Barry M Bloom, Sportico

White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery is a hot shot, but not a hot hitter Montgomery won the three-point shooting contest among his fellow Sox teammates Wednesday morning outside the club’s training facility, which shouldn’t surprise anyone.

My last day of Sox coverage for the Chicago Sun-Times brought this story about how Colson Montgomery/Will Venable had to make career choices of baseball over basketball. Great group of kids from Getz on down and heading in the right direction.

Will White Sox work to keep prospects who make it or sell them off? With Jerry Reinsdorf about to begin his 46th season as team owner, the big question for loyal Sox fans is: Where is this all going long term?

The Sox have buult a team through prospects, most of them making just above the minimum. Do they lock up the best of them or sell off when they're no longer cost effective? We talk to GM Chris Getz. My latest for the Chicago Sun-Times.

White Sox assistant pitching coach Bobby Hearn has known Shane Smith since their time together at Wake Forest And Hearn says the team has assembled 'a ton of talent' among the pitching staff.

Here's the story behind assistant Sox's pitching coach Bobby Hearn and his relationship with Shane Smith that dates back to Wake Forest. My latest for the Chicago Sun-Times.

White Sox name Shane Smith their Opening Day starter It’s time to stop reading the tea leaves about the Sox pitching staff. The big brass announced Sunday that Shane Smith will be the Opening Day starter on March 26 at Milwaukee.

White Sox solve one part of their spring puzzle: Shane Smith is their opening day starter March 26 at Milwaukee. My latest for the Chicago Suns-Times.

White Sox might be former top prospect Jarred Kelenic's final stand Kelenic is in camp on a minor-league contract and doesn’t have a spot on the 40-man roster. He has to make the team. How has he weathered all the ups and downs — mostly downs?

Jarred Kelenic was once a top baseball prospect. Now he's trying to hold on as a non-roster minor leaguer in White Sox camp. Could be his last stand. My latest for the Chicago Sun-Times.

Will Venable taking his sweet time assembling White Sox' pitching staff Right now, he has a closer — Seranthony Dominguez — but no Opening Day starter and nothing in between.

We're all waiting for Will Venable to announce his starting pitching staff and his his opening day starter. He says it's coning soon. I have a born-in date on this beat. My latest column for the Chicago Sun-Times.

White Sox pitching coach Zach Bove brings unique perspective to job The Sox definitely were thinking out of the box when they hired Zach Bove in November as their latest pitching coach — he's a former hitter.

Sox definitely were thinking outside the box when they hired Zach Bove as pitching coach. He was a collegiate first baseman and never pitched at the college or pro level. My latest for the Chicago Sun-Times.

Team USA Heads Into WBC Pool Play With A Swagger, Aaron Judge Says Team USA opens Pool B play on Friday night in Houston against Brazil. The U.S. looks locked in after exhibition game wins over the Giants and Rockies by a score of 29-5.

Team USA heads into Pool B play in Houston Friday on all cylinders led by captain Aaron Judge. Brazil and Great Britain are first up. My latest column for @forbes.com.

White Sox are latest learning experience for manager Will Venable “Oh, I learned stuff every single day,” he said.

I've known Will Venable since he came up as a kid in 2008 with the Padres. He's a fine young man with an incredible baseball and scholastic pedigree. The White Sox are lucky to have him as their manager. My latest for the Chicago Sun-Times.

Friend of the White Sox Jake Peavy gets positive vibes from the team "I don’t know if they can pull off winning the American League Central and beat out Detroit or Cleveland this year," Peavy said, "but I can see the makings of a Central champion in the very near futur...

Today's White Sox coverage: Peavy bullish on 2026 version of the White Sox. My latest for the Chicago Sun-Times.

White Sox' Braden Montgomery confident he will find Fame “My overall goal is to make the Hall of Fame,” Montgomery said matter-of-factly. “I’ll take it a game at a time, and we’ll see what happens at the end of it.”

My first story on the White Sox beat the next 10 days for the Chicago Sun-Times was a back page blockbuster: Braden Montgomery is not content with making the team this season. He wants the Hall of Fame. Chicago Sun Times

Dodgers Were A Few World Series Plays Away From Being Considered Losers The Dodgers got all the breaks in the the last two World Series and they won back-to-back titles, manager Dave Roberts said. But it could have worked out differently.

The Dodgers could have been back-to-back World Series losers if some key plays went the other way. Instead, they are ruining baseball. My latest column for @forbes.com

Padres' Cronenworth, Pivetta on baseball labor fight: Salary cap is a nonstarter The union has argued a salary cap, which the owners may seek, doesn’t provide any more competitive balance than the current luxury tax.

Padres' labor contingent on board with the rest of the players on the eve of collective bargaining negotiations: salary cap is a non-starter. Here it is. My first column for Times of San Diego.

Tony Vitello Having A Rough Start As San Francisco Giants Manager Vitello, the new San Francisco Giants manager, is suffering some growing pains in his first weeks on the job.

First impression of new Giants manager Tony Vitello is that he's a new kid figuring out how to put the brush to the MLB canvas. My latest column to @forbes.com

New Union Chief Bruce Meyer Takes Hard Line On Salary Cap As Expected Bruce Meyer, the new executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, is taking a hard line on a salary cap, echoing the players.

As Bruce Meyer tours MLB camps, the new union chief and players are in sync on a key collective bargaining issue: salary cap is a non-starter. My latest column for @forbes.com.

MLBPA Change From Tony Clark To Bruce Meyer Signals Tough Negotiations The union had to change executive directors on the eve of a negotiations for a new Basic Agreement, which expires on Dec. 1.

Bruce Meyer replacing Tony Clark means the players are gearing up for tough collective bargaining negotiations over a salary cap and floor. My take in my latest column for @forbes.com.

John Seidler Says San Diego Padres Won't Move When Team Is Sold John Seidler met with the media on Tuesday morning and spoke about the sale of the team and the contract extension of general manager A.J. Preller.

BREAKING: "The Padres aren't moving from San Diego" when the team is sold, club chairman John Seidler said on Tuesday morning. My latest column for @forbes.com.

Athletics Increase Player Payroll As Move To Las Vegas Approaches The A's now have the 20th highest player payroll in Major League Baseball, up from dead last among the 30 teams in 2024, their last playing in the Oakland Coliseum.

The move to Las Vegas is developing for the Athletics both on and off the field. As the ballpark rises off the Strip in Vegas, player payroll has nearly doubled entering their second season since leaving Oakland. My latest for @forbes.com.

New Managers Craig Stammen And Tony Vitello Changing MLB’s Landscape Stammen and Vitello are among nine new Major League managers this season, six of them, including the above duo, with no prior big league experience when they were hired.

MLB is out with the old and in with new again. Of nine new managers this season, six come in with little to no big league experience. Viitello, Stammen are just two of them. My latest column for @forbes.com.

Shohei Ohtani Is Back For The Upcoming WBC, But Mike Trout Is Not Ohtani whiffed Trout, his former Los Angeles Angels teammate, to win the 2023 World Baseball Classic for Team Nippon over Team USA.

The upcoming WBC will offer a number of delectable moments and combinations. But without Mike Trout there will be no repeat of how the last one ended. My latest column for @forbes.com.

Chris Paul Needs To Be Traded By The Clippers Before Thursday's NBA Trade Deadline The point guard hasn't played in an NBA game since Dec. 1

Chris Paul shouldn't have to finish his 21-season NBA career in Clipper purgatory. He should be traded. My latest column for Substack.

Cody Bellinger Signs With The Yankees, But Are They Any Better? Cody Bellinger returns to a team that's built around captain Aaron Judge, who hit 53 homers last season and led Major League Baseball with a .331 batting average.

The headline says it all. Bellinger is in the fold, but are the Yankees any better than last season? Time has come today. My latest column for @forbes.com.

Tampa Bay Rays Making Their Last Stand With New Ballpark Plan The Rays are making a third stab at building a new ballpark under two separate ownership groups. Then owner Stu Sternberg scuttled the first two projects.

I feel like I've been shackled with Rays and A's ballpark issues for decades. Here's the latest on the Rays' third attempt to build in the Tampa Bay area. My latest column for @forbes.com.

Max Scherzer And Justin Verlander Still Free Agents With Camps Pending Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander think they have more to give as once elite pitchers now in their 40s. They're still unsigned free agents.

Quizzical that Verlander and Scherzer are still free agents with 18 days to go until pitchers and catchers report. My take on it in my latest column for @forbes.com.

Carlos Beltran. Andruw Jones Latest Additions To Baseball Hall Of Fame Out of slim cast of characters on the ballot, Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones were the only players to survive joining the Hall Class of 2026.

It wasn't the greatest Hall of Fame ballot, but Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones join Jeff Kent in the Class of 2026 to be inducted at Cooperstown this summer. My latest column for @forbes.com

Joe Lacob’s Interest To Buy Padres Could Put San Diego Future In Jeopardy The Seidler family decided this past November to seek a buyer for the Padres going into their 14th full season of ownership.

With possible sale of the club pending, Padres future in San Diego might not be bright. We study the possibilities in my latest column for @forbes.com

Omar Vizquel Feels Pain Of Venezuela: 'It's Affecting Everything' Vizquel is watching closely as events unfold in his native Venezuela while he manages a team in Nicaragua's winter league.

EXCLUSIVE: Omar Vizquel tells Forbes he's watching the events unfolding in his native Venezuela with trepidation. About his own personal issues he's asking for a second chance from Major League Baseball. My latest column for @forbes.com

Westbrook Passing Oscar On The All-Time Scoring List Brings Back Memories Westbrook has the lead among all point guards ahead of the Big O and Curry

Part of the job is just showing up. I was there on Friday night when Russell Westbrook became the all-time leader scoring among all point guards. Here 's my column on it for substack.

Before looking ahead, here's looking back at the 2025 baseball season, my 50th covering MLB and one of my favorites. Wondering what 2026 will bring. My latest column for @forbes.com

Partial D-backs rebuild includes bringing back old friend Merrill Kelly. More pitching still a necessity, GM Mike Hazen said. My latest column for @forbes.com