Imrem: If White Sox won't deal with Cubs, they are fools
So, the bulletin on a slow news day this week was that the White Sox won't consider making a trade with the Cubs.
That's what ESPN's Buster Olney reported and he's a reasonable, reliable, respected baseball journalist.
If the Sox insist on trading Sale - which they shouldn't do, by the way - they'd be foolish not to consider a proposal from the Cubs.
First, let's acknowledge that this is the offseason and reporters need something to report. Every rumor enjoys its 15 minutes of credibility … no, make it less than 15 seconds of credibility.
By the time baseball's winter meetings arrive next week, breathless news flashes will have Sale already gone to the Marlins, Dodgers or New England Patriots, or to all of them at once.
In return the Sox will have received oceanfront property in Miami Beach, Meryl Streep's dialect coach or a package that includes Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and Elizabeth Warren.
Baseball's goofy season is beginning and it's only natural to address the Sox-Cubs report.
A couple months ago it would have been OK for the Sox to dismiss an opportunity to deal with the Cubs.
The club on the North Side hadn't won anything yet … not a pennant, not a World Series, not anything significant.
The club on the South Side could rationalize declining to help the Cubs kill the curse.
Now that's no longer applicable. The landscape has changed. The Cubs have had their parade.
It doesn't matter anymore whether the Sox deliver a player who could help the Cubs win their next championship. What matters is that the Cubs can deliver players that could help the Sox win their next championship.
Maybe the trade would work out for both teams and they'll meet in the World Series.
The Commissioner's Trophy that the Sox won 11 years ago is an antique compared to the one the Cubs won four weeks ago.
It's the Sox's turn to seize bragging rights back from the Cubs by acquiring championship-caliber players.
If that requires dealing Chris Sale to the Cubs, so be it.
The Sox have only themselves to blame for being in this precarious position.
"Themselves" means Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, vice president Kenny Williams and general manager Rick Hahn. Together they have allowed the Sox to rot from the inside out and from the minor leagues up.
Tim Anderson's emergence at shortstop notwithstanding, the Sox have been delinquent in developing position players capable of contending for World Series titles.
Now if the Sox want to win another championship in the worst way, so what if helping the Cubs win another would be the worst way?
The Sox can't be picky: If the Cubs offer the best return for Chris Sale, the Sox should accept it.
What kind of players are we talking about?
Maybe a Javier Baez. Maybe a Jorge Soler. Maybe an Albert Almora Jr. Maybe a combination of them and some others just now ready to be promoted from the Cubs' minor-league system.
Another national report stated that the Sox are asking for a huge package - in quantity and quality - for Sale.
Not many trade partners can afford him. The Cubs can. The White Sox can't afford to ignore them.
Heck, the Cubs might even throw in the Shake Shack expected to open in Wrigleyville in a few years.
mimrem@dailyherald.com