My email to the White Sox

A ticket rep from the White Sox emailed me about a 2024 package. Here's the text of the email I sent in response:

I appreciate you reaching out, but I'm not interested in any sort of White Sox ticket package. I went to my first White Sox game in 1971, and I've probably been to 200 to 300 more over the years, at least. I'll always be a White Sox fan, but the past few years have left me disillusioned and, to some extent, alienated by the direction ownership has taken with the team. After the team was unable to create a

winner with stars like Chris Sale and traded off players for prospects to engineer a long overdue rebuild, I was fine with that (but concerned that if you couldn't win with in demand players on the trade market, would you do better with the next batch?).

Slowly but surely, the young players acquired in trades, along with system prospects like Luis Robert, it appeared a contender was being built. After the pandemic playoff appearance, I wasn't against letting Rick Renteria go, because, despite many positive attributes, he seems overwhelmed as a tactician. There seemed to be a lot of intriguing candidates out there to fill the manager position. But they fell by the wayside, thanks to the terrible decision to exhume Tony LaRussa and install him as the skipper. Although the next season led to another post-season appearance, the vibe was off. After the Astros destroyed the White Sox, exposing a number of weaknesses, the ensuing off-season showed that ownership and management weren't going to aggressively address these weaknesses, and instead, only tinker at the margins, and throw away money on relief pitchers who were significant injury risks. This was followed by a terrible 2022 campaign. And again, the management did nothing constructive to address any weaknesses. No one expected much from the 2023 squad, yet they managed to not even meet mediocre expectations. 

There was a glimmer of hope that ownership had seen the light with the long overdue firing of Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams. However, that glimmer was extinguished when Jerry Reinsdorf, rather than conducting an extensive search for a qualified candidate, instead made an internal hire. Chris Getz may be a nice guy, but he's also been a steward of a farm system that is best known for its failure to effectively develop players. He should have been shown the door too. Reinsdorf claimed that an external hire would need a year to get up to speed, and he wanted someone who could address problems sooner, indicating there was an intention to field a competitive team. Yet here we are now with reports that the team is shopping its best pitcher, Dylan Cease, which means the team isn't trying to compete. It's hard to figure out what the team is doing.

On top of all that, allowing Jason Benetti to leave the team is just another blow to us fans. To have a hometown kid, a lifelong fan, who happens to be one of the best announcers in the business, made watching this terrible team more tolerable. But apparently the petty egos of ownership and management made him disposable. 

At this point, I don't have much reason to watch the team, though I'm sure I will from time to time. And I certainly don't feel motivated to give any of my money to the team. I hope someday that changes, but I don't see that happening in the foreseeable future. 

So again, thanks for inquiring, but this organization needs a serious turnaround, and I don't see that happening any time soon.