News of a potential future sale of the controlling stake in the White Sox to Justin Ishbia was seismic for South Side baseball fans.
Did the shock waves reach the Sox’ front office?
General manager Chris Getz is in the thick of a rebuild, with goals of turning a stuck-in-its-ways franchise into a modernized contender. There’s no avoiding, though, seeing how the sausage gets made. As Getz & Co. have worked to reshape the organization behind the scenes, fans have suffered through seasons of 101 and 121 losses and a 21-43 start this summer.
The Sox made it seem as if Ishbia taking over from chairman Jerry Reinsdorf is no certainty. The announcement Thursday said “there is no assurance that any such future transaction will occur” and that no change will come until 2029 at the earliest.
There was also the information that Ishbia “will make capital infusions into the White Sox as a limited partner in 2025 and 2026 that will be used to pay down existing debt and support ongoing team operations.”
Fans want that to mean an increase in spending on player salaries. But a slow-moving rebuild doesn’t figure to have the Sox ready for contender-style additions in the next year, and Getz has not seemed willing to deviate from his long-term plan in search of a shortcut.
In Ishbia, fans are hoping for a savior who will break the bank on free agents in a way Reinsdorf has expressed a distaste for.
But Getz isn’t thinking that way.
“We’re focused on the work that we’ve been doing,” Getz said Friday. “Regardless of an announcement like yesterday’s, it doesn’t change my approach, our approach, of building from within. In due time, when we want to round out the roster and make additions, we’ll have those conversations, and we know we’ll be supported.”
He means “supported” by Reinsdorf because if Getz is still rebuilding in 2029, something has gone wrong. Surely, he hopes to reach the “make additions” phase of his project well before then.
Reinsdorf was described in the announcement as “the sole day-to-day decision-maker for the club.” He has earned praise for supporting Getz’s mission to bring the Sox into the present, with investments in the organization’s infrastructure. But that’s not nearly as exciting as free-agent signings to bolster the Sox’ bottom-of-the-league roster.
Under Reinsdorf, the Sox made several free-agent additions to a homegrown core during the last rebuild, but fans didn’t see that as enough.
Decades after Reinsdorf gave Albert Belle baseball’s all-time-richest free-agent contract, worth $55 million, the sport has undoubtedly evolved. The day Getz was promoted in 2023, Reinsdorf threw cold water on the idea of paying for Shohei Ohtani and said “we’re not going to sign pitchers to 10-year deals,” expressing a distaste for what it takes to land top talent in the present day.
The Sox are one of two major-league teams never to sign a player to a nine-figure contract.
But Getz & Co. are not there yet in their process, pointing to fresh arrivals from the minors as the big strides being made right now.
He might have to pitch Ishbia on a big free-agent spend one day. But that day is not today, nor will it come for several years, keeping Reinsdorf as the man above Getz as the Sox rebuild.
“I certainly don’t want us to get ahead of ourselves,” Getz said. “I’m looking at the next three years, quite honestly. That’s the healthiest way to stay on track and stay disciplined to the plan we have in place.
“The last year and a half, the conversations we’ve had with Jerry — and we’ll continue to have those conversations on areas that need to be improved — he’s been nothing short of fantastic in regard to giving us the support.
“We’ve been supported, and I’m confident we’ll continue to be supported.”