ICYMI: ESPN announces Sunday Night Baseball broadcasting crew

So, here's your ESPN Sunday Night Baseball broadcasting crew: Karl Ravech, Eduardo Perez and David Cone.

I don't mind it. I might be more inclined to watch now that Alex Rodriguez is gone. I've heard Ravech do some play-by-play on the College World Series, and while he doesn't wow me, I think he'll do fine. 

I haven't heard a lot of Cone's broadcasting, but I've heard good things about his work as an analyst on the YES Network. Perez has been around, and I've never had any complaints about him.

But don't worry: ESPN hasn't quit A-Rod just yet. Rodriguez and Michael Kay will team up eight times for "Sunday Night Baseball with Kay-Rod" on ESPN2. This will be a complementary broadcast to the usual coverage on ESPN, featuring "special guests as well as fantasy baseball and predictive elements."

I must say, I'll take the Ravech-Cone-Perez booth every time over Kay and Rodriguez. There's no chance that I'll be viewing any of those eight broadcasts on ESPN2.

Is there anyone who's not a Yankees fan who's going to be interested in that? Can anyone out there tolerate A-Rod at all?

Talking about GMs with lousy won-loss records ...

Rick Hahn

Today I filled out the 2022 White Sox fan survey, offered by James Fegan of The Athletic. 

Of course, I brought my usual bitterness to the party. When asked for my favorite current Sox player, I replied, "None. I don't like this team." (Seriously, I don't have a favorite player on the Sox roster.)

And I'll be curious to know whether I'm the only respondent who said he wanted the Sox to change GMs. It's no secret I'm not a fan of Rick Hahn, and for whatever reason, many Sox fans do like Hahn. I've never quite understood why. ... Maybe it's just because he's not Ken Williams.

But in any case, this is going to be one of the rare occasions where I bring up football on this blog. I turned in my Bears fan card several years ago, and aside from the Super Bowl, I do not watch NFL games anymore.

However, everyone who lives in the Chicago metropolitan area knows the big sports news from Monday: The Bears fired coach Matt Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace.

In his seven years with the team, Pace compiled a 48-65 record, which pencils out to a .425 winning percentage.

On Chicago sports talk radio Monday, one of the talking heads reacted to that number. He asked, "What other professional sports organization would allow someone that terrible to keep his job for so long?"

Umm ... the Chicago White Sox? Through Hahn's first seven years on the job, the Sox went 491-642. That's a .433 winning percentage. Not much better than Pace and his .425 crap fest, right? 

I guess we should be kind to Hahn and note that through nine years, his clubs are 619-736. The winning percentage is up to a robust .457! And the Sox have two playoff wins under Hahn, and that's more than the Pace can say for his tenure with the Bears!

The remaining free agent right fielders ... it's better than the second basemen

Michael Conforto

One day, the Major League Baseball lockout will end, and when it does, the White Sox will still need a right fielder.

That's assuming you don't think some combination of Adam Engel, Gavin Sheets and Andrew Vaughn is a suitable solution for the position. (Hint: It's not.)

So, here's a look at the guys who are available in free agency. I apologize in advance if the listing of one of Manny Machado's friends triggers you:

• Andrew McCutchen
• Dexter Fowler 
• Nick Castellanos
• Michael Conforto
• Jon Jay
• Gerardo Parra
• Brian Goodwin
• Nick Martini
• Jorge Bonifacio
• Cameron Maybin
• Travis Jankowski
• Steven Souza

If you want to expand the universe of guys to players who have played more left field than right field, here are some other names:

• Kyle Schwarber
• Corey Dickerson
• Eddie Rosario
• Joc Pederson

I included those four names because I'm presuming the Sox are looking for a left-handed bat. The best hitter on these lists is Castellanos, but he's right-handed, and the Sox are already right-hand heavy offensively. Not to mention, Castellanos is closer to the top of the market than the bottom -- in other words, I expect him to be too rich for owner Jerry Reinsdorf's blood.

The name I keep coming back to is Conforto. I'm not particularly excited about him, but he checks the boxes of playing right field, being affordable and being a left-handed hitter. 

Why is Conforto affordable? He's coming off a down 2021 season, during which he batted .232/.344/.384 with 14 home runs, 20 doubles and 55 RBIs in 125 games. He had a 101 OPS+, which means he was 1% above league average.

There's nothing exciting about 1% above league average, but then when you consider the fact that the Sox have put players such as Jay, Nomar Mazara, Ryan Cordell in Adam Eaton in right field over the past few seasons, maybe anything above average doesn't seem so bad.

It's frigid outside, and there's a lockout, so let's warm our hearts with a sing-along

Because we haven't sung it in a while, and because the lockout is making ideas for content scarce ... let's have a sing-along!

The remaining free agent second basemen ... not enticing

Josh Harrison

One day, the Major League Baseball lockout will end, and when it does, the White Sox will still need a second baseman.

That's assuming you don't think all-purpose player Leury Garcia is the everyday answer at the position. (Hint: He's not.)

So, here is the list of remaining free agent second basemen. Trigger warning: There are some relics from the White Sox rebuilding days on this list:

• Brad Miller
• Donovan Solano
• Niko Goodrum
• Joe Panik
• Brock Holt
• Asdrubal Cabrera
• Hanser Alberto
• Jed Lowrie
• Charlie Culberson
• Josh Harrison
• Chris Owings
• Ronald Torreyes
• Mike Freeman
• Jose Rondon
• Phil Gosselin
• Breyvic Valera
• Kean Wong
• Ryan Goins
• Tyler Ladendorf

See anyone you like there? Me neither, and the thought of Rondon or Goins coming back to the Sox sends chills down my spine.

At least one writer, The Athletic's Andy McCullough, thinks Harrison would be a good pickup for the Sox. He said as much in his "One New Year's resolution for every team" column.

Yikes! This is what it has come to? In the middle of an alleged championship window, the Sox should gamble on 34-year-old Josh Harrison and his career .719 OPS? I'll pass.

McCullough notes that Harrison has been an above-average offensive player the past two years. Not wrong. Harrison posted a 108 OPS+ in 2020, and a 106 OPS+ in 2021.

However, Harrison has struggled with both the American League teams he has played with in the past (Oakland and Detroit). Check out his AL/NL career splits:

National League: .279/.323/.411 in 965 games

American League: .220/.263/.307 in 84 games

Granted, the sample size is much smaller in the American League. And Harrison's prime years were spent in the National League, where he was a two-time All-Star with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

However, Harrison last played at an All-Star level in 2017, and the way he finished the 2021 season in Oakland was not impressive. He batted .254/.296/.341 with two homers, 22 RBIs and 10 doubles in 199 plate appearances after coming over midseason from the Washington Nationals. 

With Oakland, Harrison's OPS+ was 79, or 21% below league average. Harrison will turn 35 next July 8, and I tend to believe his struggles down the stretch in 2021 are the start of a decline at his age.

Of course, that means he's likely available on a one-year deal. ... That's right in the wheelhouse for Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf and GM Rick Hahn!

The Sox love giving one-year deals to declining veterans, and if they do sign Harrison, count me among the unimpressed.

The standard here should be "Better than Leury Garcia." I'm not convinced Harrison will be better than Garcia in 2022.

Ken Rosenthal out at MLB Network for criticizing commissioner

MLB Network has decided not to renew the contract of veteran reporter Ken Rosenthal, according to a report by Andrew Marchand of the New York Post.

Rosenthal on Monday confirmed the news on his Twitter feed, saying, "Can confirm MLB Network has decided not to bring me back. I’m grateful for the more than 12 years I spent there, and my enduring friendships with on-air personalities, producers and staff. I always strove to maintain my journalistic integrity, and my work reflects that. Nothing else is changing for me professionally. I am proud to remain part of the great teams at The Athletic and Fox Sports."

According to Marchand's report, Rosenthal is believed to be out because of criticisms he made of Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred during the summer of 2020. At the time, the league was trying to figure out a way to play a season at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a column for The Athletic, Rosenthal wrote that Manfred's legacy as commissioner was on the line, and he stated that Manfred was guilty of performing a "massive flip-flop" in the press.

In fact, Manfred was guilty of a massive flip-flop. One minute, the commissioner was saying the 2020 "unequivocally" would happen. Less than a week later, he said was "not confident" that there would be a season. Remember that flap? Manfred rightfully got roasted for it on Twitter.

That apparently didn't sit well in the league office, and Rosenthal was quietly kept off the MLB Network airwaves for three months, before returning at the belated Aug. 31 trade deadline during the 60-game, pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

Now, about 18 months later, Rosenthal is out for good, and I don't think this will sit well with most baseball fans. Rosenthal is a fair and respected reporter, and his ouster paints the commissioner in a further bad light.

Is Manfred incapable of accepting criticism? Does he believe he should not have to answer difficult questions? Sure looks like Manfred's skin is a little thin, and that's not a good look. 

And it isn't as if Rosenthal is going to be silenced. As he noted on Twitter, he still has his jobs at The Athletic and Fox Sports. He's still got quite an audience, and even without the MLB Network gig, fans who want his take on the state of the game will know where to find him.

Top 5 White Sox moments for 2021

Tim Anderson

What's a new year without a list recapping the year that just ended, right? And with the Major League Baseball lockout droning on with no end in sight, we don't have much else to discuss.

So, let's ring in 2022 by looking back at my five favorite White Sox moments of 2021. Let me know if I've missed anything important:

5. Jose Abreu's mad dash to the plate: Maybe I remember this one more than most people because I was at this game, but it might have been the single most exciting play of the season that wasn't a home run. The Sox scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to rally for a 4-3 win over the Kansas City Royals. The fourth and game-winning run was scored with two outs, when Abreu dashed down the line from third base on a very short wild pitch by Kansas City reliever Wade Davis. Abreu somehow got around the tag of Royals catcher Cam Gallagher, hitting his hand on the plate as he slid by. After a lengthy video review, the call on the field was confirmed: safe. The whole thing was so improbable, because when Abreu took off, it looks as if he would be out by 10 feet. 

4. Brian Goodwin's bat flip for the ages: The second-place Cleveland Indians came to Chicago on July 30 trailing the Sox by eight games in the American League Central Division. There was a feeling the Indians needed to take two out of three -- if not sweep -- in order to have a legitimate chance to make the Central a race. The teams split the first two games, and the Sunday finale was a tight affair throughout. The score was 1-1 going into the ninth inning, and Goodwin won the game for the Sox with a solo home run off Cleveland reliever Nick Wittgren. Goodwin punctuated his blast by flipping his bat toward the Cleveland dugout, about 30 feet up in the air. That was Aug. 1, and the Sox had a nine-game lead. This was the moment where you felt the Sox had the division in hand -- for me, it was more enjoyable than the day the Sox clinched, because September was a foregone conclusion. 

3. Leury Garcia's home run in Game 3 of the ALDS: Some people might have this as their best moment of the season -- especially if they were lucky enough to be at this game, which I was. The Sox, of course, had lost the first two games of the series against the Houston Astros, and they were facing elimination. There was definitely a feeling of impending doom at Guaranteed Rate Field after the Astros jumped out to an early 5-1 lead in the third inning of Game 3. But the Sox responded with five runs in the bottom of the third, capped by an improbable 3-run homer to deep center field by Garcia. The blast gave the Sox a 6-5 lead, and they survived for one more game by securing a 12-6 victory. When Garcia's ball left the park, that was the loudest I've ever heard the ballpark (note, I did not attend 2005 World Series Game 2). And I've never seen so much high-priced beer flying through the air during a home run celebration. Of course, Game 3 would be the last Sox victory of 2021. They lost the series in four games. Had that home run actually flipped the outcome of the series, this would be higher on my list.

2. Carlos Rodon pitches a no-hitter: I'll be honest -- I didn't really want Rodon back on the Sox after watching him labor through four consecutive injury-plagued seasons. But the veteran left-hander quickly quieted me and other critics by getting the 2021 season off to a great start. Rodon pitched a no-hitter in his second start of the season, April 14 against the Cleveland Indians. And frankly, this was really damn close to being a perfect game. Rodon retired the first 25 batters he faced before hitting Cleveland catcher Roberto Perez in the toe with a back-foot slider with one out in the top of the ninth. That spoiled the perfect game, before Rodon recovered to retire the next two batters and secure the no-hitter and an 8-0 victory. Injuries once again hindered Rodon the second half of the season, but I don't think any Sox fan can complain about the 24 starts he made in 2021. Rodon went 13-5 with a 2.37 ERA, made the All-Star team and provided fans with one of the most memorable performances of the entire season on a chilly night in April.

1. Tim Anderson walks it off in the Field of Dreams Game: If there's a single moment from the 2021 White Sox season that everyone will remember, it's got to be this, right? The Field of Dreams Game was the most-watched baseball telecast in 15 years, and the heavyweight fight between the Sox and the New York Yankees did not disappoint. The Yankees scored four runs in the top of the ninth inning off Liam Hendriks to turn a 7-4 Sox lead into an 8-7 deficit. It looked as if the Sox were going to suffer one of their most frustrating losses of the season in the most high profile of games. But Anderson changed the narrative. After Seby Zavala took a walk, Anderson drove a pitch from New York's Zach Britton over the fence in right field and into the corn for a two-run homer to give the Sox an improbable 9-8 victory. It was kind of funny that Anderson was on the record as not having seen the movie "Field of Dreams," yet he ended up being the hero and providing the signature moment of the game. MLB is doing another such game next season -- it will feature the Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds. Good luck duplicating the drama and excitement from this Sox-Yankees matchup.