Lip Man 1

Nothing stopping the Sox or any team from taking the same advantage of the loopholes is there?

I'm willing to wager a good deal of money that MLB will NEVER repeat NEVER see a salary cap / salary floor instituted.

And to enable the Dodgers to continue to go after the best talent. That's a good teammate and a guy who puts winning high up on the priority list.

“A lot of people say athletes don't deserve to get the money they get, but the one law of economics that has never been repealed is the law of supply and demand. There is a very small supply of athletes who have the ability to play at the major league level in any sport--and the demand is great enough that they command these salaries because that's the law of economics." – Jerry Reinsdorf to the Chicago Sun - Times’ Terry Savage. July 30, 2000.

December 11, 1973 - It was one of the worst deals ever made by G.M. Roland Hemond. The Sox acquired Cubs star Ron Santo after Santo refused a deal to the Angels invoking his rights as a 5/10 player, meaning five years with the same team and 10 seasons in Major League Baseball. Santo, who may have been able to be picked up on waivers, was acquired for three players, including pitcher Steve Stone. Santo did very little in his one season with the White Sox and was considered a clubhouse cancer often getting into disagreements with Dick Allen. His highlight was probably the inside the park home run he hit on June 9, 1974 against Boston’s Bill Lee at Comiskey Park. Santo was also one of the few players who disliked playing under manager Chuck Tanner. He’d hit a paltry .221 for the Sox with five home runs and 41 RBI’s. December 11, 1975 – Sox G.M. Roland Hemond sent third baseman Bill Melton, a former A.L. home run champ, and pitcher Steve Dunning to California for first baseman Jim Spencer and outfielder Morris Nettles. Melton had a bad back and had worn out his welcome with the team, getting into a shouting match in a Milwaukee hotel lobby with broadcaster Harry Caray. Spencer meanwhile would win a Gold Glove for his defensive prowess saving many errors. He also had 18 home runs and 69 RBI’s for the “South Side Hit Men”, twice driving in eight runs in a game in 1977. Both came at Comiskey Park against the Indians and then the Twins. December 11, 1980 - Edward DeBartolo was voted down by other American League owners in his attempt to buy the White Sox from Bill Veeck. DeBartolo, the man who invented the modern shopping mall in Boardman, Ohio may have had connections with organized crime. He also owned horse racing tracks, the Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL and wasn’t from the Chicago area. All were ‘red flags’ for the other owners. In an effort to appease then Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, DeBartolo agreed to move to Chicago at least 20 per cent of the time to have a direct idea of what was going on with the franchise. His compromises fell on deaf ears as he only received three affirmative votes. Originally back in October at the first vote on his attempt to buy the club, he fell two votes short of approval. The way was then opened for the group headed by Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn to get the franchise. December 11, 1981 - Another fine deal pulled off by G.M. Roland Hemond. He sent shortstop Todd Cruz and outfielder Rod Allen to the Mariners for Tom “Wimpy” Paciorek. Tom made the All-Star team with the M’s in 1981. He’d hit over .300 for the White Sox both in 1982 and 1983. He was also one of the craziest guys to ever do commercials for the club. After he retired, he worked in the Sox broadcasting booth from 1988 through 1999. December 11, 1996 - After losing star pitcher Alex Fernandez to free agency and claiming that starting pitcher Kevin Tapani was faking an injury to his pitching hand (an injury that would force Tapani to miss the first half of the 1997 season with the Cubs after he signed a free agent deal with them), Sox G.M. Ron Schueler signed pitcher Jaime Navarro to a four year, $20-million-dollar deal. Navarro was a complete bust. His three-year record with the Sox was 25-43 and he often publicly blamed his teammates for his pitching issues Making matters worse was Schueler’s refusal to talk with the agents for Roger Clemens after he had expressed an interest in joining the team. Schueler offered this comment on the matter, "Roger Clemens is over the hill." During that same three-year period that Navarro was with the Sox, Clemens would win two Cy Young awards and 55 games. Navarro eventually did do something positive for the franchise…he was part of a deal that brought Jose Valentin and Cal Eldred to the Sox in January 2000.

Of course they do, but that doesn't seem to be the case with baseball is it? People still go to see games, in many cases in record numbers.

Ken Rosenthal has a story in The Athletic today explaining how baseball is not "broken" by the Ohtani signing and may in fact be headed for another renaissance.

Unless given permission by the individual source, reporters ethically are not supposed to be giving out source names. And here is what Nightengale wrote: Chicago White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf created a stir, and plenty of wild rumors, when he had dinner with the Nashville mayor Freddie O’Connell. But no, the White Sox are not moving to Nashville. Yes, Nashville remains a contender for expansion franchise with an ownership group led by Dave Stewart, who is a friend of Reinsdorf’s.

As Howard Cosell said many years ago (paraphrasing), 'You beat odds of 100,000-1 to get to the top of your profession, you deserve to collect big...' It's funny but I never seem to hear people complaining about how much money singers like Taylor Swift or Beyoncé make or how much money an actor will get for a picture. Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson have made an incredible amount of money but no one complains about them....only athletes.

December 10, 1963 - One of the last players from the “Go-Go” Sox era, second baseman Nellie Fox was traded to the Houston Colt 45's for pitchers Jim Golden and Danny Murphy along with some cash. Fox, who’d eventually be elected to the Hall of Fame, played for 14 years on the South Side, being named to 12 All-Star teams. He was the M.V.P. in 1959 and won three Gold Gloves. Fox was dealt because young infielder Don Buford had hit .336 at Indianapolis and was ready to take over his position. December 10, 1975 - After first being turned down, American League owners voted to allow Bill Veeck to buy the White Sox from John Allyn. The agreement kept the team in Chicago and ended speculation that the Sox were bound for Seattle with Charlie Finley’s A’s headed for the South Side. Major League Baseball wanted the Sox to move to the Pacific Northwest in order to end lawsuits filed by the Washington state, King County and the city of Seattle after the Pilots were moved to Milwaukee before the start of the 1970 season. It was the second time Veeck owned the club, the first time being from 1959 through July 1961. The owners placed such financial conditions on Veeck that they assumed he wouldn’t be able to meet them and they could turn him away, but somehow he got it done and after a speech by Tigers owner John Fetzer they voted to allow the sale to go through despite many having a personal dislike for him. December 10, 1976 – Owner Bill Veeck came up with a unique way to try to bolster his franchise. Veeck decided to try the ‘rent a player’ approach, which was to acquire as many players as possible who were about to become free agents. He figured since those players were playing for new, big money deals they’d play hard every night. With that as the backdrop, he traded relief pitchers Rich “Goose” Gossage and Terry Forster, both former American League Fireman of the Year winners to the Pirates for slugger Richie Zisk and pitcher Silvio Martinez. Zisk, in his one season on the South Side, would belt 30 home runs and knock in 101 RBI’s as the undisputed leader of the “South Side Hit Men” who shocked baseball by winning 90 games in 1977. Among Zisk’s home runs that season were a blast into the original center field bleachers at Comiskey Park under the exploding scoreboard and one over the roof and out of the park down the left field line. December 10, 1987 - Sox G.M. Larry Himes sent pitcher Floyd Bannister and infielder Dave Cochrane to the Kansas City Royals in exchange for four players, two of whom were pitchers Greg Hibbard and Melido Perez. They both would help stabilize the starting rotation in the early 1990's. They’d combine for 85 wins in a White Sox uniform.

Remember this figure he got the next time an owner cries "poor."

https://soxmachine.com/2023/12/promises-kept-white-sox-dont-sign-shohei-ohtani/ The good news? He's out of the American League He didn't go to the Cubs

How does keeping the status quo change anything for the better? There's your answer. I can only speak for myself but I'm willing to take a chance on a new ownership group since it in all likelihood will not be a single individual.

December 9, 1959 - The Sox off season purging of their young players continued with the organization shipping future All-Star power hitting outfielder Johnny Callison to the Phillies for third baseman Gene Freese. Of all the off season moves, this was probably the worst one. Freese was a slow, scatter gun armed infielder with limited range. Callison, the subject of a documentary film by the Sox called, ‘The Life of a Sox Rookie,’ in 1958 narrated by Jack Brickhouse, failed in a few tries to take over the left field spot but in a new environment blossomed, winning the 1964 All-Star Game for the National League with a three run ninth inning home run. The A.L. team that year was led by (ironically) Sox skipper Al Lopez! Freese would be sent along in 1961 to the Reds in exchange for two pitchers, one of whom was Juan Pizarro who became a two time All-Star. Freese would return to the Sox for parts of the 1965 and 1966 seasons. The Sox meanwhile realized the mistake they had made and tried to reacquire Callison from Philadelphia before the start of the 1962 season without success. He’d play 10 seasons with the Phillies accumulating five years in double figures for triples, eight seasons with 10 or more home runs and four years with at least 78 RBI’s. December 9, 1996 - Pitcher Alex Fernandez signed a free agent deal with Florida. It was the culmination of misunderstandings and pettiness. Sox ownership felt Fernandez was going to remain contractually bound to them for another season but that belief was torpedoed when the players union and the owners agreed to give players service time during the time missed in 1994 because of the labor impasse. Fernandez became a free agent and the Sox hastily made a late offer which was rebuffed. He won 79 games in four full and three partial seasons with the club. Without him to anchor the rotation the Sox were forced to try to fill the void. The choice to do so, Jamie Navarro was a complete disaster. December 9, 2004 - Trying to fortify his bullpen, Sox G.M. Kenny Williams inked free agent pitcher Dustin Hermanson to a contract. Hermanson would be spectacular in the first half of the 2005 championship season before back issues limited him in the second half. He’d still finish with 34 saves and an ERA of 2.04. Both were career bests. December 9, 2004 - Sox G.M. Ken Williams signed oft-injured outfielder Jermaine Dye to a free agent deal. Dye would prove to be perhaps the best free agent signing in franchise history as he helped lead the club to a World Series championship in 2005, being named the series M.V.P. That year he’d hit 31 home runs with 86 RBI’s. Then in 2006 he’d have an even greater campaign, blasting 44 home runs and driving in 120 RBI’s. In five seasons with the Sox, J.D. would average 33 home runs and 92 RBI’s.

This is true... but given history of over 40 seasons, I'm prepared to take my chances. Hard to see how they could get a worse owner isn't it?

Unfortunately both Eddie Einhorn and Jerry Reinsdorf didn't realize that. "We're Chicago's American League team..." - Eddie Einhorn April 1981.

I disagree Sox fans simply accept the status quo, they are royally pissed across the board. But the reality is they can't do a damn thing that will drastically move the needle. Even staying away from the games in droves won't do much because of the local, national and international media deals as well as advertising deals that are raking in money hand over fist. Nothing will change until JR is gone, it's that simple for fans and I'm guessing they know that so they are biding their time and hoping eventually the situation will change.

I find it hard to believe that Ozzie follows anybody's marching orders when it comes to giving his opinion. The same for Frank Thomas.

I've got them pegged for 95 losses so I guess that's progress. LOL

Guess it depends on your point of view. Belle's deal had a clause (don't know who insisted on it) that if he wasn't one of the three highest paid players in baseball he could opt out of it if Sox wouldn't renegotiate the deal. The Sox wouldn't so he left. The side note to this was around the same time Frank Thomas took less money he said in order to try to give the Sox some flexibility to sign Belle and have enough to get Ventura to stay. Neither one happened and Frank was pissed. I remember writing about it at the time.

Not with current ownership anyway...maybe someday though.

December 8, 1914 - The Sox purchased future Hall of Fame second baseman Eddie Collins from “Connie” Mack and the Philadelphia A’s. The price was incredible based on 1914 standards. $50,000 dollars went to Mack. $15,000 dollars went to Collins as a signing bonus, and then Collins was tendered a five-year guaranteed deal worth $75,000 dollars! He’d play for the team 12 seasons. 10 times he’d hit over .300 including eight years in a row from 1919 to 1926. In two World Series with the Sox he’d get 16 hits in 53 at bats.

You obviously haven't watched much of him the last two seasons. he has been ripping the organization a new one on a regular basis.

Garfien has a very interesting reason why JR met with the Nashville mayor. I didn't realize it involved Dave Stewart and (of course) Tony LaRussa. Recommend watching this:

Not arguing the point just clarifying that it wasn't the senior. And the son eventually got into serious trouble with the league and was forced to sell the franchise. I don't remember exactly what he was accused of.