The Streisand effect is when the attempt to suppress a story backfires and draws more attention to it than if it were simply left alone. The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon is when something you were previous unaware of keeps appearing on your radar after learning about it.
Now, which one better applies to the advice David Samson alleged Jerry Reinsdorf gave him?
If you'd missed that story from October 2019, a brief summary: Samson, the former team president of the Miami Marlins, purportedly received some advice from Reinsdorf:
Samson was Jeffrey Loria's right-hand man in baseball's worst ownership, and he earned scorn shortly after this for ripping Daniel Hudson's decision to exercise paternity leave. The White Sox had plenty of reason to consider the source and let it die. Instead, they decided to form a team statement based on a bumper sticker on the back of a crossfitter's car:
I don't think I would have remembered Samson's accusation were it not for that super-lame response, which is why the Streisand effect comes to mind. But reading the angry responses to Bob Nightengale's latest relay about the White Sox's inner workings on Wednesday night, the frequency illusion is also in play. A lot of people seem to keep noticing the way the White Sox pull up short, now that somebody mentioned it.
Nightengale, the only reporter Reinsdorf talks to, dismissed the low-level Nelson Cruz rumors and said the White Sox were just about tapped out.
Reinsdorf seems intent on ending the winter the way he started it by killing the excitement. He disrupted what finally appeared to be a real, actual, normal interview process to fill baseball's most enviable managerial vacancy, installing Tony La Russa over the wishes of so many people in order to make up for his decades-old regret. Now he's pouring water on hopes of filling even one of three gaps remaining on what could be the American League's best team.
Considering that I initially relegated Nightengale's initial La Russa reports as Reinsdorf's attempt to publicly flatter a friend, I suppose I should correct course and take these things literally. There is room for ego service, in that should Rick Hahn come across a deal that makes an excessive amount of sense, Reinsdorf will be treated as the guy who dug deep in order to acquire the necessary talent.
But the ego aspect was the main reason I was cool to the idea of signing Liam Hendriks. It's no knock on the talent -- the talent's great! -- but I wasn't thrilled at the spin rate the White Sox could put on the effort. Anybody who parses the words of the White Sox front offfice could have predicted the signing allowing Hahn to praise Reinsdorf for signing a premium free agent, even though closer contracts have the lowest ceiling of any position. And now here comes Nightengale doing that thing he does where he presents the total cost of the contract as money already spent in order to pump up the efforts of ownership beyond truth.
If the White Sox stopped spending now, they're at around $127 million for their 2021 Opening Day payroll, which approaches the franchise record. That'd be impressive, except the full-season record* was set 10 years ago at $127,890,000, and that's $150 million in today's dollars. That payroll used to be top-10, and now it's the median. Meanwhile, Forbes says the value of the White Sox has increased by more than $1 billion over that time.
(*They were on pace for a $135M opening day payroll last year, but the prorated version of it resulted in a $50M payroll for the 60-game season.)
Singling out those numbers:
- 2011 value: $526 million
- 2011 payroll: $127.9 million
And 10 years later:
- 2021 value: $1.65 billion
- 2021 payroll: ~$127 million
Figuring out how to make a rising tide lift just one boat? Chalk up another victory for Chicago engineering.
The spending would be more or less fine if the White Sox tried every year, rather than slashing their payroll to nothing over a recent multiyear period. The fiscal idea of rebuilding is saving money on inconsequential wins to spend it later when every victory counts. The Sox did the first part by slashing payrolls down to the bottom third (and once the bottom three) for the first three years of it. It appears the second part isn't coming until the White Sox get good and their fans are allowed to spend money on the team.
They Sox remain in a good position to see it through, but so was Dr. Evil.
It doesn't take a whole lot to foil what the White Sox have planned. Yoán Moncada, Eloy Jiménez, Luis Robert, Nick Madrigal, Adam Eaton and Dallas Keuchel have a tendency to miss weeks, the back end of the rotation requires at least one Best Shape of His Life Story to pan out, and Lance Lynn is a free agent after the season. Nevertheless, they're telling Nightengale that they're probably closing the door on other substantial additions, leaving White Sox fans to hope the Twins don't regroup while they're not looking.
Sure enough, Minnesota followed up its signing of J.A. Happ with Andrelton Simmons, who helps prevent Rocco Baldelli from asking too much from his utility players. Those two moves put the Twins back in front of the White Sox in the projections, and if Cruz returns to Minnesota without a White Sox counter, the Sox will have missed an opportunity to crash the standings. It's the kind of missed opportunity that makes it a little too easy for fans to think that second place isn't the first loser, but the first objective.
(Paul Bergstrom/Icon Sportswire)
