Tag / Jerry Reinsdorf

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Keeping It 100

After dropping last night’s game to the Yankees 8-1, the White Sox notched their 100th loss of the season.  While this is only the seventh time in the 125-year history of the franchise that they have lost 100 games, it is the third consecutive season and the fourth in the last eight.  Over 50% of the franchise’s 100-loss seasons have come in the last decade under the stewardship of Jerry Reinsdorf.

While there are some glimmers of hope heading into 2026, there does not appear to be any urgency to improve this offseason.  GM Chris Getz has already indicated they are hoping that incremental improvements from the young nucleus will be enough to push this team back to the winning side of the ledger.  That plan, on its own, seems unlikely to get the job done, but what else can you expect from a franchise that strives for mediocrity?

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Lonely At The Top

It took a while, but the Rockies finally won their 42nd game of the season last night, ensuring that the 2024 White Sox will continue to own the record for the most losses in a single season in the modern era of Major League Baseball.  Moving forward, I propose that MLB officially declare this day, the day the final team wins their 42nd game of the season, Jerry Reinsdorf day in honor of his not-so-glorious achievement.

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Moving On… Slowly

The White Sox announced on Thursday that chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and minority shareholder Justin Ishbia have reached a “long-term investment agreement that establishes a framework” for Ishbia to obtain a controlling interest in the franchise within the next ten years.  As part of the agreement, Ishbia will make “capital infusions” into the White Sox in 2025 and 2026 that will be used to pay down existing debt and support ongoing team operations.  Following that, Reinsdorf will have the option to sell controlling interest to Ishbia between 2029 and 2033 and, following the 2034 season, Ishbia will have the option to acquire the controlling interest.

Reinsdorf, who has had controlling interest in the White Sox since purchasing the team for $19 million from Bill Veeck in 1981, will be 93 at the start of the initial transition period in 2029.  He has long claimed that he has no interest in selling while he remains in good health but would be 97 by the time Ishiba controls the option to buy.  Ishiba, a billionaire private equity investor, increased his stake in the Whtie Sox this spring to a reported 35%.  In a statement, Ishbia said, “I love Chicago, have always loved baseball, and am thrilled to marry two of my passions.”

Overall, this should be a good thing for the White Sox and their fans.  While Reinsdorf has had one of, if not the winningest ownership tenure in franchise history, he has also managed to successfully alienate most of the fan base, starting with his threats to move the team to Florida in the 1980s, followed by his appearance as one of the largest contributors to the work stoppages that wiped out the end of the 1994 season and the start of the 1995 season and, most recently, overseeing the team’s fall to setting the MLB record for most losses last year.  It is time to turn the page, and waiting for 2029, 2034, and/or Reinsdorf’s death is the price we have to pay for being White Sox fans.

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The Wrong Kind Of History

After staving off their ignoble date with history for the final homestand of the season, the White Sox met their date with history on Friday night, losing 4-1 to the Tigers to notch their 121st loss of the season, a total unmatched in modern MLB history.  Owner Jerry Reinsdorf had his fingerprints all over this one, on both sides of the field.  The Tigers, managed by A.J. Hinch, who was then-GM Rick Hahn’s leading choice to manage the White Sox before Reinsdorf insisted on hiring Tony LaRussa for a second go-around, and announced by Jason Benetti, who Reinsdorf and henchman Brooks Boyer drove away from the White Sox booth this past off-season, clinched a playoff berth while handing the White Sox their record-breaking loss.

Last fall, when Reinsdorf promoted Chris Getz to General Manager after firing Hahn and Kenny Williams, he said, “One of the things that I owe the fans is to get better as fast as we can possibly get better.”  He later added, “I realized that if I brought someone in from the outside it’s going to take them a year. He’s going to have to evaluate everyone in the organization.”  Well, both Reinsdorf and Getz now own this year.  The most losses in the 124 years of modern baseball history and second of all-time to the 1899 Cleveland Spiders.  In the conversation for the worst team of all time.  And outside of a handful of promising pitching prospects, most of whom have already debuted and contributed to this season’s history-making finish, very little help on the way from the minor league system.  Speaking as a fan, I would have gladly traded that year for competence.  Something that is sorely lacking on the corner of 35th and Shields.

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T Minus 6

Following yesterday afternoon’s loss to the Guardians, the White Sox now have 114 loses. just six away from the modern record set by the expansion Mets in 1962.  They would have to go 10-5 over their remaining 15 games to avoid tying the record.  They have won ten games since June 29.

Following the loss, team owner Jerry Reinsdorf released a statement, his first of the season, saying that the season has been “painful for all” and that the entire organization “is extremely unhappy” with how the year has played out.  He expects to have more to say once the season has mercifully come to an end.  Unless he has decided to sell the team, which is extremely unlikely, or is willing to admit he made a mistake with the Chris Getz hiring, which is also unlikely, I doubt his additional thoughts will be worthwhile.

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Setting A New Standard

Don’t download that Stadium app just yet.  A little over two weeks ago, news broke that the White Sox, Bulls, and Blackhawks were expected to announce they were moving their game broadcasts from NBC Sports Chicago to Stadium, a multi-platform sports network controlled by Jerry Reinsdorf. Turns out that was a bit premature.  Yesterday, news broke again that the three teams would instead partner with Standard Media Group to create the new television broadcast home for all three teams, starting in October.  The currently unnamed network is expected to be available across multiple platforms, including over-the-air and carriage agreements with cable and streaming providers.

Based in Nashville, Standard Media Group is a local broadcast and digital media company that, according to its website which looks to have not been updated since 2022, operates television stations in Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska and Rhode Island.  Compared to them, Stadium, owned by a digital and media investment subsidiary of the White Sox with offices and studios at the United Center, looks like a major player.

Why the change?  Maybe Reinsdorf is looking to start greasing the wheels in Nashville ahead of a potential move.  Maybe the thought of spending money, even if the majority of it was coming back to him, offends the chairman to his core. Maybe the White Sox, Bulls, and Blackhawks draw better in Rhode Island than anybody realizes.  We may never know the truth.

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Building A New TV Home

The White Sox, Bulls, and Blackhawks are expected to announce this week that they are moving their game broadcasts from NBC Sports Chicago to Stadium, a multi-platform sports network controlled by Jerry Reinsdorf.  Stadium, which already has a streaming platform n place that could potentially offer a direct-to-consumer product through its app, would then convert into a regional sports network and attempt to find distribution with cable and satellite providers, in an era where viewership is declining.  The teams, specifically the White Sox and Bulls, are also looking for traditional over-the-air broadcasters to carry some, if not all, of the games locally.

Presumably, most, if not all, of the on-air staff would move to the new channel, as this would seemingly spell the end of the road for NBC Sports Chicago.  Some of the behind-the-scenes staff will likely need to move over as well to enable Stadium to make the transition.

Stadium, of course, is owned by Silver Chalice, a digital and media investment subsidiary of the White Sox with White Sox VP Brooks Boyer listed as CEO.  Their offices and studios are currently located at the United Center.

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A New Voice

On Thursday, the White Sox announced that John Schriffen, a 39-year-old from New York, had signed a multi-year deal to become the team’s new television play-by-play announcer.  He replaces Jason Benetti, who, due to growing frustrations with the White Sox front office, left in November to fill the same role with the Tigers after seven years in the White Sox booth.  Schriffen, who is biracial, becomes the second Black television play-by-play announcer in MLB, joining Dave Sims of the Mariners.

This will mark Schriffen’s first play-by-play assignment for a team, he has broadcast Korean baseball for ESPN during the pandemic and has done some MLB work for ESPN Radio.  His other work at ESPN includes college basketball, college football, college baseball, the XFL, NBA preseason, G-League and Summer League.  After multiple interviews, he met with team owner Jerry Reinsdorf and color analyst Steve Stone this past weekend in Arizona for a final audition.  “We hit it off immediately,” Schriffen said. “Everybody knows Steve Stone is the greatest. He has done everything in baseball broadcasting – the dude is a legend.”

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On The Move?

News broke last night that the White Sox are in “serious” discussions with developers and the city of Chicago about the possibility of building a new stadium on the South Loop parcel known as “the 78.”  The lot is located on the corner of Roosevelt Road and Clark Street, about three miles north of the team’s current home on 35th Street.  In a joint statement from Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson and White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said, “We met to discuss the historic partnership between the team and Chicago and the team’s ideas for remaining competitive in Chicago in perpetuity.”

The team’s current lease at Guaranteed Rate Field runs through 2029.  Last summer, news broke that Reinsdorf was considering selling the team and/or moving them to a new location, either elsewhere in Chicago, the suburbs, or Nashville, Tennessee, when that lease expires.  Will anything come of this?  Potentially.  A new stadium on the river would (or could) provide a spectacular backdrop with views of the downtown skyline and, with the Bears looking to move to Arlington Heights, I can imagine the city would not want to lose another team.  I still believe the most likely outcome is a new lease at Guaranteed Rate Field, but time will tell.

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More Of The Same

Last week, the White Sox made the long-necessary decision to move on from Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn.  As part of the announcement, the team plesdged to have a “single decision maker to lead the baseball operations department” and that they anticipate having this person in place by the end of the season.”  They said nothing about having an exhaustive search for said decision maker.

Today, Chris Getz, the assistant general manager who has spent the past seven years overseeing the team’s barren minor league operations and lack of player development, was promoted to senior vice president/general manager.  During his tenure, the White Sox have consistently been at the bottom of the rankings of minor league systems, aside from when sell-off trades at the big-league level have restocked the pantry.  Those prospects who have graduated to the major leagues have, more often than not, found themselves woefully unprepared and have seen struggles out of the gate.  To top things off, he was also responsible for hiring Omar Vizquel to manage at Double A Birmingham, where he has been accused of sexually assaulting a teenaged, autistic batboy.

The White Sox have long been an insular organization, and one that is very much in need of new ideas and viewpoints.  This was the perfect opportunity to interview the top candidates across the league, even if they wouldn’t ultimately take, or be offered, the job, and see how people outside the organization would attack the problems that have plagued it for years.  Instead, Jerry Reinsdorf has decided more of the same is the order of the day.  A disappointing end to what should have been a revitalizing process.