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The Worst Owner in Sports? The case for Jerry Reinsdorf


Kyyle23

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47 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

Conspiracy theory alert!!: We don't know that MLB didn't nudge Reinsdorf along, either overtly, or through writing on the wall. The weird blurriness (which is so uniquely Reinsdorfian) buys him time to save face and get his affairs in order. 

No conspiracy needed.  Jerry is not a cash rich owner, and he was having an active capital crunch.  The signs are all there and public.

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6 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

No conspiracy needed.  Jerry is not a cash rich owner, and he was having an active capital crunch.  The signs are all there and public.

The conspiracy part is that MLB pushed him to find a buyer. 

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2 hours ago, WestEddy said:

Conspiracy theory alert!!: We don't know that MLB didn't nudge Reinsdorf along, either overtly, or through writing on the wall. The weird blurriness (which is so uniquely Reinsdorfian) buys him time to save face and get his affairs in order. 

Good take, I guess we will never know.

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2 hours ago, Kalapse said:

The White Sox and baseball in general were probably THE stabilizing force in my life since I was a child, the one consistent activity I had was watching and talking about white Sox baseball, hence why I joined this site 21 years ago and became a regular. After 35 years of constant disappointment with zero hope in sight I decided to relinquish my fandom and cut the team out of my life. Instead on being jaded and synical, constantly bitching about Sox minutea that will not improve anytime soon I decided to just stop following them one day and you know what? I'm a lot better off for having done so, I'm infinitly happier in my life doing things that I enjoy. My removing the one thing from my life that I held most dear was 100% in response to JR's dreadful fucking ownership, I have zero positive feelings towards that man and the way he chooses to run his sports franchises. Its just further proof that you can find tremendous success in the business world and still be an enormous fucking loser. 

I don't blame you.  I haven't relinquished my fandom, but I have mostly tuned out their performance on the field these last 3 seasons.  Life's too short to let my anger at how JR ran this franchise into the ground affect my enjoyment of summers.

What you say points to a concern I have about this franchise.  How many other life-long Sox fans have simply given up on this team.  It's going to take a lot of hard work to win these fans back.  Just being good enough to make the wild card or win a weak division and then get quickly bounced in the first round isn't going to be good enough.  And like I said, I'm not criticizing your decision or your loyalty in any way.

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7 hours ago, WBWSF said:

JR doesn't care if he's hated by Bulls/White Sox fans. The only thing he cares about is making money. And he has been very good at making money.

I’m of the belief that human nature says that even JR doesn’t want to be hated but it’s too late, so much alienation of the fan base in his 44 years  can never be forgotten or forgiven. 

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JR's biggest success as Sox owner, of course, was the 2005 World Series championship.  But, if I'm not mistaken all but a handful of MLB teams have won at least 1 WS title since he's been owner.  Five expansion teams, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh are the only franchises who haven't unless I'm missing someone.  Two of those expansion teams didn't even exist until 1993 and 1998.   

What's so maddening is that he failed to build on that 2005 title to make the Sox more of a "big market" team.   Instead, we've had 20 years of keeping or promoting loyalists who weren't very good at their jobs and failing to invest properly in this franchise to let it start developing enough talent to compete.  

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8 minutes ago, FloydBannister1983 said:

Isn’t Getz part of the argument in favor of Reinsdorf being the worst owner?  A guy who failed upwards in Reinsdorf’s organization.

Even more than his hires is sabotaging his own guys even when they are 100% right.

What do the Sox look like today if AJ Hinch, Manny Machado, and Bryce Harper had been brought in?  These were all stopped by one person, and it wasn't the GM.

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12 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Even more than his hires is sabotaging his own guys even when they are 100% right.

What do the Sox look like today if AJ Hinch, Manny Machado, and Bryce Harper had been brought in?  These were all stopped by one person, and it wasn't the GM.

Yeah, and those contracts were quickly dwarfed by today’s standards.  It always made sense at that time to be a serious business in a big city.  AJ and Harper were obvious hires and Machado right behind.  Instead they went the clown show route.

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47 minutes ago, 2Deep said:

Another Jerry article.  You all know he does not give a s%*#.  He's 87 and could give a Flying F what people think.  His actions continue to show that over and over....

Nitpick here:  he's actually 89.

And yeah, he's long had a adversarial relationship with both the media and fans who are critical of the team.  He's not swayed by what we think.   He's got plenty of yes men around him to tell him that he's right.

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8 minutes ago, 77 Hitmen said:

Nitpick here:  he's actually 89.

And yeah, he's long had a adversarial relationship with both the media and fans who are critical of the team.  He's not swayed by what we think.   He's got plenty of yes men around him to tell him that he's right.

Any feeling that JR is embarrassed by the state of his franchises is simply projection from people who need him to feel embarrassment for the sake of hope, there's NOTHING in that man's actions that indicates he thinks any of this is his doing. You don't surround yourself with an army of sycophants if you're practicing introspection. 

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13 minutes ago, Kalapse said:

Any feeling that JR is embarrassed by the state of his franchises is simply projection from people who need him to feel embarrassment for the sake of hope, there's NOTHING in that man's actions that indicates he thinks any of this is his doing. You don't surround yourself with an army of sycophants if you're practicing introspection. 

In fact I would argue he looks down on his fans more than he respects their feelings.

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7 hours ago, Kalapse said:

The White Sox and baseball in general were probably THE stabilizing force in my life since I was a child, the one consistent activity I had was watching and talking about white Sox baseball, hence why I joined this site 21 years ago and became a regular. After 35 years of constant disappointment with zero hope in sight I decided to relinquish my fandom and cut the team out of my life. Instead on being jaded and synical, constantly bitching about Sox minutea that will not improve anytime soon I decided to just stop following them one day and you know what? I'm a lot better off for having done so, I'm infinitly happier in my life doing things that I enjoy. My removing the one thing from my life that I held most dear was 100% in response to JR's dreadful fucking ownership, I have zero positive feelings towards that man and the way he chooses to run his sports franchises. Its just further proof that you can find tremendous success in the business world and still be an enormous fucking loser. 

Miss you buddy, this place is better with you here!

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7 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

No conspiracy needed.  Jerry is not a cash rich owner, and he was having an active capital crunch.  The signs are all there and public.

He’s not cash liquid.  My problem is he was massively cash positive prior to COVID.  Did he take those profits to buyout original investors?  Does he build in a $xM (20M+) salary for himself?  GFY (not you, Jerry), if he used profits to increase equity.

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4 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

In fact I would argue he looks down on his fans more than he respects their feelings.

Most wealthy and powerful people have an extreme sense of arrogance and have no clue how they are viewed or they never think they are wrong.

His incompetence is probably global.

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1 hour ago, kitekrazy said:

Most wealthy and powerful people have an extreme sense of arrogance and have no clue how they are viewed or they never think they are wrong.

His incompetence is probably global.

Run into many at the Scottsdale Starbucks?

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7 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

Even more than his hires is sabotaging his own guys even when they are 100% right.

What do the Sox look like today if AJ Hinch, Manny Machado, and Bryce Harper had been brought in?  These were all stopped by one person, and it wasn't the GM.

 

7 hours ago, FloydBannister1983 said:

Yeah, and those contracts were quickly dwarfed by today’s standards.  It always made sense at that time to be a serious business in a big city.  AJ and Harper were obvious hires and Machado right behind.  Instead they went the clown show route.

Jerry has been running a 2nd-rate operation with the Sox for years.   They were perfectly situated to sign either Machado or Harper, but that was never going to happen with JR as owner.  Only one of two franchise that has never signed a player to a $100M contract with the other franchise being literally homeless now. 

Passing up on Hinch in favor of brining TLR surely earns him lots of points towards the "worst owner in sports" award.  

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37 minutes ago, 77 Hitmen said:

 

Jerry has been running a 2nd-rate operation with the Sox for years.   They were perfectly situated to sign either Machado or Harper, but that was never going to happen with JR as owner.  Only one of two franchise that has never signed a player to a $100M contract with the other franchise being literally homeless now. 

Passing up on Hinch in favor of brining TLR surely earns him lots of points towards the "worst owner in sports" award.  

Speaking of the A's...
 
In addition to Lawrence Butler ($65.5 million/7 years), they signed designated hitter/outfielder Brent Rooker to a $60 million, five-year contract and right-hander Luis Severino to a team-record $67 million, three-year deal.
 
Extensions for Nick Kurtz and perhaps SS Jacob Wilson are also being considered this offseason.
 
Basically, that's four times the projected 2026 White Sox payroll next midseason.
 
 
Edited by caulfield12
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