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“Roki, we have a huge endorsement opportunity for you, meet our mang Howard Aiken”

For what it's worth, I don't think Iguchi matters too much. But if they were close in anyway, I imagine him saying something like "Chicago's a fun city to play/live in, Philly sucks" would hurt the Phillies and at least give the Sox a chance to give a presentation. Still laughed at, but it's something.

I believe him, yo.

Yes

As for the topic, Seattle would be my odds-on favorite. Quicker flight home. Big Japanese population and history. Him not wanting the NY/LA spot light but still wanting endorsements might as well say Seattle imo.

have heard abel is declining in value and that crawford is an athlete who hits grounders

I don’t buy it one bit… if anything, I think it INCREASES his endorsement opportunities. The Dodgers fanbase in Japan now likely matches or exceeds their local base.

We all know the odds are long .I'm just pointing out that Iguchi was his manager and looked out for him and Iguchi really liked playing for the Sox and wants to come back. If Iguchi was a coach with the Sox it would be a familiar face and father figure and could be an invaluable mentor to Sasaki. If you don't think it holds any weight so be it. I think the kid would like to have Iguchi around and that's the best chance the Sox have if they can match the money and find ways to trade for more since their pool money is less no matter when he decides to sign.

You had to remind me of the Bat Day when my schoolmate buddy Jerry G. Bishop who achieved fame as horror movie host Svengoolie was outside the park passing out bats (the paper kind) on Bat Day. As soon as the cameras left, so did he IIRC.

The point is there won't be a Stewart purchase because the team isn't actually for sale. The earlier rumors of JR being open to selling and then floating Stewart were literally just leverage plays. And if you still want some hope as a Sox fan, the Ishbias might be using JR's own move on him. It is pretty widely known that potential owners often float their name for other teams as both a signal and a kind of trial run at the process before they actually buy a team. This could be the Ishbias basically telling JR that they are serious about owning a team soon and if he doesn't decide to make a move, then they will take themselves out of the running, which also gives whoever the next owner is less competition, and thus, JR a likely lower payout.

Pretty impressive to have JR be pre-emptively denied by a second government.

Seems the White Sox lead TV announcer can't help but screw up other sports too: https://awfulannouncing.com/college-basketball/oscar-robertson-robinson-john-schriffen-espn-plus.html

Good post, mostly agree, I like the bit about the spectacular gymnast. I'd quibble with the bolded a little bit. I don't see it, why'd they re-sign Clevinger? Signing him once, maybe you get the benefit of the doubt (they knew), but twice? and he makes like one start? hmm. It actually seems to contradict what I thought was a well-established policy, I feel like we were always whining that the Sox/Bulls wouldn't go after knuckleheads with star power, then they go out and sign Clev twice. He's not even good. You could say something similar about Josh Giddey, regardless of whether or not the allegations against him are true. He's radioactive, OKC wasn't re-signing him and other teams didn't seem interested in trading for him, despite being pretty talented and young. Seems to me that the Reinsdorf teams had a change in ethics and it didn't even help the teams win games, actually they're as bad as ever. I bet we're thinking about if Deshaun Watson can hit a curveball.

Rich is still with us and jerry told him to drop the "Son of" moniker and just use Svengoolie, that he earned the title.

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/features/that-time-when-nintendo-bought-a-baseball-team/ To this day, Mariners fans are grateful that Yamauchi's 49% essentially saved the team from relocation (to St. Pete as well, just like the White Sox during the same decade). Although on paper it seemed this powerful Japanese businessman had no real interest in the team – never visiting them, never watching a single game, getting his son-in-law to appear at meetings on his behalf – the reality was that his acquisition of the team was a symbolic one, a sign of gratitude to the state that helped Nintendo establish itself in the west. He may not have really cared much about the Mariners, but he certainly had a soft spot in his heart for the people who did. The deal also occasionally brought benefits to Mariners-supporting gamers. Nintendo published four baseball games starring Ken Griffey Jr, the Mariners’ star hitter. The SNES got two of these (Ken Griffey Jr Presents Major League Baseball and Ken Griffey Jr’s Winning Run), whereas the other two appeared on the Nintendo 64 (Major League Baseball Featuring Ken Griffey Jr and Ken Griffey Jr’s Slugfest). Current Sasaki betting odds, White Sox 80 to 1, or 29th, ahead of just the A's. Surprised DET and Minnesota would possibly be considered ahead of the Boston Red Sox. https://www.gambling911.com/mlb/roki-sasaki-odds-for-30-mlb-teams-111224 Los Angeles Dodgers 3/1 San Diego Padres 4/1 New York Mets 6/1 Seattle Mariners 7/1 San Francisco Giants 8/1 New York Yankees 9/1 Chicago Cubs 10/1 Philadelphia Phillies 11/1 Tampa Bay Rays 12/1 Atlanta Braves 14/1 Texas Rangers 14/1 Toronto Blue Jays

Seattle seems like a great first guess for non-huge markets because of a ton of advantages.

Just doesn't invest his time/effort/energy into learning the backgrounds of teams, like Benetti has always been much better at, just from a natural passion and/or interest in the various sports he broadcasts, and their past histories. It's not easy to cover three major sports as an announcer, one or two is the most that the majority can successfully manage.

Not only that, but the whole "ring the gong" thing with Takatsu was borderline racist/discriminatory. Now obviously Fukudome faced even worse issues on the Northside, it would be shocking to see him not end up on one of the coasts, especially the Pacific Coast due to the proximity with Japan for flights and closer times for Japanese tv/media. Seattle feels right, so does SD...if he wants to compete directly against the Dodgers, or maybe SF. The Cubs would certainly be THE team to pick in Chicago. The Cardinals are clearing away (or attempting to) salary, and they have one of the most iconic/recognizable brands in the sport, but StL is hardly a mecca for Asian families. Hard to think of any Japanese pitchers succeeding there, mostly relievers. The Red Sox obviously have/had a much longer history with Japanese pitchers, and that was the initial choice of Dice K, who was a huge get back at the time, although he had a relatively disappointing big league career. In that sense, both Dallas and Houston would be better fits in terms of demographics in "flyover" territory.

It's honestly incredible how delusional you are. People crack the joke a lot on this board, but dead serious you may be Chris Getz.

Crawford is an athlete right now who doesn’t run great routes and hits a lot of grounders, but also has great tools and held his own as a 20 year old in AA. He is still a work in progress, but I personally think the upside is worst the risk.

I thought they were taking Arjun Nimmala if Blake Mitchell was off the board.

It’s not a high bar,

Hello....Howard Ankin needs a new SouthSide spokesman!!!

By a guy who is just a guy and probably did a google search and saw the Sox were giving him a presentation.

Rich was Jerry G.'s assistant who later took over the hosting as Son of Svengoolie when Jerry left for the West Coast. Eventually Jerry let him use the Svengoolie moniker without the Son of in front of it. And I'm pretty sure they were both Sox fans. I hope Rich is still with us. Jerry has passed on. Both good guys.

What a catastrophe that pick was. I hate playing the game of "Look who was drafted after him!!" (Bradfield, Lombard, Aiden Miller, Brice Matthews, BTW), but I'm curious who Mike Shirley was focused on when Jeremy Haber allegedly made the call on Gonzo.

"With that in mind, the Dodgers might not be an ideal landing spot for Sasaki," Bowden wrote. "In Los Angeles, he’d be in the shadow of both Ohtani and Yamamoto, which would lessen his endorsement ceiling. Yamamoto has experienced this to a degree, as being on the same team as Ohtani has led to Kodai Senga of the New York Mets drawing more endorsement deals than Yamamoto, according to a league source. It only makes sense that Sasaki will consider this factor in making his decision." Bowden also addresses the never-ending media presence in Los Angeles, which could be a hindrance for Sasaki. "With the Dodgers, Sasaki would also encounter the massive Japanese media presence — as high as 25 to 35 people — that regularly covers the team," Bowden wrote. "While he’ll surely be closely watched wherever he signs, that level of attention is not the best situation for a young, developing pitcher." https://www.si.com/mlb/dodgers/news/mlb-insider-reveals-why-it-is-unlikely-dodgers-sign-roki-sasaki-01jcrmkz5bxc Bowden believes Sasaki and Wasserman, the agency that represents him, will try to get a more considerable source of income through endorsements. The MLB insider is insistent that Sasaki won't want to be in the shadows of Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, which would prevent the young pitcher from maximizing on endorsements.

Why laughed at? It's silly to pretend that the White Sox will never win 60 games in a season again. The FO will be relatively stable while Reinsdorf's alive. He's getting in on the ground floor of a rebuild, and will be the man for all 6 seasons on the South Side. If the Sox or subsequent owners don't step up to the plate, dude's a free agent at 28. Already, 2025's going to be a "Kids Can Play" season. 26 is only going to be more fun for the team as they grow into a contender. It's a compelling situation, and it looks like the only team being mentioned from that angle.

Could it help? Sure. Would it outweigh the sorry state this franchise is in, probably not.

I’m just happy to be here 🤣 It sounds dumb but the Sox need to fight their way to get in on these convos with the Asian players, for years they’ve neglected this continent way too much. Happy to see them at least trying albeit won’t result in him coming here. Feel like he’s destined to be a Padre, Dodger, or Cub just makes way too much sense for him

If the Cubs don't extend Tucker, this was a stupid deal.

Especially when a lot of teams have Japanese players now to give feedback on, if this is even a thing.

There are also monetary incentives to the players . If you recall Dylan Cease won the most money because of his 2022 season in the 1st ever pre-arbitration bonus pool based on the new CBA rules that was ratified in March 2022. Since players have 3 pre arbitration years they can technically earn extra money all 3 years based on WAR or finishing high in Cy Young and MVP voting. Julio Rodriquez and Corbin Carroll have won Multiple times and Bobby Witt just got an extra $3M . All teams throw in $1.67M into what amount to a $50M pool given to the top 100 pre arbitration players every year of the new CBA which runs through the 2026 season. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/35219927/source-dylan-cease-headlines-new-pre-arbitration-bonus-pool https://apnews.com/sports/baseball-5dc4b61e33649fa5d08e17c3de87cf67 https://apnews.com/2023-mlb-pre-arbitration-bonus-pool-e42e78b212cf3ab0b86b36f66fbaa47f Those are the list of winners from 2022, 2023 & 2024 . The 2022 is not the full list since it's just an article about Cease getting the top reward and has a cursory list of the 2022 top rewards but not the full list that the AP puts out which is what the other 2 links are for 2024 and 2023. The new list comes out every December. I see Burger got an extra $356K for his 2023 season.

Is the stadium itself a money maker? It seems like owning all the land around a stadium you got for free with a thirty year lease is pretty nice. Your investment would be in the development which is earning you money quickly. If baseball stadiums actually earned the owners money every city would be tripping over themselves spending a billion or two opening one and reaping the financial rewards.

"I'm coming to the US now because I can't wait to compete against the best players in the world. But also I've decided to join the white sox because I want to do it in a place no one is watching" Makes perfect sense to me let's gooooooo

On the Sox moving since this is Soxtalk. JRs been planning for his kids to inherit the team when he died for ages. Sure he said he's open to selling but he's angling for funds for a new ballpark. There was never any real threat that he'd sell the team to Dave Stewart. Reinsdorf and Stewart both are full of it.

MLB_scoops has been proven to be...shoddy...at best. I'm pretty sure lower than the foodies. So my guess is this is mega engagement bait. I mean, look at the comments.

“Real shot” and “White Sox”….why?

A willingness to spend is a lot more valuable in baseball. They've also put a ton of their OWN money towards renovating the arena.

TIFWIW

I suspect the plan for the International pool money was to keep it in Jerry's pocket.

Larger shape 1B should def take that.

Colas probably isn't getting his shot because he's of questionable character as much as his inability to learn fundamentals. Maybe see if Brewers will take Colas for that left handed Cuban 1st baseman they have who does the splits stretching for throws, 6'6" 250lb Ernesto Martinez , Jr who is a very good fielder and athletic enough to steal 20 bases in AA but he's 25 and just resigned with the Brewers with an invite to spring training. They call him " El espectaculo". Colas probably has more upside but he does need out of the organization with Getz putting so much emphasis on good personalities. Martinez supposedly fits that description. It wouldn't hurt the Sox to have an excellent defensive 1st baseman who can run if they can get him to tap into his power more. He's likely a nobody but at this point so is Colas. Martinez although in AA seems closer to the majors with the Brewers than Colas is with the Sox. https://www.mlb.com/news/ernesto-martinez-jr-non-roster-invitee-brewers-2025-spring-training

That Sunday Tribune Parade Magazine was the same Sunday of the infamous Dick Allen Chili Dog HR off Sparky Lyle pinch hitting in the 2nd game of a doubleheader against the Yankees. It was Bill Melton Bat day and back then you got full sized bats and there were 52,000 people in old Comiskey Park

MLB regulars. You know I don't play the stupid anti-White Sox clique thing on this board.

Wasn't it Sasaki whose agent said that a smaller market team could wind up with him because he's looking for more of a soft landing in MLB than being "the man" in NYC or LA? I think if the Sox were serious about him, they could certainly make a credible push for Sasaki.

Spoke with a member of the organization this afternoon talking about the Crochet deal but as a side note, found out that Bill Melton fell and hit his head several months ago and that triggered dementia which led to his passing. He was in a rehab environment for a time but it just kept getting worse. Very sad. Also Hawk isn't doing well either as he was in a rehab facility too. He kept falling down and was dehydrated. The unfortunate human condition.