“We just can't have that happen here, where it comes at the cost of wins and the cost of our bullpen."” - Will Venable, White Sox manager, on demoting Opening Day Starter Shane Smith to Triple-A after another short start, because Life comes at you real fast in the Big Leagues.
🎙 Leading Off
OH! The Angels aren’t interested in waitin around no more. Come up and in against these guys and expect to meet these hands! Jorge Soler swings at Braves pitcher Reynaldo Lopez, but altogether, a pretty normal Baseball Fight.
⚾ Hard In The Paint
(Eileen T. Mesler/Chicago Tribune )
Bulls CEO and fail-son Michael Reinsdorf fired basketball ops leadership Arturas Karnisovas and GM Marc Eversley. It’s easy to forget just how anonymous the Bulls have been in the nearly 30 years since MJ retired. Not like they get a turn of burn from this outlet! None of the institutional success of the 90's Bulls carried forward after Jordan’s departure and Chicago is locked into another rebuild. Only Derrick Rose’s tenure could be considered a high moment of recent (basically my whole life) Bulls Basketball. That’s it. That’s one fleeting run of MVP level performance and competitiveness in 28 years. If winning 6 NBA titles, operating in the nation’s 3rd largest market, and partnering with Michael Jordan was supposes to enable at least some degree of competency then the Reinsdorf family has flushed away all those advantages. They are the White Sox (another Reinsdorf property) of the NBA.
Let’s pivot and talk about two concepts:
Team Valuations - why do fans care? In short, valuations provide an approximate metric to grade (and chastise) ownership. Valuation is a confluence of factors, and Winning plays a role. Championship winning teams command a price premium. FACT. Is it the only component? No. Market, profitability, stability, legacy all matter to what one billionaire will pay for a trophy asset. There’s virtually no reason for a fan to care what the team is valued at, but since they’re published (by Forbes, Sportico, CNBC, etc…), we can at least point at the number to critique ownership’s performance.
As per Forbes, the Bulls are valued at $6b while the Warriors are valued at $11b. Why bring up the Warriors? For one, they’re the most valued team in the game. Secondly, they’re sprinting towards the end of Steph Curry. Steph was drafted in 2009. At that time the Bulls were valued around $500m. Joe Lacob purchased Golden State for a then record $450m in 2010. Ignoring the radical growth for both franchises, the point is that Golden State used Steph’s ascendance to absolutely lap Chicago’s valuation.
Earlier this year, the Warriors explored a 5% equity sale at the previously mentioned $11b. Whatever pro forma they delivered to potential investors probably highlighted their sterling economic performance and only the most rosy forward looking expectations. But Steph is gone in two years, and any wary investor should realize that another Steph isn’t showing up. If I was on the IC of a potential minority investment group, I’d drill into the forecast growth rates using the Bulls as a much more realistic comp than whatever Lacob proposes.
But I’m not on Committee at any esteemed PE firm. And I commend Lacob for cashing in at the top. Shrewd my brotha! More than anything, I’m hoping the Reinsdorfs realize they’re not cut out for this business. They don’t win (outside of literally Michael Jordan) and they don’t Grow The Business unless MJ is walking the halls. Father Jerry Reinsdorf recently agreed to sell the White Sox in installments to Justin Ishbia (brother of Phoenix Suns’ owner Mat Ishbia). Here’s hoping he wises up with the Bulls. Maybe I’ll throw in a bid.
📻 Over The Air
🔗 2026 Masters Preview – (Fried Egg Golf)
🔗 NBA Mock Draft v1 – (Ringer)
🔗 Konnor Griffin Extension - (ESPN)
📡 JumboTron: Tonight’s Must Watch
All times PST
Game 1: Master Par 3 Contest, 11:00am ESPN
Game 2: A’s vs Yankees, 4:05pm Prime
Game 3: Trail Blazers vs Spurs, 6:30pm ESPN
☎️ The Phone Line
Best thing on the timeline today:
🎵 Walkup Song
▶️ For the Reinsdorfs, just quit:
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