I’m not calling him a White Sox. That is one thing I will not do. It doesn’t make sense. Joe Kelly is one single sock, and if the White Sox don’t like that, that’s on them.
Adding to our glorious weekend of bliss and joy, Joe Kelly signed on Saturday, reuniting with Tony La Russa (La Russa never managed our guy with the Cardinals, but they were in the same organization for a few years) on the South Side.
We are, of course, excited. If there’s anything everybody’s said about the White Sox over the last few years, it’s that they don’t have enough electric players, so we’re pumped to see Kelly bring infamous stick-in-the-mud Tim Anderson out of his shell. In other positive news on our side of this, we’ll probably get to bed a bit earlier in the summer without all those west coast games, and having grown up in Illinois, we have a lot of Sox fans in our orbit ready to welcome the flamethrowing right-hander with open arms.
On the White Sox’s side, it’s obviously a triumph. They get the best player in Major League Baseball. No need to dig more into that, it’s self-evident, White Sox just won the offseason.
As for Joe Kelly’s side:
We haven’t dug into the response from Kelly’s circle yet, but we have to imagine they’re on board with the move, given it’s happening, and while he does have those California roots, it’s only a two-year deal. Also, he’s getting 17 million more dollars to keep playing baseball, which is dope. White Sox fans figure to love Joe Kelly (the White Sox might not have many fans, but the ones they have, in my experience, tend to be pretty good, especially when either the Sox are bad or the Cubs are good so there aren’t as many bandwagoners, which I understand sounds ridiculous as a Cubs fan but I’m not saying Cubs bandwagoners are magically fun and good or anything). He’s both fun and blue collar, which matches the best identity of the current White Sox franchise and the best identity of the South Side fanbase.
There will be ups and downs, we’re sure. There is, once again, the possibility Joe Kelly starts irreparable beef with the Cubs (it would be hilarious if they signed Carlos Correa), making for a few moments of terror this coming summer. But at the heart of this all, Joe Kelly is back on a major league roster, we get to watch him pitch for at least two more years, we get to listen to Jason Benetti call a bunch of games, and they invested a lot of money in him, indicating that they get it. They get that he’s the best. In the end, all we want is for the ones we love to be seen as they are.
Enjoy him, White Sox faithful. We’ll be right here, enjoying him ourselves.
