolkow, Bonemer, etc. It’s going to be a fun follow on a daily basis regardless how bad the parent club is. Finally, and most importantly, we should finally get confirmation on what life after Jerry might look like. I have been as down as anyone when it comes to this team and a big part of that was there was zero margin for error with the farm system as Free Agency isn’t a foundational level with Jerry. But the change to Ishbia will completely change that equation and it’s important to take in next year with that consideration in mind. We don’t need to win 70 games next year to feel good about our future… we just need to find enough long-term pieces that can provide us with a solid floor that we supplement via free agency. And that should excite the fanbase more than pretty much anything next year.

Well, you see, JR likes parking lots. That's a huge plus.

I hope for better things as well...but I'm not holding my breath that that will take place.

The slow pan to emphasize Noah being a giant is a nice touch from DVS.

ok

My son goes “did they bring Mendick back”, and he didn’t mean that as a compliment

I think CWS jinxed Meidroth, because he looks terrible in the early going.

Agreed. It's a scenario that always sucks. Wait until he's done or something.

Well, he hasn't been knocked out in a fight yet.

I would be impressed if they did worse than the worst season in the 125 year history of MLB. No offense, but going for it and failing is WAAAAAAAAY better than this pile of radioactive waste we have here.

This. I went to an article someone posted around here and it said there was a 98 year old on the board. Like what the hell is this.

Ishbia doesn't strike me as someone who wants to hold the players down. He's buying a team to win and for fun. If anything, he'll want to act like a big market owner so I just don't see the benefit of having a small-market representation at the table.

"chuckers" sounds so stupid imo. Just say pitchers.

I'm confused why any of you would want JR to deal with CBA negotiating for a team he's not going to run. I'd want the ownership group who will be running shop to be a part of the conversation. The White Sox have been abused by CBA agreements more than any other team. Jerry hasn't achieved anything.

Given that the limited partners deadline for sale is Friday, it's very unlikely (I'd say impossible, but don't want to be wrong!) that anything formal could/would be announced regarding a transition. One, MLB would have to approve of a sale and there's a lot of process to work through. Additionally, without commitment from limited partners until Friday you couldn't really formalize the rest of any agreements until after. I do think it's possible to get a better idea of the next steps based on the announcement/information released Friday though.

The Sox are also stock-piling OFs in A-ball. Zavala, Wolkow and Casey Saucke at Winston-Salem, and Montgomery, McLain, McConnell and McCants at Kanny. Looking for a breakout or two.

I’m not asking myself anything, Tray. Nobody is more emotionally involved with being against this than you are. I don’t care, I want this organization to be better in every aspect, I’m not holding on to my own opinion of the Sox and trying to make everyone agree with me. If they move to the 78 and build a badass site, great. If they move to Arlington Heights and become part of the bears lot, also great. If they stay in their current location and the building starts falling apart around our heads, not so great. i have zero sway on this stadium move/non move. If/when this team finds itself back to mediocrity(not even respectability) then I will start giving them my money again. I’m certainly not going to tell anyone else they are wrong for wanting new stadium

Super soldier Greg here to change the world

“How come different sports are different from each other? Is it because of the differences in pretty much everything?”

From the guy building a Chicagoland house worth more than the most expensive contract in Chicago history? The guy who had a company with a Chicago HQ? You have more confidence that he is going to move the team, than he is going to try to spend to win at a rate appreciably ahead of the current ownership structure? I don't know what a German soccer club, the NHL, or the NFL have to do with that, but I will flat out say there is more vision for what an Ishiba led ownership group would look like than say a Dave Stewart one, or frankly any other owner we have no history from.

But 2027 is just 2 seasons away and there's not one core piece established yet. You're expecting an awful lot in 2 years just with what theyhave now, some top draft choices and a return from a Robert trade. Maybe your definition of competitive is not aligned with others here. .500 would seem reasonable during the 2027 season if there is one, but you'd still need a lot of guys to get good fairly fast .

I'm excited to save $150 on MLB.tv this year.

If ownership changes, I will rerack my expectations, but as of now, it is going to be YEARS.

How come NBA doesn't care about "rushing" prospects? They play the 1 and done college guys on 2 way contracts their rookie seasons then if they aren't good in year two they quickly lose the 'top prospect' tag as they've proven they can't play. I see no reason guys 21 and 22 can't be regulars on MLB teams like in NBA and in NHL and soccer.

I would be more confident in a new owner moving the team, frankly. Trust the devil you know? Not exactly. I just can't get behind "hoping" for any owner, who knows what their motives are. I think it's more likely they're motivated to make money than they are to win. Phoenix spent some money, it's a fair point (although on bad players), but I'd wonder how much revenue the Suns bring in vs what their luxury tax bill was. KD probably sold a lot of jerseys. I assume the logic is different with the White Sox in a sport where you're not compelled to spend within a particular window, where there generally isn't as much money as there is in basketball. I think of Prokhorov with the Nets who spent big, failed, then sold the team rather than spend money again. I recently learned about the Bundesliga's ownership structure where in order to qualify to compete, a club must be majority-owned by the fans. (Why did German sport leagues develop differently than America's? It seems like a better sporting culture, frankly.) A critique of this system is that the clubs have less money than, say, the EPL and so the best players are probably going to switch leagues or play for Bayern Munich -- but does that argument exist in baseball? Are players going to start flocking to Japan and Mexico? It seems like less of a culture shock to move from Germany to France than Sarasota to Gwangju. I just think when it comes to talking about a new owner, I'd think about being more like the Packers than hoping the new guy is gonna do what Cohen did. I also sort of think Cohen is trying to spend as much money as he can before the SEC seizes all of his assets...maybe that's what you need out of an owner.

Do we have to do this thing where we pretend not to understand that process > results in spring? Process: Colson punishes a low fastball. Result: Inning ending out for a hitless day. Which piece is more predictive? You can have a bad process and get bad results, like the 2024 Sox. You can also have a good process and still get bad results, like the Dodgers 1-4 spring record this year. The Rockies had a .586 win% in spring last year, and then had a 101 loss season. The process is the informative piece rather than the record itself. The Sox being bad at both doesn't magically make the record matter. I don't care about Cactus League standings, I care about the process improving. But of course, everyone here knows that already, because none of you would be infused with optimism by a bunch of spring wins driven by errors from opposing AA defenders or lighting up camp invite reclamation projects (though, of course, when OUR #96 filler from the backfields gets lit up, it's totally predictive of the season to come...) Judge the process. Or don't, I admit that it's a pain with inconsistent broadcasts and data. But then also don't be a spring training box score watcher declaring that you know they'll be bad because Colson went 0-3 and a pitcher working on a new FB shape gave up contact that got misplayed into runs by a MiLB deal guy who won't make the team. So much server space here is wasted performatively complaining about silly fake things when there are actual real things to complain about and it makes it so discouraging to try to have actual baseball conversations.

“This guy is so rich, he’s gonna spend so much money on great players” no he won’t

Watch out for the Reds...Cubs' fans, they're coming up in your rearview faster than it appears. And Milwaukee won't go away easily with Chourio Yelich and Woodruff.

New Japanese infielder to pair with our other up the middle?

This is actually a very good point. Beyond having to oversee a rebuild and solving their TV network issues, Jerry will also have to deal with a labor dispute that is going to negatively impact the bottom line. Why endure these things at 89 years of age if they can be avoided? Honestly, the only things preventing a sale right now are the franchise being at a low point and the tax consequences of a sale before Jerry’s death. The former can be solved through a motivated buyer (it’s clear Ishbia prefers Chicago) and the ladder can be solved through deal structure. I don’t see any case where Ishbia waits until Jerry’s dead to assume control…it will certainly happen sooner, the only question is how soon and what will be the triggering event.

They haven't since 1994 when the Stanford economist agreed upon by both the owners and the union destroyed the contention that 18 teams were "losing" money. Owners vowed to never do it again.