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| Will trio be the key to 2020s White Sox? Photo by The Players Tribune |
JON
JAY, WHO played last season with Kansas City and Arizona but was part of that Chicago
Cubs championship team of 2016, will be a part of the White Sox this season –
whose spring training begins in just over a month out in the Phoenix suburb
where the Arizona (and one-time Chicago) Cardinals play.
Theoretically,
he could be a piece of the White Sox’ outfield equation this year. He has some
skills. But what is more noteworthy are two of Jay’s best friends within the
world of professional baseball.
Those
friends are Yonder Alonso, whom the White Sox recently acquired in trade from
Cleveland, and Alonso’s brother-in-law. Who happens to be the baseball star
Manny Machado – the infielder who currently is free-agent and is trying to get
the big-money, long-term contract that will ensure he’ll never have to work for
real so long as he lives.
The
White Sox are in competition with the New York Yankees, the Philadelphia
Phillies and possibly other teams that might want to give themselves an
injection of talent for the near future.
IT
HAS BEEN reported that the White Sox have made a definitive offer to Machado
that falls short of the so-called $300 million over a 10-season period that Manny
supposedly wants.
Could
it be that the White Sox are gambling Manny will be eager enough to have his
brother-in-law and long-time friend as teammates that he’ll take a Chicago offer?
Helped by the fact that even though Machado has hinted he’d love New York, the
Yankees themselves don’t seem too eager to kiss his behind to get him in their
version of pinstripes.
Could
the White Sox of the 2020s be reliant on the Machado clique for their on-field talent?
Could Jay become the guy who played for both the ’16 Cubs championship team,
along with whatever winner the White Sox produce?
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| Will Machado clique work well w/ Abreu batch? |
Or
is this a lot of wishful thinking?
FOR
I CAN’T help but notice that much of the “Rebuild of the White Sox” talk has
focused on the large number of Cuban exiles the White Sox have been able to
obtain – with hopes they’ll develop with minor league affiliates into stars.
With
those peloteros Cubanos eager to play baseball for Chicago someday because they see existing White Sox star Jose Abreu as their leader on-field.
Have
the White Sox set up conditions for dueling cliques – with one group of Cubanos
convinced this is the team of Abreu and which might be counting on the beisbol fan base in Havana to give the
White Sox an international cheering base?
Or
are we going to have a team with the Abreu people and the Machado people – with
the latter figuring that he’s the one getting the big money so he’s the one who
should dominate the ball club’s attention?
IT
WILL BE interesting to see how the two factions (should Machado decide to come
to Chicago) co-exist, because supposedly his wife Yainee (also Alonso’s sister)
really, really wants to live in New York. Would this Miami girl with ethnic
origins in the Dominican Republic regard Chicago’s Latino population that is
heavily Mexican and Puerto Rican just a bit too different?
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| Could Jay be champ on both sides of Chicago? |
Then
again, ballplayers don’t necessarily have to like each other personally. Take the
Oakland A’s of the 1970s that won three straight World Series despite constant
infighting amongst themselves. But they had their mutual contempt for owner
Charles O. Finley to unite them – and that contempt is what ultimately broke
the ballclub up.
But
it could be said that the Machado clique that considers Miami to be its home
base could unite with the many Cubans who regard Miami as their home in exile.
Could
a future White Sox championship team wind up getting just as many cheers in
Miami as on the South Side? We’ll have to wait and see how it all shapes up –
and if it is meant to become a reality.
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