The White Sox Shakeup, Every Team’s Biggest Free Agent and More
So, here’s something fun: I tested positive for COVID this week. I actually don’t feel all that terrible — feels kind of like a summer cold — but, obviously, the timing is not ideal with, you know, my book about to come out. If I can kick it quickly over the next couple of days (and signs are pointing in that direction) it should be fine. So that’s what I’m trying to do. I probably should be trying to sleep rather than writing right now, but, you know, writing for me is a bigger sickness than COVID, especially with so much happening in baseball, much of it terrible.
I will say that the doctor prescribed PAXLOVID in order to prevent Long COVID, and he mentioned about 544 rare but potential side effects, of which I’ve only had to deal with one so far: The AWFUL taste in my mouth. It feels like I’ve been sucking on nickels or something. The good news is that he suggested having some dark chocolate to help alleviate the taste … and having a doctor prescribe chocolate is definitely a good thing. I must admit to always being jealous of Harry Potter being given chocolate after he had to endure the dementors. I thought, “Hey, it stinks to have a dark creature drain all the hope and joy that you have inside … but at least he got chocolate.”
Anyway, let’s talk some baseball!
The White Sox Shake Things Up
I saw something in my friend Joe Sheehan’s indispensable newsletter that dropped my jaw. Maybe this is common knowledge among White Sox fans, but I had no idea that when the White Sox gave Andrew Benintendi a five-year, $75 million contract last year, that was the LARGEST FREE-AGENT CONTRACT in the team’s history.
This blows my mind on a couple of levels. One — why in the world would they give their largest free-agent contract ever to Andrew Benintendi, of all people? I mean no disrespect, he’s a player with various talents. Unfortunately, he’s also a player who is slugging sub-.400 since 2020 and he turns 30 next year. Why him?
Second, the White Sox have never given out a bigger free-agent contract than that? Really?
The point is obvious: