Bryce Harper doesn’t have a team yet.
Give us a reason to believe in the south side again, Rick. Make us believe you're serious about winning, Jerry. And for God's sake, don't disappoint us again, Kenny. We’re tired of losing, tired of being the second banana, and tired of false promises, and over the hill ballplayers. But, as all things White Sox, we’re back talking about a massive fuck up instead of a battle cry toward relevance.
And yet, here we are friends, yet another bungled offseason. Sure, we made some moves, we acquired a few middle-of-the-road guys to fill in the gaps for the young cats on the come up, but now we’re sitting in the collective stew of annoyance and anger because once again, the White Sox dropped the ball.
Is the White Sox organization capable of not doing something stupid? We named our ballpark some dumb shit with a huge red arrow pointing down, and now here we are trolling the basement of credibility once again.
Living in the shadow of the Cubs sucks. Every movie, commercial, social nod by anyone who isn’t a White Sox fan talks about the Cubs when they speak about Chicago baseball. We’re always the second team, even when people talk about the World Series back in 2005, despite being one of the dominant performances by a team in the modern era. No one cares about the Chicago White Sox except White Sox fans.
And for one minute, we were top of the headlines, suitors for both Manny Machado and Bryce Harper. For weeks, we played the “where is he going game,” and honestly, the whole activity was emotionally draining. But, the White Sox kept atop of the collective MLB mind, they touted our prospects and kept saying we were in for real, only we weren’t.
Machado wanted a $300 million contract for ten years. The White Sox acted as if Machado’s market had weakened and offered a deal that just didn’t work for him, and what did the San Diego Padres do? They didn’t cover any bets, they gave the man what he wanted. While we’ll be trotting out Yonder Alonso and Jon Jay, two moves that make zero sense now that Machado has signed elsewhere, Machado will be a cornerstone player for the Padres, and when Hall of Fame time comes, he’ll be enshrined in a hat with a big SD on it.
So much for that empty locker now, huh?
While we’re supposed to be happy they tried, or that they “came close” we just can’t be. I don’t think Rick Hahn or Kenny Williams want us to believe they're cool with building clubs off the scrap heap and for once, we made an honest play, but it wasn’t enough. We could have just offered the money and that was it.
This was a once in a lifetime chance for the organization to lock up a generational talent and the White Sox front office blew it. ESPN, every sports outlet, all of the Chicago newspapers, have been plastering the news cycle with constant and consistent news about the Padres. They’re going down the line breaking down the lineup, talking about young players and in the process, and getting their fan base and all of baseball excited about their future. What are they saying about the White Sox? It’s not nice.
While yes, Bryce Harper is still available, if the White Sox wouldn’t pay Machado the cash, what makes anyone think Harper is even realistic at this point? We’ve established that White Sox aren’t serious about superstars time and time again, and now, we’re going to miss out on two franchise-changing players. One of those two premier talents could give us some credibility against the Cubs monolith, we could build our talented young core around that player, but instead, we locked up…. Ivan Nova.
We have no face of the franchise, no significant reason to put asses in seats except the hope that that core performs. By having a marquee talent in tow, that would have taken the pressure off and allowed players to develop. But, here we are. The argument would have been one that’s at least a moral and ethical belief that this rebuild was in earnest and that by making this one move, this flag planted, that the south side was done being the punching bag for jokes about empty seats or playing in the hood. We could have changed the perception of what the Chicago White Sox are to a whole new generation. But, we didn’t.
When asked about his massive clusterfuck, Kenny Williams simply stated, “no one died” except your fanbase is slowly rotting away, tired of perceived cheapness when the White Sox aren’t in a small market and expected to compete for elite talent. But, cue the Benny Hill music: it’s obvious the front office has a different opinion on what’s a bold move vs. one that keeps a little gas in the car toward the horizon of yet another pointless season. I hope the endless beat down by the media, the fans, and anyone with a shred of love for the team stung last night.
The Chicago White Sox are playing coy like they’re Cincinnati but somehow got the rug pulled from under them by the small market Padres. The Chicago market isn’t exactly starving for fans, and now by going cheap offering some incentive-driven deal that Machado didn’t want, for fifty million less, here we sit. While our window of contention aligns perfectly with Machado’s age, what could have been, we’ll never know.
Do the White Sox have a definitive, defined plan that takes a superstar and drops them in the middle of a few A+ prospects? Seeing how this went over, it makes me question everything.
Once Harper goes to the Phillies, we’ll see the rest of the rosters fill up, and we might end up with someone who’s “pretty good,” but for a second there, we thought we had a line in the water with a bite. Once again, I feel stupid for loving the White Sox. Dear God Jerry, Kenny, and Rick, sign Bryce Harper and give us a reason to stay loyal because while I believe in Tim Anderson and Eloy Jimenez, but it would be nice to see one of our guys in a commercial or on the cover of The Show, to finally feel like we mean something instead of always fighting for a seat at the table. Seeing Machado in brown is going to be painful for a long time.
And with a collective groan, White Sox fans knew the feeling of “what the fuck just happened” all too well.
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