Chicago White Sox preach patience while fans see them as going cheap

While the San Francisco Giants made a big splash by signing free agent shortstop Carlos Correa, the Chicago White Sox have opted to not dip a toe into the deep end of the pool.

Correa's signing (as well as those of Trea Turner, Justin Verlander, Jacob deGrom, and Xander Bogaerts) does have ramifications for the White Sox and other teams.

The contracts each of those players signed showed a financial commitment on the part of teams looking to win championships that the White Sox and others are afraid to do.

Each of those teams identified proven difference-makers to take their teams to the next level. As for the White Sox, they didn't want to even entertain the idea of handing over those types of dollars and have instead thought going the trade route may be the best course of action.

The Chicago White Sox are not in a good spot with the fans right now.

However, thus far that has not seemed to be an avenue they want to turn down just yet. General manager Rick Hahn went out and signed pitcher Mike Clevinger to a one-year deal then added Victor Reyes and Mark Payton to minor league deals.

That doesn't exactly scream, "Get your season tickets now as we're on our way to the World Series".

Hahn is preaching patience in that there is time and talent that will be available in the time leading up to the start of the season.

Playing a slow hand may end up coming back to bite Hahn as trades involving players who could help the White Sox are going elsewhere. The Oakland A's were shopping Gold Glove catcher Sean Murphy, who would have upgraded the backstop position for the White Sox.

However, the White Sox were a non-factor in pursuing Murphy who ended up going to Atlanta in a three-way deal involving the A's and Milwaukee Brewers who picked up All-Star catcher William Contreras in the trade.

The White Sox need an upgrade at catcher but feel content to watch things develop in front of them hoping Yasmani Grandal gets back to the form he displayed in 2021.

For many White Sox fans, patience is code for cheap. The team is unwilling to do what it takes to land top talent when it comes available.

That puts its chips in on having players like Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada, Luis Robert and Grandal have bounce-back years to get the team back to the way they were in 2021 when they won the American League Central division.

Broadcast rights deals through various available platforms have brought in huge amounts of money for MLB teams.

An owner like the New York Mets' Steve Cohen has decided to spend money he takes in on the team to go win a title. White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf has not done that which has led to calls for him to sell the team to someone who will care about producing a winning team. 

WSCR-670theScore's Bruce Levine said during a recent episode of "Inside the Clubhouse" that White Sox fans should not be disappointed in where the team is at right now because the market to make a good deal will come once the big-name, big-money guys come off the board.

He mentioned teams such as the Minnesota Twins, Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants as being teams that miss out on big players initially, then turn their attention to making deals to find players to help them compete.

Correa not only signed with the Giants this season, but he played for the Twins last year as the top free agent on the board in 2021. He even met with them (the Twins) this offseason to see about returning to the club.

When co-host David Haugh asked why the White Sox don't spend the money necessary to lure a big-time player to the southside like the San Diego Padres, Levine said, "23,000 fans per game. I think that's what it is."

Levine did acknowledge the White Sox act as a mid-market team that happens to reside in a major market.

Yet, it is the lack of attendance he sees as the focal point of why the team doesn't go out and spend big. The theory here is if the team isn't bringing in money via the turnstiles then it doesn't have the money to spend.

That line of reasoning is flawed since baseball teams are doing extremely well financially. According to Forbes MLB Valuations for 2022, every team with the exception of the Miami Marlins ($990 million) was worth over $1 billion.

Only the Marlins (0% change) and the Baltimore Orioles ($1.375 billion valuation, -4% change) saw no change or had a negative change in valuation over the last year. 

Under Reinsdorf, the White Sox are 15th in the majors in total valuation at $1.76 billion, which is a four percent increase over 2021. Put that together with the broadcast money and that equals potentially a very nice gain for the owners' pockets.

The money exists to spend on players. The problem is ownership is refusing to part with it despite other teams' willingness to get aggressive in the open market. That's the way the game is changing and the White Sox are falling behind quickly.

Remember the talk about the White Sox getting Manny Machado and Bryce Harper? That's all it turned out to be just talk.

Which leads the team to where it is now. Instead of being aggressive and adding talent to a club whose window of opportunity to win is now, management is preaching patience and waiting for the market to settle itself so they can swoop in and make moves to improve the team and get them to a World Series.

Good luck with that. Patience may be a virtue, but White Sox fans are running low on it.