Column: When Chicago’s sports executives speak, people listen — then decipher the real meaning
It might have been a rare alignment of the planets that led to the Big Five executives of Chicago’s legacy teams addressing the media at the same time.
Well, maybe not at the exact same time, but close enough to get their messages across.
The key to this cacophony of corporate speak was Artūras Karnišovas, the Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations, who speaks to the media only three times a year — the first day of training camp, the trade deadline and after the final game.
Fortunately for Chicago sports fans the Bulls’ loss in the play-in tournament game in Miami came right after the Blackhawks’ season ended in Los Angeles, allowing Karnišovas and Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson an opportunity to deliver dueling, end-of-the-year autopsies on their respective teams.
White Sox general manager Chris Getz, meanwhile, gave an early outlook at a White Sox season that’s already dead on arrival, while Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer offered an optimistic view on his team’s bullpen collapses. Heading up the pack was Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren, who spoke glowingly about the city and its need for a domed stadium on the lakefront.
The common denominator of their messages can be summed up in the words of Bob Marley: “Don’t worry about a thing, ’cause every little thing is gonna be all right.”
Here are a few of the highlights … or lowlights, depending on your view.
“I am not here to stay in the middle. The formula we came up (with) three years ago, I thought it was working. … This group hasn’t worked.” — Karnišovas on the Bulls finishing under .500 for the second straight season and losing in the play-in
What was your first clue, A.K.? The formula hasn’t worked since Lonzo Ball’s initial injury in January 2022, but no major moves have been made by the Bulls since.
“I think our stadium (pitch) provides the city of Chicago with the opportunity to decide who we want to be. And if we want to be that world-class city, this is an opportunity to come together.” — Warren on the need for the business community and politicians to come together and agree on plans to build a new lakefront stadium for the Bears
The details, or at least some of them, are expected to come Wednesday at a team news conference. The odd part is that Chicago already is a world-class city, and another taxpayer-supported stadium isn’t going to change anything. We are who we are.
“Those are probably my two favorite games of the year in some way, because we bounced back and won a game the next day against the same opponent.” — Hoyer on the 9-8 loss in San Diego in which the Cubs blew an 8-0 lead, and a 12-11 loss in Arizona in which Adbert Alzolay gave up a game-tying, ninth-inning home run
The day after Hoyer spoke, Alzolay suffered his fourth blown save in the ninth inning of a 3-2 loss to the Miami Marlins and was relieved of his closer duties by manager Craig Counsell, at least for the time being. At this rate, Hoyer’s going to have a lot of “favorite games” to choose from by October.
“Most of the frustration from fans is probably our early season struggles from a win-loss standpoint. Obviously when certain players get hurt, they can be disappointed because they’re potentially their favorite players and they’re no longer out there. I certainly can relate to those frustrations both personally with the position I’m in, but also as a fan of other teams as well in other sports.” — Getz blaming injuries for the dreadful start that has the Sox on pace to challenge the 1962 New York Mets record of 120 losses
But Luis Robert Jr. is the only real fan favorite who is out for an extended period. Manager Pedro Grifol also bragged about the team’s depth in spring training, but if the Sox had any depth they would’ve brought them up from Triple A instead of signing journeymen outfielders Robbie Grossman and Tommy Pham.
“It has to start with me, on down to the coaches, coaches to the players, and it has to cascade down that way. Are we going to bring in some new players? I think that’s likely. Yeah, there’s going to be turnover.” — Davidson taking the blame for the horrible start to a rebuild that was unwatchable aside from Connor Bedard
He didn’t mention the Corey Perry signing, which was the first of several mistakes Davidson made last offseason. Yet, Hawks players still debated whether the team should bring in an “ass” next year. Been there, done that.
“We’ve had a lot of games the bullpen has thrown really well … and we’ve had some poor ones. I don’t think you can look at it and be too critical, because there has been some positives.” — Hoyer on the bullpen struggles
No matter the positives, the Cubs can’t continue blowing games if they hope to be considered a realistic contender. That’s not being too critical. It’s reality.
“You’ve got to be creative at times and I think there is a level of creativity with this group, but I think it just starts with the quality of the at-bats one through nine.” — Getz on Grifol’s management of a team without any discernible offense by utilizing double steals and moving runners over
The Sox had eight steals through Monday, ranked 27th in the majors. Creativity is a myth.
“It’s a result-driven business and I’ll be evaluated based on results and I expect that. I just have to do a better job putting the group together.” — Karnišovas taking the blame for the Bulls’ status quo
If he was really evaluated on the results he’d be sharpening up his resume.
“With all these projects, that’s a great word. They require momentum. They require vision. They require tenacity. They require a lot of thought and planning.” — Warren on the push to build a new Bears stadium
They also require money. How much of it will come from the taxpayers?