White Sox on the move? Reinsdorf meets with Nashville mayor as stadium lease nears end

The possibility of the White Sox uprooting from the South Side and moving to Nashville first came up in August, in a Crain's Chicago Business report.

During a rare meeting with reporters shortly after the article was published, Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf addressed the possibility.

"Somebody at Crain's decided he wanted to write that you're looking at the Bears, and the White Sox lease has six or seven years left to go, and the White Sox have some options, they might move out of the city, they might move out of town, they might go to Nashville," Reinsdorf said. "That wasn't us, that was a guy at Crain's. And ever since the article came out, I've been reading that I've been threatening to move to Nashville. That article didn't come from me."

The Sox still have six more years on their lease at Guaranteed Rate Field, a fact the 87-year-old Reinsdorf did acknowledge.

"It's obvious, if we have six years left we've got to decide what's the future going to be?" Reinsdorf said. "We'll get to it, but I never threatened to move out. We haven't even begun to have discussions with the (Illinois) Sports Authority, which we'll have to do soon."

According to a report in Politico, Reinsdorf met with Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell on Tuesday. The winter meetings are being held in the Music City.

The White Sox confirmed the meeting but had no additional comments.

"It was introductory in nature," Alex Apple, O'Connell's deputy communications director, told The Tennessean on Wednesday. "The mayor did not share anything with Mr. Reinsdorf that he hasn't previously said publicly."

Nashville is a growing city capable of supporting an MLB team, but O'Connell has not been receptive to financing a new stadium with public funding.

Sox add Drohan:

In Wednesday's Rule 5 draft, the White Sox selected left-handed pitcher Shane Drohan from the Red Sox.

The 24-year-old Drohan was a combined 10-7 with a 5.06 ERA in 27 games (25 starts) with Class AA Portland and AAA Worcester last season.

If Drohan does not stay on the White Sox's 26-man roster the entire 2024 season, he must be offered back to Boston.