Mike North: Let's see Cubs-White Sox rivarly renewed
The challenge for Chicago baseball fans this season will be to pay attention to both teams.
The White Sox are under the radar after a hectic week with Adam LaRoche's sudden retirement, which shared headlines with the Cubs for all the wrong reasons.
The North Siders have a huge target on their backs, while the South Siders are just hoping to raise some eyebrows.
The White Sox have the world-champion Kansas City Royals and the Detroit Tigers in their division, while the Cubs face the usual cast of characters in theirs, namely the St. Louis Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Pirates.
It seems the "stupid" Cardinals made offers to right-hander John Lackey and outfielder Jason Heyward but chose not to up the ante, therefore letting them go to the Cubs. But I believe the Cubs overspent for Heyward.
Let's have some fun and compare the 2015 stats of Heyward to those of White Sox outfielder Adam Eaton.
• Heyward: 79 runs, 160 hits, 13 home runs, 60 RBI, .293 average
• Eaton: 98 runs 175 hits, 14 home runs, 56 RBI, .284 average
Eaton's stats are quite similar and a real bargain last year at $850,000.
Even with the bump in his contract he had just received from the White Sox (five-year, $23.5 million), he still is paid considerably less than the $15 million a year (eight years) Heyward received from the Cubs.
The Cubs can afford to pay whatever they want, but If you're looking for Heyward to do much better than his stats indicate, that's a wait-and-see situation. The Cubs last won in 1908, yet this year they will dominate and win it all, according to many.
I'm sorry, but that is a huge leap of faith even for this very talented and young team.
The Sox last tasted World Series champagne in 2005, and this year's blend of veterans and kids is still a question mark.
Manager Joe Maddon has done a terrific job so far, but can he take the Cubs to the promised land when the New York Mets still have the same pitching staff they had last year?
I've decided to leave the expectations to the abundant and fawning Cubs media. Besides the Cubs' party train is full, while the minority of the us who are pro Sox are in a covered wagon.
Of course, the Cubs will get my attention. But I always enjoy a challenge, so I'd like to see the Cubs-Sox rivalry re-emerge because it has lost momentum the last few years.
Hey, White Sox fans, let's light a fire and shock the world!
Program notes:
Follow me on Twitter@ north2north, and listen to Fox Sports Daybreak with Andy Furman and myself from 5-8 a.m. Monday through Friday on Fox Sports radio, and check me out on iHeart radio or Foxsportsradio.com.
• North's column appears each Tuesday and Friday in the Daily Herald, and his video commentary can be found Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at dailyherald.com. For more, visit northtonorth.com.