Zack Wheeler and Manny Machado both decided to not go to the Chicago White Sox for a variety of reasons, which is a huge problem for the organization.
The Chicago White Sox have had a lot of money to spend over the last two offseason, but they didn’t get either of their big two targets: Zack Wheeler and Manny Machado.
Machado was supposedly offered the same amount of money last winter by the White Sox but decided to go play in America’s Finest City.
The White Sox actually offered Wheeler MORE money than the Phillies did, according to Ken Rosenthal but he decided to go to Philly.
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This is obviously a huge problem for the White Sox because they aren’t going to get in a position to win without star players like Machado and Wheeler.
There are too many good teams in the American League like the Houston Astros and the New York Yankees that will easily beat them in the postseason even if they get there (still have to get past Cleveland and Minnesota).
But the reason that stars not including Yasmani Grandal don’t want to go there is simply because of the White Sox in town situation.
By that, I mean that big stars would rather go to a bigger fan base like the Phillies in Wheeler’s case and/or a better city to live in like In Machado’s case.
Another factor is those free agents don’t want to be second fiddle to the team across town in the Chicago Cubs. I don’t care if the White Sox make it to the postseason and the Cubs don’t, the Cubs will probably always reign supreme in the city of Chicago and the national landscape.
The Chicago White Sox might just be one of those teams that acquire talent through the draft and in trades if they want to contend because adding big free agents doesn’t seem to be working and Wheeler is just the last example of that.