I attended the ballgame yesterday. I brought along a good friend of mine who is also a White Sox fan but only gets to come up from downstate for a game every 4-5 years. Meanwhile I go to multiple games every year. What struck both of us is the palpable sense of complete apathy at the ballpark and surrounding the team. No optimism. No enthusiasm. No sense that things will get better. It’s not just because of their record and the reality that the rebuild didn’t pan out. It’s not because they aren’t in a playoff race. It’s because the things that need to be done to fix all of the problems the organization has can’t and won’t be done. Everyone knows it.
The true horror of the current situation the Chicago White Sox are in is that even in the wake of firing Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn we’ve been given no reason to believe that they’ve learned from their mistakes or that they’d even acknowledge that they made any mistakes at all. Jerry Reinsdorf awkwardly laughing while saying they won’t be players for Ohtani or that they won’t give pitchers lengthy contracts demonstrates a complete lack of self awareness. Following a historically bad season season one would think historically major philosophical changes would occur. Some self reflection. Some fine tuning of the ego and what one thinks they know about running a Major League Baseball team. Nope. Not Jerry.
Let’s just assume for a moment that we’re being unfair to Chris Getz. Maybe he’s secretly great at this kind of work and will do everything perfectly on his end. Let’s say he has a bold idea like investing more money into the analytics department. Jerry hasn’t changed and won’t go for that. Let’s say Getz has amazing, productive conversations with a dozen different impactful free agents and convinced them they should come to Chicago. Jerry might let him get one or two new pieces and then the checkbook will be hidden away because “that’s good enough”.
This is all going to be a waste of our time. And it’s going to continue to be fan murdering. The killer is calling from inside in the house, but it might take them a decade to even begin to realize that this was the wrong direction from the get go. Jerry is an arrogant liar. Maybe he loves baseball. Maybe he “wants to win”. But unless you’re willing to truly change and do anything necessary to put a championship product on the the field then you don’t really have a commitment to winning. They’ll throw firework shows at you. There will be jersey giveaways galore all so you can be a walking advertisement for a terrible organization that gets angry when you point out that the way they run things is what makes them terrible.
They don’t have the tools they need to fix this ball club. And we’ll have to suffer for it for years all while they reassure us that THIS TIME will be different.
19 comments
Yeah, we all know
I feel this so much. Been a true fan for over 30 years. But this year I have truly stopped caring. I watched intently the last 20 years, even when we were shitty I still checked box scores every day, payed attention. This year I have stopped. One of our few marquee players is batting 270 with 5 dongs. They truly suck. Feel bad for Vaughn, Robert, lesser extent Cease.
And I CAN believe I’m saying this, sure I’m not the only one, but GO CUBS.
For my family, my favorite city, my favorite sport, I am going to watch the lovable losers now.
Yep Im done with this organization.
Hoping Jerry’s next fall will be his last.
Chicago Red Sox
What’s happening at 2nd base in that picture?
This team has quit a month before the season is over. They aren’t even trying. Just going through the motions. If “quit” made players eligible for the IL , the entire team would be on it.
Another post saying the same thing,wow
Jesus. I really need a new team.
Listen, I’m a pirates fan, but I feel like we are united in this. Fuck the owners
Getz will fix ‘er right up
I was there on Saturday for the free, los white sox jersey, and was shocked to see how empty it was .
I get it. The organization sucks and the fans are tired of Jerry. But I’ve been a fan of Chicago sports my entire life, your entire OP is literally due to the White Sox being out of it in September. Just like watching the Bears stumble across the finish line last December, nobody in the crowd cared. The team sucked and we knew they were going to lose. People were giving away tickets because nobody wanted to sit in the cold to watch a practice squad.
The horror of the team and your friend only being able to attend 1 game every 4-5 years is kinda your problem. I went to a couple games in late May/early June when the Sox were only 3 games back and playing well. The stadium was loud and mostly filled. People cared. Your experience is directly tied towards choosing to see a game in September when the team has 0 to play for.
Maybe Getz is a savant. Probably not.
What strikes me as the most disappointing is that JR took about a week to do his due diligence in hiring the next GM.
First I’m gonna say don’t hate me and hear me out because I’m a lifelong Packers fan.
I’ll tell you when the Packers needed a new coach in 2007 they scoured the football coaching ranks and plucked Mike McCarthy from near obscurity in New Orleans. Could’ve been better but work out pretty good with a SB win.
When they needed a new president the board hired a recruitment firm to find the AD of Northwestern to build Titletown and ensure true Packers stay competitive.
When they hired MFL, again they hired a firm to find him and know he was the best fit available.
I’m not saying those decisions are perfect but at least the fans know the team did their due diligence to increase the odds of continued success.
Then you have Jerry. “What do you think TLR?” “Getz seems fine, let’s get to the early bird specials.”
It’s like the 70s all over.
Nothing is going to change until Jerry dies. He is not going to sell the team.
There is always next year y’all – stay positive and have faith
Is there something I’m missing in the picture? Or is this just a general “this team sucks” post?
This team and organization is awful and they suck, but I’m gonna be honest, I am sick of the fucking pity party this sub has thrown for years. Yes, they suck. Yes, they’re embarrassing. We know this already, do we need every person’s opinion every single day
Nobody cares about how disgusted you are. Nobody cares about how “you’ve been a fan for 30 years and I’m done caring about them and will just go root for the Cubs”. There’s nothing wrong with doing those things, but to act like it makes you somehow smarter or better because you are MORE disgusted than the average White Sox fan is just unbelievably pathetic and narcissitic.
Also, this was the fanbase that was adamant that Moncada was going to be a future MVP candidate, they said that Andrew Vaughn was untouchable, they said Lucas Giolito was a futurr Cy Young level ace. Complaining that the Braves and Padres were getting more hype (that was more on Twitter than Reddit). If anything, some of you just embarrass yourselves with these takes. There’s a not insignificant portion of this fanbase that kind of deserves this. Sorry
Sick of the fucking pity party this sub and fanbase is showing
I’m glad that the press conference last week was so bad, that it really creates the permission structure to “not care.” I don’t have to waste my time following the off-season. It doesn’t matter.