A new Chicago White Sox ballpark in the South Loop is only a figment of someone’s imagination right now.

But at least the news Wednesday that the Sox are in “serious talks” to build a downtown stadium in the area known as “the 78″ near Clark Street and Roosevelt Road gave us something to talk about besides the Justin Fields-versus-Caleb Williams debate during a down time for our local sports teams.

With no SoxFest on tap and no big-name signings to get fans excited about the season, the leak of the ballpark rumor provided the Sox with front-page news on another cold, dreary day in January.

Nothing wrong with that.

Who doesn’t want to dream of a beautiful new ballpark with a skyline view and surrounding bars and restaurants to go to before and after games? It’s what the Sox should’ve done in the mid-1980s when they held the state hostage for public funding for what was then called new Comiskey Park.

Instead we got an unlovable structure ridiculed by fans for its steep upper deck, a moat separating the field from the bleachers and a lack of entertainment options anywhere near the park. The “Ball Mall” was the popular nickname after it opened in 1991.

“When people came out for that first opening day, they were in awe of the place,” Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf told the Tribune’s Teddy Greenstein in 1999. “But now the stadium is a popular thing to attack. Look, I thought people wanted unobstructed views and wide aisles. I guessed wrong.

“People wanted a more homey feeling. But I really believe that if we had built Camden Yards instead, I would have been massacred. People wanted a modern park.”

Oops.

In a rare mea culpa, Reinsdorf eventually agreed to a series of renovations that included removing eight rows and 6,600 seats from the upper deck and a canopy-style roof to replace the flat one over the 13 highest rows. A sports bar/restaurant was constructed across the street. The moat was filled in with new bleacher seating. The Sox even allowed tailgating.

Once renovated, “The Cell” grew on fans, at least those who didn’t have to sit in the upper deck. It wasn’t as beloved as old Comiskey Park but it was fine. Still, the only time outside opening day that the ballpark was typically filled was when the Sox were in the midst of a winning season or playing the Cubs in the City Series.

Now comes another mea culpa from Reinsdorf — an admission that what’s now called Guaranteed Rate Field is obsolete after only 33 years. Reinsdorf wouldn’t say that, of course, but by making a new ballpark a priority, it’s obvious he “guessed wrong” about the one at 35th Street and Shields Avenue.

After the Sun-Times broke the news about new stadium talks between the Sox and the city, Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Sox released a statement Thursday.

“Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf met to discuss the historic partnership between the team and Chicago and the team’s ideas for remaining competitive in Chicago in perpetuity,” the statement read. “The partnership between the City and the team goes back more than a century and the Johnson administration is committed to continuing this dialogue moving forward.”

The idea the Sox will remain competitive in Chicago “in perpetuity” suggests they are competitive now. Anyone following the team’s downward spiral since the 2022 postseason, including its uninspiring offseason this winter, knows that’s a joke.

But for the sake of argument, let’s assume the Sox intend to compete in the near future. Would a ballpark in the South Loop help bring in fans who generally have avoided going to Sox Park over the last couple of decades?

If they build it, will they come?

Only if a new ballpark comes with a new owner.

It goes without saying that Reinsdorf’s popularity among Sox fans is lower than the sewer system under Lower Wacker Drive. But Reinsdorf, who turns 88 in February, said in September that he had no intention of selling the Sox.

“Friends of mine have said, ‘Why don’t you sell? Why don’t you get out?’” he said. “My answer always has been, ‘I like what I’m doing, as bad as it is, and what else would I do?’

“I’m a boring guy. I don’t play golf. I don’t play bridge. And I want to make it better before I go.”

Evidence of Reinsdorf making the Sox better is harder to find than the owner of the gun who fired bullets that hit two fans last summer in the Guaranteed Rate Field bleachers. The payroll is going down, and the organization’s strange infatuation with bringing in former Kansas City Royals personnel has reached a crescendo.

A new South Loop ballpark sounds cool, but it would not be a panacea for the Sox’s attendance problems, just as the new Comiskey Park wasn’t after that new ballpark smell wore off following the first few seasons. Traffic jams on the Kennedy and Dan Ryan expressways won’t make it any easier to get to, and taking the “L” at night is much scarier now than it was prepandemic.

Even in the highly unlikely event the Sox would pay most of the tab, what would happen to the soon-to-be white elephant in Bridgeport that Illinois taxpayers helped pay for? Will the Sox ever explain why they need to leave after all those renovations?

At least the Sox should acknowledge the current ballpark, the last one built before the “retro” parks such as Camden Yards, was an architectural mistake.

“I talk to fans a lot, and they tell me they don’t like the ambience,” Reinsdorf told Greenstein in 1999 during another Sox rebuild. “But what people really want is something better in the uniforms.”

That statement rings true 25 years later.

Maybe the Sox need to work on that before talking about a new ballpark.

()

Many braved the wind Saturday to celebrate the 58th annual St. Patrick’s Day parade in downtown St. Paul.

Minnesota’s first St. Patrick’s Day parade was held in St. Paul in 1851 and the tradition was in full swing again this year as attendees donned green hats, shades, beards and even dinosaur costumes. The parade is traditionally held on March 17 unless it falls on a Holy Day or a Sunday.

For more local holiday celebrations this weekend, go to http://pipr.es/pkQaFTL.

Related Articles

St. Patrick’s Day recipes, from corned beef to colcannon

St. Patrick’s Day Parades land on Saturday, not Sunday, and other tips o’ the Irish to keep in mind

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Things are looking pretty good in Brock Stewart’s world these days.

The relief pitcher recently returned to Twins camp after heading home to Charlotte, North Carolina, for the birth of his second son, Cal. And at work, for the first time in his career, he walked into spring training knowing there’s a major league roster spot for him.

It’s a far cry from where he was a year ago when he came into camp knowing he was ticketed for St. Paul. That’s what a season in which you post a 0.65 earned-run average while striking out 12.7 batters per nine innings and displaying electrifying stuff will do for you.

“When I was healthy, I was one of the best pitchers on the planet, and to think about that is pretty cool,” Stewart said. “Obviously it’s going to take everything in me and probably some more from the outside world to duplicate my numbers from last year, but … I’m going to put my best foot forward every time I’m on the field.”

The only downside to Stewart’s breakout season was the three months he spent on the injured list dealing with an elbow injury, which limited him to just 27 2/3 innings at the major league level last year. But injury aside, Stewart’s breakout was a revelation for both the player and the team.

The Twins originally signed the right-hander to a two-year minor league contract in 2022, a low-risk deal as he finished up his rehab. They believed in his upside.

When he got to St. Paul late that season, his stuff felt good — and he struck out 11 batters in 7 1/3 innings — but the numbers weren’t. He finished with a 6.14 ERA in seven games.

“As I got into spring training and I saw the velocity was really good and I heard the feedback that they gave me about how they loved my stuff and some of the plans that they wanted me to try to obtain when it comes to attacking the strike zone and all sorts of things like that, after all that, I kind of had some more confidence in myself that, ‘Oh, maybe this is possible,’ ” Stewart said.

It was.

After a strong start to the 2023 season for the Saints, the Twins selected his contract in late April and called him up. He quickly became a crucial piece of their bullpen, a shutdown reliever with a four-seamer that averaged 97.3 miles per hour, a huge jump from when he had last pitched in the majors in 2019 (91.7 mph).

Opponents hit .194 off his sweeper last year and just .071 against his cutter.

“It was pretty apparent and obvious to everybody watching that he was a different pitcher and a guy that can get the best hitters out and a guy that has electric stuff, and he’s commanded it pretty well,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I think when his stuff ticked up I think it was a little new to him, and commanding those pitches might have been challenging at the beginning, but I think he’s made really good adjustments with that and he has good feel for his stuff at this point.”

Expect to see Stewart filling a high-leverage role for the Twins once again this year, coming in to pitch pressure-filled important innings.

And while Stewart, 32, has adjusted to his new reality as a big leaguer after years of trying to establish himself — he first debuted in 2016 — he certainly hasn’t forgotten all it’s taken to get to this point.

“I’ve never known going into spring training ‘Hey, there’s a 99 percent chance if I’m healthy that I have a spot.’ So that’s really cool but still keep it in perspective,” Stewart said. “I’m just fortunate to have a job in pro ball so I try to come in here every day and treat every outing, treat every bullpen and every workout kind of like a tryout, put my best foot forward, no matter if I have a spot locked up or not.”

Related Articles

Slugging Carlos Santana could be a leadoff option for Twins

Twins rule top prospect Walker Jenkins out of Spring Breakout with quad injury

Twins infielder Jose Miranda looks to bounce back after lost 2023 season

Louie Varland continues to impress in push for Twins rotation spot

With two weeks left in Florida, Twins trim roster again

Teams with an abundance of salary-cap room first look to invest in their own players. It’s always more sound to build from within than to chase veterans in free agency, where teams wind up overpaying for players who, in many cases, are available for a reason.

The Chicago Bears head into a seismic offseason with a healthy cap situation. They have the eighth-most “effective cap space,” according to overthecap.com, at $36.6 million. Effective cap space takes into account where a team will be after it has met what’s called the “Rule of 51,” for offseason bookkeeping purposes, and signed its projected rookie class. For the Bears, that includes the first and ninth picks in the draft.

The Bears’ figure is expected to rise. Releasing free safety Eddie Jackson and offensive lineman Cody Whitehair would create an additional $21 million in cap room. So general manager Ryan Poles has more than enough flexibility to accomplish his goals for the next phase of roster construction.

That process figures to begin with negotiations to retain cornerback Jaylon Johnson, who was voted to the Pro Bowl Games and was a second-team All-Pro after a banner season that included a career-high four interceptions.

“Jaylon’s not going to go anywhere,” Poles said last week, a sure sign the Bears are prepared to use the franchise tag if they’re unable to hammer out a multiyear contract before the window closes. Teams can apply the tag from Feb. 20 through March 5.

The franchise tag for cornerbacks is expected to be about $18.8 million in 2024, and that would set a floor for contract negotiations and buy another five months to work out more than a one-year deal. The Bears have used the franchise tag twice in the last decade — on wide receivers Allen Robinson in 2021 and Alshon Jeffery in 2016 — and placed the transition tag on cornerback Kyle Fuller in 2018.

Johnson is aiming to become the NFL’s highest-paid cornerback, a distinction currently held by Jaire Alexander of the Green Bay Packers or Denzel Ward of the Cleveland Browns, depending on how you measure it.

“The ball’s in my court, the ball’s in my favor,” Johnson said Wednesday when he appeared on the Fox Sports podcast “All Facts No Brakes” with Keyshawn Johnson. “I think it’s just a matter of time and when it happens. Going into the negotiations I don’t think there’s too much to try to talk about.

“I feel like there’s no reason why I can’t be the highest-paid corner in the league. That’s what I’m aiming for. That’s what I’m shooting for. That’s what I think can be done and should be done.”

Alexander received a four-year, $84 million extension in 2022, with the average annual salary of $21 million setting the bar atop the market. That same year, Ward got a five-year, $100.5 million extension ($20.5 million average) with a record $44.5 million fully guaranteed. Jalen Ramsey of the Miami Dolphins is the only other cornerback in the $20 million club in terms of annual average, having signed a five-year, $100 million deal in 2020.

Two years after the Alexander and Ward contracts, with Johnson having bet on himself, it stands to reason he is shooting to reset the market considering his performance and accolades and the rising salary cap. Whether he gets there remains to be seen.

Poles was reluctant to consider a market-setting deal for inside linebacker Roquan Smith in 2022. While he hasn’t spoken specifically about numbers for Johnson, cornerback is considered a more premium position and the Bears could maintain a strength by retaining Johnson with developing second-year cornerbacks Tyrique Stevenson and Terell Smith and third-year nickel back Kyler Gordon.

The cornerback market took a slight dip since Alexander and Ward were paid, but that probably had more to do with the available talent than a shift in thinking about positional value and budget allocation.

Some defensive coaches place a greater premium on cover men than pass rushers with the philosophy that it’s easier for offenses to scheme around a defensive end than an elite cornerback, especially one who isn’t a liability against the run.

That’s not to say you can play great defense without top-tier edge rushers — you can’t. It all goes hand in hand, but if forced to pick an elite cornerback or an elite edge rusher, some coaches would go with the guy who can mirror top-tier wide receivers.

That’s why it is paramount the Bears keep their talent. Johnson turns 25 in April, and he’s only eight months older than Gordon despite having two more years of experience.

The Bears love Johnson and his makeup, and he’s wired exactly how you want a cornerback to be with a desire to face the best receiver every Sunday. The only issue they will have when considering whether to make him the highest-paid cornerback in the league is durability. He missed three games this season, including the finale against the Packers when a minor shoulder injury sidelined him. He missed six games in 2022, two in 2021 and three as a rookie.

That doesn’t take away from what Johnson accomplished this season, meeting the challenge of delivering more on-the-ball production. It’s important to recognize Johnson was having an elite season before Poles acquired defensive end Montez Sweat at the trade deadline. So it’s not like his ascent was the result of a suddenly enhanced pass rush.

The front office has a lot to work through with its attention being pulled in many directions. The Bears need to fill out Matt Eberflus’ coaching staff while preparing for free agency and draft meetings.

Confidence should be high that the Bears will resolve matters with Johnson, but it could take some time. The last three players on whom the Bears used the franchise tag — Robinson, Jeffery and defensive tackle Henry Melton (2013) — played out their one-year deals. The Bears secured running back Matt Forte with the franchise tag in 2012, ultimately leading to a four-year contract.

The goal with Johnson has to be a multiyear agreement.

“We’ll work through it and get something done,” Poles said.

It’s a matter of how high the dollars — and more importantly the guarantees — go.

()