For the last few years, White Sox fans have been fed up with the organization. Whether it has been underperformance by the team, the hiring of a long-retired manager, or the refusal to spend big on the team, there has been plenty to be upset about. Now, these gripes are beginning to be justified by others within the baseball industry.
The White Sox Have Never Spent Big
75 million dollars. That is the largest contract given to a free agent in White Sox history. That was given to Andrew Benintendi this offseason. Before that, it was Yasmani Grandal for 73 million dollars. While that is no slight to the players, that amount of money is nothing in today’s game. This has justifiably upset White Sox fans, as they are continually outspent by smaller market teams.
This was exemplified in the pursuit of Manny Machado in the 2019 offseason. While the White Sox were marked as favorites for Machado, they were outbid in the end. The Sox thought instead of spending more money on a bonafide all-star, that they could lure him with the signings of his friend and brother-in-law. This clearly did not work, as Machado has gone on to have great success with the San Diego Padres, a much smaller market team. There were reports that Machado wanted to come to the White Sox, but they refused to match the offer that the Padres would eventually give him.
If this was the only instance in which the White Sox cheaped out, fans would not be as upset. But, this happens on a continuous basis. The White Sox join the A’s, Pirates, and Royals as teams never to give out a 100 million dollar contract. These small market teams have not been blessed with much postseason success in the last couple of years.
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The Fans Are Fed Up
This lack of spending would all be okay if the White Sox were consistently contending for the World Series, but that is not the case. The Sox have won 2 playoff games in the last 10+ years. This, along with all the other drama has prompted White Sox fans to support a billboard outside the White Sox park that reads “Sell The Team Jerry.”
According to Bennett Karoll, the organizer of the billboard, Sox fans exceeded the amount that was needed to fund the billboard. Due to the influx of donations, they were able to get an extra month on the lease for the billboard, as well as an extra $1,200 donated to charity. This shows how fed up Sox fans really were, as they spent their hard-earned money to show Jerry Reinsdorf how much they wanted him to sell the team.
Hawk Harrelson Agrees
Today, on AJ Pierzynski’s podcast, legendary White Sox Broadcaster Hawk Harrelson has revealed that he agrees with the fans. When asked about if Jerry should sell the club, Hawk responded “up until a couple of years now, I would have said no, now I would say yes.” As unbelievable as that sounds, here is the clip:
This coming from someone who has known Jerry forever and worked for the Sox for a long time is very surprising. Perhaps Hawk now agrees after seeing the Sox disappoint for the last couple of years, or maybe there are other factors behind the scenes the fans don’t know about. Regardless, seeing someone of Hawk’s caliber agree with the fans is nice to see, as it validates the fans are not crazy.
While Hawk’s opinion will unfortunately not change anything, it is nice to see baseball industry members, like Hawk, agree with the fans and hope that there is a change in the near future. Hopefully, the White Sox will go on a deep run this year and give the fans something good to talk about.
