tray

Thank you for that beautiful story and the pic.. Wilbur and Hoyt Wilhelm threw the knuckle ball and J.C. Martin tried to block them. I have fond memories of both of those pitchers and much simpler days.

Not sure that Meidroth is really 5'10" as listed in his bio, but whatever. He walks more but just from my memory of last years games, he was not a very good base runner. 20 more HR. I'll take that every day and every way. You can't make a 20 HR deficit up that easily with walks, dinks and dunks and smoke and mirrors. But everyone has their set of favorite players and for some reason Sosa is not on many of them. He isn't a favorite of mine, but I am one who values the long ball and I just don't see where the WSox pick up 20HR over what they expect from the rest of the line-up. And while Sosa sucks on D, once again, he led the team in HR last year.

IMO, Sosa is probably going to hit about 20 more HR than Meidroth and should hit for a higher BA. I might be wrong but that is my opinion from watching the WSox last year, If it was up to me, I'd take the extra 20HR and live with a few more errors. A lot of teams put a premium on HRs , likely because HRs win a lot of games. To me, Meidroth is Madrigal 2.0, not a mighty mite like Pedroia, and for being a small player, he did not prove to be a very good base runner. Shriff loved the guy but I didn't, maybe because of the Madrigal experience.

Getz pursuit of players like Kellenic and Conforto make me wonder if the Sox feel that Braden Montgomery will not be major league ready for longer than anticipated. Also, Baldwin had some issues with tracking and catching fly balls so he might not be an acceptable 4th or 5th outfielder. If only Braden could be ready to go on Opening day, the plan for the outfield, at least at the corners, might be a lot more clear. The Sox need a defensive outfielder with a strong throwing arm to replace Benintendi in late innings plus a RFer if Braden doesn't make it up.

I understand what Benetti asked for and why the Sox were not in agreement. Benetti just became too valuable of a commodity to restrict his work to one team. Good for him. Schriff is a relative youngster in his profession. I give him a lot of credit for trying to fill the shoes of Benetti, one of the best in the country who built a local following here in his home town.

Really? Fvk off, fvk all the way off.

"The White Sox have one of the smallest fanbases in MLB after 125 years in so-called "Bridgeport". So building a stadium on a lot that is far less accessible and far more inconvenient for fans will somehow increase the fan base ?

The condition of the fan base in relation to where the park is now? What in bejezus are you talking about ? And no, Bridgeport is not more isolated that that sh1thole that Auchi and his surrogates call the "78." There are 77 neighborhoods in Chicago and that vacant brownfield isn't one of them. The WSox will never move to that desolate, isolated lot.

I love going to Sox games. Can't wait for the Opener.

The question for Mr. Ishbia and the other Sox investors is whether the so-called "78" neighborhood in the so-called "South Loop", makes any sense considering many factors including the risk in moving away from the WSox historic home into a depressed, isolated dead zone.

You already earned an "F" in an "Anti - Stalking" course. Class Dismissed, for now.

Correct. As long as the American flag flies over this country, and certainly since abolition, employers can't do that. IMO, Hahn and KW should have been fired before, e.g., after the Drake LaRoach ordeal, poor evaluation of talent, non-competitive line-ups, etc.

Yes, JR has been loyal to a fault with a lot of employees and players over the years. Most of those entrusted with JR's good will and loyalty returned it in kind (Ozzie, Konerko, Harold, Thome). Given that, it made me wonder about the way Kenny and Rick were dismissed unceremoniously and told to pack up there sh1t the next day and maybe even told not to come back. As ptatc mentioned, that is not the way JR normally treats employees, especially KW who often boasted about his close relationship with JR. Did thos guys get caught on a hot mike talking about JR or something? I don't know....they surely deserved to be fired but the way it was done seemed odd.

Ignorance is bliss.

Ron: I was pleasantly surprised to read that you would not be surprised if the WSox compete for the Division championship. As it stands though, too many shortcomings in the pitching staff inc. no high leverage L or R arms and no Closer. Murakami's defense at 1B might be an issue. Meidroth might not single or walk enough to start him over Sosa, who was one of the best hitters on the team last year. Braden might come up and rake, or not. Robert or no Robert. Etc. As far as acclimating pitchers through bullpen appearances, OK, but in the Minors. There it could have value. Bringing a pitcher in a game in high leverage situations puts the microscope on what they can or can't do in crunch time, often against the best hitters. A starter can often get by after walking a lead-off man in an inning and then working out his control on the fastball or spin on off-speed pitches as the game progresses. Conversely, as we witnessed the last two seasons, bullpen guys came in , walked the first guy they faced, and then let hitters take advantage of their lack of control. So let the Minor league pitchers prove what they have before they come up and f things up worse than they already are.

One year opt-out? Another trick in Boras' bag. No reason to invest team resources in a guy that is going to book after one season. Fans would not even invest in a jersey with his name on it.

There is an old saying..."Be careful what you wish for." Is Ishbia cheap as well ? Is he really a White Sox fan ? Oh, is that why he pulled his Private Equity Investment in the Twins and instead purchased White Sox shares ? Or was that part and parcel of the typical PEI leveraged buyout formula? Ishbia remains silent and is just paying down debt right now, right? Really? corporate debt is part of the strategy used by PEI firms over and again. "A leveraged buyout is a strategy in which a private equity firm finances its acquisition of a company using debt secured by the company it is acquiring rather than using its capital or taking on the debt itself. This tactic saddles private equity-owned companies with substantial debt, often draining resources that could otherwise be invested in innovation, workforce development, or adapting to market changes. Instead, firms under private equity ownership must channel much of their revenue toward servicing this debt, leaving them vulnerable to financial distress and bankruptcy. Bankruptcies are a key bellwether signaling the broader risks associated with private equity investments." https://pestakeholder.org/news/private-equity-behind-70-of-large-u-s-bankruptcies-in-the-first-quarter-of-2025/ Also, imagine what is ahead for Walgreens now that is has been taken over by a Private Equity firm that financed 70% of it deal through debt...with little or no skin in the game. https://medcitynews.com/2025/09/walgreens-private-equity-sale/ Meanwhile, did Ishbia offer one cent capital to the WSox corporation for acquiring Murakami or to be used to fortify the 2026 White Sox roster? We know he has money to spend and that he spends a lot of it on his own Winnetka estate. And what does he say about Murakami, or about anything related to the White Sox. What's with the Wizard of Oz BS ? As a Sox fan, I want the team to win now or at least in the next 2-3 years. If that gets Jerry another ring, fine by me. Count me out of the group that puts some kind of baseless faith in a silent private equity investor. He is in it for money. Ishbia could give 2 chits about the WSox or WSox fans, never has, never will. His silence now, even with the fan excitement over the Murakami signing, is proof positive of that.

Can't wait to get my Murakami jersey and for Opening Day !

Thank you. Not sure that means that JR would not have signed him anyway though.

I am wondering....where did you read that Brooks Boyer had to convince JR to sign Murakami ? Sounds absurd. I thought maybe Ishbia had something to do with it but maybe that isn't right either. Maybe, just maybe JR wants to go for another one.

On the same point, the '77 WSox Hitmen were so much fun to watch and in this day and age, would have drawn even more fans. The atmosphere in the stands back then was crazy.

The excitement about Murakami coming to the WSox probably has little to do with the fact that he is coming from Japan. Reinsdorf already knows how one player or a couple of new players could excite the Sox fan base....which begs the question, "why hasn't he done it more often?" Consider when he brought Fisk in from Boston. Fans went crazy on Opening Day in Comiskey in 1981. Fisk had already homered at Fenway in their Opener. Fisk responded again in Chicago with a grand slam home run. As we now know, Fisk, Luzinski and Kittle all became fan favorites and made us occasionally wear the ugly '83 uniforms. The roof shot home runs from those guys drew fans into the park. So if Murakami, Colson, et. al. hit some bombs, more fans will come for the show.

I enjoyed Chuck Garfein's comments in the face of some aggressive and understandable questioning by AJ including past and future spending on player contracts. Anyway, I enjoyed the bantar.