Chicago Sports Exchange, Baseball Edition: Sox Finalizing Explosive Roster, Cubs Can't Avoid Controversy
The CSE usually decides whether fans should "buy," "sell," or "hold" their investments in each team across Chicago. This special post focuses on the Boys of Summer, making due in the depths of Winter.
By Drew Stevens (@lookwhatdrewdid)
January is typically a celebratory time for baseball fans in Chicago, despite its non-proximity to any actual games.
The first month of 2021, for a while, looked to be a anticipatory period where a return to normalcy could be had, with the return of the Sox's "SoxFest" and the annual "Cubs Convention," which has already been lost, having been scheduled last weekend and already canceled. The same is to be said for the South Siders' fest, which was previously scheduled for this weekend.
But certainly those who align with the Sox aren't lacking in things to celebrate this off-season, given the team's string of effective signings and more honors and positive national coverage that is reflecting the team's "win big" planning for the upcoming season.
For several seasons, the Cubs hogged that kind of spotlight at this time of year, but things are a bit more complicated at the moment than North Siders would like. As several Cub mainstays' contracts were solidified recently for the coming year, there are still ever-loosening ties between the franchise today and its beloved talent that won the historic 2016 World Series. At the same time, not much in the way of new talent is making its way to Clark and Addison and news even indirectly related to the franchise could be better.
Here's a quick dive into both baseball sides of town as the long march towards spring training, and the sun and refreshment of Arizona, continues.
BUY - White Sox Cashing In With More High Profile Signings
At this point, what’s at 35th and Shields could fit through the championship window that’s been created for the team that plays inside it.
In adding stellar reliever Liam Hendriks to the list of their other off-season acquisitions and an already promising roster, the White Sox suddenly look like an American League juggernaut with a World Series trophy in its immediate path. At least on paper.
None of the AL’s top teams have done even half as much to improve their rosters as the Sox this offseason, including perennial foe Cleveland, who couldn’t afford to keep four-time All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor, who is now bound to the New York Mets.
Hendriks, last season’s AL Reliever of the Year, and Lance Lynn, who finished sixth in AL Cy Young Award voting a year ago and arrived via trade in December, shore up both the Sox’s starting pitching rotation and bullpen. Even Adam Eaton, despite his history of run-ins with teammates, injuries and being on the other side of his better years, is an upgrade over the under performing and since non-tendered outfielder Nomar Mazzara.
In an off-season where most teams opted to tighten their purse strings, the Sox invested millions of dollars into their future without hesitation — including signing top-ranked international prospect Yoelqui Céspedes on January 15.
All that’s left to see now is the return.
And to cap this week, the South Siders' Go-Go spark, Tim Anderson, was announced as the cover athlete for this year's RBI Baseball '21, furthering the belief that the Sox will be showcased throughout Major League Baseball to a high degree in 2021. TA talks about the honor below.
HOLD - Cubs Retain Talent (For Now), While Former Talent Embarrasses
Even with Kris Bryant, Javy Baez and Willson Contreras avoiding arbitration last week, Cubs fans have to feel as secure about their team’s future as a trick pass in the hands of Bears wideout Javon Wims.
Nothing — or no one — appears safe from the trading block as team president Jed Hoyer continues to walk the fine line between building for what’s to come while still battling in the here and now. Baez, last season’s National League Gold Glove Award, is probably breathing the easiest as the trade rumor mill continues to churn for Bryant and Contreras.
The team’s best offensive player, Ian Happ, was the only-arbitration-eligible Cub who didn’t come to terms on a deal before last week’s deadline. Happ and the Cubs still have time to reach an agreement on a contract before a hearing is scheduled next month.
While the contract agreement news returned a sense of steadiness to the club operations, two stories came out in recent days that helped undercut positive thinking around the franchise as a whole for those most thoughtful regarding the Cubs.
A revealing interview by Bryant with the Barstool Sports-associated podcast "Red Line Radio," both confirmed that the star is losing "joy for the game" and that his close friend, Bryce Harper, would have preferred to come play with him at Wrigley when he was a free agent in 2019, which may or not have been Harper gassing up his friend, but still its two factoids that have to make Cubs fans feel like they've taken punches both to the front and back of their heads at the same time.
Also, on a more ethical and existential level there was the news of now-former Mets general manager Jared Porter acting like an unforgivable pervert while he was an employee of the Cubs. Porter, once seen as a young star in the administrative game, lost his reputation along with his plum job and the Cubs, not surprisingly, are hoping that this whole thing can pass by without much scrutiny being placed on them and how they could house a guy who was doing such foul harassment to a woman throughout such a long time of his tenure in Chicago.
Also, on a more ethical and existential level there was the news of now-former Mets general manager Jared Porter acting like an unforgivable pervert while he was an employee of the Cubs.
Porter, once seen as a young star in the administrative game, has lost his reputation along with his plum job, while the Cubs, not surprisingly, are hoping that this whole thing can pass by without much scrutiny being placed on them and how they could house a guy who was doing such foul harassment to a woman throughout such a long time of his tenure in Chicago.
It's not the greatest position for a franchise that seems to lose its more of the huggable, friendly facade that helped make the Cubs profitable through decades of under performing on the field. As Jon Greenberg succinctly put it this week in The Athletic, Jared Porter is "equally a Cubs and a Mets problem," and the Cubs would do good for themselves to publicly show contrition for at least indirectly helping an abuser do despicable things.