Sox Populi - A Chicago White Sox podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Before crashing into White Sox matters, duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, indulge in postseason palaver — especially happy on Will’s part because he got to take part (very small part, but part nonetheless) in the team that won it all. So, much of the discussion is about the complete — and very happy — collapse of the Yankees in Game 5 of the World Series. Yea, verily, that inning showed that even the White Sox are occasionally better than teams much better than they doth occasionally perform. (Will had a sort of defense of Yankee ineptitude, in that coaches always tell teams never to give an opponent four outs but never say anything much about giving them six.) On White Sox matters, the big news is of course the hiring of Will Venable to be the latest to try to convert sows’ ears into Bottega Venetas with the materials he’s being handed to manage. The duo are amenable to giving Venable a big opportunity to show he can get the Sox to play like major leaguers are supposed to play, and just hope he’ll get them to quit playing stupidly even if they don’t play well. On other fronts, there wasn’t much to say about the the Sox not picking up the option on Yoán Moncada, which was inevitable, though a sad reflection on hopes of the last many years ... and a lot to say about whether to tender Andrew Vaughn, what would seem to be an easy decision being hampered by the big question of who else the Sox have to play first, the answer to which you probably already sadly know. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Soon after the story broke of Jerry Reinsdorf possibly selling the White Sox, thereby sending waves of glee throughout Chicagoland, duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, try to figure out if Reinsdorf had the information leaked in order to try put pressure on politicians to plunge public billions into a monument to himself, or if he just had it leaked (to somebody on The Athletic who has no Chicago ties) because he hates the news media and wants to see them make fools of themselves believing it. Whatever the cause, it would be hard to believe under any circumstances. But that a potential buyer group is headed by Tony La Russa best bud Dave Stewart, who just happens to want to bring pro teams to Nashville, which Reinsdorf likes to toss into conversations about leaving Chicago, makes it worthy of an SNL skit. And would Reinsdorf consider selling without making sure every possible bidder gets a shot? Nonsense. Naytheless, fun to talk about. Too bad we can’t put a poll at the end of this to see how many people believe the ploy. As for actual playing of baseball, the duo delve into the playoffs with predictions, but mostly with kudos to ex-White Sox pitchers who are doing so well. That naturally leads to a serious discussion on how unscary Carlos Rodón looks without any beard (per Yankee rules) and whether Michael Kopech’s new beard looks like he should do an off-season road tour with ZZ Top. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is no way to avoid acknowledging the horribleness of this White Sox season, and as promised in the Saturday podcast commemorating a record-tying 106th loss, Brett Ballantini came right back to acknowledge Sunday's record-breaking 107th with another, and even longer, solo podcast. Points Brett made while talking to himself: All the White Sox have to do now is win out, and Brett nails his preseason prediction of 107 losses Today's new research factoids, centering on losing streaks of 10 or more games in history The dubious, solitary partner the 2024 White Sox have in owning three such streaks in 2024 alone Looking ahead to 2025, really? Really! Really. And finally, the podcast ends as Brett's injured list vocal cords finally blow and give out Watch the podcast over at YouTube if you so choose, or listen on the podcast player below. If you like our work here and want to support us, please click our Patreon link and make a commitment! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tommy Barbee, Chrystal O'Keefe, Melissa Sage-Bollenbach, Dante Jones and Brett Ballantini gathered together during the Soxivus season to take on the biggest of our celebrations: The Airing of Grievances. Watch and participate, as we all drag out our pitchforks and stab the White Sox into swiss cheese. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Year 3 of the South Side Sox Soxivus Celebration! We kick off the festivities by looking within, to discover what it is about this team that holds our fandom. (Our companion piece to this podcast is available to read, featuring some writers not appearing on this podcast.) Brian kicks things off, with a Joycean paean about the tragic sensibility of fandom, inextricable from romantic optimism. If you haven’t read The Dubliners, that means in part that he’s surprised the White Sox still matter to him — but they do Chrystal is sunk too deep into baseball, writing 135 game stories a year, and is left with little choice Dante and Tommy both speak of the hope of personal history Malachi still feels that no one entity, even the owner of the team, can take his Sox fandom from him Brett, honestly, has lost the passion for the team, but not for South Side Sox Father Soxivus previews our coming events, which include a live program on December 10, the Airing of Grievances; December 17 (Feats of Strength); and December 22, Soxivus Miracles A quick speed round toward the end asks whether there is anything that could ever happen to cause any of us to completely lose our Sox fandom Chrystal’s crack research indicates that, yes, we are all members of the White Sox cult, and also coins a solid pocket schedule theme for 2024 ... White Sox: Please Be Mediocre And sorry, Papa Jones, Dante still ain’t crossing over to the north side Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the occasion of the holiday, and perhaps before everything is buried in football and turkey and drunken political arguments, Sox Pop 164 assembled with Joe Resis, Brian O’Neill, Melissa Sage-Bollenbach and Brett Ballantini to give thanks for our White Sox fandom. No, really. First and foremost, we all thank you, our wonderful readers and community here at South Side Sox. It’s said ad nauseam, but without you and your passion, there is no site. Thank you dearly for sticking it out with us, when it would be much easier not to And without all of us and our passion, collectively as fans, there is no White Sox (something, perhaps, to keep in mind this holiday season, White Sox) Brian is thankful that he still cares about the team, even when the emotions are usually anger, repulsion, disgust, shock or disappointment. There’s something about baseball, and the White Sox, that stirs him as no other sport does Melissa is taking advantage of the, um, pause in actual MLB competitiveness to learn and care more about the prospects in the system. Ah, youth, not spoiled by what has become the reality of 21st Century Soxdom Joe still sees the joy in the players, from the unlikely heights of Seby Zavala to the continued dominance and flair of Luis Robert Jr. Brett is happy, for the first time in his life, not to be a White Sox employee Bonus viewing note: See how visibly uncomfortable compliments make Brian. We should to it every podcast After the break, extended mawkishness toward the site and even the host, absolutely the hidden agenda for this Thanksgiving podcast We take the end of the podcast to discuss whether or not my contract has an out clause the offseason prospects for the White Sox, summed up by Melissa: meh Brian and Brett are willing to allow some sunshine to poke through the clouds, but realistically nothing will really move the needle; Joe and Melissa are too savvy even to allow for the possibility Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With all the season’s-end awards issued, Sox Pop 163 assembled with Joe Resis, Brian O’Neill, Chrystal O’Keefe, Ryiin, Melissa Sage-Bollenbach and Brett Ballantini to review the good and bad of the 22 SSS prognostications on site before the 2023 season. (Also read our predictions-in-review article to accompany this podcast.) The host takes a victory lap Tip for next year: copy Chrystal Seventh-place finisher Brian quickly outs himself as the worst White Sox predictor of the bunch Random cap-tips and drive-bys for great and terrible picks, among them several picking the Mets as best in the NL (and special dispensation for Tommy Barbee picking them to win the World Series), Allie for both good (Gavin Sheets is terrible, Andrew Vaughn not bad!) and bad (one of many tabbing Lance Lynn as best pitcher) Celebrating the demise of the New York Yankees, and confirming inescapable loserdom of [redacted] and the Cubs A new round of loss predictions for 2024, among them Ryiin saying Pedro gets fired quick (nuh-uh replies Brett), Joe foresees a Soroka resurgence, and Chrystal is on board the losing train by seeing 118 losses Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The experts are out with their predictions of what free agents will end up where for how much and how long, so the resident non-experts, SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, decide to toss in their two yen worth as well. First, though, while they are admirers of mlbtraderumors.com, the two take time out to have a real big laugh at the MLBTR thought that the White Sox might be suitors for Eduardo Rodriguez or Teoscar Hernández in the four-year, $82-million range. Yeah, right, and when did Jerry Reinsdorf sell the team? Then it’s on to the predictions involving recent White Sox players like No. 50 on the MLBTR list Tim Anderson (is he better off trying to sign with a big-market team, or to avoid media coverage in a small market?), No. 49 Liam Hendriks, No. 29 Reynaldo López and No. 17 Lucas Giolito (two years, $44 mil, Lucas? We’re rooting for you.). And those the White Sox might reasonably pursue, like Cuban Yariel Rodriguez (recently of the Chunichi Dragons) and Whit Merrifield, who is getting a whole bunch of people saying he’ll be joining the Sox at the tender age of 35, maybe just because he has hit more home runs and drawn more walks against them than any other team ... or maybe because Jerry thinks he can get him to play second base and right field at the same time and save some payroll. After that, there’s trepidation at the thought Bob Nightengale might possibly be right and the Cubs are working hard to lure Shohei Ohtani to Wrigley (is that possibly why more and more Japanese restaurants are popping up in Lakeview every week?). And there’s speculation whether recent United International Baseball League draftee Bartolo Colón will be able to extend his career for another few decades by playing in Dubai. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the occasion of having to say goodbye to franchise leaders and stalwarts Tim Anderson and Liam Hendriks, Sox Pop 162 assembled with Joe Resis, Dante Jones, Chrystal O’Keefe and Brett Ballantini. Sadness, and hilarity, ensued. Were either of the cuts, Hendriks or Anderson, a surprise? Push-back from the host, then: Was cutting either player a smart move for the White Sox, from a roster construction or prospect return sense? Cap-tips for what both players did for our community Cap-tips to Chrystal for her unflagging domestic violence donations for every [redacted] start A new round of loss predictions for 2024: Dante has the self-driving hope it doesn’t crash plan, Joe brings a rare no-math approach, and Chrystal just can’t bear more nausea than she already experienced in 2023. Thus, no one else has woken up to join Brett on that 107-loss island. It’s happening, people. Plenty of room on the sad bus Finally, though the predictions review podcast/article was promised in mere days, we can’t officially roll that out until all player awards are issued, so we’re still about 10 days off. Brett’s a tease Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s World Series time, and SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, just naturally talk World Series on the day before it begins, and just as naturally disagree in picking a winner. They also take a look at the rosters of the Diamondbacks and Rangers and match them up with the White Sox lineup to see how many members of the Sox would make an All-Star team also made up of players from just one of those teams (hint: The entire Sox position player share of the team was born in Ciego de Avila, Cuba, on Aug. 3, 1997). There was naturally conversation about former White Sox players who will be taking part in the Series, and how the two Rangers have a combined 2023 bWAR just a hair shy of that of the entire Sox team. There was also discussion of the difficulty of spelling the name of the player received in trade for Marcus Semien, Chris Bassitt, et. al, which isn’t easy, so it won’t be attempted here. On the actual White Sox front, the two started listing all the teams that will be in the playoffs before the Sox make it there again, with agreement that only Oakland is unlikely. And, in talking about managers and GMs on the move, there was complete agreement that no actually qualified person in his right mind would come to the White Sox while a certain person remains in control. Plus, there’s a bonus movie review of The Saint of Second Chances, including agreement about the benefits of pigs delivering baseballs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices