Hawk Harrelson is ready for the White Sox rebuild to turn them into a perennial contender. You know, like the Cubs.
More so, the longtime voice of the South Siders is ready for the fast-approaching day when the White Sox and Cubs are similarly two of baseball's best teams and competing in epic crosstown showdowns.
And unsurprisingly, he thinks the White Sox will do a large share of the winning.
"It's going to be fun to watch us play the Cubs and kick their ass," Harrelson said during a Thursday phone call to a lucky ticket holder.
The good old crosstown trash talk won't ever go away — especially from Harrelson, who's vowed to never again set foot in Wrigley Field — but the White Sox would be pretty happy to follow in the Cubs' footsteps when it comes to building a contender. Theo Epstein's front office did it the right way, turning a highly touted group of prospects that included Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, Addison Russell, Javy Baez and Willson Contreras into the 2016 World Series champs and a team that's now been to three straight National League Championship Series.
The White Sox are looking capable of something similar, with Rick Hahn's front office gathering an incredible amount of highly rated talent in an incredibly short amount of time, leading White Sox fans to believe that a group headlined by Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert, Lucas Giolito, Alec Hansen and Zack Collins can one day do what the Cubs did in 2016.
In fact, Harrelson envisions a golden age on both sides of town, saying during last month's Winter Meetings, "Chicago fans are going to have a wonderful next decade in baseball."
MLB
"Let's face it," he said Thursday. "The Cubs are good, and they're not going anywhere for a while. I told Tom Ricketts at the Chicagoland Hall of Fame inductions, it's going to be fun playing them for a few years. It's going to be fun to kick their butts for a few years, I'll tell you that right now. They did it right. Theo and Jed (Hoyer) did it right, and Tom gave them the wherewithal. Jerry (Reinsdorf)'s given Rick and the guys the wherewithal now, and our coaches have finally got a whole bunch of good prospects."
Chicago baseball fans can dream about a Red Line World Series. Until then, and after, expect Harrelson to keep the trash talk flowing.