The Luis Robert Era In Chicago Is Over
And just like that, Andrew Benintendi is the LONE hold over from the Rick Hahn era as general manager. To me, that is the one positive with this trade - that the STINK of that "era" is largely gone.
But I loathe this trade. As White Sox fans, we should all be irate, and not because Luis Robert is no longer on the White Sox. I want to make it clear that I don't give one iota of a shit about Robert the player anymore.
I'm irate because, once again, the White Sox are very blatantly telling the entire baseball world that winning baseball games doesn't matter to them. Winning baseball games doesn't matter now, and winning baseball games doesn't matter in the future.
It's the bottom line and the bottom line only that matters to them, and this trade is more proof of that.
For an organization that doesn't spend on top of the line free agents whatsoever, they should be relying on accruing as much prospect capital as possible - money be damned.
I.E. - the Sox could have eaten X amount of what's owed to Luis Robert ($10MM? $15MM? ANYTHING???) to get a better prospect package in return for him. That would, in theory, lead to a healthier farm system to complement the big league club down the road.
Simple, right?
Right. That's not how the White Sox operate, however, because winning is not in any way a priority for them. They can say otherwise all they'd like, and I'm sure Getz will wax poetic to the fanbase on behalf of Reinsdorf at least a few times this winter, but proof has been in the pudding for years and years now, and this trade is more evidence of how they *actually* operate.
Jerry even goes out of his way just to stick it to Steve Cohen, et al, for WANTING TO WIN:
It's nauseating and a slap in the face to anyone who invests any time, energy or finances into the White Sox product, let alone the current players, all of whom are working their asses off to win and win a lot.
The White Sox have piled up 100+ losses 3 years in a row while staring down the barrel of another potential 100+ loss season to add to that running tally. No playoff series wins since 2005. Division titles few and far between.
And don't forget - he stood in front of the whole fanbase in 2023 and told us the White Sox were going to turn this around as fast as possible:
That was 2.5 years ago. Yep. That was a lie. They lie to our faces fucking constantly:
Never forget the White Sox lost an MLB record amount of games in the year immediately following this presser. NEVER FORGET.
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In that same press conference, Jerry was also quoted saying this:
"we owe it to our fans, and ourselves, to not waste anytime. We want to get better as fast as we possibly can".
This is almost THREE FUCKING YEARS AGO!!! and they're STILL "rebuilding"!!!!
Lies, lies, lies…and I HATE being lied to. If he came out and said, "yeah this "rebuild" is gonna take us through the next CBA and you better grow accustomed to 100+ losses a summer and there's not a damn thing you can do about it" it'd be refreshing, even if still maddening.
That's why I'm not buying this quote from Chris Getz:
Put up or shut up. Nobody wants to hear you say you're going to be "very active" in free agency when we all know your boss won't allow it, and I don't consider a few minor $5-10MM signings that may or may not come prior to pitchers and catchers reporting as being "very active", either. That's just piecing together a roster to get you through the season.
"Very active" would be being hellbent on the best free agent fits possible, cost be damned. They'll sell us on the losing though, and we as fans must keep calling them out when they do. They say they have "financial flexibility" now to bring in talent after the trade, but prior to it, their payroll was only about $87MM…what the FUCK man? If you have "financial flexibility now" at $67MM, you should have had financial flexibility at $87MM.
Stop. Selling. Us. On. Losing.
One more thing I want to touch on: the Sox located in the 3rd largest market in the US and trot out payrolls with bottom feeder, pathetic, loser flyover cities:
The baseball layman might not realize this, but the White Sox are classified as a large market team by MLB, meaning they receive smaller revenue sharing payouts compared to the Reds and Brewers of the world, as they're expected to spend towards the top of the market by MLB.
Here's how market classifications work, per Grok. Once you familiarize yourself with the rules, it makes how the White Sox operate all the more infuriating. How does Jerry Reinsdorf sleep at night?
This is their projected payroll, per Fangraphs:
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The Dodgers are almost spending that much on Kyle Tucker alone this year. Fucking pathetic and fucking embarrassing. Maybe, just MAYBE, the Sox inch up to the Sacramento Athletics payroll number though. That'll show me!!!
Jerry turns 90 in about 1 month. It's not an asshole thing to say that time is not on his side, because it's not. That's just biology speaking. Jerry's health could flip in an instant, and he knows this as much as anyone. Why would he not want to win and win a lot on his way out? Make it make sense to me!
As my good friend Andy Dufresne said, "get busy living or get busy dying".
Oh and don't forget - the highest the Sox can pick in the 2027 draft is 10th overall. Ha! So while we all expect them to be one of the worst teams in baseball, AGAIN, they can't even draft inside the top 10 after this season. You'd think that'd be enough reason to "go for it", even at a half assed level like have in the past, but no - the White Sox will more than likely be content throwing out yet another embarrassing MLB product by any standard.
But nobody wants to win as much as Jerry!!!
It must really suck for guys like Colson Montgomery, Kyle Teel, Burke, Meidroth, Taylor and others - who are sincerely awesome talents - knowing that the guy that calls the shots for their organization doesn't care about winning and won't allow his GM to sign anyone any good. All of their "prospects" are in or near Chicago, the time to spend and spend a lot is NOW. Not after the CBA, NOW.
I don't give a shit how other organizations are operating, either.
2029 and Ishbia cannot come soon enough.