Failure has always been acceptable for the White Sox

John Fisher had a plan, at least, nefarious as it may have been. The Oakland Athletics’ owner slowly transformed a once proud, successful ball club into a glorified Triple-A team with a specific purpose in mind: Alienate the fanbase, let the stadium fall apart and use the apathy to scam his way into a new city willing to pay for a brand new home. It was transparent through and through.

The Ricketts family had a plan, too, much to the indignation of Cubs fans. After letting the Chicago’s 2016 World Series core unceremoniously disband, the owners focused on “cleaning up” Wrigleyville by spending more on politicians than players, attracting big-name companies to move into the area and turning the old neighborhood ballpark into a year-round destination.

John Angelos may constantly lie to the media who cover the Baltimore Orioles, but it’s a lot easier for fans to stomach when you’re growing one of the more exciting teams in baseball along the way.

Jerry Reinsdorf is just a loser. He has been for decades now. And that works out just fine because when you’re a billionaire like Reinsdorf there are no consequences for your actions. Everything has gone swimmingly for him since purchasing his controlling stake in the White Sox for $19 million in 1981.

By doing virtually nothing of substance to improve the franchise since 2005, Reinsdorf has watched the value of the White Sox balloon to $2.05 billion — and this doesn’t cover his true money-maker, a Chicago Bulls team still raking in cash on Michael Jordan’s legacy. It would be willfully ignorant to believe that apathy wouldn’t trickle down through the organization.

Since a charmed run through the 2005 postseason, the White Sox have made the playoffs on just three occasions. They were bounced in the first round each time while winning just one game in all three October appearances.

Here is the list of meaningful front office organizational changes made since that World Series run:

• General Manager Kenny Williams was promoted to Executive Vice President in 2012
• Assistant General Manager Rick Hahn was promoted to General Manager to replace Williams

This is where it would be worthwhile to summarize the last 20 years of abject ineptitude. Alas, there is no possible way to explain what’s happened to the White Sox under the Reinsdorf-Williams-Hahn regime better than Berto from the West Side did by calling into ESPN 1000 on Wednesday.

This White Sox fan went on one of the most legendary sports fan rants you will ever hear

(via @ESPN1000) pic.twitter.com/YCgPCJr1Sw

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) April 27, 2023

That doesn’t excuse the White Sox starting 7-19, and in a position to sell, during a year they expected to contend for the American League Central crown despite slashing the payroll by $25 million. But it does inform it.

When a team owner doesn’t demand or invest in a successful product, the front office has no pressure to deliver one. No courage is required to fall on a sword with a collapsable blade.

“It’s the players who play the game, and when they don’t achieve at the level we’ve projected, they certainly bear a level of responsibility for that,” Hahn told reporters this week. “But at the end of the day, the people who put the players on the roster, put them on the field, are the ones who bear the responsibility if that group doesn’t achieve. That’s me.”

All of this would be infuriating on its own if the White Sox didn’t insist they were Chicago’s “Blue Collar” team. There is no indication from the field to the front office to the owner’s box that anyone involved cares enough to work hard or take meaningful action.

Tampa Bay Rays 13, #WhiteSox 2, seventh inning pic.twitter.com/rAlTXh7D0C

— john j. kim (@jkimpictures) April 28, 2023

Earlier on Wednesday, the Chicago Sun-Times’ Daryl Van Schouwen published an interview with Williams that was more or less a rehashing of every talking point the Sox have used over the last two decades.

“Accountability around here is not a problem,” Williams said.

He’s absolutely correct. Not only is accountability not a problem — it’s not even a concern. Why would it be when you can over-promise and under-deliver with impunity?

Williams is the second-longest tenured executive in Major League Baseball behind the Yankees’ Brian Cashman, who has 21 postseason appearances, four World Series titles and six pennants. No organization except the White Sox allows someone to run the show for this long without a damn good reason.

The Fishers and the Ricketts and the Angelos have all accepted this truth in their own way and used it to their advantage. Jerry Reinsdorf is 87 years old and has apparently decided even a modicum of subterfuge simply isn’t worth the effort.

There’s no need to field a winning team when a failed one is just as bearable.