One of the major existential crises Major League Baseball faces is the relatively sudden profitability of tanking teams. For most of baseball's history, a team had to try to be relevant in order to stay comfortably solvent, but with money coming in from TV, streaming and gambling deals among other profit sources, attendance is still as necessary as ambition, but neither are really required. Half the league has stopped trying today in order to set themselves up for glory tomorrow, because if it doesn't work, at least they'll make money while failing.
Case in point: your Chicago White Sox.
Forbes released its list of baseball team valuations on Wednesday, and the White Sox are still sitting comfortably in the middle of the pack. The magazine appraised them at $1.6 billion, in 14th place between the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners. They're bottom-10 in revenue, as you might expect from a team that's drawing fewer than 20,000 a game.
But they somehow finished sixth overall in operating income, and they don't seem to belong in the neighborhood:
| Team | Revenue | Op. Income |
| Dodgers | $549M | $95M |
| Phillies | $341M | $94M |
| Cubs | $452M | $87M |
| Giants Red Sox | $462M $516M | $84M $84M |
| WHITE SOX | $272M | $76M |
| Braves | $344M | $71M |
Forbes says the Sox are benefiting from a leaguewide trend, but maybe more than anybody:
As for baseball’s P&L statement, by our count, the 30 MLB teams generated record average operating income (in the sense of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of $40 million during the 2018 season, 38% more than the previous year. Last season revenue increased 4.8%, to an average of $330 million per team, while player costs (including signing bonuses and benefits) remained flat at $157 million.
Player costs did not remain flat for the White Sox. They went the other way, and paying next to nothing on their roster is why they came out so far ahead. They're close to a large-market team when it comes to built-in benefits, but a small-market team when it comes to mindset. Clearing the ledger afforded them the opportunity to add a Manny Machado and/or Bryce Harper to their payroll -- they had the cushion in terms of profit, even before factoring in a potential revenue surge -- but they didn't wanna, because they're fine without 'em, at least financially.
The league's economics are similar to their stadium deal, which only charges the White Sox rent if they clear 1.93 million in attendance. Given these conditions, the White Sox' approach to team-building makes a lot more sense if you think that they maximize their position by being mildly intriguing for dirt cheap, and anything more is a hassle.
If you really want to get cynical, the wave of extensions and lack of attractive free agents plays even more into their hands, because they're going to be hard-pressed to truly exercise the financial flexibility they've created for themselves. James Fegan tried to figure it out, and came away with, I dunno, Robert Loggia Starling Marte?
Which is all to say, it’s hard to project who will become available that will fit the bill for the White Sox. No one who could currently be seen as on the trade block will be mistaken for five years of contractual control of Christian Yelich entering his prime. But the Sox will need to be aggressive and opportunistic when that next teardown takes place, since the upcoming free agent class that once looked to rival this past offseason’s now drops off considerably after Anthony Rendon and Gerrit Cole. The Sox can finally ensure Nicholas Castellanos stops getting hits against them this offseason, though.
If shopping in the lower tiers of free agency and acquiring other team's distressed assets to supplement a handful of high-quality players is where the White Sox end up, then they're back to where they started when they tore it all down. That's why Eloy Jimenez, Yoan Moncada and Tim Anderson aren't exciting enough to sustain the season by themselves, because they also need decent players for below-market prices for this whole thing to look any different than it used to.
Teams will probably reject Forbes' numbers as inaccurate, and since books are closed, they're probably not precise. Even if you only trust the general shape of them, it's something to show a friend the next time he or she starts fearmongering about relocation. The White Sox are middle of the road in franchise value, and if they're bottom-10 in revenue, it's only because they're top-five in getting in their own way.
