Succession ended its incredible 4 season run a few weekends ago. Just as the White Sox were ending theirs prematurely with an extra-inning loss to the Detroit Tigers.
The two actually have a lot in common as they both are some of my favorite things to watch despite the pain it causes me.
Both are headed by awful old men who are resistant to giving up control and actively put people in charge who make things worse. As a thought exercise, I thought it’d be fun to match White Sox personnel with their Succession counterparts. This is what I came up with:
Minor spoilers for Succession.
The Chicago White Sox have a lot in common with this popular TV show.
Logan Roy - Jerry Reinsdorf.
In all seriousness, there was never going to be another choice for the two. Both Logan and Jerry are kings of their media empires and employ family and friends throughout their organization.
Both are resistant to change and think the old way of doing things still works. They don’t see until possibly it’s too late that the old guard has changed, the time has passed them by, and newer, fresher faces are needed to make things better or at least let them continue.
They’re old, nobody really knows what they do, and it doesn’t really seem like anyone else holds any power over what happens besides them. (Just think back to the White Sox trying to cut payroll in what was supposed to be another contending year in 2023.)
At least Logan had the wherewithal to sell Waystar shortly before his passing. Jerry seems content to hold the team captive forever.
Connor Roy - Either Jonathan or David Reinsdorf.
It doesn’t really matter who, neither of them do anything anyways.
Kendall Roy - Michael Reinsdorf.
Just like Kendall, Michael is the son that Jerry has definitely given the most power to, and even more like Kendall, was given one large spending spree (the Bulls’ offseason of 2021, Kendall buying Vaulter), only to never be allowed to have that much power again.
Shiv Roy - Rick Hahn.
Shiv thinks she’s better than her siblings, as her politics lean more liberal but at the end of the day, she consistently allows her siblings and father to win, actively making things worse. This is Hahn to a tee.
A good portion of Sox fans believe that Hahn is a good general manager who wants to win and wants to spend money to do so, but Jerry gets in the way.
That may be true but to this point, no evidence has really been given that Hahn cares about winning all that much. All of the trades the Sox partook in 2016 and 2017 to jumpstart their rebuild were for players that were either already MLB-ready or needed very little seasoning to get to that point.
No care for player development was ever really implicated in any of these moves because there was no need for it.
The same thing applies to the draft, where Hahn was drafting college players who were basically ready to instantly jump the big leagues and often in positions where there was no immediate opening or need.
This is how the roster and minor leagues got to be filled with multiple first basemen and DHs. Hahn, just like Shiv, tends to get a lot of slack from the media, because of the perceived notions of wanting to win.
For me, all I’ve ever gotten is a guy who doesn’t really care that much, is happy to just be collecting a paycheck, and loves insulting the fans like the rest of the franchise does. Hahn thinks he’s better than he is and that’s why he’s the worst.
Roman Roy- Chris Getz
This was one of the harder ones to pick just because Roman is such a weird character and there’s really no one quite like him I’ve ever seen.
But after the finale, I think it’s Chris Getz. Roman knows and realizes near the end that he’ll never be the CEO and that he doesn’t quite want it anyways. This is a similar path I think Getz is on. Getz probably believes he’ll be the GM one day but I just don’t see that ever happening.
As long as Jerry and/or the Reinsdorfs are in charge, Kenny will stick in upper management, Hahn will continue on as GM, and Getz will keep working on whatever bad project he’s working on (Project Birmingham, anyone?).
If Jerry ever sells, which seems less and less likely as the days go on, if the new owner is smart, Getz, along with the rest of the front office, should be let go.
Tom Wambsgans - Kenny Williams
We saw in the Succession finale that Tom had been elevated to CEO through his countless examples of brownnosing, without really any merits or skills that make him perfect for the job.
This, I imagine, is how Kenny Williams got himself promoted and managed to stay in the position of vice president.
In all his time with the Sox, going back to 2000, the Sox have made the playoffs 5 times and the only time they even won a playoff series was in 2005 when that lightning-in-a-bottle squad won the whole thing.
The farm system has consistently ranked near the bottom of the league, the payroll has consistently been cut and attendance has ranked near the bottom as well.
Yet, Kenny has been consistently elevated and allowed to keep his job, just like Tom. Tom oversaw multiple controversies during his time on cruises, ratings were falling at ATN, and he even called a presidential election prematurely.
And just like Kenny, Tom was elevated consistently. You gotta hand it to them, they really know how to kiss up to their bosses.