While the Bears were getting ready to beat the Packers in surprising/spectacular fashion, their president, Kevin Warren did the unthinkable. He wrote a letter to Bears fans explaining (sort of) how the team was now looking at Northwest Indiana as a possible landing spot. Nobody thought the timing was especially good. Thankfully, the players and coaches paid it no mind.

All but one of the other professional teams in town didn’t do anything noteworthy that weekend. In the past stupid off-field behavior would get overshadowed by the Bears-Packers game.

As one who would rather discuss a good baseball story, I was sorry that the Sox signed Japanese slugger, Munetaka Murakami to a 2-year, $34 million deal. Of course, they had to sign the deal in the wake of the Bears victory because Murakami’s posting deadline was Monday afternoon.

Since nobody knows if and when his game will translate to MLB, any discussion is just blather at this point. However, folks can argue whether the signing, the money involved, whether it filled a need, etc are all points worth considering, Nobody has suggested that the Sox stole him from the Cubs because it doesn’t seem like they had any interest. However, they have made the bigger move to date even though Shota Imanaga’s contract is larger. There was nothing proactive about that move. It was more like backing into a stranger’s car in a lot and having to buy it rather than paying for the damage done.

Nobody covering MLB has ever seen this guy in action. I’m sure fans and some covering the Sox have seen curated bits online either on YouTube or a similar site. This is no way to evaluate a player no matter how many views the site might get. Many years ago when I was writing feature stories about minor league players, I’d be directed to Max Preps to view high schooler’s auditioning for college and MLB. The snippets skewed towards the highlights, rarely providing a complete picture of the unfinished product. I’m pretty sure most of the guys/subjects are pursuing careers outside of baseball now.

I read something yesterday that said Murakami’s deal would impact the other Japanese players that have posted this month. Unless they were both targeted by the Sox, I’m unsure how it would affect their deals. The three players cited have completely different skill sets and resumes. I’m not even sure if his signing will have an effect on the corner infielder market either, but it’s worth considering. I did see moments ago that the Sox officially welcomed him to the team, but the lack of noise probably has more to do with the Sox place in the local sports hierarchy. Given whom I worth with, I don’t think this move will be the hot topic at work.

Regardless of how it turns out, congrats to and thanks, White Sox for moving the needle a little bit!