EXTRA: No ‘Manny’ coming to Chi!

We’re one week into the baseball spring training camps, and the Chicago White Sox can put a rest to all the speculation of big-name, high-priced athletic talent coming to the Sout’ Side.

Not returning to American League anytime soon

Manny Machado, the third baseman who says he wants to be a shortstop along with one of the highest-paid players in baseball, chose on Tuesday to sign with the San Diego Padres.

DEPENDING ON THE reports one trusts, the White Sox had a bid of some $175 million spread out over seven seasons, that might have increased to eight or nine years.

Big money by baseball standards. But in the end, Machado got a late offer from San Diego that is for 10 seasons at a total of $300 million. An offer the White Sox weren’t willing to try to match – which has some fans already up in arms about the Pale Hose being nothing but cheapskates.

Although others are going on rants complaining that Machado used the White Sox during the negotiations process so as to get someone else to cough up the big bucks!

I’m willing to bet that when (because of the concept of inter-league play) the Padres have reason to come to Chicago to play the White Sox in future seasons, Manny is going to find himself the subject of the most intense heckling he could ever imagine. He’ll be amongst the most hated athletes on the South Side of Chicago.

These ballplayers more important … 

ALTHOUGH IT WOULDN’T shock me if Cubs fans wind up rooting for Manny big time out of spite for so publicly spurning the Sox.

Personally, Machado’s not coming to Chicago doesn’t bother me too much. It’s not like he single-handedly would have turned the White Sox into a contending ball club. The chances of a championship at Guaranteed Rate Field any time soon is still based on the rebuilding process and all the minor league talent that likely will make it to Chicago between now and 2021.

… to White Sox future champ chances … 

Eloy Jimenez, the .311 hitter the past few seasons in the minor leagues, could wind up being the big-name ballplayer for the Sox for 2019 – and the team will be able to get away with a major league-minimum salary ($535,000) for him.

In fact, without Machado, the White Sox this year will have a total payroll of some $80 million – which puts them in the bottom fifth of Major League Baseball.

… than Machado would have been

NOW I’M NOT talking cheapskate rhetoric here – I realize that any serious effort to turn the White Sox into contenders is going to result at some point in a serious expenditure of cash to boost the payroll.

I’m just not sure that this particular year was THE YEAR to be doing so. It could wind up that a future year would be the best time to make a serious expenditure.

The reality is that if the White Sox are to become a serious ball club worthy of championship consideration, it’s not going to be because of a free agent purchase. It’s going to be because the young talent matures to its highest potential.

It will be because Jimenez becomes as worthy at the major league level as he has been while playing since 2014 in the minor leagues. It will be because Yoan Moncada will live up to the promise he once had back when he was regarded as the best minor league ballplayer overall.

Will Sox repeat process for Mike Trout?

AND IT WILL be because Michael Kopech recovers from the rotator cuff surgery to his shoulder and shows that the couple of major league starts where he excelled in 2018 just prior to his injury weren’t a pure fluke.

The real question as far as the White Sox short-term is what will become of their newly-acquired ballplayers Yonder Alonso (who is Machado’s brother-in-law) and Jon Jay (a long-time personal friend of the two). The White Sox had acquired both in hopes that it would create an atmosphere that would make Machado think the Sout’ Side was truly place for him to be.

Now, they’re just going to be unpleasant memories about what could have been. I can’t help but wonder how quickly they’ll be thrown into some sort of trade by the ball club to erase the stink of their negotiating failure.

Which could mean many White Sox fans will be rooting for a 2021 World Series against the Padres – perhaps hoping that the Sox ultimately win with Machado hitting into a game-ending double play!

  -30-

Brawl for big-name stars could peter out into whole lot of Chicago nothin’

Harper, along with Machado (below) … 

It’s becoming the big joke this winter amongst certain baseball people – that the Chicago White Sox are spewing a whole lot of talk about how they’re trying to win over the two big-name ballplayers available through free agency, yet all they’re really going to do is sign one of those star players’ brother-in-law.

It’s true. The White Sox have managed to pull off a trade – acquiring Yonder Alonso from the Cleveland Indians.

OF COURSE, THE two big names that are getting baseball teams all aroused are Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals and Manny Machado of the Los Angeles Dodgers; the latter of whom is married to Alonso's sister.

.. are the big names baseball teams are dreaming of

Both are stars who’d be capable of rejuvenating just about any ball club. The White Sox have gone about stirring up a lot of speculation that they’re willing to make serious bids to try to acquire at least one of the two – if not both.

Yet you have to admit it would be oh so typical if it turned out that the White Sox didn’t manage to acquire either. Which would make their acquisition of Alonso come off as quite pathetic.

There is one big reason why the White Sox are so eager to engage in such talk – they need to do something to show the fan base that their talk of wanting to some day have a winning ball club has a basis in reality and is not just wishful thinking.

Are Nova and Alonso (below) … 

BECAUSE THUS FAR, all the youthful talent is NOT holding up to the stories of being on the verge of turning into future stars. Yoan Moncada, who when he was Boston Red Sox property was regarded as the best ballplayer in all the minor leagues, has turned into a .235 hitter for the White Sox.

While supposed future star pitcher Steve Kopech has managed to injure himself, underwent surgery and likely won’t play ball at all during 2019, and Eloy Jimenez has suffered a quad injury while playing baseball this winter with the Cibao Giants of the Dominican League.

Meaning the tales of Jimenez becoming the rookie star of the White Sox for 2019 may have to be postponed – if not tabled altogether.

… the ones the White Sox will settle for?

If the Chicago Cubs rebuild of the early 2010s was the example of everything going right and resulting in a World Series title in 2016, we have to wonder if the White Sox rebuild is evidence of everything going wrong.

WHICH IS WHY gaining a big-name star would be beneficial for the Chicago Sout’ Side ballclub. Particularly if it were to turn out that they acquired Harper – who during his time playing ball in the District of Columbia never made a secret of it that he’d like someday to play for the Chicago Cubs.

On some level, it would be a psychological victory if the White Sox were to gain the guy who could have been a Cub – if only the Cubs weren’t crying broke; in large part because they blew their own money on the big-money deal they offered pitcher Yu Darvish.

Is Darvish the reason Cubs can't compete?

The deal that got the Cubs a 1-win, 3-loss record with a 4.95 earned run average in eight games (only 40 innings pitched) before his own injuries became too serious for him to continue playing.

Then again, could it turn out to be that all the White Sox’ talk of trying to gain Harper is what ultimately motivates the Cubs to try to figure out a way to “do” the big bucks needed to acquire Bryce – who seems determined to want to get the biggest contract ever in baseball history!

Dominican League injury delays Jimenez?

PERSONALLY, IT WOULDN’T bother me in the least if Harper were to choose to go elsewhere – largely because I actually think Machado (a Miami native of Dominican ethnic origins) would be the better fit for this rebuilt White Sox team.

This is one that supposedly can have Cubans (Moncada, Jose Abreu and Luis Robert) as its stars, with a whole slew of other peloteros from Latin American nations, including Jimenez. Machado of Miami might be a better fit and wouldn't have the attitude that has a lot of baseball fans thinking Machado is not worth the fact that HE wants to get the biggest contract ever in baseball history!

Is Moncada really just a .235 hitter?

But one way or another, those two big stars are going to wind up somewhere and likely will get contracts giving them enough funds that (unless they get stupid and waste money) will enable them to never have to work for real for the rest of their lives.

And if it turns out that neither Harper nor Machado choose to come to Chicago, well then White Sox fans will just have to settle for the brother-in-law and the one-time New York Yankees pitcher Ivan Nova as their off-season acquisitions leading into 2019.

  -30-

Will 2018 be a “might’a been” version of a World Series for Chicago?

It’s one of the quirks of professional baseball these days that its championship event has so many rounds of playoffs and interest declines as teams get knocked out of play.

One-time White Sox ace now Game 1 starter

Which is why there were many people who were delirious this weekend when the Los Angeles Dodgers managed to prevail as National League championships over the Milwaukee Brewers. Having media market No. 2 (as in L.A.) works much better than media market 35 (the land of Laverne and Shirley).

SO WE’RE GOING to get to see a Boston Red Sox/Los Angeles Dodgers World Series – which some are trying to spin as a replay of 1916. Even though the Dodgers themselves were Brooklyn’s ballclub back then.

But I can’t help but perceive this year’s World Series (played one century after that series that used to be Boston’s last victory ever, when they beat the Chicago Cubs) in Chicago terms.

In which it’s the “What might’s been” World Series. We in Chicago can watch the event and speculate what might have happened for our city’s ballclubs – if only certain factors had played out different.

The obvious Chicago connection to this year’s World Series is in the form of the Red Sox’ ace pitcher – Chris Sale. Who actually is set to be the starting game pitcher for Game One, to be played Tuesday night.

WHO ALSO ACTUALLY was once Chicago White Sox property – from 2010 until the trade that sent him off to Boston prior to the 2017 season. The one that got the White Sox several minor league prospects – including Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech; whom some still say could develop into stars who could make the deal seem quite balanced.

Others who will only view Moncada’s mediocre hitting this season and the injury sustained by Kopech that will cause him to miss the entirety of the 2019 season are ready to write off the deal as a rip-off for the White Sox, and wish they could have Sale back in Chicago.

Cubs ace now Dodgers coach

They’re bound to be the ones watching the World Series this year, trying to fantasize how good life could have been in Chicago IF ONLY Sale were still wearing the black-colored hose of the White Sox. Ignoring the fact that Sale most likely would be the malcontent (I haven’t forgotten his jersey-ripping incident) ace pitcher of a third place ballclub.

But some fans are bound to want to find ways to be miserable. Which at times may be the real truth characterizing what Chicago sports fans are all about.

BUT IF CHICAGO fans will be following Sale and the Red Sox, I also don’t doubt that the Dodgers will stir up some interested. Particularly in the form of the team’s bullpen coach – the guy whose job is to make sure relief pitchers are properly warmed up and NOT being distracted by the blonde in the too-tight halter top sitting in the stands.

For the Dodgers’ coach this season was Mark Prior. Remember him?

Prior is the guy whom Cubs fans were convinced was going to be one of their all-time great pitchers, and whose teams of the decade of the Aughts (the 2000s) had the pitching pair of Prior and Kerry Wood. Whom Cubs fans back then were delusional enough to think were the elite of the National League.

One-time White Sox player and coach will see … 

Even though neither one wound up living up to their baseball potential.

PRIOR WAS SUPPOSED to be that elite pitcher who would lead the Cubs to a mid-2000s World Series victory (it didn’t happen). He’s the guy whom injuries would up cutting his playing career short.

But after leaving the Cubs, he filled several roles in the San Diego Padres organization, then this year was offered a coaching job with the Dodgers. Which put him in a position where he’s FINALLY with a team appearing in the World Series.

… if his younger brother can win World Series

As is Sale. One of them is going to get that World Series “ring” that supposedly is what a real ballplayer strives to get his entire athletic career – and that is supposedly the crowning achievement missing from Chicago players such as Luke Appling or Ernie Banks.

Of course, the other potential local angle is in the form of Red Sox manager Alex Cora, whom some are emphasizing is the first Puerto Rico native to manage a championship ballclub. He’s the brother of Joey Cora – who was the Chicago White Sox’ bench coach under manager Ozzie Guillen when the latter became the first Latin America-born (Venezuela) to win a World Series.

  -30-

Will Abreu remain in Chi beyond ’17?

The Chicago White Sox openly talk about how they’re scraping their whole ball club as part of a rebuild – a do-over of sorts that they hope could result in championship-quality teams by 2020.

Could Abreu lead White Sox rebuild?

But there’s a certain sense that the rebuild actually began in 2014 when Cuban star slugger Jose Abreu signed on with the team.

DURING THE PAST four seasons, Abreu has been one of the few attractions worth seeing at Guaranteed Rate Field. Typically, it would make sense that because of his worthwhile statistics (which include a batting average of .301, 124 home runs and 410 runs batted in, and a .359 on base percentage), he’d be trade bait.

For as the legendary baseball executive Branch Rickey once said of his star slugger Ralph Kiner with some lousy Pittsburgh Pirates teams, “We finished last with you, we can finish last without you.”

No ballplayer is ever untouchable. Not even for the White Sox, who last winter traded away their top pitcher, Chris Sale, to the Boston Red Sox.

So it shouldn’t be surprising to learn of the reports that several ball clubs have contacted the White Sox to express interest in acquiring Abreu and his big bat. Even the Red Sox.

WHO EVEN THOUGH they won their division title last year fell short in the playoffs, in part because first base is a weak position for them. Acquiring Jose would be a significant move in their ongoing battle to try to become superior to the New York Yankees (they’re not, but that’s a story for a different day).

Moncada looks to Abreu for leadership

So are the rumor mills onto something? Are the White Sox about to trade away their best ballplayer? For what it’s worth, the SB Nation website grades this particular rumor an “A.”

Yet I can’t help but think that if the White Sox truly are on the verge of making this move, it will be the action that turns out short-sighted. And not just because most of the people who are all excited about such a move are the ones who are interested in how it would help Boston – and don’t seem to care what happens in Chicago.

I wonder how the people who do have an interest in a Chicago White Sox rebuild appreciate how significant the Cuban angle is in all of this. We literally have the potential to have our own Cuban core dominating Sout’ Side baseball.

As likely will Robert

WHAT WITH THE young talent of Yoan Moncada and Luis Robert coming to Chicago. Moncada has already arrived and has shown some signs of the potential star he could become, while Robert is firmly in the White Sox minor league system.

Both were acquired in deals (Moncada was the prize Boston gave up in order to pry Sale loose from Chicago) during 2017. Both were Cuban ballplayers, and both were excited to come to Chicago largely because they knew Abreu when all three were still playing on the Caribbean island.

It certainly was more significant to them that Abreu was here, rather than the fact that Minnie Miñoso played in Chicago a half century ago.

I don’t think you can over-exaggerate the significance of the mentor role that Abreu would play in a rebuilt White Sox ball club. It could literally be the three Cuban stars (playing at first and second base, along with center field) who could be the key to that future championship ball club that White Sox fans are eagerly dreaming of.

Minoso the Cuban past

AND YES, I’M a firm believer in intangibles (unlike those who can’t look past statistics) in determining a ballplayer’s worth to his team.

Some might say that Abreu could bring in a whole slew of talent. However, I doubt that Boston (or any other ball club) would be willing to give up that much in exchange for one slugger – no matter how many dents he could add to the famed left field wall at Boston’s Fenway Park.

Encouraging that Cuban core could be the key to a rebuild that actually works, as opposed to one that merely produces second place teams – rather than the fourth place ball club the White Sox had this year.

Is the pair attending a hockey game in Las Vegas really as interesting as would-be Cuban beisbol revolution?

And it would certainly be more interesting than the dreams of Chicago Cubs fans these days – the ones that say Washington Nationals star Bryce Harper is eager to come to the North Side team to pair up with old high school friend Kris Bryant. Just so they could lose someday to a White Sox-style Cuban beisbol revolution.

  -30-

’17 baseball season is ‘ovah,’ yet fan excitement strong on both sides of town

The Chicago White Sox season for this year stumbled to its end Sunday in Cleveland, with the White Sox being able to say they didn’t lose 100 games and are far from the worst team in baseball (they didn’t even finish last place in their own division).

As for the Chicago Cubs, they managed to pull off a third-straight year of appearing in the playoffs (which begin this year on Tuesday). It’s also the second-straight year of finishing a regular season in first place (something they hadn’t been able to do since 2007-08).

YET FOR THOSE fans of the cutesy Cubbies who are inclined to gloat, I say “Stuff it!”

Because the most disappointing aspect of baseball ending Sunday is that it means we have to wait some five months before we can see more progress in the great rebuild that White Sox management hopes will result in championship ballclubs sometime about 2019 or 2020.

While I’m sure that Cubs fans seriously believe the whole world is rooting for them to achieve a second-straight World Series title this year, there are those White Sox fans who will be anxious to see the rebuild progress. To see the youthful star Luis Robert progress up the minor league route (he may begin next year in Winston-Salem, N.C.) to get closer to Chicago.

Where he could pair up with established Cuban star Jose Abreu (a batting average of .305, slugging percentage of .554, 33 home runs and 102 runs batted in) and rising star Yoan Moncada to create that Cuban baseball revolution that could be the core of bringing a championship to the South Side in the name of the Cuban Comet himself – Minnie Miñoso.

OF COURSE, THERE are no guarantees in baseball. There are a lot of quirks that could come up that thwart a championship season. The “Damn Yankees” could resurrect themselves to a role of dominance during the next few seasons.

But White Sox fans are overly anxious, not wanting to see the on-field action stop because it means they’ll have to wait a little while longer for the title they’re hoping for.

And yes, there are elements of wanting to produce so as to “shut up” Cubs fans and their obnoxious streak of thinking that a lone World Series title now puts them in the same status as the New York Yankees (who have 27 such titles and are going for number 28 starting Tuesday).

In short, April 5 and Opening Day against the Detroit Tigers (the ball club that managed to bottom out and be worse than the White Sox this season) can’t some soon enough.

AS FOR THE Cubs, they now advance to the first round of playoffs against the Washington Nationals in the District of Columbia.

Their spirits would watch over ...

It will be interesting to see how Cubs fans react to not being the team of sympathy and underdog status. Don’t forget that Washington is now the city with baseball teams that have lengthy losing status – no D.C. ball club has won a World Series since 1924 or has even been in a World Series since 1933.

And the current Washington ball club has never won a thing (not even back in their days of being the Montreal Expos).

Yet the Cubs would like to think that their own losing ways still linger – and it would be of some historic significance if a Cubs’ team were to win a second consecutive World Series. Since the only two they ever had won before came in consecutive (1907 and 1908) years.

... any all-Chicago World Series of future

SO IT WILL be of some interest to see if a Chicago ball club can advance past Washington and Los Angeles (that’s what playoffs are for) to make it to the World Series.

Even if not as much interest as watching the rebuild taking place on the South Side that is now on hold for five months.

Because it would put us Chicago baseball fans a step closer to what would be the ultimate experience – an all-Chicago World Series. An experience we haven’t had in 111 years – and counting.

That would be the experience worth getting all worked up over!

  -30-

White Sox rebuild progressing, but will Yankees 'will to win' get in the way?

The great rebuild of the Chicago White Sox into a pennant contender progressed a step further Wednesday when the great young talent Yoan Moncada (supposedly the best ballplayer in the minor leagues) was promoted from Charlotte, N.C., to the big club on Chicago’s Sout’ Side.

Did the White Sox' future begin Wednesday?

Yet there also was a related move that could portend the reason why the White Sox ultimately will not prevail in winning a World Series, or even an American League championship in coming years.

IT ACTUALLY IS an old phenomenon in baseball, familiar to every fan of an American League ball club (although those of you Chicagoans who think you’re baseball fans but actually pay attention only to the Cubs and the National League wouldn’t know this).

It is the New York Yankees.

One of the realities of the Yankees having won 27 World Series and 40 American League championships is that there have been many other ball clubs that had solid teams and seasons that “might have won” in other years, but wound up falling short to the ball club from the Bronx.

Even the White Sox experienced this same phenomenon back in the 1950s and 1960s when they had those 17 straight winning seasons and a ton of second place teams. With the Yankees finishing ahead of them so many times.

Sox' Robertson returns to pinstripes ...

YET THE FACT that there is now a roster spot for Moncada on the White Sox is because of the trade that the White Sox made with the Yankees to help rebuild New York’s American League ball club into a contender this year.

Todd Frazier, who played third base for the White Sox, is likely to become the Yankees first baseman (a spot where they have been weak this season) and top Sox relief pitcher David Robertson is likely to become a set-up pitcher who becomes the guy who pitches right before top relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman – who isn’t pitching as well this season as he did last year in his half-season with the Chicago Cubs.

... after Chapman fails to match Cubbie ways

The Yankees could easily turn Robertson into their top relief pitcher if Chapman doesn’t get his act together soon. Which is what makes this trade so significant – the Yankees were able to go out and get a replacement whereas many other ballclubs would be stuck with the big-bucks Chapman contract and couldn’t even think of finding a replacement.

Lopez managed many 2nd place teams

The Yankees, who haven’t won a World Series title since 2009 and haven’t been in the playoffs for three years, are serious about wanting to contend now – and likely will make moves to keep in contention for future years.

MEANING ANY EFFORTS by the White Sox to ride a “Cuban revolution” of Moncada, Jose Abreu and Luis Robert (still in the minor leagues, for now) and other top minor league ballplayers acquired from other teams in trades this year could wind up being thwarted by the resurgence of the New York Yankees.

Which would be oh so predictable.

Ichiro's best ball club fell behind Yankees

There are too many American League ball clubs that have had their dreams of championship play halted by the Yanks.

Not only the White Sox of 1964 (98 wins, including a winning streak of the last 10 games of the season – which fell behind the 99 wins the Yankees had that year).

BOSTON, CLEVELAND AND Detroit fans can also claim horror stories about wonderful ball clubs that couldn’t get beyond second place, or the first round of the American League playoffs.

And let’s not forget the Seattle Mariners, who have never won a championship of any kind during their 41 seasons of existence, largely because their glory years of the late 1990s coincided with those Yankees teams of Derek Jeter that won four of five World Series titles in the same time period.

Will White Sox improvements be enough to match Yankee upgrade?

Then, in 2001, those Mariners managed to tie the baseball record for the most wins during the regular season (116, by the 1906 Chicago Cubs that lost the World Series to the White Sox), only to lose in those playoffs to the very same Yankees.

Is that the same fate to befall the White Sox of the late 2010s and 2020s – to finish behind New York? Once again turning the phrase “Damned Yankees” into an epithet meaning more than just a long-ago Broadway show!

  -30-

Could Chicago White Sox become beneficiaries of Cuban beisbol legacy?

It has been just over two years since the two living icons of Chicago baseball – Ernie Banks and Minnie Miñoso – passed on. Banks, as many have pointed out, didn’t live long enough to see his Chicago Cubs win a World Series.
 

The grandfather of Cuban baseball in Chicago

While Miñoso was around back in 2005. He even was a participant in that World Series parade wending its way from Armour Square through the Sout’ Side and into “da Loop.”

BUT IT’S ACTUALLY a shame the ballplayer, whose many nicknames included being called “the Cuban Comet,” isn’t still with us. Not that he didn’t live a long-enough life (about 90).

But it would be a sight to see if Miñoso could be present if the modern-day attempt by the Chicago White Sox to rebuild into a winning ball club were to succeed with all the Cuban talent the team has managed to obtain.

That talent appeared to have been bolstered this weekend (it won’t be official for a few more days) with the signing of Luis Robert, a 19-year-old who is among the Cuban national team’s stars and who has decided he wants to have a baseball career in the United States.

That led to a bidding war amongst several ball clubs, although is appears the fact that the White Sox have developed a reputation as being Cuban-friendly led him to want to play in Chicago.

Wore No. 9 in Cuba, but in Chi, that's Minoso

ALTHOUGH LET’S NOT make a mistake; he’s going to be paid well. The still-a-teenager living in Cuban poverty now will be paid some $25 million to play the next couple of seasons for Chicago White Sox minor league affiliates – possibly resulting in him working his way to Guaranteed Rate Field by about 2019 or 2020.

That is about the time the White Sox’ rebuilding effort is supposed to be complete. It is an effort that will include Yoan Moncada, who is the big Cuban star whom the White Sox obtained during the winter and could become a part of the Chicago baseball scene by this season’s end.

Robert and Moncada could join ...

It also may include the star slugger Jose Abreu, who when he broke into U.S. baseball did so with a jolt, winning Rookie of the Year and showing himself to be a consistent slugger in U.S. baseball ever since. And yes, it seems that Abreu was a part of the effort to sway Robert to want to come to Chicago (or at least to the South Side) on the grounds the White Sox "get" Cubans and what they go through to adapt to life in this country.

... w/ existing star Abreu for Cuban trio

With Abreu often saying he’s happy with the White Sox because of the large number of peloteros Cubanos they have employed throughout the years. Including Miñoso, who was around to see Abreu play, and many of the other Cubans such as former shortstop Alexi Ramirez, outfielder Dayan Viciedo and the two pitching stalwarts of that 2005 World Series-winning team, Jose Contreras and Orlando Hernandez.

THE LATTER OF whom gave what I still consider one of the most amazing pitching performances I have ever seen, in the ’05 playoffs against the Boston Red Sox, when the pitcher known as “El Duque” came in relief that one game and pitched three shutout innings right at a point when Boston was threatening to retake the lead, and momentum, in that playoff round.

Yankee had his moment in White Sox 'sun'

I’m still trying to figure out who looked most ridiculous – Johnny Damon swinging at that “Strike Three!!!!!” in the dirt, or Manny Ramirez an inning later looking totally hopeless as he struck out.

This Cuban connection of sorts leading his old ball club to a championship is something I’m sure Miñoso would have liked to have seen. Although to be honest, those of us beisbol fans who enjoy the growing Latin American presence will also get our kicks if this phenomenon becomes a reality.

A tie between Venezuelan and Cuban Sox heritage

Which, I’m sure, means there’s some xenophobic type out there who’s teeth are gnashing and his “I (heart) Trump” pin jiggles on his chest as he rants about the need to tighten the immigration laws AND undo the efforts former President Barack Obama made to improve U.S./Cuba relations.

A recent Cuban Sox star

SO WE’LL HAVE to see how all this plays out, particularly if it turns out to be that a Cuban influence helps rejuvenate the White Sox into a championship ball club.

Who’s to say the Chicago Cubs don’t have another championship run in them as well, and we really could get that all-Chicago World Series our city has dreamed of, yet been denied since 1906.

Will Ernie, Minnie quarrel in heavens?

Those Cubs with a Puerto Rican presence in the form of infielder Javy Baez taking on the Cuban- and Venezuelan (Chico Carrasquel and Luis Aparicio to Ozzie Guillen to Magglio Ordonez to today’s Avisail Garcia)-influenced Sox.

That really would make a Chicago “city series” into a World-Wide spectacle the World Series likes to think it is – something for us to look forward to in coming years. Even if Miñoso won’t be around to see it; he and Banks will have to watch from that realm above.

  -30-

Baseball is back! Or, is 2019 the year us Chicago fans ought to look forward to?

There are some of us who consider ourselves Chicago baseball fans who are deluded enough to think the new season began Sunday night what with that ballgame played in St. Louis. But for those of us who will always view the existence of the Cubs as an irrelevancy, the season begins Monday.

Waiting for the first smashed window of '17. Photograph by Gregory Tejeda

For the Detroit Tigers are in town to play the Chicago White Sox, while other ball clubs also get their first games of the 2017 season in as they try to keep alive the illusion that they’re legitimate contenders for a championship this year.

WE’LL GET OUR introduction to the concept of “Guaranteed Rate Field” (which is really nothing more than a U.S. Cellular Field relabeled), while Chicago Cubs fans will have to wait a few more days before they’ll be capable of seeing their favorite ball club take to the playing field live.

Since that night in early November when we saw the sight of the World Series ending with an extra-inning infield groundout, some of us filled our need to see athletic activity by enduring the misery of the Chicago Bears or the mediocrity of the Chicago Bulls.

Personally, I took to following beisbol in the Latin American leagues, where Puerto Rico got to see some highlights.

A Boricuan ball club won the Caribbean Series, beating a team from Mexico in the championship game. While in the World Baseball Classic, a team from Puerto Rico had dreams of going through the tourney completely UNDEFEATED before, in its final game, it fell short to a United States nation team.

Quintana still the White Sox ace, for now!

ALL OF WHICH were moments to enjoy watching. But there is still something special about the return of American and National league activity. The ability to go out and watch a ballgame live – which is an experience unlike any other sporting activity.

There’s nothing quite like the battle between a pitcher and a hitter – each trying to outthink the other so they can come out ahead in a ballgame.

By comparison, watching a seven-footer stuff a basketball through a hoop mounted 10 feet in the air seems so cheap.

I’m anxious to see the series of activity that will take place over the course of the 162-game seasons that our city’s two major league ball clubs will play. I’ll probably even follow the activity of the minor league ball club in Geneva, or the independent leagues that have teams in places like Joliet, Schaumburg, Crestwood or Gary, Ind.

Did you see 'ESPN, the Magazine' report about all the Twinkies Moncada ate?

NOT THAT I seriously expect to see a championship ball club in the area (no matter the delusions of those Cubs fans who think they’re now entitled to a string of seasons of historic sporting significance).

There’s a reason why no National League team has won two straight World Series titles since 1975-76 – it’s tough! Particularly with all the rounds of playoffs we now require before teams even get to a World Series. Even the American League has only produced two teams (the New York Yankees of 1977-78 and 1998-2000 and Toronto Blue Jays of 1992-93) that succeeded.

Is Kris Bryant so wonderful ...

Besides, those Cincinnati Reds teams that were successful those two years had talent that cause some people to think they were amongst the best baseball teams EVER (although anyone who’s serious knows the Oakland Athletics of ’71-’75 topped them).

I don’t think anybody seriously thinks the modern-day incarnation of the Cubs is THAT great. Or that any of their individual ballplayers are at the top of the list of even the Cubs’ elite (unless we’re prepared to finally dump the image of Ron Santo as an all-time great just because we now have Kris Bryant).

... that Cubs fans will drop Santo's status?

THEY MAY HAVE an interesting ball club. But there’s no guarantee of a World Series title, or even an appearance. Perhaps similar to the White Sox, who likely will show some signs of competence, but we’ll be waiting to see if there’s potential for long-term growth for the Sox.

Personally, the part of me following Chicago baseball is more interested in the potential for 2019 – which would be the centennial of that infamous World Series when the White Sox lost to the Reds and eight players ultimately were indicted on criminal charges they were offered money to lose!

New season brings back old memories

Maybe 2019 is the perfect timing for a White Sox team to grow into a championship team in its own right and play in a World Series against the Cubs.

A real-life “City Series” (the only in Chicago since 1906) that would help resolve many of the bar-room arguments about “Sox vs. Cubs” – and letting us see the inherent superiority of a certain Sout’ Side ball club.

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EXTRA: A ‘Cuban connection?’ Or Sox' answer to Sutter/Maddux moves!

Baseball is a crapshoot. All those deals and maneuvers ballclubs make to try to improve themselves always come with a definite lack of guarantee. You don’t know what will work until it’s done.
 

Changing color of his socks

That is my attitude toward the deal announced Tuesday that the Chicago White Sox traded away their top pitcher to the Boston Red Sox – who now have fantasies of having the best starting rotation of pitchers in all of baseball.

IN EXCHANGE, THE White Sox got four ballplayers – including two who are supposedly the best prospects in the Boston minor league system.

One of whom is Yoan Moncada – a second baseman who two seasons ago got big money from the Red Sox when he defected from Cuba. Some $63 million in all, out of the belief that he would be one of the Red Sox stars for years to come (since he’s only 21).

But now, he’s a property of the Sout’ Side’s ball club, and will be a heavy factor in the White Sox dreams of again contending for a league championship and World Series appearance in the near future.

When combined with first baseman Jose Abreu also of Cuba, he creates a potential Cuban connection for the White Sox that could wind up making them legitimate contenders. Considering that one of the White Sox’ biggest names ever was t he Cuban Comet himself, Minnie Miñoso, perhaps it’s appropriate.

IF IT WORKS out, that is.

 

Pairing up with Abreu...

Because there always are those ballplayers who turn out to be incapable of making the jump to the “big” club. Minor league stats don’t always mean much.

I remember when Karl Pagel was supposed to be the BIG NAME who would someday lead the Chicago Cubs to the promised land, while Ron Kittle was the guy who hit more than 50 home runs in a season in the Pacific Coast League.

Pagel barely lasted with the Cubs, while Kittle was little more than a journeyman ballplayer during his major league service time. We’ll have to wait and see just how real the “Cuban connection” becomes in Chicago.

 

... to create new Cuban connection?

BECAUSE TRADING AWAY an established ballplayer like Sale always runs the risk of backfiring. The White Sox may well have enriched the chances of the Charlotte Knights (their top minor league affiliate) having a good year in 2017 without anything ever resulting to benefit Chicago proper.

There’s also the chance that the Sale deal could wind up giving the White Sox an answer in incompetence to the front office actions of past years that saw Bruce Sutter and Greg Maddux (both now in the Baseball Hall of Fame) go to other teams in exchange for nothing of significance.

A slew of 'stars' who never amounted to much

I’m not saying for sure that will happen. I don’t know how this deal will turn out for either team.

Because I’m the first to admit I think Sale’s temperament is just a bit too whiny for him to continue to be a part of the White Sox. Perhaps a change of scenery is what he needed.

Twice traded for star Sox shortstops

BECAUSE AROUND HERE, he’ll always now be remembered as the guy who had a hissy fit because of the jersey he was asked to wear and wound up shredding a team’s worth of uniforms. Even though that particular jersey was part of a team promotion that actually worked out to be popular with many fans!

It’s always possible the deal could work out to be good all the way around – similar to how the Chicago Cubs back in 1984 traded away future star Joe Carter, but wound up getting Rick Sutcliffe. As in one of their best pitchers ever. Or the 1977 trade that sent star shortstop Bucky Dent from the White Sox to the New York Yankees in exchange for Oscar Gamble, cash and four minor leaguers -- one of whom went on to become 1983 Cy Young Award winner LaMarr Hoyt (who himself was then later traded to the San Diego Padres for long-time star shortstop Ozzie Guillen).

Best left unspoken

Which is proof that in order to gain something of significance, you have to be prepared to give up something of equal value. That's true whether in baseball or business.

Because the number of times you can give up an aging pitcher like Ernie Broglio and gain a future Hall of Famer like Lou Brock are truly rare – and usually wind up with your team on the losing end of the deal.

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