Record Date: 1/24/2022
- Josh Nelson and Jim Margalus share The Athletic’s report about MLB investigating Mike Clevinger for domestic and child abuse.
- What could be MLB’s next move in the investigation
- White Sox due diligence efforts
- Question why Rick Hahn still has a job with the White Sox.
“Gross” is as succinctly accurate a description of this whole debacle as can be mustered.
The front office being incompetent is one thing, but to understand that these aren’t men, these are absolute cowards hiding behind the “we wont comment until the mlb has looked into it” tells you everything you need to know. An absolute failure and pathetic clown show of a front office.
My Mets fan buddy says to take heart. Maybe things have gotten so bad we are approaching our Stevie Cohen moment. Darkest hour before the dawn …
The ownership group that owns the Golden State Warriors was kicking the tires on the Angels. I wish they head east and kick the tires on us.
I wish some ownership group would make a significant offer to Jerry and tempt him to leave while he is still kicking.
They’d need to pony up extra $$$ for it to make sense financially for our dear miserly bastard owner. since Jerry paid relative peanuts for buying the Sox and Bulls, he’ll be paying hefty capital gains tax (20% federal, 5% state) on all of it. This federal gains tax wouldn’t apply to his kids if they *inherit* and sell the teams.
To offset that tax, such that Jerry/kiddos get the same amount as if they sold it for Forbes value after Jerry kicks the bucket, a buying ground would have to pay another third. Sox value estimated at $1.75B, so buyers would be paying $2.33B, another cool $580M or so. Just wouldn’t be good business.
It’s quite something to feel more embarrassed by this team now then when they were losing 90+ games a season.
There was a time when Reinsdorf was connected enough that this signing wouldn’t have happened. I have no doubt that Selig would have tipped him off before the documents were signed. Just one more way that our owner is out of touch.
That Jerry keeps Hahn and Williams is a sure indicator he is out of touch with reality. Maybe he is not right. What I find curious is how the other shareholders of the White Sox aren’t making any pressure. Don’t they feel embarrassed? What do they talk about in Board Meetings (assuming that’s a thing within this organization)? Not everything is dollars and cents.
How Jerry is able to keep the other folks in the ownership group on his side is one of the great mysteries of this organization. The only thing I can conclude is they don’t really care as long as the money flows in.
But does it? Isn’t most of the money in asset appreciation which would be there regardless of what JR did? I think most of them are in the same boat as Jerry with the tax consequences of selling, but at some point profit is profit and if you want to realize any of it you’re going to pay taxes on that profit.
Oh they are definitely leaving money on the table by being mediocre year after year. Bob Kraft was able to build the Patriots into one of the top five most valuable franchises across all sports by winning. They get some asset appreciation from the rising tide lifts all boats in the league and that seems to be enough for these guys. They don’t seem interested in maximizing the value of their investment by pouring capital into a winning product.
I agree that they are not maximizing the potential and they are definitely passing up easy money thru the mediocre actions of the club but it seems control trumps everything and JR is in control. It may be that it sucks for them as much as it does for us.
Another tact though, and I know this is an opinion that Jim has brought up, is that Jerry is really an absentee owner at this point, and so the only way to get him to care is if it becomes a personal reflection on him. Case in point, all summer long chants and signs of Fire Tony went uncontested, but one banner of Sell the Team gets shown on TV and in under 48 hours Tony is out as manager never to return.
You got to figure as Jerry ages more and more control is going to move to the overpromoted Kenny Williams. I imagine the organization is going to get worse in the short term.
Jerry should have hired a CEO and let him build out a sound organizational structure if he wanted to hold onto the club until he died.
I’m not sure the fans can create change here. I think Jerry would have to be given a financial offer he found too tempting to pass up.
The board is just as old, or older, than Jerry so I doubt they care as long as that $$$ keeps rolling in.
Is it really too much to ask that we have a competent front office, players who at least aren’t the most POS humans in existence, and a manager who isn’t out on bail…at the same time?