Jerry Reinsdorf's take on 2020

The White Sox owner's comments, as always, provide tea leaves or the future

For the first time in months, Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf has opened up to a member of the media — in this case Bob Nightengale from USA Today, one of the few media members Reinsdorf is comfortable talking to.

As a White Sox historian and someone who has followed the team during Reinsdorf’s entire length of ownership, I’ve always felt he’d drop hints from time to time through select media (think Hawk Harrelson) about what he’d hoped would happen either to the sport or the Sox specifically. Basically, I’m a “JR watcher” and try as well as I can to "read between the lines" based on his history in running the franchise.

With that in mind, I was struck by the following from Reinsdorf's USA Today conversation:

The beauty of the game

JR apparently isn’t a fan of some of the rule changes that commissioner Rob Manfred has enacted in an effort to “speed the game up.” (It should be noted that Reinsdorf at first wasn’t in Manfred’s corner for commissioner. He had someone else in mind, but when the tide quickly turned towards Manfred JR went along.)

Reinsdorf told Nightengale regarding the extra-innings "second base rule," “I don’t like it, I don’t like it at all. I don’t like fake ways determining the outcome of the game. If the game is still tied after X amount of innings, maybe just call it a tie. Treat it as hockey where each team gets a half-win, but not this. I don’t like the three-batter minimum rule, either. I was very strongly opposed to that. I thought it was too much of a jump going from one batter to three.’’

In this respect, I agree with JR. The beauty of baseball is the fact that it has no clock. If you can keep hitting, the game can go on forever. Speeding up the game in an effort to appease a generation that has a limited attention span is bogus and bastardizes the game.

Money, money, money

But of more concern were the comments by Reinsdorf regarding his financial situation and the relationship with the union. Sox fans may remember JR’s famous line in 1994, “I’m a dove until they strike.” Reinsdorf was a driving force behind the owner’s hardline stand leading to the suspension of the 1994 season, as well as not having a postseason. He pressed for a salary cap, and that was echoed in the owner’s proposals to the union this year, during the stoppage due to the pandemic in May and June.

“I was concerned the union was maneuvering not to have a season," Reinsdorf said. "I kept hoping against hope that we’d reach an agreement and get more games in this season.”

This was a very odd statement, given Manfred’s direct comment that MLB had “no intention” of playing more than a 60-game season, a comment that Manfred then quickly tried to clarify after a lot of blowback. In face, it was the union that proposed scenarios of more than 60 games — as many as around 100 — only to have MLB reject them all because of financial concerns.

As far as Reinsdorf's finances, it was especially troubling to learn he said he could lose around “nine figures.’’

I have no doubt Reinsdorf has lost some income, although perhaps a better way to phrase things is that he has lost the opportunity (due to the pandemic) of making more money. But let’s also look at some facts:

• According to numerous sources, including Forbes Business, baseball has made record profits the past few seasons. The different revenue streams are at an all-time high. Just a few years ago Disney (to cite one example) bought MLB’s BAMTech, acquiring an additional 42% for a cost of $1.58 BILLION. They had previously owned 33%. That meant every team got a check for roughly $50 million.
• At the same time MLB properties and revenues were increasing, the average player salary was down the past two seasons. Think of the “free agent freeze-out” from two years ago.
• On top of that, the White Sox payroll due to the rebuild was low. Very low. In 2017, it was $100 million, 23rd in baseball; in 2018, $77 million, dead last in baseball; and in 2019, $90 million, 26th in baseball.
• Finally, the Sox have tied up a number of their young core players to deals that are very beneficial to the organization.

So when JR says he’s going to lose all this money, I take it with a grain of salt. He has never in 40 years of ownership embraced the notion of paying whatever it takes to consistently win. There’s no question he wants to win — anyone who thinks differently doesn’t know the man. But he wants to win his way. He wants salaries low, and doesn’t want to deal with certain agents. And he (and the organization) have always had a streak of arrogance, a notion of, “how dare you question us? We’re smarter than you …”

You wonder if his raising the specter of serious financial losses is going to impact the team next season. Let’s put it this way, Reinsdorf is not going to have to wonder where his next meal is coming from, and there is no earthly reason … none at all ... for the Sox to be cutting payroll next year or letting solid veteran players leave. Sox fans have suffered through seven straight losing seasons, among the worst stretches in the history of the franchise, while the organization itself ( again, according to various sources) has made a LOT of money. Now that the White Sox may finally be seeing some light at the end of the tunnel, this is no time for the owner to start crying “poor.” Reinsdorf's finances are fine. Period.

You want to win again? You pay the piper … virus be dammed.