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Now comes another mea culpa from Reinsdorf — an admission that what’s now called Guaranteed Rate Field is obsolete after only 33 years.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.

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Matt Shaw understands the value in defensive versatility.

It’s the same messaging second baseman Nico Hoerner delivered to Shaw and other 12 Chicago Cubs prospects while meeting with them during the organization’s annual development camp at Wrigley Field last week. Hoerner explained how much it helped that he was able to play multiple infield positions and in the outfield.

Hoerner’s perspective resonated with Shaw, the Cubs’ first-round pick last year.

“You look at guys like that, they’re in the organization that have been really successful, you’re like, OK, that makes sense, that’s the type of guy they want,” Shaw said last weekend at the Cubs Convention. “And so you want to be that guy.”

Shaw estimated that 99% of his defensive reps this offseason have been at third base. Only three of his 38 starts last year came at third, all with Double-A Tennessee near the end of the season.

“It’s just something I wanted to do,” Shaw said. “I did shortstop, obviously, the last couple of years and I haven’t been able to get a lot of reps at third. So now I was, like, might as well spend some time get used to the position and get comfortable there.”

With how the Cubs’ big-league roster is constructed, third base represents the clearest pathway to the majors for the 22-year-old Shaw, who crushed pitching after being drafted in June en route to reaching Double A on Aug. 30. One defensive question mark coming into the organization centered on his arm strength. Shaw agreed that he “absolutely” needs to continue working on it.

Defense and arm strength have been the focus of Shaw’s offseason work. Part of his routine has included throwing a football to build strength.

“You read stuff and what people don’t realize is that you got six, seven months in the offseason to work on these things so it’s just something you look forward to coming to spring training and the season is that you’ve had a lot of time to work on it,” Shaw said. “You just kind of slowly piece it together and get a little bit better. And over the long term, it makes a big difference so that’s something I’m really excited for this spring.”

Cade Horton ready to build off debut season

Horton isn’t a big goal setter.

The Cubs’ top pitching prospect prefers staying within the process and taking everything one day at a time.

“If I go and get better each and every day, then it’ll ultimately lead to where I want to be in the end,” Horton said.

The Cubs have not been afraid to aggressively promote prospects. Horton experienced that firsthand last year during his first season in professional baseball. He opened with Low-A Myrtle Beach, with whom he made four starts before earning a promotion to High-A South Bend. He posted a 3.83 ERA with 12.4 strikeouts per nine innings, prompting an early-August promotion to Tennessee. In four starts spanning 14 1/3 innings, Horton owned a 1.26 ERA and struck out 38.2% of the batters he faced.

The Cubs showed they were willing to give big starts to young talent when they called up lefty Jordan Wicks in September.

“You go out there and you just try to compete, and at the end of the day, promotions are out of your control,” Horton said. “So I like to focus on what I can control and that’s going out there, staying in my routine and going out there and competing.”

The 2023 season represented the first time Horton focused solely on pitching. He learned to develop a routine and how he wants his week to look between starts while continuing to develop his changeup and curveball.

Horton hasn’t talked to the front office yet about the opportunities that could be in front of him.

“There is a possibility out there, but also I have to go out there and perform and do what I do,” Horton said. “So there’ll be a time and place for that but nothing yet.”

Brennen Davis ‘super ready’ for a fresh start

Describing the last two years for Davis as challenging might be underselling what the organization’s former top prospect has endured.

Injuries have limited Davis, 24, to only 105 games at Triple-A Iowa the last two years, sidelined by back surgery in 2022 and a hernia/core-muscle procedure in 2023 that kept the outfielder out three months until mid August.

“I feel like we talked about this last year, but I’m super ready for a fresh start,” Davis said with a smile. “2024 is going to be a big year for me.”

Davis said his right side had been bothering him since 2021 when he had first complained about it. Then, when he went into surgery, his left side showed an old injury, likely from compensation. Ultimately both sides were repaired.

“It’s not ideal, but I was able to play through it for a good bit but never really felt quite 100%,” Davis said.

Davis spent the beginning of the offseason building back strength. Although it took time to get to a place where he physically felt comfortable, Davis said he’s well past that point with spring training one month away.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Davis said. “I need to handle my stuff. I know I’m a great player and everybody’s seen me perform. I just need to show everybody why they think so highly of me.”

As Davis works to regain his form, external projections have seen the 2021 Futures Game MVP fall down prospect rankings. Baseball America doesn’t have him in the Cubs’ top 10 preseason rankings after putting him at No. 2 this point last year, while MLB.com had Davis at No. 19 at the end of the season.

Davis isn’t worrying about outside perspectives.

“It’s all noise,” Davis said. “The goal has been the same goal since Day 1 — be a big-leaguer and be able to help the big-league club win. The rankings, I said it when I was at the top and I’ll say it now: It’s somebody’s opinion. It’s not who you are as a baseball player. It’s the value that you are bringing to the team based on how well you perform on the field.”

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Minnesota gained 800 jobs from November to December on a seasonally adjusted basis, the state’s Department of Employment and Economic Development said Thursday, marking the sixth straight month of job growth in the state.

Minnesota’s unemployment rate ticked down two-tenths of a percentage point to 2.9% in December from November, compared with a U.S. unemployment rate that remained at 3.7%.

The state’s labor force decreased by 6,590 people over the month, the third straight month of labor force declines. The labor force participation rate ticked down two-tenths of a percentage point to 68.1% — this measures the percentage of the population that is working full time or actively seeking work, and is used to calculate the unemployment rate.

“Continued job growth is great news — and sharing the story of employment opportunities will help us bring more people into the state’s labor force,” said DEED Deputy Commissioner Kevin McKinnon in a news release. “Our tight labor market is creating ongoing challenges for employers — but it also creates many opportunities for workers.”

Minnesota’s private sector gained 2,500 jobs over the month, up 0.1%, the state said, while Government lost 1,700 jobs.

Sectors gaining jobs included Leisure & Hospitality, 1,800 jobs; Trade, Transportation & Utilities, 1,500 jobs; Construction, 1,200 jobs; Mining & Logging, 300 jobs and Financial Activities, 100 jobs.

“Construction is continuing its job growth streak in Minnesota — with a job growth rate nearly triple that of Construction jobs nationally,” said DEED’s Labor Market Information Director Angelina Nguyen in the release.

Over 2023, Minnesota gained 50,809 payroll jobs, up 1.7%, while the U.S. was up 1.9% over the year.

“The strongest growth in Minnesota continues to be in Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction, which is up an impressive 33.1% over the year,” Nguyen said.

By ethnicity, Black unemployment rate was 2.7% in December, down 1.2 points from a year ago; Hispanic unemployment rate was 5.7%; white Minnesotans, 2.8%, and Asians, 1.9%.

A broader measure of unemployment, called the U-6, was 5.4% in December, up from 5.3% in November. This measure also factors in long-term unemployed, those no longer seeking work and marginally, part-time or otherwise under-employed Minnesotans.

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TORONTO — Nikola Vučević will remember Dejan Milojević for his positivity.

The Chicago Bulls center didn’t meet Milojević in person until he became an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors in 2021. But Vučević grew up with Milojević as a regular figure in his basketball education, first as a player and then as a coach and mentor to the next generation of Serbian stars.

Milojević died at age 46 after suffering a heart attack during a team dinner Tuesday night in Salt Lake City. The NBA postponed the Warriors’ games Wednesday against the Utah Jazz and Friday against the Dallas Mavericks to give the team proper time to mourn.

For Vučević, Milojević leaves a legacy of playing, coaching and leading with a bright energy that was apparent to those who met him.

“He just has a great energy,” Vučević said Thursday. “I felt like I’d known him for a long time. It’s such a tragic loss for basketball and especially for basketball back home.”

Milojević’s playing career stretched from 1994 to 2009, and he was a three-time MVP of the Adriatic Basketball Association, the top league in the former Yugoslavian republics. He represented Serbia and Slovenia internationally, winning a gold medal with Serbia at the 2001 EuroBasket tournament.

Vučević described the respect that Milojević commanded by outplaying his 6-foot-7 height as an undersized big man, muscling out taller players to dominate the Euroleague on the boards.

“He was a huge competitor,” Vučević said. “He just played really hard. He was an undersized four or five and made up for it with his IQ and effort.”

After his retirement as a player, Milojević became a prominent coach in Serbia most known for his mentorship of two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić. He took over as coach of Mega Vizura in 2012 and sent 11 players to the NBA draft over the next eight seasons before joining Steve Kerr’s Warriors staff. He also served as an assistant coach for the Serbian national team from 2019-21.

Vučević said he reached out to Jokić — as well as Oklahoma City Thunder guard Vasilije Micić and Miami Heat forward Nikola Jović, who also knew Milojević from Mega — to check in Wednesday.

“I know a lot of them are hurting a lot,” Vučević said. “I know it’s not easy. A lot of the younger guys that came up with him, it really touched them deeply.”

Milojević’s death cast a shadow over the Bulls’ game Thursday night against the Toronto Raptors, whose head coach, Darko Rajaković, was a longtime friend of Milojević.

Rajaković fought through tears before and after Wednesday’s game against the Heat while describing Milojević’s impact on Serbian basketball. He drew up an after-timeout play in the first quarter that he lovingly described as “stolen” from his friend.

“I knew Dejan since I was a teenager,” Rajaković told reporters. “He was a role model as a player, as a man, as a husband, as a coach — somebody that I really admired and have a lot of respect for. This is a really sad day for the whole NBA community.”

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