All hot stove season long, some White Sox fans have probably kept an eye on a former lightning rod, waiting to see when he would find his next contract, and with whom.
That question was finally answered on Thursday night, when Chad Kuhl signed a minor league deal with the Atlanta Braves. Kuhl was able to parlay his last NRI into 31 games and 53⅓ innings packed into three months with the White Sox in 2024. He didn't quite make it through the entire year before he was released, but while being cut from the losingest team in major league history might appear to be some sort of insult, he endured enough personal hell the year before that he might've fared better than most at keeping the baseball problems in perspective.
Also, some White Sox fans also might've been wondering where Yoán Moncada would end up, and he's reportedly signed a deal with the Angels for $5 million.
It's a good get for Moncada, because after his planned winter showcase in Puerto Rico ended with a foul ball to the foot, I wasn't sure if he'd get a guaranteed major league deal. As a bonus specific to the Angels, it'll be difficult for Moncada to be the team's least popular third baseman, as Anthony Rendon is entering the sixth year of his miserable seven-year, $245 million deal. Despite the disparity in contracts, the Angels sound as if they have no qualms about having Rendon come off the bench, so it could be Moncada's job to win.
He'll join a spring training that already includes Tim Anderson and Yolmer Sánchez on minor league deals, so it'll be a reunion of sorts. I'm just wondering if it'll be a happy one, because Anderson told Scott Merkin that some White Sox wanted it and some didn't, and drawing some conclusions from the way the Sox called up Moncada in September to ignore him, it wouldn't be surprising if Moncada were on the lesser side of that ledger. That's no longer a White Sox problem, but I'll be keeping tabs with whatever bandwidth I'm not devoting to Kuhl.
(Or to Tommy Pham, who reportedly signed a one-year, $4.025 million contract with the Pirates. Thursday was moving day for everybody who moved on from the White Sox.)
Spare Parts
I don't know enough about the Illinois General Assembly and the players involved to know if the Balanced Earning And Records Standards (BEARS) and Stadium Oversight and Expectations Act sponsored by Rep. Bob Morgan is a legit public funding plan, but it's a fascinating insult regardless. It says that in order to be eligible for public financing, Illinois teams must have a .500 or better record in three of the last five years.
My first reaction was to laugh. Then I realized that the White Sox would be currently eligible thanks to their otherwise disappointing 81-81 finish in 2022, so perhaps Jerry Reinsdorf would want this enacted as soon as possible. Otherwise, whoever owns the Sox wouldn't be eligible to apply until after the 2028 season at the earliest.
Speaking of the Bears, we'll see what happens to the future of the team's ownership structure after the death of their principal owner, who controlled 80 percent of the franchise's stock. She'd been alive for all but three years of the NFL's existence.
Scott Merkin's story reminds me that Dave Sims left Seattle's TV booth to handle Yankees radio play-by-play duties, which means that John Schriffen stands alone in this regard.
Mike Petriello's dive into Statcast's Weather Applied Metrics technology brings up Wrigley Field lapping the 29 other teams in the most fly balls that lost 25 feet of distance due to wind, which shows that Mike Tauchman compromised his pull power for a very real reason.
This is just a way for me to point out how much I felt Steph Noh's pain, even though I mostly follow the Bulls at a cursory level. This was what it felt like to tell Rick Hahn to stop spending money on relievers, only to see him sign three more.
Bulls went a perfect 0/6 on my recommendations for them:❌Don't panic about the pick owed to Spurs❌Keep Zach LaVine❌Trade Vooch for anything❌Trade Coby White (seven teams were interested)❌Trade Ayo Dosunmu❌Trade Lonzo Ball (instead they extended him)
— Steph Noh (@stephnoh.bsky.social) 2025-02-06T20:37:30.663Z
Shohei Ohtani's interpreter was handed a 57-month sentence for stealing $17 million, with the judge siding with the prosecution's request over Mizuhara's, which was 18 months. It came down to the sum, and the fact that there wasn't evidence of a gambling addiction until after Mizuhara started impersonating Ohtani for wire transfer phone calls. It still boggles my mind that Ohtani didn't have any safeguards in place to detect that amount of money missing.
