Sox Populi - A Chicago White Sox podcast Sox Populi

As SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, took to the microphones on May 3, the White Sox were 6-25, on pace for a modern-era, MLB-record 131 losses.
So, naturally, we took a moment at the onset to shamelessly plug the Jerry Seinfeld movie Unfrosted, because Will is in it (both face and handwriting) and it opens on Netflix on that very day. The movie is more or less about the origin of Pop Tarts, which is a much more tasty subject than the White Sox, no matter how you feel about breakfast foods that fit in a toaster.
But, unfortunately, it becomes necessary to return to the subject the podcast is supposed to be about, and to delve into the psychology of whether we fans now want the Sox to win games, or to keep up the bad work so we can all say we were there and watching when the record of the 1962 Mets was crushed.
This naturally led to discussion of whether it’s better to play aged veterans who will be gone or of no use by the time the White Sox have a chance to be good (check the longevity charts for 88-year-olds named Jerry to see when that might be), or to flood the field with young players who are lousy now but have a chance to be better some day.
Oh, sure, we also look at a bunch of statistics that confirm what we already know about how terrible this team is in every aspect of the game (hint: that light at the end of the tunnel is definitely a train). And there’s even a bit of chat about TV announcers, which isn’t nearly as harsh as you’d expect.
Or, just a normal White Sox podcast.
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Friend of the pod Taylor Streiff of Redbird Rants joins again to chat about the Cardinals ahead of the series against the White Sox. St. Louis made a lot of moves during the offseason, especially on the pitching side, resulting in an outstanding pitching rotation and bullpen.
You thought the Royals-to-White Sox pipeline was bad? Just wait! We spent a lot of time chatting about the connections between the Sox and the Cards, with the likes of Lance Lynn, Tommy Pham, Dominic Leone, and many more.
Here’s what we talked about in this episode:

What’s new in St. Louis?

Taylor’s hit tweet

Grading the offseason

Confidence going into 2024

Animal cameos

Pitching matchups

Cardinals to White Sox pipeline

Threats, fears, and keys to winning a series

Predictions for 2024

Will Marmol be fired?

You can follow Taylor on Twitter, read his work at Redbird Rants, and check out Ben’s Friends.
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April is over, so it’s time for us to award, and talk about, our South Side Sox MiLB Players of the Month at each level. Joe Resis, writer of our story and deciding vote on the awards, occupies the expert’s chair as we summarize the April notables:

An overview of the four affiliates, playing around .500 ball collectively and with one club (Birmingham) already pointed toward the postseason

We spontaneously determined that 60 at-bats is enough to earn this award, so congratulations, Danny Mendick, you are Charlotte’s winner! Kudos to him, against all odds FORCING HIS WAY back onto the White Sox roster — leaving the team no other option, really

Drew Thorpe wins a nail-biter in Birmingham, where any one of three starting pitchers could have earned the honors. We speculate a bit on possible call-up or MLB debut dates for Drew

An award with an actual reward comes for Eric Adler, who was gem-perfect in Winston-Salem and got his call-up to Double-A at the end of the month

In Kannapolis, it was more of a runaway choice, with Aldrin Batista crushing Low-A batters to earn April plaudits


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A month in, it’s our first Winston-Salem Dash podcast, and Joe Resis occupies the expert’s chair as we summarize the April notables:

An introduction for Joe, taking on a bigger minors role than ever for South Side Sox

Noah Schultz: Please with his first month, or no?

A review of Dash Players of the Week on the pitching side, Juan Carela and Manuel Veloz

Everyone’s favorite LHS Wildcat, Riley Gowens

A closer already promoted to Birmingham, Eric Adler

Glue guy José Ramírez

The Dash hitting has been weaker, although Jacob Gonzalez has been performing as expected

Wes Kath: resurgent

Zavala superfan Joe explains hot prospect Samuel’s flat first month

DJ Gladney’s struggles and frustrations


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No, you’re not experiencing déjà vu. The White Sox are again facing the Twins this soon into the season. Last week the Twins executed a four-game sweep against the White Sox, each game feeling more devastating than the last.
The wonderful Brandon Warne of Locked On Twins and Access Twins joined me to chat about the bottom-dwelling White Sox and the low-on-the-list but still way-better Twins.
Here’s what we talked about in this episode:

The Bucks are in the playoffs

Grading the offseason

Confidence going into 2024

A rundown of Twins’ pitching

Pedro Grifol, sigh

Threats, fears, and keys to winning a series

Are ballparks trying to give us diabetes?

Predictions for 2024

The O’s are scary

Lance Lynn on Father’s Day

You can find Brandon on Twitter, and follow his work at Locked On Twins and Access Twins.
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In a live YouTube/Twitter/Facebook event as the game got underway last night, a group of us (Dante Jones, Melissa Sage-Bollenbach, Joe Resis, Malachi Hayes, Hannah LaMotta, Brett Ballantini) went watched the start of the game to see whether the White Sox start would end up even worse than that of the worst-ever Cleveland Spiders.
Spoiler alert: It did.

Watch as the game turns from a scoreless tie to an eventual loss immediately after we begin


Impressions of the first month

The inability to commit to a rebuild is not wearing well in the early going, with the major league club or the organization as a whole

Pedro Grifol’s hand in all of the mess

What are you looking forward to in the season’s final five months?

Predictions you’re regretting (or, crowing over?)


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