FranchisesBreakdown shows Ishbia brothers hold 35% of White Sox to Reinsdorf’s 20% -- but Reinsdorf has the power04.16.2025 While Jerry Reinsdorf may only own 20% of the White Sox on paper Getty Images Chicago-based WSCR-AM’s Matt Spiegel broke down the ownership structure of the White Sox revealing that the Ishbia brothers own 35% of the club while Jerry Reinsdorf owns 20% control a fund that accounts for a 30% stake There are fewer than 10 limited partners that control the remaining 15% of the team There is no firm timeline on this.” WSCR’s Lawrence Holmes said “I don’t think they’re going to have control while Jerry is alive.” Spiegel: “The Ishbia brothers are the probable controlling owners in waiting as Jerry decides whether he’s going to sell before he passes or his kids sell once he passes.” Holmes: “The Ishbias are clearly buying up stuff But if you think there’s a hostile takeover that’s getting ready to happen it’s not.” Spiegel noted Reinsdorf’s control of the White Sox “has never been tied to how much or how little he owns” (“Spiegel & Holmes,” WSCR-AM Jerry Reinsdorf is considered to be one of the worst owners in baseball He is despised by the fan base for his frugalness and his role in the team's competitive window being slammed shut so abprutly It is well documented that his outdated views of how a baseball franchise should be run were a major contributing factor in the club losing a record 121 games in 2024. Now it feels like he is holding the team hostage as he refuses to sell majority control of the team to two billionaire brothers This is according to local sports talk station along with executive producer Shane Riordan uncovered the White Sox ownership dynamic with Spiegel getting the exact details on the ownership breakdown .@MattSpiegs got a scoop on how White Sox ownership shares are currently split up.Justin & Mat Ishbia: 35%Fund controlled by Michael & Jonathan Reinsdorf: 30%Jerry Reinsdorf: 20%8 or so other limited partners: 15% pic.twitter.com/Xd0HBr8nFF the Reinsdorf family owns a majority stake of the team The frustrating part is the Ishbia brothers have made it clear they want the White Sox and Jerry will not sell because then the 89-year-old will not have a hobby Justin and Mat Ishbia now own 35% of the White Sox, as @MattSpiegs reported, but Jerry Reinsdorf remains the controlling partner with his 20% stake.@LaurenceWHolmes: “Nothing has changed. This is how it’s going to be. Jerry is not out here trying to get rid of the White Sox.” pic.twitter.com/gmvsB7caxv You can argue the Ishbia brothers are not successful owners in their own right given how bad the Phoenix Suns have been despite having Kevin Durant Here is the kicker--the Ishbia brothers are trying to win They are willing to take big swings. They are not afraid to make a big move, and if it does not work out, they move on. Plus they have cash to spare to awaken a sleeping giant franchise that the White Sox have become under Jerry's stewardship they seem to have cracked the dying regional sports network model and have plenty of money to cover the cost of a new stadium that Jerry dreams of building on the vacant land in the South Loop known as the 78 That seems like better ownership than what has been on display over the past four decades at 35th & Shields What is keeping these rich hobbyist brothers from owning the team is that Jerry does not play golf and now he has his loyalists out trying to revise the move he made to get the Ishbia brothers to buy up more shares Once again, the Reinsdorfs reaching out to the Ishbias to purchase more minority shares is again being ignored here. The reporting on this story has been so lazy in some circles. #WhiteSox https://t.co/AjmBfLbDqI The two main reasons Justin Ishbia likely ditched his pursuit of buying the Twins were that he did not like Minnesota's balance sheet and the Pohland family's asking price (a subscription is required to access content linked). he likely was not increasing his stake in the White Sox just to get a better parking spot at Rate Field (a parking spot to the game is one of the two benefits Jerry's limited partners receive) Since the other reported benefit is a ballpark pass to all 29 other MLB stadiums and not a dividend check it is unlikely Ishbia wants a piece of the White Sox's eventual sale when Jerry passes That is the only way those shares generate any financial value is when the team is sold It is likely Justin wants to be the buyer in a sale and not the benefactor The only reason Reinsdorf won't announce this as the succession plan is likely pride or maybe Jerry is uncomfortable dealing with his mortality this feels like something out of an episode of Succession and Jerry is the patriarch who refuses to let a new generation take control © 2025 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved The content on this site is for entertainment and educational purposes only Betting and gambling content is intended for individuals 21+ and is based on individual commentators' opinions and not that of Minute Media or its affiliates and related brands All picks and predictions are suggestions only and not a guarantee of success or profit If you or someone you know has a gambling problem crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER ","https://fansided.com/",{"alt":"6w","src":"6x","url":"6y"},{"type":"6v","value":"6z"},"link","Minute Media","https://www.minutemedia.com/",{"text":"72","url":"73"},{"type":"71","value":"74"},"All Rights Reserved Betting and gambling content is intended for individuals 21+ and is based on individual commentators' opinions and not that of Minute Media or its affiliates and related brands so he is a huge Golden Eagles hoops fan too.\n\nHe also supports the Milwaukee Bucks and Brewers.\n\nTodd is the host of the Locked on White Sox podcast.\n\nTodd is the current site expert of BlackhawkUp.com along with being a long-time contributor to SouthsideShowdown.com and DaWindyCity.com.\n\nTodd has covered the Milwaukee Brewers It is well documented that his outdated views of how a baseball franchise should be run were a major contributing factor in the club losing a record 121 games in 2024. Now it feels like he is holding the team hostage as he refuses to sell majority control of the team to two billionaire brothers .@MattSpiegs got a scoop on how White Sox ownership shares are currently split up.Justin & Mat Ishbia: 35%Fund controlled by Michael & Jonathan Reinsdorf: 30%Jerry Reinsdorf: 20%8 or so other limited partners: 15% pic.twitter.com/Xd0HBr8nFF Justin and Mat Ishbia now own 35% of the White Sox, as @MattSpiegs reported, but Jerry Reinsdorf remains the controlling partner with his 20% stake.@LaurenceWHolmes: “Nothing has changed. This is how it’s going to be. Jerry is not out here trying to get rid of the White Sox.” pic.twitter.com/gmvsB7caxv They are willing to take big swings. They are not afraid to make a big move, and if it does not work out, they move on. Plus Once again, the Reinsdorfs reaching out to the Ishbias to purchase more minority shares is again being ignored here. The reporting on this story has been so lazy in some circles. #WhiteSox https://t.co/AjmBfLbDqI The two main reasons Justin Ishbia likely ditched his pursuit of buying the Twins were that he did not like Minnesota's balance sheet and the Pohland family's asking price (a subscription is required to access content linked). reports Jerry owns a minority stake while his sons and the Ishbia brothers own more shares of the team There is only one possible happy ending for the team If you buy something from an SB Nation link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement All optimism for the Chicago White Sox’s 2025 season has been extinguished as rapidly as it was built up The Sox started the season strong with an Opening Day win over the Angels but Chicago is back to disappointing fans as the sole owners of last place in the AL Central riding a five-game losing streak on the management side of the organization as any hopes of ownership changes were recently squashed who we all know is the “Deep Throat” of White Sox executive messaging recently revealed that Sox owner Jerry Reisndorf has no intention of selling the team “as long as he remains in good health.” According to Nightengale Reinsdorf has “rebuffed all of minority investor Justin Ishbia’s requests to purchase controlling interest of the team.” For Sox fans, who have long awaited Reinsdorf’s relinquishment of the team, this is beyond infuriating. Although it was hard to believe that Reinsdorf would go through with a sale when he first announced his interest in putting the team on the market in October hope lingered when Ishbia bought most minority owners’ shares earlier this year improving his stake and standing over the franchise’s control Reinsdorf wasn’t fully committed to seeing the Sox succeed at least without him in the picture (shocker) so it’s no surprise that the 44-year owner of the club suddenly lost interest in selling Chicago fans shouldn’t feel bad that they drank Reinsdorf’s Kool-Aid — at least when Jerry was the one making and drinking his own Kool-Aid who seems to be living off the elixir of life and who has a history of making poor hiring decisions what awaits Chicago in the second half of this decade The Sox continue to finish at the bottom of the AL Central with no clear path forward.Of all four options General manager Chris Getz continues to assemble a team of waiver-wire pickups with a few young but promising players filling in the gaps Although it’s too early to say that players like Miguel Vargas and Brooks Baldwin won’t bloom into solid roster fixtures later this year or in subsequent years it’s hard to see them blossoming with comparatively weak veteran mentorship The Sox regress to the point of having to start another rebuild.Seeing the Sox fail so rapidly at this rebuild is less realistic but the Sox have clearly shown that they can and will defy expectations Seeing how top position player prospect in the farm system Colson Montgomery is faring in Triple-A the Sox might be in for high prospect turnover and they may need to start their third rebuild in 15 years on the off-chance that their Top 10 prospects sink instead of swim but they move out of Chicago.Unfortunately Reinsdorf’s refusal to sell Ishbia the majority stake in the team could be because he’s holding out hope that he’ll get a bigger and better offer from someone who wants to move the team to another city there’s no guarantee that the Sox stay in the city it’s widely speculated that the Sox won’t continue to play on the South Side much longer While tragic and heartbreaking, Reinsdorf doesn’t care about the Sox’s history in the league, or Chicago — he cares about money. If offered more than the $2 billion Forbes currently evaluates as the franchise’s value Reinsdorf will probably take the offer even in the best of health The Sox become a playoff-caliber team.Honestly the chances of the Sox becoming a winning team are slim Although new director of hitting Ryan Fuller director of pitching Brian Bannister and manager Will Venable are helping this team elevate their game it’s hard to fully buy into a GM who couldn’t develop the club’s talent during the first rebuild MLB Trade Rumors By | April 6 The 89-year-old Reinsdorf “has made it perfectly clear to friends that he has zero interest in selling as long as he remains in good health,” and “he has rebuffed all of minority investor Justin Ishbia’s requests to purchase controlling interest of the team.” The latter point is particularly noteworthy, as Ishbia and his brother Mat were viewed as the lead candidates to buy the Twins until about six weeks ago when the Ishbias reversed course and instead looked to increase their minority share in the White Sox Team VP of communications Scott Reifert made it clear at the time that this “has no impact on the leadership or operations of the Chicago White Sox and does not provide a path to control” for the Ishbias and today’s report from Nightengale would seemingly further quiet the speculation that Reinsdorf is looking to move on from the team he has owned since 1981 Reinsdorf’s long tenure is highlighted by the 2005 World Series which marked the first Sox championship (and the first baseball title in Chicago as a whole) since 1917 the Pale Hose have only sporadically been contenders over Reinsdorf’s four-plus decades and the club has topped the .500 mark only six times since that World Series year the Sox posted the worst record in modern baseball history and one can only hope that last season’s 41-121 debacle is the low point of what looks like it’ll be another lengthy rebuild Reinsdorf’s ownership style has long faced criticism on many fronts, chiefly related to a relative unwillingness to spend despite playing in a large market.  As per Cot’s Baseball Contracts the Sox payroll did rank seventh in baseball as recently as the 2022 season but that marked Chicago’s only appearance within the top 10 spenders over the last 14 years $75MM deal from the 2022-23 offseason is the largest contract the White Sox have ever given to a player and Reinsdorf’s longstanding reputation as a hawk in labor talks has only added to the perception that the Sox aren’t willing to heavily invest in player salaries With both the White Sox and the NBA’s Chicago Bulls (Reinsdorf’s other team) the owner has been known to both take a heavy hand in front office business while also employing longtime confidants in key executive roles While keeping trusted employees in place could naturally be viewed as a sign of loyalty the flip side of Reinsdorf’s approach is that his teams are often accused of insularity which keeps the clubs from fully embracing newer trends or perspectives when the White Sox were looking for a new GM in August 2023 then-assistant general manager Chris Getz was promoted into the top job after Reinsdorf seemingly had a brief or non-existent search for external candidates but Chicago fans might not be totally comfortable until there is a firm plan in place for the team beyond 2029 Chicago White Sox That’s from a Chicago sports fan of nearly 60 years The only way for Chicago to be rid of Jerry Reinsdorf is for Father Time to catch up to him but considering how the old codger is in good health and good spirits we’re stuck with him for a while longer… My black arm band is still in place and will be until old jer sells the team or dies Does anyone think he’ll still be around in 2029 He certainly won’t be by the time his non-existent new stadium is built There are two mistakes just in the last sentence alone I don’t know why they don’t edit their articles they probably didn’t think editing it was worth the time Fans will be angry but owning a team isn’t about the fans daily feelings and evidenced by the fact that Sacramento appeared to be packed on opening day and the Pirates fans are still attending its a ‘honeymoon’ type of situation what investment group is going to take on the headache of this organization if the Ishbans own 40% of the team and Reinsdorf owns only 12% why the Ishbans don’t control the team I think our only hope is for the other owners to force Reinsdorf out He’s the controlling partner for the ownership group MLB teams are rare assets with built-in revenue: the White Sox get revenue sharing (~$110M/year) Forbes pegged them at $1.785 billion in 2023 and that’s before any South Loop stadium play which could add real estate value or city incentives Reinsdorf’s holding because selling now—bad season uncertain economy—means leaving money on the table The Ishbias aren’t buying a roster; they’re buying a monopoly asset in a fixed 30-team league but Chicago’s market size and upside make the Sox a different beast I am in total agreement with you on the following: Any owner (CWS WAS) who is holding off a sale is doing so because they believe they will sell for a higher price once people believe they have the security of spending discretionary income The White Sox do have an RSN contract with their new CHSN channel which they helped start last autumn after their old channel shut down An RSN pays regardless of whether anyone watches or not Have there been any “sell the team” chants on the South Side Pirates fans were chanting “sell the team” in the 3rd inning of the Buccos’ home opener You have to have enough fans in the stands to be heard doing that They were also booing the team whenever a mistake was made Yankees fans got hammered for doing the same thing when their players sucked (with Michael Kay making a huge deal about it) well the ‘cheerleaders’ get paid handsomely by the owners (one way or another)to do that Make the mistake of questioning the org and you are cut off from your access and therefore your job Everyone knows death is the only possible trigger to new controlling ownership for the White Sox Reinsdorf has little to no shot at living past 100 He’ll most likely die in 10 years from now It gets ‘worse’ by him moving the team but if that should happen he should be forces to leave the name with Chicago and call his team something else I don’t think JR wants to move the Wsox to Nashville imo It’s all about trying to extract more money from the city The team was the worst in history last year And has the nerve to charge fans to watch on chsn Although a terrible owner and a diehard Wsox fan it seems like JR is in good health considering his age 89 I don’t wish him to die nor I will celebrate his death he is such a control freak that he would not be able to stand that someone gets majority ownership and through good decisions flips the team into a contender near ‘overnight’ (ie a few seasons)…Thereby showing the depths of the man’s incompetence for all to see Why doesn’t he just donate the White Sox to the City of Chicago…give it to Svengoolie and let him run the team…he could not do any worse the solution is simple: sell the team for exactly what he bought it for I feel like this doesn’t actually change anything regarding Ishbia I thought the last report was that Ishbia was allowed to buy more from the other Sox owners but Reinsdorf wasn’t going to sell any of his I just think he is not selling out of spite at this point Reinsdorf is an accomplished owner in a category by himself very few owners could’ve successfully dismantled that dynastic Chicago Bulls team with such expediency like he did…..and pushed perhaps the greatest basketball player of all time away from the game the man ruined a dynasty by enabling Krauss to dismantle the team because of his bruised ego… I want to read Rick Hahn’s book when it’s written “Hey there … got a match?” You want someone to die because you’re a fan of his lousy sports team His ownership is despicable and has wasted over 40 years of fans lives So at this point- he’s made it this way for fans in Chicago George Lukas is the single largest share holder who blames my suffering directly on Jerry Reinsdorf fans have not been an important part of the White Sox experience Jerry Reinsdorf absolutely HATES White Sox fans He literally wants to cause Sox fans so much pain that he is willing to stay as team owner as long as he can just to screw them and get the final laugh He’s been a successful businessman as indicated by his accumulated wealth The game of baseball has passed him up a while ago Just time to move on from the White Sox and enjoy life Maybe it’s time for you to move on from sports fandom It sounds as if you’d enjoy life more if you did Reinsdorf should move on; Then it’s apparent you have an IQ below freezing Just gave op 3 runs in ninth and were swept by tigers Call me when you put a Major league team on the field and I will come u After this game – the White Sox bullpen is declared the worst in MLB “the team’s lease at Rate Field is up after the 2029 season” 2033 will be the 100th anniversary of the first All-Star game played at Comiskey Park The Sox will probably host that game at a new stadium… hopefully in the suburbs near Naperville Log in Register MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball Register their owner Jerry Reinsdorf is getting what he fears most: scrutiny An article from The Athletic published on Thursday absolutely torched Reinsdorf for his many faults perhaps the most encompassing of them being his stubbornness and arrogance in the face of a changing league One of two mentions of the Chicago Bulls were in reference of him not caring as much about them as his baseball team This caused every Bulls fan around the world to remark: “no shit” There was a second and final Bulls reference pulling prior quotes from Reinsdorf indicating that his family will keep the Bulls upon his death whereas he “advises” them to sell the Sox And in the dozen or so years since lil’ dorf has taken more control, he has plucked some low-hanging fruit like beefing up the marketing for a team that singularly owns the third largest media market in the league2 they’ve mostly sucked ass and slid down into irrelevance The Bulls under Michael appear to have different symptoms of suckage than the White Sox The problem with the Sox appears to be that Jerry cares too much to not meddle Michael does appear to leave basketball decisions to his appointed decisionmakers The problem here is that he doesn’t know how to find a good basketball person So is this situation for Bulls fans even worse than fans of the White Sox, who at least can reason Jerry isn’t going to live that much longer? Perhaps not. The Bulls do possess inherent advantages, and while currently frustrating that they’re not tapped, it does still linger as potential. And that potential - which is essentially spending more money - perhaps is something that Michael can do more freely only when out from under his father’s shadow. This wouldn’t be simply additional payroll, but (as thoroughly discussed in that White Sox article) spending more on the organization overall and in ways that’s not subject to a salary cap. That includes hiring lead executives who have done the job before and have qualifications beyond “can fool Michael Reinsdorf in a job interview”. But perhaps that’s just coping. Maybe we’re doomed for way longer than even White Sox fans. After all, one of Jerry’s wishes is that his grandson is owning the Bulls next. 1which Jerry had little to nothing to do with, and it’s galling that he was inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame also has effectively won over the entire established media covering the team, as they’ve either gone to work for the Bulls, work for a media partner, gone part-time due to lack of interest, or as with Joe Cowley of the Sun-Times, become buddies never criticizing the son (only the father). I think - and you can find words here and not only in the internet archive - AK is even worse than given ‘credit’ for, as there is a large subset of the fanbase that is blaming ownership as if even a replacement-level executive couldn’t be doing MUCH better (or at least be able to explain themselves) within these same ownership restrictions The only difference is that Reinsdorf cares less about results with the Bulls. People sometimes mistake this as a good thing... "at least Reinsdorf doesn't care enough about the Bulls to meddle". But it's a bad thing. Reinsdorf meddles, but the desire to win in baseball tempers his desire to meddle. Since he cares less about basketball though, his desire to meddle isn't offset by a burning desire to win. That is, every bad thing in that article applies to the Bulls even more. ReplyShare1 reply8 more comments...TopLatestDiscussionsNo posts As the Chicago White Sox are very likely about to set a Major League Baseball record for futility An article from The Athletic published on Thursday absolutely torched Reinsdorf for his many faults This caused every Bulls fan around the world to remark: \u201Cno shit\u201D pulling prior quotes from Reinsdorf indicating that his family will keep the Bulls upon his death whereas he \u201Cadvises\u201D them to sell the Sox And in the dozen or so years since lil\u2019 dorf has taken more control, he has plucked some low-hanging fruit like beefing up the marketing for a team that singularly owns the third largest media market in the league2 they\u2019ve mostly sucked ass and slid down into irrelevance The problem here is that he doesn\u2019t know how to find a good basketball person So is this situation for Bulls fans even worse than fans of the White Sox who at least can reason Jerry isn\u2019t going to live that much longer Subscribe now Perhaps not. The Bulls do possess inherent advantages, and while currently frustrating that they\u2019re not tapped, it does still linger as potential. But perhaps that\u2019s just coping. Maybe we\u2019re doomed for way longer than even White Sox fans. After all, one of Jerry\u2019s wishes is that his grandson is owning the Bulls next. 1which Jerry had little to nothing to do with and it\u2019s galling that he was inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame also has effectively won over the entire established media covering the team as they\u2019ve either gone to work for the Bulls become buddies never criticizing the son (only the father) I think - and you can find words here and not only in the internet archive - AK is even worse than given \u2018credit\u2019 for as there is a large subset of the fanbase that is blaming ownership as if even a replacement-level executive couldn\u2019t be doing MUCH better (or at least be able to explain themselves) within these same ownership restrictions A network of correspondents providing impartial news reports and analysis in 33 languages from locations around the world Up-to-the-minute news and analysis from around the world and in Chicago Hosted by WBEZ's Mary Dixon and NPR's Steve Inskeep Newshour is the award-winning flagship program of the BBC World Service the world’s largest news gathering operation 1A convenes a conversation about the most important issues of our time smart reflection on world news as it’s happening innovators and artists from around the globe with news from Chicago from WBEZ’s Lisa Labuz Reset digs into how the news has moved since you left the house discussing and unpacking the biggest stories and issues in Chicago and beyond right in the heart of the day Fresh Air is a weekday “talk show” that hardly fits the mold Fresh Air Weekend collects the week’s best cultural segments and crafts them together for great weekend listening The show is produced by WHYY and hosted by Terry Gross and features from Chicago and around the world Hosted by WBEZ’s Melba Lara and NPR’s Ailsa Chang A daily take on business and economics news for the rest of us hosted by Michael Barbaro and powered by The New York Times’ journalism 7pm Hour -- A focus on what’s changed here in the U.S since President Trump was inaugurated -- looking at everything from the culture to the shape of the federal government From tariffs to the downsizing of the Department of Education how has Trump made good on his campaign promises From shifting alliances to trade agreements to changes at the U.S we’ll ask how President Trump has altered international relations since January 20 Covering everything about science and technology — from the outer reaches of space to the tiniest microbes in our bodies — Science Friday is your source for entertaining and educational stories and activities From their humble beginnings on Chicago’s radio airwaves to their evolution through television and today’s streaming platforms "Stories Without End" unpacks how soap operas have shaped popular culture and told intergenerational stories that continue to resonate a new theme and a variety of stories on that theme Sound Opinions is hosted by Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot In-depth interviews with brilliant creators A mix of live performances and interviews from WXPN Philadelphia’s daily program featuring important established and emerging artists Weekly film podcast and radio show from Chicago featuring in-depth reviews The first 50 years of modern advertising was based on hard-sell The next 50 years was persuasion through creativity and media tonnage But as advertising squeezed into the 21 century it was forced to shed its elbowing ways and become a delicate dialogue The goal is no longer to triumph by weight CBC's Under the Influence is hosted by Terry O'Reilly A wrap up of the week's news and a mix of analysis and features on a wide range of topics Have a laugh and test your news knowledge while figuring out what's real and what we've made up It's Been a Minute features people in the culture who deserve your attention Plus weekly wraps of the news with journalists in the know Exploring the biggest questions of our time with the help of the world's greatest thinkers A radio journal of news and culture produced from a Latino perspective and offbeat features from Chicago and around the world with only a microphone and a roomful of strangers How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior shape our choices and direct our relationships Your guide to examining how the media sausage is made Important ideas and practical advice: Code Switch features fearless and much-needed conversations about race—and Life Kit offers practical advice on things in life no one prepared you for Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX Reveal is public radio’s first one-hour radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting A weekly program presented by the New Yorker magazine’s editor killer beats and the edgiest new talent in storytelling come together for a weekly show that straps audiences into an audio rollercoaster Radiolab is known for its deep-dive journalism and innovative sound design Created in 2002 by former host Jad Abumrad the program began as an exploration of scientific inquiry Over the years it has evolved to become a platform for long-form journalism and storytelling Radiolab is hosted by Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser speaking during a Union League Club of Chicago event in October accused Comcast on Thursday of being “discriminatory” during carriage talks for Chicago Sports Network Bulls president Michael Reinsdorf accused Comcast of acting in “bad faith” during carriage negotiations for Chicago Sports Network Reinsdorf appeared with Hawks CEO Danny Wirtz at a Crain’s Chicago Business real estate event Thursday Reinsdorf said CHSN thought it had a deal with the cable provider in December but it fell apart He said the issue with Comcast is at the corporate level Reinsdorf said the teams had a good relationship with Comcast while appearing on NBC Sports Chicago a former Comcast affiliate that folded in September He also said he was frustrated that the Cubs’ Marquee Sports Network appeared to be further along in talks for a new deal “It’s disappointing you can’t go to bars and restaurants to get games,” Reinsdorf said Terms of Use • Privacy Notice • Cookie Policy • Terms of Sale and it’s possible the South Siders could even leave town Josh opened discussion on this topic in BCB After Dark but I thought I’d weigh in with my thoughts on the report in The Athletic that White Sox managing general partner Jerry Reinsdorf is after years of denying he was interested in selling the team Longtime majority owner Jerry Reinsdorf is open to selling the Chicago White Sox sources briefed on the matter but not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Athletic The 88-year-old Reinsdorf is in active discussions with a group led by former big leaguer Dave Stewart That would appear to be more than just “open” to selling if he is having “active discussions” with a group interested in buying the team Stewart’s group, Smoke34, previously tried to purchase Oakland’s stake in the Oakland Coliseum. He has been actively involved in trying to get an expansion baseball team to Nashville Reinsdorf is said to be the longest-tenured owner in MLB having had his group of investors buy the White Sox from Bill Veeck in 1981 That’s only technically true if you consider a single person being involved that long because the Steinbrenner family has owned the Yankees since 1973 changing principal owners only because George Steinbrenner Reinsdorf and several partners put up $19 million with a minimum investment of $250,000 — a 1.32% stake He was the majority shareholder in the team’s general partner Reinsdorf reportedly owned only 4-5% of the team when they bought it The Reinsdorf group has led the White Sox to seven postseason appearances since 1981 and one World Series title But they currently sit as the owners of a team that set a modern era record for losses with 121 in the season just concluded and little hope that they’ll improve any time soon Their public perception is of an ownership group that has no idea what they’re doing firing longtime executives Ken Williams and Rick Hahn in late 2023 and replacing them with the guy who was their assistant rather than bring in someone new to clean house This very much reminds me of how the Cubs were run in the last days of the Wrigley ownership — a management team that was running things the way they were 30 or 40 years earlier, refusing to modernize (this article in The Athletic from last month is a great summary of the Sox problems) and basically running the entire organization into the ground The White Sox lease at Guaranteed Rate Field runs through 2029 though I suppose if a new ownership group wanted to break it they could probably make a deal with the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority rent from the Sox because they have to hit certain attendance marks before they pay anything While I am (obviously) not a White Sox fan When they win it’s good for the city of Chicago and I believe it’s a piece of civic pride for the city to have two MLB teams Back in 2020, I wrote this article about the history of several times when the White Sox almost left town If the threat of moving the team to Nashville is an attempt to squeeze public money out of the city of Chicago or state of Illinois for a new stadium I’d caution any such group about trying that There doesn’t seem to be any interest in doing that Jerry Reinsdorf told the Sports Business Journal he suggested to his sons that they sell the Sox and keep the Bulls after he’s gone but it’s up to them when the time comes,” Reinsdorf told ESPN but at his age he might consider now to be the time to sell the Sox rather than “after he’s gone.” These “active discussions” might wind up putting the White Sox with a new ownership group With a former MLB player heading up that effort you’d like to think they would want to produce a winner Longtime majority owner Jerry Reinsdorf is open to selling the Chicago White Sox Reached separately by The Athletic, Reinsdorf and Stewart both declined to comment The news represents a significant change of stance for Reinsdorf Reinsdorf has shown no previous public interest in selling the team — at least not as long as he was around as majority owner Reinsdorf has said several times that he has advised his heirs upon his death to sell the White Sox and keep the Chicago Bulls though Reinsdorf has been vocal about making significant organizational operational changes amid a season in which the team lost a record 121 games Stewart, a former player, coach, agent and executive, has an impressive resume in the game, including World Series titles with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Oakland Athletics, and Toronto Blue Jays He had a dominant stretch with Oakland in which he had four consecutive 20-win seasons granting him admission to the prestigious “Black Aces” club Stewart’s group, Smoke34, previously tried to purchase Oakland’s stake in the Oakland Coliseum. He has been actively involved in trying to get an expansion baseball team to Nashville. Stewart and partner Lonnie Murray are leading a group pushing for an NWSL team in Nashville with a decision expected to be announced next month It’s unknown what Stewart’s potential involvement would mean for the White Sox staying in Chicago long-term The White Sox’ current lease at Guaranteed Rate Field though Reinsdorf has said in previous reports he would like to be somewhere else before it expires the White Sox won the World Series in 2005 They have made the playoffs three times since but have failed to win a postseason series prompting Reinsdorf to dismiss both team president Kenny Williams and general manager Rick Hahn last year also dismissed manager Pedro Grifol in-season The changes and his team’s performances has prompted Reinsdorf to make several public comments “This year has been extremely painful for all especially our fans,” Reinsdorf said through a team spokesperson in September and solutions won’t happen overnight either we have made difficult decisions and changes and we look forward to naming a new manager with new energy this fall.” An owner who 'thinks he knows everything' led the White Sox to historic disaster (Top photo of Jerry Reinsdorf in 2023: John J Kim/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) Jerry Reinsdorf is in “active discussions” regarding a possible sale of the Chicago White Sox according to a Wednesday report from The Athletic’s Britt Ghiroli The report points to a potential major shift in Reinsdorf’s thinking The 88-year-old chairman has owned the team since 1981 and as recently as last year talked about his desire to continue owning it “Friends of mine have said, ‘Why don’t you sell? Why don’t you get out?’ My answer has always been: I like what I’m doing, as bad as it is,” Reinsdorf said last summer when Chris Getz was promoted to be the team’s new general manager “And I want to make it better before I go.” But even with those recently stated opinions his ownership has been thrust under a high-powered microscope as the White Sox turned in one of the worst seasons in major league history in 2024 setting a new modern record with 121 losses Various national reports described an organization defined by Reinsdorf’s stubbornness and a seeming preference to operate as if it were 30 years ago when Reinsdorf was one of the sport’s most powerful owners during a time of labor strife and before baseball stars’ contracts grew to nine figures The Athletic report said Reinsdorf is having discussions with a group helmed by former big league pitcher Dave Stewart who has long fronted an effort to bring an expansion franchise to Nashville not only as an All-Star player and World Series winner but as a member of front offices with the Athletics Stewart is close friends with Tony La Russa who managed Stewart with the A’s and currently works as a senior adviser with the White Sox Reinsdorf met with the mayor of Nashville during last year’s Winter Meetings sparking much worry throughout the fan base that the White Sox would be moved if Reinsdorf’s wishes for stadium funding were not granted Reinsdorf’s ties to La Russa and therefore Stewart who was attempting to bring a team to the city seemed a more likely reason for the meeting But Reinsdorf’s history of suggesting the White Sox would depart — and his stated intention to move the team from its current home at Guaranteed Rate Field by the time its lease ends in 2029 — have made for a new round of speculation with The Athletic report saying it’s unknown what Stewart’s involvement in these discussions means for the team’s long-term future in Chicago Reinsdorf has spent many months attempting to gain funding for a new White Sox stadium in the South Loop The team went as far as releasing renderings of a new ballpark on “The 78” property where a small baseball diamond was recently installed Public funding seems a long shot based on comments from Illinois Governor J.B Though fans have spent years chanting “sell the team” at White Sox games and directing their frustrations over the state of the team — which is in the early stages of the second rebuilding project started in the last decade — at the chairman Wednesday’s report brought more curiosity than celebration own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment View all partners Reporters have accused Reinsdorf of a “stunning” lack of accountability and “perverse revenge” against fans who want him to sell the team The negative media attention isn’t surprising sports writers inevitably take swings at the owner with one notable exception: the last team to lose 120 games The Mets owner didn’t just manage to escape blame from the press But Payson did share one trait with the American working class: a love of baseball. She grew up a rabid fan of the New York Giants and eventually came to own 10% of stock in the team. Like many New Yorkers, she was crushed in 1957 when the Giants relocated to California A city that had three thriving teams was down to just one: the Yankees a longtime adversary that many Giants and Dodgers fans couldn’t bring themselves to root for Payson gave New Yorkers another option. Three years after the Giants and Dodgers left town, Payson bought an expansion club that was set to play in Queens. Anticipation for the new team energized the city. But in 1962, the first woman to purchase a sports team – a distinction that could have made her a target of the all-male press – led the Mets to a disastrous record: 40 wins against 120 losses In many ways, the 1962 Mets were worse than the 2024 White Sox. They made a whopping 210 errors; the White Sox will finish with half that many. Two Mets pitchers lost 20 games each; no one on the White Sox will come close The White Sox outpaced the Mets in a range of categories whose ownership group bought the team from the Payson family in 1980 I spent many hours scanning newspapers on microfilm and digital databases I made a trip to the Yale University archives to sift through Payson’s papers and I combed her file at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum I was certain reporters must have zeroed in on a few of the 1962 Mets’ many failings and pinned them on the owner But despite months of research, I didn’t find any negative coverage about the woman the press dubbed the “Mother of the Mets.” The winter before her team’s inaugural season, she made an unprecedented gesture: inviting sports writers to her Manhattan duplex to help select the name of the team they would be covering. Payson wanted to go with Meadowlarks a tribute to the team’s future home in Flushing Meadows an homage to a 19th-century New York team whose four-letter brevity worked well in headlines In a decision that’s hard to imagine Reinsdorf making she took out newspaper ads thanking reporters in “the most tolerant city in the nation” for dispelling the notion “that New York is a cynical sports city Payson benefited from conditions that Reinsdorf cannot control Beat writers gave Payson grace after Major League Baseball forced her to draft the Mets roster from a pool of unwanted players from other clubs Many of those journalists had lost work in 1957 when the Dodgers and Giants decamped for California “These were very accomplished for their times guys who suddenly didn’t have teams to cover,” Robert Lipsyte told me in an oral history interview in 2020 Payson gave these underworked sports writers a chance to cover the big leagues again In return, the Mets owner elicited effusive praise. In his book “Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?” journalist Jimmy Breslin wrote that Payson “could be the best person to come into baseball in our time.” No one at the Chicago Tribune or Sun-Times makes the same lofty claim for Reinsdorf Payson entered the offseason as a media darling The press appreciated her good nature and accessibility for interviews even as the Mets floundered Reinsdorf’s combination of on-field futility and off-field coolness to the Chicago media has assured him a spot in the annals of infamy With two and a half weeks to go in the season, Reinsdorf put out a statement acknowledging “this year has been very painful for all” and promising that he will “have more to say at the end of the season.” what Reinsdorf says probably won’t matter much Rather than learning from Payson’s approach he has made it easy for the press to cast him as a villain Chicago White Sox majority owner Jerry Reinsdorf is open to selling the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise, according to The Athletic The 88-year-old bought the White Sox for about US$20 million in 1981 making him the second-longest owner in MLB behind the Steinbrenner family Forbes reports that Reinsdorf still owns an estimated 19 per cent of the White Sox and he is now in active discussions with a group led by former MLB player Dave Stewart The outlet adds that the entirety of Reinsdorf’s stake is part of the potential sale discussions Reinsdorf has shown no interest publicly in selling the team he has previously advised his heirs upon his death to sell the White Sox and keep the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Chicago Bulls Reinsdorf has been vocal about making major organisational operational changes at the White Sox following a dismal season in which the team lost a record 121 games The White Sox were last valued at US$2.05 billion and US$1.9 billion by Forbes and Sportico Stewart’s group Smoke34 previously tried to purchase Oakland’s stake in the Oakland Coliseum and tried to get an expansion MLB franchise for Nashville. He and his partner Lonnie Murray are also leading a group aiming to secure a National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) club in Nashville with a decision on that expected next month It is unknown what Stewart’s potential ownership would mean for the White Sox staying in Chicago long term The team is currently eyeing a new stadium in the next four years releasing drawings for a new ballpark in the South Loop neighbourhood The project would require a mix of private and public funds but the latter has been met with resistance The White Sox’s current lease at Guaranteed Rate Field The Athletic notes that Reinsdorf has said in previous reports he would like the team to be somewhere else before it expires Reinsdorf’s reported sale talks come a week after Minnesota Twins owners the Pohlad family announced they had brought in investment bank Allen & Company to explore a sale of the team when Carl Pohlad acquired the club for US$44 million Get access to richer content, exclusive reports, unparalleled business intelligence, and community benefits to help you navigate the next frontier of sport and make more informed decisions with a SportsPro+ Premium membership. Discover more here Already a member? Log in here THE BIRTHDAYS OF CHICAGO SPORTS MOGULS have seldom been a cause for massive civic celebration That would include a power line that stretches all the way back to such barons of the bottom line as Charles Comiskey Arthur Wirtz and even the comparatively fan-friendly father-son chewing-gum magnates William and Phillip K far from the fan-maddening frustrations of the United Center and Rate Field NEXT WEEK WILL ALSO MARK the 40th anniversary of the day — March 7 1985 — when Reinsdorf and investors assumed command of the Bulls They purchased approximately 57% of the franchise for a reported $9.2 million That gave the basketball company a valuation of close to $16 million lease to play at Chicago Stadium and an NBA franchise with a 22-year-old growth asset named Michael Jordan those same Bulls are worth an estimated $5 billion THAT'S QUITE A RETURN ON INVESTMENT for any of the money people who have believed in and stayed with Reinsdorf since Day One they should be required by corporate mandate to have at least one room in all of their mansions dedicated to sole use as a shrine to The Business Jerry Reinsdorf (Seven gongs would have to be sounded daily That would represent one for each championship his Chicago teams have delivered in his 83 seasons of chairmanship — only one BUT IT'S WHERE THE BUSINESSMAN disconnects with the mainstream fans of Chicago that continues to deflate At age 89 — 44 years after his consortium's purchase of the White Sox became official in the winter of 1980-81 — Reinsdorf treats those everyday people like one-winged flies They are no longer even a necessary irritant And the more pliable continue to pursue the utterly hollow routine of paying to be or professing to be “fans” of the two Leaky Tiki sports teams THE LINE OF DEMARCATION REMAINS between Reinsdorf the sports capitalist and Reinsdorf the sports operator His latest golden monument will be the $7 billion development of the “campus” around the United Center — a joint project with the Wirtz family and their Blackhawks In learning his lessons well from the backhand Walter O'Malley gave Reinsdorf's beloved Brooklyn and the Dodgers for the greater riches of Los Angeles AS URIAH HEEP SUGGESTED all those spinal taps ago And it's Chicago — The Captive Sports City — that suffers the ongoing diminishment Jordan's Bulls should have won more championships — and would have under more savvy NBA management The White Sox of 2024-25 have devolved below The Mendoza Punch Line And those same Bulls will now forever labor under “The Curse of the Breakup” as long as Chair Jer' is around THE NATIONAL SPORTS DAILY WAS the grand media initiative headed by the mythic Frank Deford It began its star-studded run in January 1990 and died 18 months later a pre-internet victim of insurmountable circulation problems under the headline “Ways of Doing Things,” the brilliant attorney-turned-sports scribe Lester Munson presented one of the most precise profiles of the 720 degrees of Reinsdorf ever crafted It's amazing in its resonance to the ways and means of today The subhead was: “Jerry Reinsdorf made a killing in real estate — and left some bodies behind as the owner of Chicago's Bulls and White Sox he brings his methods to bear on the business of sports.” THOSE METHODS HAVE MADE HIM and select business apostles even wealthier in the 34 years since As for fans of the White Sox and the Bulls they are one-winged flies on a bandwagon without wheels all birthday cards and candles might have been possibly loving and somewhat sincere A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY MOST at DePaul University's tribute to Dave Corzine Saturday night 40 was raised toward the rafters at Wintrust Arena with “honored” status 24) — both once designated as National Player of the Year — have been retired The evening would have been complete for Corzine and the Wintrust-ing had Chris Holtmann's depleted Blue Demons managed to overcome a late Butler rally from a 70-69 advantage with 4:05 remaining the Bulldogs whizzed through a 12-0 run to cap an 84-72 victory THE GATHERED INCLUDED some grand names from Corzine's collegiate past including Joe Ponsetto Pancratz also headlined the group from John Hersey High School He was joined by Corzine stalwarts Gus Gustafson and Tom O'Connell the forgotten point-maker from the Huskies' 84-81 loss at Prospect in the inaugural Mid-Suburban League crossover championship 54 years ago this week the former university athletic director who retired in 2020 after a 45-year association with the school executive associate Peter Tombasco and staff received high kudos for a crisp and touching event As tribute crept toward midnight at an adjacent Marriott “My top two highlights tonight have been this honor and seeing so many great old friends Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Wednesday All communications may be considered for publication Reinsdorf: 'No one is happy' with results of 2024 campaignSeptember 11th CHICAGO – There have been a number of recent requests to speak with White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, which stands to reason as his team fell to 33-114 after a 6-4 loss to the Guardians on Wednesday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field Following this franchise-worst 15th straight home setback Reinsdorf issued the following statement through the team “Everyone in this organization is extremely unhappy with the results of this season we have made difficult decisions and changes to begin building a foundation for future success What has impressed me is how our players and staff have continued to work and bring a professional attitude to the ballpark each day despite a historically difficult season The statement closed with Reinsdorf adding “I expect to have more to say at the end of the season.” Reinsdorf’s squad will try to avoid breaking the Modern Era (since 1900) single-season futility mark set at 120 losses by the ‘62 Mets via a 10-5 record over their final five series Considering the White Sox are 1-27 over their last 28 home games “Everyone in there is aware of where we’re at from a record [standpoint],” White Sox interim manager Grady Sizemore said “If you’re sitting there only focused on the negative you’re probably going to have negative outcomes It doesn’t do us any good to sit here and be like ‘We have to win this many games to avoid whatever.’ features a remarkably close clubhouse in the face of the highest adversity General manager Chris Getz set out to build a strong culture during his first year in charge and seems to have started toward that target There’s been no finger-pointing and a one-for-all mentality. In Wednesday’s loss, Lane Thomas drove in four runs on two infield singles against Davis Martin (0-4). That’s right, the ball never left the infield, with the American League Central-leading Guardians (84-62) using their speed to burn the home team Steven Kwan and José Ramírez scored in the first inning on Thomas’ slow roller to third baseman Miguel Vargas with first baseman Andrew Vaughn stretching to make the play and Ramírez racing home from second Kwan and Andrés Giménez scored after second baseman Lenyn Sosa made a diving stop on Thomas’ grounder in the hole and Vaughn’s throw home was a bit late Giménez reached base that fateful inning by outrunning Vaughn after hitting a grounder up the line and slightly to the right toward first base with Kwan on first “My first thing I did is thought about second base Didn’t realize I didn’t have that much time “I had Lane Thomas [at] two strikes multiple times,” Martin said “People can point to whichever way they want to how that outing went it's my execution with two strikes which is probably going to keep me up tonight.” as the White Sox try to avoid their 24th series sweep before returning home for three with the Angels and ending the season with three in Detroit Focus falls upon hiring the next manager and building a team for sustained success The focus also falls upon what could be unwanted history on this next road trip “These are all competitors in here,” Martin said “It doesn't matter if we're playing ping pong we want to beat the crap out of each other and the same thing goes on out there Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect the White Sox breaking the 1962 Mets’ record for most losses in a season A team doesn’t lose 121 games and counting because of just one thing. In the case of the 2024 Chicago White Sox a meddling owner injuries and an inability to properly value and integrate analytics only begin to tell the story The White Sox on Friday surpassed the 1962 Mets’ 120 losses for the worst record in modern baseball history They are the first team since 1900 to have three separate losing streaks of 12 or more games Opponents have outscored them by more than 300 runs But no one predicted this level of incompetence And yet for all the factors that led to this season’s disaster when players and traveling staff try to encapsulate how things reached such a sorry state again and again they bring up one thing: the plane When a player new to Chicago first stepped onboard this season, he said loudly: “C’mon, man, no show plane?” A chorus of players burst into laughter. Last year, a tweet comparing the planes used by MLB teams caused a stir when it was shared among White Sox players while they were onboard A team plane doesn’t make errors or poor baseball decisions But the White Sox’s decision to use a smaller The difference between the White Sox and other clubs is so stark players who leave Chicago for other teams celebrate their freedom by texting each other “This is the big leagues.” “They don’t do the little or the big things right,” said a recently departed veteran The Athletic spoke to nearly 40 current and former White Sox employees and others in baseball about the larger issues plaguing the dysfunctional franchise which is run according to the whims of owner Jerry Reinsdorf The 88-year-old Reinsdorf led a group of investors who bought the team for $19 million in 1981 (He also owns the Chicago Bulls.) They won the World Series in 2005 but have made only three playoff appearances since some of whom requested anonymity to speak candidly about Reinsdorf and the state of the franchise said that the owner’s views on the game have calcified That while at times Reinsdorf has carried a big major-league payroll he has refused to invest in the cutting-edge amenities and infrastructure needed to succeed Some of Chicago’s wounds were self-inflicted and immediate such as the team’s reluctance to adapt to analytics and a leadership structure that led to division who last season ignored pleas by others in the organization to interview outside general manager candidates and promoted internally instead Reinsdorf even let popular broadcaster Jason Benetti leave because he didn’t like his style “You got a baseball fan owner who thinks he knows everything and maybe he did in 1992,” said a former employee “but the amount of info has skyrocketed in the last 30 years and he’s put his middle finger up at that.” “As long as Jerry’s philosophy is the overarching one,” another former employee added Reinsdorf was asked which matters more: the Bulls or White Sox winning A baseball-obsessed Brooklyn native, he fills his office with autographs and sports memorabilia and loves chatting with scouts, talking about the game and its history. Reinsdorf will proudly tell you he went to Jackie Robinson’s first game in a Dodgers uniform and he values his friendships with Hall of Famers such as La Russa But Reinsdorf’s affection for baseball is also an affection for how the game used to be played Sources describe him as stubborn and generally unwilling to adapt to an era where his preferred style of play — “get ’em over and get ’em in”— is no longer the sole recipe for success “I’m not sure if any owner loves baseball as much as Jerry,” said another former employee “That’s why he can’t get out of his own way.” Though he rarely appears on television during broadcasts Reinsdorf frequently watches games from his suite at Guaranteed Rate Field which has a door connecting to the baseball operations department “He’s hands-on in every part of the organization,” said former White Sox player and team vice president Kenny Williams of Reinsdorf then rejoined the franchise in 1992 as a scout He rose to GM in 2000 and oversaw the construction of the 2005 team becoming the second Black general manager to win a World Series — the team’s first since 1917 — and cementing his place in Chicago sports lore Williams refers to Reinsdorf as a second father and bristles at suggestions that the owner – who Forbes estimates is worth $2.1 billion – only cares about profits “He just wanted to break even,” Williams said of Reinsdorf, who reportedly is willing to help finance a new proposed ballpark in the more desirable South Loop location “I always thought over the years it was a little unfair when people would say ‘All he cares about is making money.’ I’m sitting in the office and he’s saying The White Sox are run like a family business Many employees have personal relationships with Reinsdorf and the team’s job security is arguably the best in baseball “They have people there with no business being in Major League Baseball,” said an executive with another team The 2005 World Series win was the franchise’s crowning achievement under Reinsdorf but it also gave the organization a false sense of confidence that kept it from evolving Reinsdorf and a certain faction of the organization felt no pressure to adapt The personnel was so insular that multiple former employees described it as a time warp One of the Sox’s most glaring failures has been the team’s limited embrace of analytics would make comments in meetings such as: “You guys know I’m not an analytics person I’m not big into this.” He questioned at least one White Sox player about whether it was possible to have too much information The team didn’t shun the movement entirely The White Sox were one of the first teams to invest in a spring training pitching lab purchased iPitch machines for approximately $15,000 each to help train hitters and hired the analytically savvy Ethan Katz as pitching coach in 2020.  “Did we have a large analytics department when I was there “We didn’t have those kind of resources to allocate towards that and with total support of ownership on that that it could be beneficial for the on-field product.” But the White Sox’s investment only went so far. To reduce overhead, the team outsourced some number crunching to Zelus Analytics “(They) are good if you have nothing,” one rival executive said “But the whole point of analytics is to have your own customized models for your players to gain an edge You don’t get that from an external firm.” Nor do teams advance when their decision makers are split on data’s value. General manager Chris Getz, like his predecessor, Rick Hahn, advocates for the White Sox to make greater use of analytics. But, like Hahn, Getz never worked for an organization at the forefront of the movement, such as the Houston Astros Even when they tried to use analytics, the White Sox weren’t sure how. For years, they used two sets of adjusted Trackman data: One and another was developed by their own analytics people Sometimes the two sets of data would be dramatically different making it difficult to evaluate players and write reports a debate about using spin rate versus adjusted spin rate caused internal strife “It was comical,” said a former baseball operations employee of different departments using different sets of data the White Sox are still untangling the lines of data communication Several former members of this year’s team pointed to defensive positioning as an area of concern The White Sox rank near or at the bottom of publicly available defensive metrics because their fielders often are in the wrong spots “That’s a huge area I felt could be better,” said outfielder Tommy Pham who signed with the White Sox as a free agent in April and was traded in July Former pitchers describe Chicago’s game planning as almost rudimentary Rather than provide individual plans for each hitter “Your sinker will play down in the zone” — an insufficient answer against a lineup full of left-handed hitters who handle sinkers in that area Minor league pitchers with high walk totals were told things like “work on your command,” with no other specifics “They had information,” one former position player said “But you didn’t get an explanation or a plan.” Reinsdorf told The Athletic via email: “Analytics are a very important part of the game a useful tool that compliments but will never completely replace human judgment.” Reinsdorf promoted Williams to executive vice president with Hahn — Williams’ longtime right-hand man — becoming general manager a Harvard Law School and Northwestern business school graduate who was part of a new wave in front offices The White Sox finished no better than 17 games out of first place in the first three seasons under Hahn and announced a shift in philosophy midway through 2016 The club was “mired in mediocrity,” Hahn said But Hahn and Williams had different views on how organizations should be run that dynamic impacted the operation of the team “I was known as and called ‘a baseball guy,’” Williams said that I could go in and see a guy work out for a day and tell you he was going to be an All-Star.” struggled to bring changes to the team’s usage of analytics and technology He often pushed back against the perception he wasn’t calling the shots but effectively had to please multiple power brokers Williams said of their dynamic: “We had a great relationship there was only one other person it seemed like we could laugh with Williams became less of a day-to-day presence as the team rebuilt Williams announced it was time for the team to turn the corner and that he’d be taking a more active role “It was like the (Michael Jordan) unretirement It caught people off guard,” said one person involved in the meeting “Rick Hahn was much better suited to take them forward Kenny was a platinum employee,” said another former baseball operations employee “He would show up and block certain trades and want to take the No … There was a lot of resentment from people inside about that (dynamic).” The divide manifested further in the polarizing lieutenants each man chose who eventually ascended to assistant farm director The younger Williams butted heads with many in player development and Haber could be bullish as he advocated for his boss’ point of view and was seen as an aggressive climber (Both men are no longer in the organization declined to comment; Haber did not respond to interview requests.) The White Sox made the playoffs in a shortened 2020 season Hahn’s peers voted him Sporting News Executive of the Year And then Reinsdorf made a hire that helped unravel it all Hinch’s suspension from baseball for his role in the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal ended the minute the 2020 season came to a close the White Sox job was the better of the two Chicago was considered much closer to the World Series than a Tigers team with back-to-back last-place finishes Hahn told reporters at the time the White Sox were looking for someone who has “experience with a championship organization in recent years,” which was taken as a thinly veiled reference to Hinch who guided the Astros to two World Series appearances Hinch and his wife packed for interviews in both cities but Hinch was being advised by friends on places to live in Chicago Reinsdorf pulled a stunner: He hired 76-year-old La Russa Reinsdorf had allowed then-White Sox GM Ken Harrelson to fire La Russa from his first major-league managing job a decision he later called “the dumbest thing I ever did.” The email the White Sox sent out to fans announcing La Russa’s hire included an image of Hinch’s signature The blunder was later chalked up to a graphics glitch but it was seen inside and outside the organization as further proof that Reinsdorf had passed over Hahn’s choice for his own required a procedure to repair the circuitry of his pacemaker and did not manage the team after Aug 28 Asked about La Russa’s nearly two seasons as manager “I don’t yet have a way to talk about that period of time because it takes me to a bad place and it will take me from the person I aspire to be.” The White Sox hired Pedro Grifol to replace La Russa making a rare pivot away from employees with long-standing ties to the organization executives who had led the team to back-to-back postseason appearances for the first time in franchise history before some of their moves backfired Reinsdorf said at the time that he selected Getz because he knew the White Sox organization intimately and “we want to get better as fast as we possibly can.” Why not at least interview people from other organizations even just to learn how other teams operate “Jerry just thinks he has the answers,” said a former staffer instituting mandatory pregame workouts before night games after the All-Star break and at times employing questionable strategy speaking publicly for the first time since his dismissal said the required workouts and his strategic decisions were efforts to help the team improve Our work ethic has to be spot on during that type of storm.” Some players and staff sympathized with Grifol given the team’s poor talent level and lack of quality analytics “What manager could have made things better?” Pham asked and said the White Sox would conduct a search outside the organization for a permanent replacement He vows to get the new hire better analytical support “When I was hired and given the position of farm director let me show everyone the positive impact analytics and technology can have (in the minors),” Getz said “We had a lot of wins along the way … My intention from the beginning was to modernize Reinsdorf promoted Getz with talk of him orchestrating a rapid turnaround But some of the new GM’s early moves puzzled rival executives are not part of the White Sox’s current top 10 Making matters worse: Because of MLB’s new anti-tanking measures Chicago could set a new record for baseball losses and still pick 10th in next year’s draft “No one can project a timeline to winning,” Reinsdorf told The Athletic “but there are many examples of organizations some very recently like Kansas City and Baltimore who averaged 100 losses over five full seasons But as the White Sox talk about moving forward they are in some ways becoming less insular This season the franchise added a dedicated coach at each minor-league affiliate to help with analytics tried to push that through several years ago and met with resistance Getz also brought in notable outsiders in Brian Bannister Josh Barfield and Jin Wong to the front office and a committee evaluating all facets of the organization recently presented its findings and a plan for the future to Reinsdorf “My experience so far is if it can be presented in a way that is educated and you use the people you have around you “Jerry now has a better understanding of the value of analytics He’s very open-minded and supportive of investing further.” La Russa remains active within the organization His title is special advisor to the executive vice president It’s not uncommon for him to lend his thoughts to the manager or hitting coach He was present when the committee evaluating the organization presented to Reinsdorf “I’m not a decision maker,” La Russa said of his involvement “Chris Getz is our leader with quality support all over I’m asked to contribute my experiences about how a team plays together.” Reinsdorf has told people La Russa is the smartest baseball person he knows He told The Athletic that La Russa’s role involves using his “expertise experience and excellence” as a strategic resource for the team’s manager He added: “We would be foolish to not take advantage of his Hall of Fame accomplishments in this game.” Some of his focus has shifted to his quest for a new ballpark which would increase the value of the franchise The White Sox tried to generate excitement for the project this week by leading a boat tour for investors to the site along the Chicago River Reinsdorf has said he would advise his family to keep the Bulls and sell the White Sox upon his death Why don’t you get out?’” Reinsdorf said last year … And I want to make it better before I go.” Reinsdorf continues to conduct business in his preferred style “The rumor was always we will never figure it out until ownership changes,” one former player said “That the real thing holding it back isn’t the people and player development; it’s the owner.” (Top image: Meech Robinson / The Athletic; Photos: David Banks / Getty Images; Nuccio DiNuzzo / Getty Images;  Griffin Quinn / MLB Photos via Getty Images) Apparently bored with the baseball playoffs and looming offseason it seems every sportswriter and his business-writing cousin have reported The source of these rumors is someone talked to someone who had breakfast with Jerry and while they didn’t talk about selling the team that friend just has a feeling Jerry is open to selling it’s a relief to talk about anything besides 121 losses With Twitter being steered off a cliff by Elon Musk it’s no surprise that “telephone game” reporting via tweets and hearsay is shakier than it’s ever been But fans who are old enough have lived with Reinsdorf ownership for more than four decades across two teams and at least two TV networks know what this is The current Sox Park has a lease that expires at the end of the decade By traditional Comiskey/Wrigley/Fenway standards the park is young (just 40 years old by the end of the lease) but by modern ballpark quickie-do-over standards (see: Braves As offensive as it may be for Jerry to have his begging bowl out once more (twice in a single ownership!) And, as in Atlanta (ownership got its weirdo “Braves City” complex outside of town, city of Atlanta or transportation convenience be damned) and Arlington (a brand-new, air-conditioned Ballpark Warehouse!), the rapid shift from one new ballpark to a newer one marked improvements for both teams. The same would be the case with the White Sox in The 78 — it’s the ballpark the White Sox probably shoulda built in the first place So that’s all any scuttle about the Jerry selling is gonna be: Leverage You’ll miss me when I’m gone (to NASHVILLE if a megabillionaire wants to fly into Chicago and offer Jerry 150% of what the team is worth and his team is years away from getting back to the top of the division Don’t let your anger toward Reinsdorf cloud what is a playbook move — if there’s been a move at all (don’t forget this is all tweet wrapped inside of a feeling in hearsay reporting at this point) Jerry may truly believe that the one thing that will outlive him isn’t Championship Plaza outside of the current park but The 78 a presumed marvel of locale and fan experience And if we get past his enormous and offensive ask of a billion dollars from a state that can’t and shouldn’t afford it and recognize it as another negotiation ploy The 78 would long outlive him or memories of 2005 (well it would live until a new park in The 79 is built in 2080) this past season and the current regime has killed my fandom about as much as a guy still working on a team site every day can I honestly don’t really care how this wrangles out by losing and greed and corporate socialism and sexual harassment and ballpark shootings and the most inbred incompetency in a front office since the days of the Macks in Philadelphia and gaslighting and signing/re-signing unapologetic domestic abusers have muted my fandom he’s probably undermined his seven-title legacy both by time (seven titles in 80 years of ownership is still sweet especially with record-breaking runs of futility by the Bulls and 121 losses from the 2024 Sox) and recent history (both clubs are absolutely lost in the wilderness) But in spite of all these extra words wandering the desert of my own broken fandom see this “sell” talk for what it is: Jerry is too smart a businessman to part with the cash cow that is a sports franchise especially so close to his finish line he can spreadsheet in a snap the tax burden of death vs Jerry Reinsdorf heads a group that purchased the White Sox from Bill Veeck.Photo: Chicago White Sox Last year’s squad set the modern MLB record for losses And let’s be honest—this team isn’t exactly built to avoid making it three straight It’s a tryout year—one-year contract guys hoping to get flipped at the deadline minor leaguers trying to prove they belong and first-time manager Will Venable trying to make something out of a roster that barely resembles a major-league team But let’s not kid ourselves: the mess we’re watching unfold didn’t happen overnight and certain power players—like Bud Selig and George Steinbrenner—weren’t comfortable with that Let’s be clear: this wasn’t about keeping gambling interests out of baseball It was about keeping a deep-pocketed owner out of a major market team and the league essentially paved the way for Reinsdorf’s group to take over for a whopping $20 million the franchise is now worth north of $2 billion And here’s the kicker—when DeBartolo turned his attention to the NFL and bought the San Francisco 49ers Imagine what could have been if baseball hadn’t blocked him from buying the Sox Reinsdorf has owned the White Sox for over four decades the team has managed just one American League pennant and a single World Series title—an achievement worth celebrating but hardly a track record of sustained success who ran the team for 58 years and won four AL pennants "I've always looked at the ownership of a baseball franchise as a public trust I never did forgive Walter O'Malley for moving the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles." But here’s the thing: actions speak louder than words In the 1980s, he threatened to move the White Sox to Tampa Bay just to get Illinois politicians to fund a stadium with public funds but it did get lead to a new stadium across the street from old Comiskey Park Winning vs. Spending: A Tale of Two Ownership GroupsLook around the league and you’ll see ownership groups that actually invest in winning. The Los Angeles Dodgers—despite changing hands over the years—have spent big, built a powerhouse, and just won another World Series. They have thirteen straight playoff appearances I am sure Reinsdorf never forgave O'Malley for moving the Dodgers but I think his dislike for him includes other reasons who became chairman of the San Diego Padres in 2012 he poured everything into making the Padres competitive the White Sox biggest contract in franchise history is a $75 million deal for Andrew Benintendi That’s cute compared to what other teams spend just to fill out their bullpens The 2005 Championship: A Blessing and a CurseThis year marks the 20th anniversary of the 2005 World Series team But fans are tired of constantly being told to relive the glory days while the team sinks deeper into irrelevance You can only sell nostalgia for so long before people check out In his second year as general manager, Chris Getz has made changes in the front office, including new scouting directors and a roster overhaul to try and reset the franchise But let’s be honest: unless there’s a shift in how the team is run at the ownership level Is Reinsdorf Finally Ready to Sell?Here’s where things get interesting Reports are surfacing about Reinsdorf's openness to selling the team He’s reportedly had discussions with a group led by former MLB player Dave Stewart—an ownership group called Smoke34 which has been active in trying to bring a baseball team to Nashville the Athletics recently named Stewart a special assistant to player development Now, does this mean the White Sox are in danger of relocating? Probably not The guy has never been afraid to use leverage to get what he wants What’s On Tap Next?As we roll into another season of “rebuilding,” White Sox fans are left asking the same question we’ve been asking for decades: when will this team finally commit to real or he finally starts running it like a franchise that actually wants to win It's hard to fathom that anything other than the former will happen Subscribe to On Tap Sports Net on YouTube and the Sox On Tap podcast for more Chicago White Sox content, updates, and hot takes! this crossover just flat-out misses the mark allowing three ill-timed walks and a lack of offense to set the tone of defeat in extra innings CHICAGO -- With his team on a record losing pace, Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf said the "year has been very painful for all," in a statement released Wednesday afternoon after his team dropped its 114th game "Everyone in this organization is extremely unhappy with the results of this season and solutions won't happen overnight either." Reinsdorf, 88, commented publicly for the first time since last season, when he fired front office executives Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams, replacing them with then-farm director Chris Getz, who became general manager. The team lost 101 games last season and is on pace to lose 126 this season after being swept by the Cleveland Guardians this week The 1962 Mets hold the modern day record for losses at 120 we have made difficult decisions and changes to begin building a foundation for future success," Reinsdorf said in the statement "What has impressed me is how our players and staff have continued to work and bring a professional attitude to the ballpark each day despite a historically difficult season The White Sox have turned over much of their internal personnel recently who was fired after less than two years on the job Interim manager Grady Sizemore hasn't fared much better Getz has vowed to go outside the organization to hire the next permanent manager but that won't happen until after the regular season the team is dealing with increased media scrutiny "I expect to have more to say at the end of the season," Reinsdorf said at the conclusion of his statement Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information led by Michael Jordan’s triumphant return to the hardwood Now, his Chicago White Sox are on the precipice of standing alone as the losingest team in modern professional baseball The Sox have dropped 120 games this season who set the record during their very first season WHILE MUCH IS REPORTED about how successful Jerry Reinsdorf has been as a sports capitalist and Chicago-based businessman what often gets overlooked is how well the man and his minions can guide friendly media That's a trait that goes all the way back to the winter of 1980-81 That was when self-made sports TV mogul Eddie Einhorn was bumping Bill Farley of Fruit of the Loom as Reinsdorf's principal partner in the purchase of the White Sox from Bill Veeck and associates Einhorn smoothed many of the rough public edges presented by young Reinsdorf — basically a taciturn tax accountant with a law degree who had made his first fortune in real estate syndication EINHORN GRADUALLY FADED from the frame long before his death in February 2016 But Reinsdorf's faithful flock of media homing pigeons circles on despite the team's pathetic on-field performances That propensity to pander once again foamed toward the top in recent weeks as fact and speculation about the changing percentages of White Sox ownership have been squeaked to the public NO ONE IS DISPUTING THAT brothers Justin and Mat Ishbia now own a significant minority chunk of the Sox Nor is anyone questioning that Reinsdorf and family retain large percentages along with a “chair of general partner” contract to run the organization until otherwise divested But the idea that Reinsdorf — now age 89 — is about to depart the wobbly king's chair at Rot Field is merely a thought that's blowing in the wind MEDIA RELIABLES SUCH AS Bob Nightengale of USA Today and Mitch Rosen of WSCR-AM (670) will always be on call whenever Chair Jer' needs to massage a message But teasing emotionally strained White Sox fans with the suggestion that a new dawn is coming to West 35th St WHEN JERRY REINSDORF IS NO LONGER RUNNING the franchise there would seem to be only one certainty: He and his family will depart or downscale with an exit package that is maxed and billions of dollars away from his original group's investment of $19.8M all those Reagan-era at-bats ago It's just the way of a master sports capitalist The most intriguing aspect of the Bulls-Heat play-in game Wednesday is that Billy Donovan and his sneaker streakers are only 1-point favorites (6:30 p.m. Miami this season and finished the regular grind with a 15-5 rush are saying 107-104 Chicago with kangaroo Josh Giddey generating another showcase game Rory McIlroy's theatrical Masters win reinforces the notion that NBC Sports is dying to steal the prestige event The lords of Augusta operate on one-year renewable agreements with longtime TV home CBS Their insistence on the prioritization of civility history and production restraint greatly ratchets up the charm of the azalea weekend Three weeks into their “domestic” regular season the only things the Cubs have to fear are injuries and their bullpen itself That IL almost took a brutal hit at LAD Sunday night when second baseman Nico Hoerner narrowly averted a collision with RF Kyle Tucker whiled mic'ed up live on ESPN and chasing a pop fly by Mookie Betts The needless in-game TV gimmick is so Rob Manfred era Inter Miami's Lionel Messi kept a record Chicago Fire FC home crowd of 62,358 pumped and cheering throughout a 0-0 draw Sunday He had missed Miami's last two games at Soldier Field (though a match in October 2023 attracted 62,214 primarily because of the possibility the Argentine might play) With WrestleMania 41 set for Saturday and Sunday nights streaming on Peacock it's hard not to recall WrestleMania 2 at the then-Rosemont Horizon Chet Coppock was ring announcer and among the Felliniesque backstage were Andre the Giant Clara “Where's the Beef?” Peller and Dick Butkus (Weigh-in for the kayfabe was at The Sports Page in Arlington Heights.) … Another unnatural Arlington Million will be run at Virginia's Colonial Downs on Aug (Bunker Bill Carstanjen and Churchill Downs Inc would race the Tour de France around the river banks of Kentuckiana if they could.) The fading turfer should be renamed “The Richard L Duchossois Million” and that should be the end of it Former Daily Herald sports editor Mike Smith is touting “Stadium Lockup.” It's a fresh A&E weekly series focusing on the lo-jinks of Cleveland Browns fans game days at Huntington Bank Field More than 500 security cameras drive the premise No word whether CLE diehard Drew Carey will cameo as a rowdy Dawg Pounder after Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter told CBS Sports he'll never play in the NFL if he can't do it as a two-way performer: “I hope he enjoys Augusts as a Montreal Alouette.” The White Sox’s new City Connect jerseys are a reminder of how irrelevant both of Jerry Reinsdorf’s franchises are which shouldn’t be a surprise for a franchise that has never given out a contract bigger than Andrew Benintendi’s $75 million deal The White Sox are very bad again this season currently sitting with a 7-21 overall record that is once more the worst in the AL by a mile The Sox have a strong case as the most pathetic franchise in American professional sports and it can all be traced to their 89-year-old owner Jerry Reinsdorf The Sox aren’t the only Chicago franchise Reinsdorf has ruined: he’s also driven the Chicago Bulls into stale mediocrity with the same absentee landlord ownership style that has defined his last 20 years in baseball Is there any hope for the Bulls and White Sox for the foreseeable future Now Chicago sports fans have a reminder of how far both franchises have fallen with the new City Connect uniforms from the White Sox that give an obvious nod to Reinsdorf’s other team JUST IN: The White Sox have revealed their Bulls-inspired City Connect uniforms ⚫️ pic.twitter.com/QEl8s91SLK The White Sox have unveiled their new City Connect uniforms, which offer a nod to the Bulls. pic.twitter.com/9pfAT1zmwO White Sox have 2 on field caps. They will interchange between the black background and pinstripe. https://t.co/Ehqtus4jUF pic.twitter.com/6bsvpirUio The Bulls-White Sox crossover that no one asked for is here As someone who grew up as a fan of both teams but it also only fuels my disdain for Reinsdorf Chicago sports scribes had a field day with this uniform announcement: The uniform to wear when you’d be really happy with 72 wins https://t.co/56AYKeovGY And what is that shared legacy these days??? pic.twitter.com/G4c53MgcGH The collar with the championship years for both franchises is a nice touch. The Bulls will probably get fat off their ‘90s dynasty forever, but take away 1991-1998 and the organization has a 47 percent winning percentage all-time. The White Sox have done absolutely nothing since their remarkable run to the 2005 World Series championship The Sox’s last rebuild failed miserably in the wake of the Chris Sale trade and it’s hard to give them the benefit of the doubt on the new rebuild they’re embarking on This isn’t the first Bulls-White Sox crossover on the South Side this season Derrick Rose also threw out the first pitch in the home opener Chicago teams are so desperate for a nostalgia attendance spike that the Bulls planned two separate nights to honor Rose one this past season to celebrate his retirement It’s all a shameless cash grab for franchises that haven’t been nationally relevant since Bill Clinton and George W Chicago sports will never have peace as long as Jerry Reinsdorf is around This Bulls-White Sox crossover is just another example of that Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article described incorrectly the impact of a new investor on White Sox minority partners Those partners’ shares will remain the same CHICAGO — Chicago-area billionaire Justin Ishbia has dropped his pursuit of the Minnesota Twins and will instead buy more shares from other limited partners to increase his existing minority stake in the Chicago White Sox People with knowledge of the discussions believe that the deal will allow Ishbia to take control of the team at some point by buying the shares of longtime owner Jerry Reinsdorf and other partners But a White Sox official on Friday night disputed that notion even though it would be unusual for prospective owners to make significant investments for minority shares without the promise of their stakes growing larger White Sox limited partners have received an offer from a third party to purchase their shares in the team providing liquidity for the limited partners on their long-term investment in the club,” White Sox vice-president of communications Scott Reifert said “This offer to limited partners has no impact on the leadership or operations of the Chicago White Sox and does not provide a path to control.” A representative for Ishbia declined to comment with some officials believing that their ownership situation might be resolved by Opening Day they’ve been left to scramble in their search for a new owner who dreamed Ishbia would bring a deep wallet and competitive fire to an organization in need only to see him stay with a division rival It was during Ishbia’s pursuit of the Twins that the Reinsdorfs came to him and discussed increasing his share of the White Sox according to a person briefed on the discussions who was not authorized to speak publicly which is being brokered by Chicago-area investment advisors BDT & MSD Partners according to a source briefed on discussions But another source said that if Justin Ishbia takes control of the White Sox he would be the lead and his brother Mat would be an investor the reverse of the arrangement they have in Phoenix where they own the NBA’s Suns and the WNBA’s Mercury White Sox limited partners were recently informed that an investor wanted to buy their shares at a franchise valuation around $1.8 billion according to people briefed on the discussions who were not authorized to speak publicly nor will their stakes be diluted by this new investor The deadline for their decision is next Friday albeit at a valuation believed to be about half of what it is now but many stuck around for a bigger potential payday These limited partners can now sell their shares to Ishbia the White Sox don’t reveal the names of their limited partners has an estimated worth of more than $5 billion according to Forbes Mat Ishbia led their $4 billion purchase of the Suns and Mercury Though the brothers grew up in suburban Detroit, Justin Ishbia is currently building a massive estate in the North Shore suburb Winnetka on the shores of Lake Michigan He is a founding partner of private equity firm Shore Capital Partners and according to Forbes also has a 22 percent stake in United Wholesale Mortgage which was founded by Ishbia’s father Jeff and is run by his younger brother Mat “The beauty of baseball is that it’s not about a star or two,” he told The Athletic last fall when he made a $10 million donation to his alma mater Michigan State and it’s a team sport over a long period of time Life is the discipline of doing the same thing over and over again consistently And that’s what the long summer of baseball is all about.” who also led a group to buy a majority stake in the Bulls in 1985 has long said he would advise his family to sell the White Sox after he dies He’s also made it known he’s trying to set up the franchise for the future Before the White Sox had a press conference to announce Chris Getz as the new general manager on Aug Reinsdorf talked to a small group of reporters and explained why he wanted to keep working late into his ninth decade why don’t you get out?'” he told reporters and what else would I do?’ I’m a boring guy In October, The Athletic reported that Reinsdorf was exploring a possible sale of the White Sox to a group led by Dave Stewart who has been angling for a new stadium in Chicago sparking concern he could move the team if he didn’t get what he wanted in public funding for a new ballpark The team never publicly commented on the story and Stewart recently returned to the Athletics organization as a special assistant to player development While Reinsdorf has always been the controlling partner of the team — his group purchased the club for $19 million in 1981 —he’s reportedly never been the majority shareholder. He recently told Crain’s Chicago Business he owns more than 19 percent of the team but he’s kept his true stake a mystery for decades “No partner knows what I own,” Reinsdorf told the Chicago Tribune in 2013 A number of these limited partners have been with Reinsdorf since the very beginning If the deal goes through and Ishbia eventually takes control this would give the White Sox future local ownership amid uncertainty with their stadium situation It would also be a boost for a beleaguered fan base that had tired of Reinsdorf’s subpar record while owning the team for parts of five decades Reinsdorf spent much of the past year working on getting public funding for a new stadium to replace Rate Field which opened in 1991 across the street from where old Comiskey Park once stood He looked to a new development in the South Loop called “The 78” to build a new stadium through a public-private partnership even having the team’s groundskeeper Roger Bossard set up a field there while bringing in possible investors on a boat cruise with retired White Sox players he was working with the Chicago Bears on a two-pronged approach to getting public funding for two new stadiums The state hasn’t been too receptive to the idea of funding another stadium for Reinsdorf as the publicly funded Rate Field still hasn’t been paid off yet as the franchise celebrates the 20th anniversary of the 2005 World Series champion team the Sox’s fortunes on the field have never been worse They set a new modern-day mark for baseball futility with a 41-121 record last year The team’s new RSN isn’t available yet on Chicago’s largest cable provider and attendance has declined precipitously over the past two seasons the fans who did show up to games took to chanting “Sell the team!” Minnesotans often began “Sell the team!” chants during a late-season collapse in which the Twins missed the playoffs including one sly patron who snuck in a “Defund The Pohlads” sign that was viewed on the stadium’s jumbotron The family has owned the organization since Carl Pohlad bought it for $44 million in 1984 and it’s currently operated by a third-generation family member The Pohlad family was widely criticized last season for a $30 million payroll reduction made after the team experienced its first playoff success in 21 years They announced in October that they would begin exploring a sale of the organization Ishbia was aggressive in his pursuit of the Twins according to multiple sources briefed on the club’s sale very serious” and believed he had the financial wherewithal to buy the club Noting the Twins were drawing plenty of interest — the franchise last year was estimated to be worth between $1.46 billion and $1.7 billion by Forbes and Sportico respectively — another person with knowledge of the sale process said last month the goal was to pick a winning bidder by Opening Day The Twins believed Ishbia was sincere in his pursuit because Reinsdorf wasn’t planning to sell the White Sox according to a person with knowledge of the sale process A person briefed on the situation told The Athletic that Ishbia held meetings in December with officials community leaders and potential minority owners in Minnesota to express his interest in purchasing the team The Twins believed it was a serious attempt Though one person briefed on the Twins’ sale process first heard of the plan in January club officials expressed surprise on Friday to learn of Ishbia’s agreement with Reinsdorf after seeing a billionaire bidder spurn them and instead decide to invest in an AL Central rival — The Athletic’s Dan Hayes contributed to this report DETROIT -- Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf labeled his team's record-shattering losing season "embarrassing" and a "failure" that he said was his responsibility Reinsdorf released a letter to fans as the White Sox entered their final game with a 40-121 record the most losses of any major league club since 1900 our on-field performance this season was a failure," Reinsdorf wrote "I want to thank you for continuing to support the team throughout what was an embarrassing season," he added This season's performance was completely unacceptable and the varying reactions and emotions from our fanbase are completely understandable." The White Sox beat playoff-bound Detroit 9-5 in their finale to finish 41-121 Chicago broke the post-1900 record for losses, which had been held by the 1962 New York Mets who went 40-120 during the franchise's inaugural season The overall big league mark was set by the 1899 Cleveland Spiders at 20-134 headed a group that purchased control of the White Sox in 1981 and the NBA's Chicago Bulls in 1985 The only World Series title under Reinsdorf came in 2005 that it is our responsibility to earn your trust We vow to take that approach daily as we put the work in this offseason to be better." Grady Sizemore took over as interim manager Aug 8 after Pedro Grifol was fired and guided Chicago to a 13-32 (.289) record -- a 47-115 pace "This wasn't the year we wanted and these aren't the numbers we wanted," Sizemore said "But that doesn't mean this is a total loss Sizemore was proud of his team's play down the stretch Chicago finished 8-6 and won five of its last six games That included taking two of three in Detroit against the hottest team in baseball. Those two losses cost the Tigers the second American League wild card and a first-round date with the Baltimore Orioles instead of the AL West champion Houston Astros it is the way the guys competed in the last couple of weeks putting the work in and trying to get better "This last stretch was really good for us." Sizemore pointed to a different era for the Tigers who reached the 2006 World Series three years after losing 119 games but I think we have the right guys and the right staff in place to get this turned around." White Sox general manager Chris Getz has said Sizemore will be considered for the manager job "Our organization's most important decision in the coming months is to evaluate and identify a new manager and leadership voice for this organization," Reinsdorf wrote He has identified the key attributes and preferences for our next manager and has already begun an exhaustive search with a wide range of candidates to lead the White Sox in the clubhouse and dugout." Jerry Reinsdorf, who has presided as owner of the Chicago White Sox for more than four decades released a statement on Wednesday afternoon acknowledging that the team’s historically bad 2024 campaign has been “very painful for all.” “Everyone in this organization is extremely unhappy with the results of this season, that goes without saying,” Reinsdorf said in the statement I view it as kind of the frustrating part of the story but I also know that the future’s looking bright and it’s going to make it just that much sweeter once we get there.” The White Sox are off on Thursday before starting a home series against the Oakland Athletics The White Sox have not won a home game in more than a month (Photo of Jerry Reinsdorf in 2022: Kamil Krzaczynski / USA Today) By | October 16 White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf is open to selling the club and is in “active discussions” with a group led by Dave Stewart, reports Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic It’s unclear how possible a sale is or how much progress the talks have made but it would be a seismic shift for the franchise if it comes to fruition Reinsdorf, now 88 years old, is one of the more controversial owners in the sport. He bought the club in 1981 for about $20MM and has since developed a reputation for being on the meddlesome side, leading to reports of tumult from within the organization. Reinsdorf only owns an estimated 19% stake in the club, according to Forbes but is nonetheless the principal owner of the club The club has had some success during his tenure as owner but the Sox are at a very low ebb right now They didn’t make the playoffs from 2009 to 2019 finishing below .500 during the majority of that stretch A new core seemed to emerge and helped them make the postseason in 2020 and 2021 but that quickly proved to be unsustainable They dropped to .500 in 2022 and lost 101 games last year before things got even worse in 2024 setting a new record for losses in the modern era president Ken Williams and general manager Rick Hahn were fired after many years with the club that shakeup was followed by the club promoting Chris Getz to general manager from within seemingly not undertaking an extensive search for external candidates Manager Pedro Grifol and some coaches were fired in August of 2024 Grady Sizemore took over as interim manager and it’s not yet clear who will be the club’s bench boss for 2025 Those changes were arguable merited, but as the Sox were nearing their dishonorable place in history this year, Ghiroli and Ken Rosenthal put the franchise under the microscope in a lengthy piece for The Athletic last month various sources traced the club’s misfortunes to Reinsdorf his refusal to invest in amenities or player payroll and his insular loyalty were among the various complaints cited in the piece a reference to his nickname and jersey number from his playing days Ghiroli also mentions that Stewart and partner Lonnie Murray are trying to bring a National Women’s Soccer League team to Nashville the Sox have discussed plans about a new stadium in Chicago’s South Loop on a parcel of land known as “The 78.” It’s not uncommon for owners of sports franchises to dangle the threat of relocation in an attempt to extract public money for real estate investments who have a lease at Guaranteed Rate Field through 2029 were reportedly looking to get a billion dollars in public money for their new stadium as of February Exploring a sale of the club also doesn’t mean it will ultimately come to pass teams like the Nationals and Angels announced plans to explore the possibility of selling only to later pull back from those declarations This situation appears to be somewhat different in that some discussions have already taken place it’s unclear how extensive those talks have been This is the second report this month of a club considering a sale. The Twins, divisional rival of the White Sox, are also on the block. The Pohlad family announced last week that they will explore the possibility of a sale Reinsdorf is the second-longest active owner in Major League Baseball Chicago White Sox Newsstand Please please please please let it be true owes Chicago millions and he belongs in a cell at 26th and California is leading the charge to purchase the White Sox but this is like Mussolini losing an election to Stalin Be careful what you wish for: the sale of the team increases the chances of a move to Nashville and I’d rather have them as they are here in Chicago rather than how they might be under different ownership in Nashville I feel for every White Sox fan at the moment From Reinsdorf to Dave Stewart…at least he isn’t afraid to spend (someone else’s) money Nashville population insufficient to support a MLB team Milwaukee has a population of less than 2 million adding an average of 86 new residents per day They can support a team but the stadium needs be state of the art and smaller with seating close to the field Another thing about Nashville is that their Road and transportation infrastructure is absolutely TERRIBLE And the nature of the landscape and properties already built would present challenges to make it better Not advocating for a move but you’re lying to yourself and everyone else if you don’t think Nashville metro could support Reminded me of the BBTF discussion of baseballish statistics we could use to figure out who was worse Hopefully John Fisher buys them and sells the athletics then white Sox fans will have something to complain about He can’t collect revenue sharing in Chicago Maybe someone with money to field a quality team Owning 19% of the White Sox would allow the new owner to pick the staff but its doubtful they would be able to change the payroll level 4/5 of the owners could have easily raised the payroll level over Reinsdorf’s objections if they wanted People should do some history as that franchise has been a possible mover since the mid 1960s They even played games in Milwaukee before the Pilots turned into the Brewers The Pilots were stolen by that car salesman Bud Selig Bud of Milwaukee for making owners less answerable to their fans It took a lawsuit to get the Mariners added in 1977 threatening that highly coveted antitrust exemption Moving out of one of the largest Black regions in the country is closer to moving the Braves to a distant White suburb At least when the Lakers moved from Inglewood You can literally replace the name “Jerry Reinsdorf” and “White Sox” with “Arte Moreno” and “Angels” and this article still makes sense both men need to get the eff out of the league but his meddling with making LaRussa the manager seemed to be a single act that seemingly sank any progress the CWS were making What’s Moreno’s claim to infamy That was small potatoes compared to the slow motion train wreck that was LaRussa managing again Well Pujols also… but he was in bed with some corrupt city officials including a mayor forced to resign due to corruption He bought a franbchise fresh from a world series championship with a robust farm system and ran it to the ground Every time he did the fans loved vlad guerrero not many real angels fans thought we needed rendon i thought hamilton’s and partially also wilson’s money only came from us because texas is a division rival but we easily could have and should have spread some of that money around pujols and rendon were easy to see failing because wells and pujols couldnt play defense and we never needed rendon in the first place but arte pivoted from cole once that became clear he was not headed to anaheim I’m not sure which fans loved the Hamilton or Rendon signings Nor promoting an intern to GM and firing the guy who just drafted Trout Nor cutting scouting and development budgets to the bone Bottom line is Moreno bought the World Series champs with a stocked farm and front office and turned it into a last place dumpster fire with a horrible farm system this might be the best news White Sox fans could ask for He’s currently leading the charge for an expansion team in Nashville Why can’t anyone connect the dots and see that this is a move to Nashville Atloriolesfan: The only thing that makes me think the move won’t happen is that Manfred stupidly wants to add two more teams there would still need to be two other cities to start new teams The White Sox will NEVER surpass the Cubs as Chicago’s #1 team they would have and entire state and a large region all to themselves in the AL The Southeast is nothing but Braves country but there is almost zero presence in the AL There are still plenty of options for 2 expansion teams There are probably some international options in Mexico they would look at also hiflew: The cubs are the media’s number one team in Chicago especially those not in the Chicago area tend to believe what they read/hear For instance,from what the media has told me the nyy are the most popular team in the country I would agree that the Yankees are the most popular team in the country just being the favorite team of 4% of fans would be above average The Yankees are usually around 10-13% or so in any poll I have ever seen But they are also the most hated team in the country by far There are very few baseball fans that feel apathetic about the Yankees You cannot say that about very many teams It would be a very popular jersey on the bar crawl scene Sure he’ll complain about the operating income but thats because that value doesn’t include all the endorsements Its just employee cost versus revenue generated from the product (IE ticket/food/bear/marketing sales) To sum up Chicago is big enough to easily support two teams where both owners bank their owners still has a financially sound invenstment Is it him or the 12 billionaire Dave Stewart According to the New York Post it’s “former big leaguer” So unless the billionaire got a cup of coffee at the big league level it’s former Pitcher and D’backs GM Dave Stewart “Who’s really the ones buying”..Billionaires(trying to buy a team)normally bring in a popular mostly figurehead front man to lead the sale the front man often assumes a leadership role in the franchise or in many cases simply fades away with many more dollars than he’d previously had Think Nolan Ryan and the current owners of the Texas Rangers but Stewart’s group wants to take the team out of Chicago There is no lesser-of-two-evils in this situation Me and TO are waiting with popcorn in hand 88 years old net worth of 2 billion with a b dollars Unless you find the fountain of youth Jerry you made mistakes Your family loves you for it though…… Deal is contingent on bringing La Russa back LaRussa is still a very close advisor to baseball ops I know it’s an overpay but I feel good I can make it back seeing that team and experiencing how the staff treats the fans THIS is a welcome change What exactly is the staff doing to the fans Depends on who you call staff (the vendors are chill for example) but a great example is the “Jerry Rainout” where we all know it’s going to rain all night but he waits until 10pm to call the game keeping fans in for 3 hours to buy food/drinks… You mad they didn’t call a rain out early enough?? So it’s an obvious rainout and yet you choose to stay anyway I can’t say I know the inner workings of how a rainout is decided but I have a feeling that owners have no voice in the decision I figured it had to do with the umpiring crew and MLB they still lost money because there were only 12 people in the stands FTLOTG: There’s a video on Youtube of a guy who flew from LaGuardia to Chicago to watch his favorite team He was able to move anywhere in the stands Seems it finally got through reinsdorf’s thick head that we won’t pay for what he created: the second worst team of all time He should pack up his ventriloquist dummy (tlr) in his suitcase and take him with on their way out of town Yeah you don’t have to support your team when it loses If you did you would be the Cubs who are a legitimate franchise instead of whatever the White Sox are You forgot to mention it was a day night double header There weren’t any advanced sales for that surprise day game on a weekday but lets not make that seem like a typical game it’s a very fan friendly environment Best food I’ve ever had at a ballpark but I say all this even though I’m a Cubs fan Now that Jerry has hit a new record low & sucked the last ounce of hope pride & dignity out of the team & everyone on the South side he figures there’s no where to go but up or the ‘hood the stadium is in that’s the worst Isn’t the stadium located in like the least safest locales of chi-town or was that Comisky park towards the end of it’s time in use It’s far from being in the worst neighborhood in Chicago It may not be the worst but it’s nowhere damn close to a nice or ideal location It’s right across from where Comisky was located A Nashville or Suburbs move would do the franchise well A suburban location would be inaccessible given traffic The Bears decided not to move to Arlington Heights I thought the Bears didn’t move because they couldn’t get public funding at the Arlington Park site and the Bears didn’t want to pay enough property tax to support the school district I know that other suburban cities like Naperville but didn’t want to fork over public funding either They need to just build a waterfront stadium on the parking lot to the south of Soldier Field and privately finance it like the Rams did in LA Some buddies and I rented an AirBNB in Bronzeville a few years ago for an event When the one local guy saw where we were at he said “It’s definitely rough.” We went to a store on foot and there were some sketchy individuals and people going through trash cans and stuff but it’s not as bad as some of the places I’ve seen in California Bronzeville is the neighborhood to the east There are no more public housing projects And we all know by “sketchy” you mean Blacks Plenty of new development plus the university over there Biggest problem is the ballpark is sandwiched between an expressway and RR tracks and immediately surrounded by parking lots The lots could be replaced with new development but the location would still feel disconnected from surrounding neighborhoods There is a lot of new investment in housing except on game days when the fans leave the ballpark and race down our residential streets The ballpark is 10-15 minutes by el from downtown There is a festive atmosphere pre-game because of all the tailgating But that PO’s JR because people are drinking their own beer and not his overpriced Modelo inside JR has it in his 88 year old mind that all his problems are because of GRF and Bridgeport He made sure the ballpark faced away from downtown and he made sure the local bars near old Comiskey were demolished He also took the Sox off free TV and made them pay per view That opened the doors to the Cubs who took Harry Caray and put him and the Cubs on cable TV everywhere in the USA you couldn’t give away Cubs tickets because that team was bad and that neighborhood was really poor You young folks assume the Cubs have always been No Wrigley didn’t even have lights until 1987 Didn’t LaRussa always have the brow of his ballcap absolutely straight all the time just those 2 can think of right away and always remember Pinella playing with that hat brim like making sure it was 100% straight and not bent in any way I’m sure Jerry will want to chew on that offer awhile… but yes I’d love for that to happen too His loyalty to Jerry Krause is a stain on the Jordan/Jackson era… His loyalty to Gar/Pax set the franchise back years there would be no Jordan Jackson era without Crumbs it was Krause who made the trade to get Pippen in the draft And he was the one who brought in guys like Rodman and he didn’t give in to Jordan’s trade demands Those would have turned out awful (shades of MJ as an exec maybe?) but Krause was also set on breaking up the team Like that French revolution beer documentary For anyone to think that the Bulls won because of Jerry Krause is just nuts And JR did everything he could to minimize that by giving so much credit to fat Jerry Krause instead of his great player How many titles did MJ win without Scottie I’ll hang up and listen to your answer But Krause did a brilliant job of feeding Phil Jackson exactly what he needed player wise year after year He typically had an excellent rotation of defensive minded centers like Cartwright The hack a Shaq strategy kept rings off his fingers He always had a nice rotation of 3 point shooters with Paxson Kerr and Armstrong and great defenders like Harper and Rodman Pair that with an excellent power forward like Ho Grant and 2 of the best defenders in the NBA (Jordan and Pippen) and you get a dynasty Bill Wennington was another of those excellent rotational centers and deserves to be mentioned Right – those centers and then the stealth move to bring in Dennis when he was untouchable not to mention the pioneer move to bring in the Euro matchup nightmare Toni Kukoc when European imports were still somewhat of a novelty paving the way for the globalization the game MJ the goat – but accompanied by four other hall of famers this will be a totally rational comments section filled with levelheaded people More like the locker room of a team that just won the World Series Maybe he can recruit Annie Lennox to sing the anthem not October… don’t get my hopes up here please This is the best White Sox news I’ve heard in a long time I had wondered if it was a reason he was lowering payroll Side note: White Sox games are one of my insider tips for the Cactus League You can even bring your own lunch and beverages to the back fields and watch prospects before heading into the game Just in case anybody is considering heading out there Sending positive vibes to you and your fellow Angels fans It sucks to watch your neighbors live your dream Reinsdorf to Steve Stone who is walking into Guaranteed Rate field: “We’ll always have 2005” Putting his arm around his chief financial advisor: “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship” I propose MLBTR readers create a GoFundMe and present the offer to Jerry We can probably scare up tens of thousands of dollars Think he’ll go for it just to get out from under Jerry will keep the team just to spite the fans Owners should be held responsible for how crappy their franchise is Reinsdorf does have a World Series in hand but this year was an awful excuse for a baseball team Bob Nutting should take a hint from Reinsdorf and put the Pirates up for sale too whosehighpitch: The commissioner should have told Reinsdorf to either field a competitive team or sell it But Manfred is paid by the owners so that would never happen It would be nice if the rest of the owners cared enough about the game that they would tell Reinsdorf what Manfred won’t Maybe the other owners want the terrible owners to stick around so they can reliably kick their teams’ asses next season too Can we hold the players at least a little bit accountable They are paying big bucks to guys like Moncada and all of them either terribly underperforming They made a modest attempt at contending before the 2023 with all that dead weight and it failed miserably and made the problem worse There was no sensible option but full rebuild it’s actually “Sale of Atlanta Braves” – if he’s this behind on team transactions it’s no wonder everyone hates this guy as owner I don’t think it’s Jerry…… Only issue is Stewart will move the Wsox to Nashville if approved and I’ve not heard of anything he’s done successfully since How rich are Dave Stewart’s backers because there’s no way in hell that he has anywhere near enough for this Stewart seems like the kind of guy who hangs around because he’s well connected and ambitious Word in Pittsburgh is that Bob Nutjob Nutting is texting with Jerry Nutjob wants to know how the pirates can lose 121 games and then move the team to Erie Pennsylvania Or just Jerry’s Executive Gold Plated Bathroom Do you get the whole team or just Jerry’s 19% I would say this is great news for White Sox fans except for the tidbit other posters are pointing out about Stewart leading the charge to get Nashville an MLB team that would really be the ultimate parting “F*** YOU” to disgruntled ChiSox fans if Scary Jerry sold the team to a group he knew full well was going to try to move it to another city He’s 88 years old what the heck does he care They will manage if that’s what happens Blackpink: Chicago 101: Sox fans HATE the cubs!! Whole different situation if they are the only team in town It isn’t the team you have been a fan of for your entire life on the chopping block after all Lifelong ChiSox fans probably would disagree though People in Nashville have never had a big league team to cheer for People on the south side of Chicago will have to drive a little ways to visit the north side If the Angelos family had sold the Orioles to someone who moved the team to Nashville instead of a local billiionaire and lifelong Orioles fan I wouldn’t have just automatically become a Nationals fan simply because they are a 45 minute drive to the south I just wouldn’t have a team to root for anymore because the team I had been a diehard fan of for my entire life was taken away from me and would therefore probably just stop following MLB altogether You most likely would have become a Nationals fan eventually Or you would simply not watch baseball anymore I am from St Louis i went through this with the football team I have no emotional attachment to the Nationals I did not go to Nats games with my deceased father as a kid I did not collect Nats players’ baseball cards obsessively I did not play the Nats in all of my baseball video games the Brewers or Marlins or any other team I have no strong feelings about one way or the other I am an Orioles fan and the Nats are not the Orioles Just because you do not see it as a problem does not mean that other people feel the same way Just to interject- we lost the Chargers recently far away… but we’re no longer fans of the team Asking San Diegans to root for anything LA is verboten The owners turned their back on an entire fanbase/county and almost nobody down here (anecdotally speaking) follows the Chargers anymore We were Season Ticket holders and I don’t know of one person that continues to go to games The NFL is virtually dead to San Diegans and it’s quite sad really Many Super Bowls here… and now the League is a ghost to us It’s not that I don’t see it as a problem it’s simply not my choice I haven’t cared about football since the Rams left A business owner has the right to do what they feel is best for their business Yes Randy that’s how I feel about football as well you didn’t just move your loyalty to the nearest team in the Colts or Chiefs In the case of the Cubs and White Sox they are the same city If you live in Chicago and don’t want to cheer for a Chicago baseball team then so be it that was the general sentiment here in Baltimore after the Colts left and before the Ravens arrived that there simply was no NFL team to root for (despite the Washington Redsk…er football team being close by) so who cares BITA- Maybe ChiSox fans like baseball and don’t want that taken away from them but it’s not like I’m going to burn my Seau LT21 jerseys & shirts now but I sure as h3ll ain’t gunna support them anymore The very thought of driving to LA to pay to watch them play sickens me I get it… but literally everybody around here feels the same I would actually give Charger tickets away if I won them today I’m not in tune with every single San Diego resident but the feelings are overwhelmingly duplicated by my large circle of friends Maybe if the White Sox fans liked baseball so much they should support their team even when the team isn’t playing well I have to believe Nashville or Memphis will get an expansion franchise I can’t possibly imagine ditching the 3rd largest market and leaving it with one team will be “OK’d” by The League … Chicago is smaller than the Bay Area and they’re letting the A’s leave Yeah if you go by DMA it looks like Chicago is certainly a bigger TV market than the Bay Area even though they’re close to the same size in terms of population I guess that means people in Chicago watch a lot more TV than people in the Bay Area Actually the Chicago metro area has just under 9.8 million people while the Bay Area has just over 9 million people — and I thought it was the reverse Both regions are shrinking but it looks like the Bay Area is shrinking faster Still my point remains I don’t think the White Sox are safe from relocation if the A’s are not safe I doubt the Angles are safe from it either but at least the Angels are more than 30 miles from Dodger Stadium — in Orange County and not LA County That’s quite a bit further than the White Sox are from the Cubs Of all the smaller teams in big markets I think only the Mets have no risk of being relocated Lately the O’s were often rumored to be a team that could be moved deep pocketed owner with Baltimore ties — and they benefit from being the older team in the region Basically I think very few people want to see another team get moved Vegas could blow up in the face of the A’s 8.9 million in Chicago vs 7.5 million in Bay Area in 2023 When it comes to TV households the difference is huge The A’s are attempting to move because John Fisher is cash flow poor and they are his cash cow He sucks $60-80 million out of the revenue sharing teat every year and it’s how he feeds his lifestyle Other than stock he inherited and two sports teams he has no significant sources of income MLB threatened to take away the revenue sharing so he purposely tanked the team and torpedoed negotiations on multiple stadiums in the Bay Area over the last decade plus so he could continue to collect that money Orioles own a majority of the Nats media market and will for as long as the team is there According to wikipedia the combined statistical area of the Bay Area has a population of just over 9 million while the combined Chicago area is just under 9.8 million And both the Bay Area and Chicago lost population in 2023 (as did most major metro areas in the Northeast Here’s the wikipedia link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_statistical_area I know a bit about John Fisher’s situation even if they’re different from the A’s just look at the local TV ratings just for the White Sox They’re among the worst in the league but which still provides a pretext for Jerry if he tries to sell to an owner who wants to move the team Jerry may not need to tank the team to fund his lifestyle but there’s little reason to spend money on free agents without a full rebuild happening first It’s hard to see why the White Sox would try to hang onto Robert Crochet or any other players that an bring back a decent return of prospects And for any veterans that can’t get any return I’m not saying there’s a good chance the White Sox will move but I think it’s foolish to believe it could never happen I’m an O’s fan and follow them closely During the Angelos era there has been endless litigation between the O’s and Nats More recently John Angelos appeared to suggest the team could move if the city of Baltimore or the state of Maryland did not give him what he wanted in the way of public investment in surrounding land to develop the Angelos era is in the past with new owners But before Rubenstein showed up to (hopefully) rescue the team from years of poor management there was much speculation in the media and among the fans the team could move who knows how long that deal will hold and if even MASN will survive with all the turmoil in the local RSN tv model that appears to be falling apart Over the last decade the White Sox TV ratings were 2 full Nielsen points higher You only need to check to see it’s from the US Census Bureau which you can corroborate by looking at the spreadsheets on the US Census Bureau’s site Don’t know what you mean that over the last decade the White Sox’s Nielsen ratings were 2 points higher Reinsdorf stopped caring about winning by 1986 you’re just 20 years off but right idea The 2005 Sox team won it all because of happenstance The facts are self evident that after 40-plus years Reisndorf stopped giving a damn about winning a long time ago Anyone pointing to 2005 to say otherwise tells me the entire span of Reindorf’s tenure is being overlooked My guess is that Reinsdorf realized in the mid to late 80’s that winning or losing wasn’t the goal because the team would still appreciate in value Remember the owners colluding in the 1980s to not pay pay premium free agents how about Reinsdorf publicly being out front in the owners attempt to break the players union … Andrew Benintendi being the biggest free agent signing in 40 years speaks volumes Jerry found out that Chicago and the state of Illinois were absolutely not going to finance a new stadium for him and now he is willing to sell Someone mentioned Groupon co-founder Eric Lefkofsky who lives in Chicago and is founder of Tempus AI which is HQ in Chicago He was rumored to be interested in the White Sox before Maybe he will step up and put together a group to buy the White Sox now Dave Stewart might have a net worth of $10-12 million so he would just be the face of any group like Jeter in Miami Question for you since you’re far more familiar with this sort of stuff with a low payroll and by having such a horrendous season and is this also a factor in selling now before the team loses even more value Clean payroll slate is good for a valuation New owner can clean house and build a real org the teams had lowered payroll prior to the sale so there is little an owner can do to devalue the team for giving me some hope that Stewart’s group isn’t the only one that might be interested in buying the team You have to wonder how much of this in mentioning Stewart who lead a group trying to bring a team to Nashville is Reinsdorf and his ownership group trying to put the fear of moving into the minds of the city and state so that they give him the $1 billion he asked for to build a new stadium I doubt that will have any effect on getting public money for Reinsdorf taxpayers are still paying for the renovations at Comiskey or whatever its called now might as well spend all my money or someone else will spend it for me Seems like the owner wants to twist the knife in fans guts That Oakland lost its team should scare every smaller organizations fans I know fans hate Jerry but would you rather have them stay in Chicago with current ownership or get new ownership but they plan to move to Nashville Nashville will have to wait until expansion JR wants a billion dollars of Chicago and Illinois taxpayer money Our public schools and public transportation system are higher priorities than a baseball stadium Study after academic study has shown that public money just enriches the owner and the financial benefits to the public are few He says he can’t make money in Chicago but he can in much smaller Nashville Only dopes can’t make money in Chicago You can’t tell me you don’t want to run the White Sox This is our chance to make an all-time record of 0-162 season My fantasy baseball team finished a distant 8th but 1st in steals So that’s how I’d manage the club- just run How about only those who are subscribed get to make decisions / vote Peons like you and I would have no say… Just keep bringing sandwiches to the boardroom and I’ll let you two know how the votes are going… It’s what I’ve been hoping for I don’t want my team to get relocated to Nashville but I grew up rooting for the CHICAGO White Sox though the way JR has run this organization into the ground it’s fair to say that we were all abandoned long before I won’t truly get excited until I find out who the Chicago execs are that are being entertained Stewart left the Music City Baseball group last November I have hopes he’d be keeping it on the SouthSide you could have the Ricketts family as owners If you’re gonna threaten to sell to get leverage from the city come up with a better buyer than Dave Stewart Too many teams on the market at one time might mess with valuations The fact that he paid twice as much for the White Sox as the Bulls in a similar era and now the Bulls are most certainly worth more than the White Sox speaks to how baseball has stalled out But the lack of forward thinkers business-wise in baseball has harmed the sport The fact that the Savannah Bananas are a traveling road show and are selling out stadiums right and left speaks to it He paid 20 million for the White Sox in 1985 He paid 16 million for the Bulls a couple years later He owes Michael Jordan for the increase in the Bulls I’m sure baseball is doing just fine when a team value goes from $20 million to around$3 Billion in a little over 40 years Pretty sure he just bought a managing stake so they would’ve been valued higher than $20MM at the time Not that it changes the overall point of what you’re saying This filthy rich fool isn’t selling anything now Manfred going to give the Cubs all of Chicagoland I know Sox fans have Jerry and rightfully so but as a mariners fan I’d take all the crap he’s done to know what 2005 feels like once I’ve never known what it’s like to have my favorite team go to the WS and only once can I remember us even being in October ZackMorris: If Stewart buys the club intending to move it out of Chicago who should have never owned the Sox to begin with Hard to know what to feel about all this.And with the depth this franchise has fallen too if Shoeless Joe Jackson were finally allowed into the HOF the family would prefer a hide his face paper bag over the White Sox cap to represent Joe’s team Honest question: Would White Sox fans become Cubs fans if they moved to Nashville He should sell the Bulls while he’s at The White Sox under Jerry’s awful guardianship has really just become a feeder team for talent to fill other clubs please take your 19% of $2B or whatever and find a new hobby messing something else up This is a meager attempt by Reinsdorf to pressure politicians to support his 78 stadium dream of extorting taxpayers or they’re Nashville bound Dave Stewart is a clown (ask Dbacks fans) that doesn’t understand modern baseball and lacks a billionaire backer to purchase any mlb team Trade the White Sox ownership for the Twins ownership Jordan could put group together n purchase team Curious to see how he manages to screw it up Baseball is losing one of the greatest owners in its history Being forced out by cancel culture will not tarnish his legacy Heroic is a word you don’t often see associated with Jerry Someday there will be a story about Arte Moreno selling the Angels the flowers will bloom like never before and Angels fans everywhere will rejoice the Angels forecast is for dark clouds with a 100% chance of ineptitude Complicated deal to purchase 19% of a club and be a managing partner Baseball gods angry – sets the record for most losses then their what could have been Florida Sox stadium loses its roof – Expansion: Portland and Charlotte (yes I don’t think that would be fun for the owners MLB loses $180-2000 million in annual broadcast revenue by losing 4.9-5.0 million TV households in those moves The expansion would add in almost 2 million TV households but long term that would not be a smart set of moves by MLB is this the same Dave Stewart who as a general manager wasn’t good at identifying players and as a player wasn’t good at identifying cross-dressers Reinsdorf owns 19% of the controlling shares Some board members may or may not own minority shares mlb.com/whitesox/team/front-office Strange and probably contributes to the disfunction around the team Clearly no other single entity owns more than JR’s 19% while I’m not going to be Perry Mason and defend him too much he did get one in 2005/ had his team ,Al if not all of mlb favorites to win it all a few years ago…,cue Tim/ Jackie/ Anderson… and that one little check mark in NBA… “6”… so really he has 7 / Wirtz-3 thanks to Rocky/ McCasky1 ( just the thought of him going woof/woof/woof) makes me cringe and Tommy R-1… you wanna say his stadium sucks go right ahead I’ll agree. Time has passed him by… probably ( see Jerry Jones) but worst owner… not by a long shot… if anything very loyal to a fault to his advisers… The White Sox got AJ cheap because no one wanted him They didn’t want to pay Magglio money so let him walk in free agency and took at the time a lesser manageable contract in Dye Something that would be ridiculous with today’s player value metrics Traded for Contreras because the Yankees just wanted to dump him but it was sort of an everything ended up right whilst ownership attempted to do everything wrong Better to be the only baseball team in a growing city than second banana in a dying one and per capita income have all gone up for Chicago Metro since 2022 This feels like the only logical way Jerry can complete his villain story arc: give the fans what they want by selling the team to a baseball great but sell it to a baseball great who had his fingerprints all over the destruction of another team and wants to relocate the team to another city Dave Stewart is only involved to push his black ownership agenda He won’t actually put up more than a couple million (if he even has that) of his own money Oprah and some hand picked partners are ready to make a bid to keep the club in Chicago……wishful thinking as she would hire some competent baseball people to run the show if her name is on it Any group associated with Dave Stewart in ownership would only make the team worse A terrible owner who got lucky with Michael Jordan Selling out games is more important than winning championships to him Selling at a low point has to have a negative hit on the potential sales price If they can find a buyer for a low revenue team in this screwed up system Depends on attendance projections and salary commitment winning 12 games in 2024 isn’t going to boost their value I understand the warm feeling of hope as an Orioles fan – we just did this I strongly suspect that this is just a leverage ploy by Reinsdorf to get the public to pay for his new playground Always a good idea to send your asset into the toilet before looking for a buyer This article was published in The 2005 World Champion Chicago White Sox: Grinders and Gamers (SABR You saw the evidence across every cemetery in Chicago along with half-full beer cans and empty champagne bottles With so many powerful memories from that magical 2005 World Series-winning season it may seem strange that one of my strongest recollections starts in a graveyard but if you truly know Chicago and White Sox fans it actually makes all the sense in the world For many Sox fans – raised from birth to love their team – it was only natural to celebrate the city’s first World Series victory since 1917 with those very people who first made them into White Sox fans who shared the highs and lows of the franchise As the team finished its four-game sweep of the Astros that October Living Sox fans wanted to share this very special celebration with the generations who came before them the generations of hard-working fans who made them into Sox fans Undying love for your team doesn’t even come close to describing how Sox fans feel “My father died minutes after the last out,” one fan stopped me in the parking lot the next April It was proof that that White Sox baseball was so much more than a game It’s the seemingly limitless thread that connects us the power of baseball and the passion of White Sox fans never cease to amaze me This is a very special franchise with very special fans The story of the 2005 White Sox is filled with awe-inspiring moments Truly amazing starting pitching performances by José Contreras and Jon Garland lead us past the Angels in the American League Championship Series and then the Astros in the World Series ninth-inning fastball are supported by stellar bullpen performances by Cliff Politte magic-trick escape in Boston to win Game Three in the Division Series World Series MVP who drove in the game winner in Game Four’s 1-0 decision Tadahito Iguchi’s clutch fielding and ability to shoot ball after ball into right field behind the runner Geoff Blum’s late-night heroics to cap Game Three who not only stood out night after night on the field but also somehow created a rallying cry for the 2005 team one night in Baltimore when a dive-bar cover band played “Don’t Stop Believin.’” All of this was built brilliantly by general manager Ken Williams and orchestrated on a nightly basis by manager Ozzie Guillén the people who play it and the people who watch it with all the passion in the world With a large midsummer lead slowly and precipitously narrowing I noticed that receiving the gift coincided with a winning streak so I did something that was obvious and natural for any sports fan I positioned “The Duke” on the living-room couch with the television set to the channel where our game would air I am still not sure how much credit we want to give him for our dominating 11-1 playoff run but we were not taking any chances that October The Duke with the 2005 World Series Trophy After two stunning plays by shortstop Juan Uribe to complete the sweep family — shedding tears on the infield in Houston The moments from the final out until Ozzie and I were holding the Commissioner’s trophy seemed a dream The parade in Chicago was one of our proudest moments as 2 million Chicagoans came together to celebrate without a single incident or arrest The route from the ballpark to downtown was lined with Sox fans This parade absolutely delivered all of that for those of us on the double-decker buses but it also was different because of its length and intensity as we drove through neighborhood after neighborhood toward downtown School students lined the streets with signs saying “I’ve waited my whole life for this!” Nuns cheered us Construction workers flew Sox flags from unfinished buildings and street overpasses stepped toward the buses holding up photos of long-dead relatives “Everybody kept asking me the last couple of days what I did with that last ball it’s going to this man right here because he earned it.” most touching gift anyone has ever given me those memories belong to all White Sox fans those yet to come and even those who celebrated our World Series victory with a midnight champagne toast in a cemetery JERRY REINSDORF has been the owner and chairman of the Chicago White Sox since 1981 Meet the Staff Board of Directors Annual Reports Inclusivity Statement Contact SABR 1) 0ms;transition:background-color 150ms cubic-bezier(0.4 1) 0ms;transition:fill 120ms cubic-bezier(0.4 1) 0ms;font-size:inherit;}.css-v4v4rs{-webkit-user-select:none;-moz-user-select:none;-ms-user-select:none;user-select:none;width:1em;height:1em;display:inline-block;fill:currentColor;-webkit-flex-shrink:0;-ms-flex-negative:0;flex-shrink:0;-webkit-transition:fill 120ms cubic-bezier(0.4 1) 0ms;font-size:inherit;}@media (min-width:0px){.css-v4v4rs{display:block;}}@media (min-width:1100px){.css-v4v4rs{display:none;}}.css-mps3fk{-webkit-user-select:none;-moz-user-select:none;-ms-user-select:none;user-select:none;width:1em;height:1em;display:inline-block;fill:currentColor;-webkit-flex-shrink:0;-ms-flex-negative:0;flex-shrink:0;-webkit-transition:fill 120ms cubic-bezier(0.4 In a statement released after the White Sox fell to 33-114 following Wednesday's loss to the Cleveland Guardians Reinsdorf explained that everyone in the organization is "extremely unhappy" with how things have gone in 2024 but no one was predicting what they have done to this point most by the franchise in a season since 1970 (56-106) 8 after the White Sox snapped an AL-record 21-game losing streak Former MLB All-Star Grady Sizemore was named interim manager for the remainder of the season Chicago's .224 winning percentage is on pace to break the record for the worst mark by an MLB team that is currently held by the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics (.235) The White Sox have 15 games remaining in the regular season They will need to go 10-5 to avoid the 1962 Mets' record They could go 6-9 to avoid the A's record for worst winning percentage in a season They did have an 8-6 run over 14 games from April 26 through May 11 they have only won a total of nine games since July 1 There's no doubt that changes have to be made in Chicago but this season will make it very difficult for Reinsdorf and the front office to attract the type of talent needed to make a swift turnaround Yet another Jerry Reinsdorf middle finger to the fans For this, the third time is definitely not the charm. It is just a pile of &$%# that the White Sox are shoving down the throats of their fans one more chance for Jerry Reinsdorf to show how much he hates Sox fans for not adoring him sufficiently the choice to offer Mike Clevinger a minor league contract was made by Chris Getz perhaps in an effort to demonstrate that the seven years of incompetence he proved in player development should not be overlooked merely because of the potential future bounty of the Garrett Crochet trade But it’s hard to believe that the re-hiring of Clevinger could have occurred without the blessing of Reinsdorf And since there is no baseball or sales reason to bring back a 34-year-old has-been jerk with no positive following we are left with the chairman’s disdain for Sox fans it could even be paybacks for not jumping up and down at the thrill of handing him billions to put up a new monument to himself in The 78 the idea is not to give people a reason to not buy your product The first Sox deal with Clevinger was made by former GM Rick Hahn almost as soon as free agency opened after the 2022 season There was good reason not to employ the dirtbag even then He not only broke Covid rules with Cleveland but lied about it which included two recovering cancer victims Some teammates were so incensed they issued a “he goes or we go” ultimatum which was a possibility in the 2020 season and Cleveland shipped him out to the Padres (It’s the nature of players on any team to rally around a teammate so the fact the Cleveland players didn’t do so would seem to indicate Clevinger was well-hated even before the incident.) there was also the fact Clevinger was Trevor Bauer’s wingman After his only full season with San Diego — he missed 2021 with TJS — the Padres made no effort to keep him It was before the 2023 season started that allegations of domestic abuse became public — but only after the contract had been signed because Hahn had jumped the market in a hurry to sign him MLB investigated charges of physical and mental abuse made by Olivia Finestead mother of one of Clevinger’s then-three children Incel types immediately proclaimed him innocent many criminals go free because of provability Finestead herself (in a radio interview and presumably also to investigators) asked that Clevinger not be suspended because her daughter depended on his income to eat and that he instead go through anger management therapy and drug rehab she got communications from other women saying Clevinger had abused them in one way or another but they apparently didn’t follow through with MLB Clevinger “volunteered” to get the anger and drug therapies Either because they’re incompetent or because of fear of losing access and all that type of b.s. no reporter in a position to do so has asked him whether he really had the therapy and how — or at least no one has reported anything about it because even if Clevinger just lied to make the question go away showing just what a class individual he is then picked Gold Digger as his walk-up music and loudly threatened the radio station that put Finestead on the air with a lawsuit for daring to let her speak Perhaps there was a bit of a remorse shortage and the White Sox tried to get something for him at the trade deadline They failed to do so — perhaps because of reputation or because of a stupidly-written contract with a $4 million buyout with the abuse allegations out in the open and added to the rest of his sordid history Clevinger went through the offseason without a contract for 2024 the only one of 30 teams willing to take on the stench of employing him while the vehement dislike from the fanbase had become obvious and no doubt costly and while there was no ethical justification for the signing possible except maybe (we can only hope) for Finestead’s daughter and Clevinger’s other children He rang up an injury-riddled 16 innings of work and his season ended on August 1 with and disc replacement surgery on his neck 29 other teams had a chance to sign Clevinger and passed many of them teams that could well use another starting pitcher to get a boost toward playoff contention on February 20 and after the start of spring training not only is there no possible ethical justification for loading your team with this pile of garbage Even if he somehow reclaimed the skills that led to his 3.3 bWAR in 2023 or even the glory year of 2018 and its 200 innings of 5.4 WAR The Sox only lose 110 games instead of 115 every inning the geriatric &^$-hole is on the mound is an inning one of the many young pitchers the Sox brag about is not getting experience he could use most certainly not a far-off future when the Sox could eventually become competitive again If the club felt it absolutely had to have another veteran pitcher, there just happens to be one still on the market who was a major fan favorite when he was with the Sox instead of a detriment. Of course, José Quintana turned down a $5.5 million offer from the Mets so he’d be much more expensive — but with a current payroll the size of a ma-and-pa diner Let them get the jitters out of their systems and work on adjustments now We see you in that big ornate chair chortling “he-he-he-he-he” and rubbing your hands together in glee stopping only long enough to raise up a middle finger — make that two middle fingers — toward us fans to clearly demonstrate just what you think of us With 15 games left in the worst Chicago White Sox season ever — and what will almost surely be the worst season in modern major league history — the chairman has spoken Well, Jerry Reinsdorf didn’t so much speak as he released a statement on a campaign that has reached unfathomable levels of losing with five series to play and just seven losses away from setting a new modern MLB record for single-season defeats released after the White Sox were swept by the Guardians on Wednesday “What has impressed me is how our players and staff have continued to work and bring a professional attitude to the ballpark each day despite a historically difficult season Then, as will be the case when the record is almost surely broken in the next couple weeks, the White Sox’ ineptitude was nothing new Those of us who have been watching this team all season know a listless offense defensive mistakes and late-game blow ups by the bullpen have been yearlong features When the White Sox went 3-22 in their first 25 games of the campaign we knew the possibility for all-time levels of bad was there But now the national types are descending on the South Side and Reinsdorf’s statement came in response to media requests [MORE SOX: Trading Garrett Crochet, finding a new manager and more decisions facing Chris Getz, White Sox] Even in written form and only seven sentences long, us local folks know this is newsworthy because of its rarity. Reinsdorf almost exclusively lets his baseball boss do the talking when it comes to the state of the on-field product. That means Chris Getz now just like it meant Rick Hahn before him and Kenny Williams before Hahn In my seven years as a full-time beat writer covering the White Sox the chairman has only done one media session that wasn’t about someone getting elected to the Hall of Fame: last summer when he promoted Getz to succeed the fired Hahn and Williams And so the newsiest bit of Reinsdorf’s commentary Wednesday was that there could be more coming after the season ends We’ll have to wait to see exactly what form Reinsdorf’s “more to say” takes come October But what seems certain is that much of the fan base would rather not hear it Reaction to Reinsdorf’s statement on social media was not kind to an owner who has been pegged by many as the No Especially irksome seemed to be Reinsdorf’s compliments given to this year’s players despite fan instance that a win-loss record is a reflection of how hard a team tries have indeed continued to show up and put in the work and approach each day with a good attitude For all of Getz’s goals that he failed to achieve with his roster redo last winter — improving the defense creating a team capable of playing a better brand of baseball — the group he assembled has achieved on the cultural level and the clubhouse has been strong all year long far better equipped to handle the losing and daily disappointment than the underachieving White Sox teams of recent seasons the attitude in the clubhouse is one of a team showing up to win each day however unlikely their previous five and a half months of performance should make that seem “We’re competitors,” Davis Martin said after Wednesday’s game “I don’t give a shit about our record right now and it doesn’t matter if we’re playing ping pong we want to beat the crap out of each other And the same thing goes on out there (in the games) But whether that mindset the chairman deemed worthy of public praise is a true building block for the future or merely a silver lining in an otherwise miserable season plenty of fans see no reason for any positivity And watching this team on a daily basis does little to produce an argument that any is deserved These White Sox aren’t just the worst offensive team in the sport they’re the worst offensive team the sport has seen in a half century These White Sox are not just baseball’s worst offensive team they are also baseball’s worst defensive team These White Sox are not just going to set the modern major league record for losses in a season they could come shockingly close to — though mathematically they cannot match — the most losses any baseball team has ever had: the 133 games the Cleveland Spiders dropped in 1899 though Getz spent the offseason avoiding the word were obviously rebuilding last winter when his moves did little but keep payroll low and bring in potential midseason trade candidates Ugly seasons should be no surprise when a team is in such a mode and White Sox fans need cast their minds back only to the 100-loss campaign of 2018 for a recent reminder wheels spin while the future develops in the minor leagues paying off in big ways years down the road The Astros lost 416 games in a four-year span on the way to becoming a perennial fixture in the ALCS and a two-time World Series champion The Orioles lost at least 108 times — with a low-water mark of 115 — in three straight 162-game seasons (a stretch interrupted by the COVID-shortened 2020 year) and now claim one of baseball’s most envied collections of young talent has brought up the current AL-record-holding 2003 Tigers who lost 119 times only to play in the World Series three years later Those are the success stories and what Getz and his remodeled front office hope will come to the South Side But the first full season of that project has been gruesome with the GM failing to deliver on attempts to bring more aesthetically pleasing play to the major league team and inspiring little long-term confidence in fans who can’t see the future as clearly as they could when Hahn started a similar project less than a decade ago “If you would have told me we were going to end up flirting with the record Now if you would have told me prior to the year that we would have ended up with over 100 losses I wouldn’t have been as surprised,” Getz said Monday “But this is the cards that we’ve been dealt at this point and I think it’s an opportunity to embrace the situation that we’re in “I view it as kind of the frustrating part of the story But it seems getting folks out to the ballpark for anything other than a nice day in the sun will be a tall task if the offseason goes as expected and yields another team that could lose in the triple digits even if Robert’s struggles this season make him seem more of a candidate to depart at next summer’s deadline And while there will be a new manager steering the ship how much improvement can be expected from what could be a similar cast of characters leading to doubt about how organization-changing any deals involving Crochet or Robert will be this winter and with no specific timeline being mentioned by Getz or any other member of the White Sox brain trust the skepticism grows that next year (or the next) will be dramatically different than the all-time bad that fans have had to sit through in 2024 Reinsdorf surely isn’t happy about any of that But he already made the big changes last summer when he ended the decades-long stay of Williams and Hahn atop the baseball department So without another such seismic move to make what will he do in the wake of the worst White Sox season ever Rick Morrissey had an excellent article in the Sun-Times this week about Jerry Reinsdorf’s primary motivation being to seek revenge against White Sox fans — “a perverse revenge” as he calls it Morrissey puts a lot of the cause on the “sell the team” movement of the last two years and he has sources that may well tell him that was the final blow to Reinsdorf’s ego But allow me to suggest that the chairman’s loathing of fans goes back much further (Disclaimer: I am not a psychologist and I don’t even play one on TV and claim the granddad right to pretend to know all sorts of stuff whether or not I actually do.) revenge isn’t Reinsdorf’s only motive in business or in life The lifelong motive has really been to show that the old Ben Franklin adage that nothing is certain but death and taxes doesn’t apply to him The ex-IRS attorney spent his whole professional life figuring out ways to pay little or no taxes including being primarily invested in two of the biggest tax dodges in the country he obviously now believes having tax money come to him is the proper way of the world just because Reinsdorf is 88 is no reason to believe he’ll do the fan base the favor of moving on any time in the next decade The rest of the revenge — what Morrissey says is all about “sticking it to people” — doesn’t seem all that recent especially given how he sent out minions like Ken Williams to fan shame long ago Reinsdorf is a control freak of the first order skill required to obtain a key to the executive washroom at 35th and Shields is the ability to keep one’s lips firmly affixed to Jerry’s butt that means the Sox are a completely incompetent organization with no hope of getting better till death do us part that’s not something Reinsdorf cares about Toss around enough money and require no talent or even effort and you’ll keep your staff pursing their lips But — and this has to be really frustrating to the Lord of the GuRF — you can’t demand fealty from the fans disinclined toward worship of owners or those who pretend to be owners even though they have a small percentage of the stock and just wrote themselves a sweetheart power deal — players by putting an excellent team on the field (or on the court But if he puts an excellent team on the field “Revenge should have no bounds.” Not that that attitude did him much good RELATED: Survey of current, former employees place blame for White Sox woes on Reinsdorf Ghiroli noted those discussions have been with a group led by former Major League Baseball player Dave Stewart. "The news represents a significant change of stance for Reinsdorf," Ghiroli wrote "The oldest majority owner in baseball Reinsdorf has shown no previous public interest in selling the team—at least Yet this potential change in stance comes after Chicago made the type of history teams do not want to make this past season It broke the modern MLB record for the most losses in a season which previously belonged to the 1962 New York Mets but the 2024 White Sox ended up losing one more game Reinsdorf released a lengthy statement after his team broke the record and called it "an embarrassing season" while telling the fans they "deserved better." He also said the team "will do everything we can to fix this for 2025 and the future" after a "completely unacceptable" result .css-1xiyrl{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;aspect-ratio:unset;}The season marked a third straight where the White Sox failed to reach the playoffs and the immediate future isn't exactly incredibly bright general manager Chris Getz said last month "We're not gonna be working heavy in free agency We've got guys on the field right now who need to improve their game A lot of these guys are young players and need to make the adjustments to be more productive." B/R's MLB team also ranked Chicago's farm system as a solid but unspectacular 13th in the league just last month so there may not be a group of future players who will save the franchise in the short term Perhaps Stewart could help turn things around following a baseball career that included three World Series titles a World Series MVP and two American League Championship Series MVPs as an excellent pitcher who became one of the faces of the Oakland Athletics Ghiroli noted he previously led a group that attempted to purchase Oakland's stake in the Oakland Coliseum and has been interested in starting an expansion MLB team in Nashville Ghiroli wrote "it's unknown what Stewart's potential involvement would mean for the White Sox staying in Chicago long-term." Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker