TCS Morning 5: It's the morning, here are five White Sox things

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White Sox co-owner Eddie Einhorn died Tuesday night at 80 years of age due to complications from a stroke. Those same complications had kept him out of the public eye and away from day-to-day team operations for the last few years, but was formerly the Chief Operating Officer and club president throughout the 1980's. An original partner with Jerry Reinsdorf when the team was bought in 1981, Einhorn also served on the Bulls board of directors. 

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The Importance of a Long-Term Plan

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When Rick Hahn came out and said that the White Sox seven-game win streak right before last year’s trade deadline didn’t impact the team’s decision to hold onto Jeff Samardzija, I believed him. Unfortunately, I think that leads to a much bigger issue: the White Sox seemingly lacked long-term planning with this decision and now the chickens have come home to roost, so to speak.

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The Catbird Speaks 2.23.16 The Jimmy Rollins signing is very NSFW

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Kanye West recently released an album that could be described even by his own most devoted fans as a willful mess. At turns profound and serene but also shockingly base and crude, its discordance reflects an artist who is both dealing with significant transition in his life but also just naturally two minds about nearly everything.

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TCS Morning 5: Will we live to see the White Sox add an outfielder?

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In the distant future, the effect of climate change have become an unavoidable amount of daily life, MLB players dread road trips to the seceded Republic of Texas and the bizarre and hard-to-acquire documentation needed to go out to the clubs in Houston after the game, the International Draft was instituted and it sucked.

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The Catbird Speaks 2.16.16 - Who knows how excited to be?

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James, Ethan and Matt gather together at another odd juncture in the White Sox inexplicable offseason. Spring Training is arriving, but the Sox are an addition short of being an interesting contender, and an odd mix of good, win-now pieces and black holes if they are not making any more moves. 

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TCS Morning 5: [Another headline about waiting]

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There is an actual, living and breathing competitor for signing Dexter Fowler identified now in the Baltimore Orioles, who are actually reportedly interested in Fowler, rather than simply being in need of an outfielder during a time when Fowler is the best available. On that alone, I would bet on the Orioles signing Fowler, or at least not the Sox, who have been staring at him indifferently for all of 2016. Perhaps more disqualifying is that the Sox have yet to make a significant, or even multi-year free agent outlay this offseason and it's February so, maybe they're more devoted to the trade market.

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TCS Morning 7: Possibly, maybe Ian Desmond, probably not

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As we enter Year 36 of the 2015-16 MLB offseason, and the White Sox draw ever closer to beginning Spring Training with three--a third of the lineup!--regular members of the potential Opening Day lineup coming off seasons with a .675 OPS or lower, we began to see some testing of whether Sox fans can talk themselves into any potential improvement.

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TCS Morning 5: The White Sox very affordable offseason

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The last four guys probably are not particularly rosterable, but including Turner's guaranteed money, that's slightly more than $25 million for six guys likely to break camp with the big club. And since Frazier and Lawrie could just be non-tendered after 2016, that is total sum of the commitments they have made overall this offseason, relative to $13.3 million that cleared off the books.

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The Catbird Speaks 2.3.16 - We're still doing this?

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Nick & James gathered together (all two of them!) to discuss the frustratingly slow offseason. Topics include:

--The merits of Dexter Fowler

--The downside of Andre Ethier

--The case for simply sticking with Tyler Saladino at this juncture

--Even if Rick Hahn is good, it doesn't make missing out on all the free agent outfielders not bad

--What the White Sox are great at, balanced by their struggles

--Looking forward to losing in the ALCS

SoxFest displays a White Sox club with serious ambitions, and an incomplete roster

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Cat Garcia was reporting from SoxFest all weekend. Her first article for The Catbird Seat is a recap of Rick Hahn and Robin Ventura's comments on the state of the White Sox. Follow her on Twitter @TheBaseballGirl.

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TCS Morning 5: Staring pensively at Dexter Fowler's market

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As we press on through month 71 of the most inexplicable MLB offseason of our lives, the White Sox have a glaring need for a outfielder/designated hitter addition, have been reduced to one clear superior remaining free agent option for almost a week, and...nothing.

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TCS Morning 5: The attendance is not going to turn around overnight

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The 2005 White Sox were an absolute death machine from the moment the season opened. They won their first four series of the year, and then ripped off an eight-game winning streak. After April 29, they were never less than 10 games over .500 again, and were wire-to-wire division champs. Every galvanizing indicator of "THIS TEAM IS REALLY GOOD" burned bright all season, which wound up being a strong contender for the best season in franchise history.

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TCS Morning 5: Profits > Winning

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Anyone who knows anything about me knows that my favorite baseball article on the internet Monday was Jack Moore's chronicle of Minnesota owner Carl Pohlad's prolonged efforts to cry poor, mischaracterize the Twins as a small market club, and with the assistance of MLB Commissioner Bud Selig--who tried to use their phony crisis to compete as a means to conjure a cost-reducing salary cap--eventually got a spanking new Minnesota taxpayer-funded stadium in exchange for all their public showings of grief.

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