South Side Hit Men

Spotrac released an article by Michael Ginnitti predicting every single MLB Option Decision. https://www.spotrac.com/news/predicting-every-2024-mlb-option-decision-2040/ For the White Sox, Michael predicts the White Sox will Exercise the $15M option for Liam Hendriks. Decline Tim Anderson’s $14M option. Mike Clevinger will decline the $12M player option. Jerry personally likes Liam, so I could see the Sox possibly signing an extension with him beyond 2024, and let him rehab with the club and perform more promotional opportunities as he did while out in 2023. If this wasn’t the case, than I would think it smart for Jerry to take the $1.5M X 10 year option, and let his children or a new owner pay the remaining years shall Jerry not survive through 2033, plus benefit via inflation and time value of money. Seven interesting beyond White Sox predictions, one unfortunately with a possible White Sox impact (Merrifield). Michael Conforto (San Francisco) - Declines $18M Player Option. Andrew Heaney (Texas) - Declines $13M Player Option. Whit Merrifield (Toronto) - Toronto declines $18M mutual option. Max Muncy (Los Angeles) - Dodgers exercise $14M Team Option. Justin Turner (Boston) - Turner takes $6.7M Player Option Buyout ($13.4M to stay) and explores FA or retires. Marcus Stroman (Chicago) - Marcus exercises $21M Player Option. Michael Wacha (San Diego) - Padres exercise $32M / 2 year team option.

Draftkings Odds League Championship Series Houston -140 vs. Texas +120 Philadelphia 170 vs, Arizona +145 Game One Houston -142 vs. Texas +120 Houston - 1 1/2 + 150 vs. Texas + 1 1/2 -180 Philadelphia -162 vs, Arizona +136 Philadelphia - 1 1/2 +130 vs. Arizona + 1 1/2 -155 World Series Houston +185 Philadelphia +210 Texas +295 Arizona +475

Wonder if this 2021-2023 White Sox teams could have won a World Series, post rumored Eloy + Yermin for Pablo Lopez 2021-2022 offseason trade. Total Payroll $192.7M 21.7 Hitting bWAR & 20.0 Pitching bWAR Starting Lineup $113.4M RF F. Tatis Jr. 5.5 2023 bWAR $7.0M SS 2B M. Semien 7.4 $26.0M 1B J. Abreu -0.1 $19.5M CF L. Robert Jr. 5.1 $9.5M 3B Y. Moncada 0.6 $17.0M DH 3B J. Burger 2.5 $0.7M LF DH N. Castellanos 1.6 $20.0M C R. McGuire -0.2 $1.2M 2B LF T. Anderson -2.0 $12.5M Bench $5.5M: C S. Zavala -0.3 $0.7M; 1B LF A. Vaughn 1.0 $0.8M; INF E. Andrus 0.6 $3.0M ; OF B. Hamilton 0.0 $1.0M Rotation $46.8M: Z. Wheeler 4.2 $24.5M; P. Lopez 3.3 $5.4M; L. Giolito 1.6 $10.4M; D. Cease 2.4 $5.7M; D. Dunning 3.0 $0.8M Bullpen $27.0M: R. Lopez 2.1 $3.6M; G. Santos 1.2 $0.7M; T. Toussaint 1.0 $0.7M; T. Banks 0.8 $0.7M; M. Kopech 0.7 $2.1M; B. Shaw 0.6 $0.7M; G. Crochet 0.2 $0.7M; L. Hendriks -0.1 $14.0M; A. Bummer -1.0 $3.8M

So want an Arizona @ Houston World Series, with Dusty and Pito winning it all. Not sure which would be the lower rated WS, Houston or Texas. Definitely want Philadelphia out ASAP.

The Sox remained in the 25th position after Minnesota failed to advance to the LCS. Let's Go Houston, win it for Pito!!! Last season each team advanced to the League Championship series or beyond (last WS Win) 2023 Arizona (2001) 2023 Houston (2022) 2023 Philadelphia (2008) 2023 Texas (Never 1961 Washington D. C. / 1972 Texas) 2022 New York Yankees (2009) 2022 San Diego (Never 1969) 2021 Atlanta (2021) 2021 Los Angeles Dodgers (2020) 2021 Boston (2018) 2020 Tampa Bay (Never 1998) 2019 Washington (2019) 2019 Saint Louis (2011) 2018 Milwaukee (Never 1969 Seattle / 1970 Milwaukee) 2017 Chicago Cubs (2016) 2016 Toronto (1993) 2016 Cleveland (1948) 2015 Kansas City (2015) 2015 New York Mets (1986) 2014 San Francisco (2014) 2014 Baltimore (1983) 2013 Detroit (1984) 2009 Los Angeles Angels (2002) 2007 Colorado (Never 1993) 2006 Oakland (1989) 2005 Chicago White Sox (2005) 2003 Miami (2003) 2002 Minnesota (1991) 2001 Seattle (Never 1977) 1995 Cincinnati (1990) 1979 Pittsburgh (1979)

Glad He Gets Us bugs the hell out of you. Stop watching and boycott, sit and stew about it further, or write Jerry and/or Brooks a sternly worded letter. I hope the ads return next year and beyond. Sure beats listening to endless penis pill and strip club ads pimped on the Score during the years the Sox were exiled on that station because Jerry was pissed Carmen asked Jerry an unauthorized question.

If they could get Molina and Wainwright as well, it might be worth pursuing. Signed, Tony

Baseball teams can cater to any group many consider worthy or repulsive and should reap the rewards or suffer the consequences for their actions. I encourage people offended by ads promoting Jesus Christ to boycott the Sox if they are so offended. I also encourage any of the four million Catholics in the Los Angeles area to boycott the Dodgers for their support of these provocateurs targeting their faith, performing pole dances and simulating sec acts with Jesus dying on the cross if they are offended. They interviewed these clowns back in June, and recall at least a few stating they were in the Church of Satan, though I couldn’t find that particular video clip today. https://www.thesisters.org/copy-of-grand-mother-vish-knew Religious beliefs: Church of Satan. There were many groups honored that night, and a Pride Day held for several years or more. I don’t recall organized protests (or at least widely organized protests) reported except against this particular group, for their acts of religious bigotry and hate that would not be celebrated as “pride” if directed toward any other religious group, race or faith. That is the difference between all the other groups honored that day, and this particular group. I’m fine, and I believe a majority of people including Christians were fine or at least tolerant of the MLB June pride nights, including the ones hosted by the White Sox, or even the Dodgers with the exception of honoring this particular group. There were no protests of the Sox version, nor any other team that I recall in June beyond this widely publicized one.

There is a way to honor pride night like the White Sox and I believe all other clubs except Texas did, without honoring people who mock important religious symbols and tenets of 4 million Los Angeles area current and potential customers. As bad as Jerry can be, I’m glad Jerry doesn’t support this, just as I know he wouldn’t honor a group denigrating the faith of Muslims, Jews or any other faith or religious groups as part of a White Sox promotion of “Pride”. White Sox Honors Nuns Dodgers honor “nuns”

The Satan worship first pitch debacle in June didn't help their "beloved grip on the community", nor did their TV issues for several seasons where a large portion of LA cable TV subscribers did not have access to Dodgers games. More penny smart dollar foolish policies by the "stewards of the game". Every human on the planet should be able to pay MLB/MLB.TV $X for access to every game played. Period. A portion of that could be reimbursed to ESPN/FOX for their contracts, and if you need a local add on fee to reimburse cable partners until their current agreements end, than fine do it. With the Bally's debacle, it was a perfect opportunity to fix this mess for a large swath of the league.

WGN stopped airing all sports a few years ago beyond perhaps the Chicago Fire (not sure which station carried them). However, the entire MLS league went to I believe Apple TV IIRC. Select high school and "Chicago" (Rosemont Wolves Minor League) games are still televised here over the air on a UHF station, in addition to the national English / Spanish television national network sport broadcasts. Obviously not every out of market NFL is broadcast locally, including cable TV games, without a pay package. However, in Chicago, and perhaps elsewhere, local games broadcast on cable stations are simultaneously carried via on an over the air TV station. I believe WLS Channel 7 or perhaps others cover Bears games based on conference or cable tv broadcast partner. That's what I meant when I said WGN or one of the two Spanish Networks do not have to recreate an entire broadcast team (beyond Spanish announcers), as they can broadcast the dual broadcasts and pay CSN/Stadium/Jerry TV. The Yankees broadcast their Saturday afternoon games over the air via WPIX through 2022, which used their YES network staff. The Sox can do the same here. Sadly I believe Yankees sold those broadcasts to Amazon or another outlet in 2023. What makes sense is the entire 162 game schedule (less the handful of games they pimp out to ESPN/FOX) should be available via a dedicated cable station, and also streamed online available everywhere including local via MLB.com for a paid subscription. They can broadcast a small subset (10-15%) of games OTA, more as a marketing gesture to keep fan interest alive across the broad community. In 10-20 years, there will be a growing segment of the community with no access to these games, resulting in lost generations of fans because they can never watch a game beyond mlb.com highlights.

Craig Kimbrel is the last player who can add to his Divisional Series record below, as the other three series have closed out. Tuesday Division Series Performances: Jose Abreu Houston 2-5, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 2 R, 2 K Marcus Semien Texas 1-4, 1 R Did Not Play: Dane Dunning Texas; James McCann Baltimore; Wednesday Division Series Performances: Jose Abreu Houston 2-4, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 R Lance Lynn Los Angeles 2 2/3 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 4 HR, 1 K Loss Did Not Play: Joe Kelly Los Angeles; Craig Kimbrel Philadelphia Cumulative Division Series Stats: Hitters Jose Abreu Houston 5-16, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 3 R, 1 BB, 2 K Marcus Semien Texas 3-14, 1 BB, 1 RBI, 2 R, 3 K Pitchers Craig Kimbrel Philadelphia 1 IP, 1 Save Joe Kelly Los Angeles 1 2/3 IP. 2 H, 1 BB, 0 ER, 3 K Dane Dunning Texas 2 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 ER, 1 HR, 1 K, 1 Win Lance Lynn Los Angeles 2 2/3 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 4 HR, 1 K, 1 Loss Did Not Play: James McCann Baltimore

Cot’s Contracts has the Dodgers at $267.2M in taxable salary and benefits, or $34.2M over the 2023 threshold of $233M. Not sure why there is such a wide disparity with these numbers and Spotrac, which I assume you are using. I believe Cot’s is more accurate, in part, because I read the Angels still finished over the threshold, but Spotrac has the Angels listed under the tax threshold. Perhaps Spotrac is not including benefits, trades or other inputs, or perhaps both have inaccuracies. Teams over the threshold on both sites: (Cot’s listed first, Spotrac second) NYM $376.4M vs. $375.8M NYY $298.5M vs. $294.5M SDP $296.0M vs. $283.5M LAD $267.2M vs. $239.2M PHI $263.7M vs. $255.7M TOR $258.0M vs. $252.0M ATL $250.5M vs. $246.0M Teams over via Cot’s Contracts but not Spotrac: TEX $241.9M vs. $227.8M LAA $236.5M vs. $227.9M

Like Wagner, I was working late. That said, Jose has an 160 point higher OPS in the postseason (1.002) vs. the regular season (.842) through the Suck It Twins Series. https://www.mlb.com/player/jose-abreu-547989

Including Jerry speaking as to how wise he and his organization is, and how poorly run his competitors perform. Mets and Padres pissed money away poorly, but money plus smart organizations equate to winning consistently, the opposite of the White Sox will likely carry Jerry’s overall MLB record under .500 (3374-3363-4 through 2023) if he remains alive through the 2024 season.

Yeah, he can hang out with Middleton this off-season and they can talk about their prior careers in baseball, and how they were such incredible teammates and contributors while everyone else sucked.

Yes in 1980. This is the start Lance Lynn and the Dodgers deserve. Said a few days ago, at least start this clown at home where he has at least pitched decent at times, not at Arizona where he would likely get clobbered.

He’s just a Sk8ter boi, Hahn said “See you later boy”…. MVP once again.

They had a strong core in 2004 (Konerko, Crede, Thomas, Rowand, Buehrle, Garcia, Contreras, Garland). If they got lucky with seven plus low cost veteran signings in 2024, you’re looking at an 80-85 win season, and early playoff exit. That’s the size of the current hole. If these rumors are true, Jerry, Getz and Pedro are determined to fill the hole with a bunch of dying Royal carcasses.

No, what was short-sighted, foolish and mega crazy was handing billionaires like the McCaskeys and Reinsdorfs free sports stadiums, and handing the Chicago Skyway to bankers for chump change among thousands of corrupt schemes and criminal deals over the years. I care about the City and the people who live here, not the corrupt scum who have stolen everything including the hubcaps over the past century. I root for Chicago, always have, always will. Meanwhile, in Rio, this is what the “winners” received for spending billions on bread and circuses. https://www.businessinsider.com/rio-olympic-venues-are-abandoned-just-6-months-after-games-2017-2?op=1#now-check-out-the-50-most-influential-people-in-sports-22

I’d like them to consider Victor Caratini or Tom Murphy, perhaps they can sign Reese McGwire if Boston is moving on. Think it’s very important to bring in a catcher instructor to help the guy they acquired in the Lucas / Lopez trade, and other current and future acquisitions. Not important to get an offensive minded and/or an expensive catcher, just someone who can call a game and work with pitchers.

Frankly I don’t give much credence to any of these bullshit rumors over the years, especially posted by the fake fast food Twitter accounts, or the Hillary Dick Pic Guy at The Score. Nightingale was the only one credible internal sources that have panned out. All I stated were the conditions I would trade for Perez. Dump our Royals s%*# for their Royals s%*#. Would primarily do so because Perez’ higher salary the next two seasons isn’t blocking any legitimate contention, but shedding Benintendi’s 2026-2027 may if the Sox have enough pieces to contend by then. Im pretty sure Royals fans are as enamored with Perez at this stage as Sox fans are with Moncada or Tim today.

Why on Earth would the Sox do the crazy s%*# they have done since 1981, including sign Benintendi? Maybe the Royal fan base likes Benintendi, His AAV is lower ($16.5M 2024-2026 and $14.5M 2027), so that may be attractive as well. Neither team is credibly trying to compete or win baseball games, so it's just a matter of signing a couple guys you can pimp to the fan base and hope you can sell over 10,000 tickets per game.

Bruce Levine can. He rarely is correct about White Sox baseball, and hopefully he won't start being correct today. The only way I want Perez here is if he is traded for Benintendi to shed two net contract years (2026-2027). Whit Merrifield is another mid 30s guy who won't surpass a .700 OPS for the White Sox. The roster is full of this garbage.