It hasn’t taken White Sox reliever Joe Kelly long to feel right at home with his new club.
Kelly officially signed with Chicago on Monday on a two-year, $17-million deal. One of MLB’s most biggest characters, Kelly welcomes trash talking, teammates with outspoken personalities and clubs with championship aspirations – and also a veteran manager who’s cut from the same cloth as him, as White Sox dugout leader Tony La Russa seems to be.
“Nowadays in the game of baseball, I’ve been suspended multiple times, obviously,” Kelly said on the Parkins & Spiegel Show on Tuesday afternoon. “If something deserves to be policed inside the game … baseball players kind of police the game our own way. It’s kind of been a lost art, and me and Tony still believe in the same ideas. You act like a s---head and you don’t think anything is going to come of that, then you guys are not living on planet earth. This is the real world, and every action has a consequence. And that’s kind of how I think. And then also, not trying to be a tough guy like fight, but tough guy on the field – you’re sore, you’re a little banged up, well if you don’t need surgery, kind of play through it. We need to win as many games as we can. Obviously, No. 1, win the division. No. 2, be playing good baseball once we’re in the postseason. Making it the postseason is one thing, but the White Sox have done that the past two years. Now it’s time to take it a step further and be the best team in the AL and ultimately win the World Series.”
Kelly likes how La Russa has already set a championship-or-best standard for the White Sox in 2022 as spring training has opened. The White Sox won the AL Central with a 93-69 record last season before losing to the Astros in the AL Division Series.
“I’ve been here for two days, and that’s what it’s about,” Kelly said of the championship standard. “Tony has said it in initial meetings. He’s talked about it in small-group meetings. And the good news is with us, we have a lot of guys with a lot of experience and a lot of guys who have won rings.
“Keep talking about it. The more you talk about something, it comes to fruition. I wouldn’t take it as far as saying we’re gaslighting everybody – the media, the team, the fans – because we’re actually good. So the more we keep talking about it, everyone will believe it. And then you go out there and perform with some swagger, with some talent, athleticism. Making quality pitches, doing the little things, running out groundballs, I think that’s what ultimately we’re trying to breed as a White Sox organization and I think that’s what the fan base deserves and what everyone is ready for.”
Kelly, 33, is a two-time World Series champion, winning titles with the Red Sox in 2018 and the Dodgers in 2020. He had a 2.86 ERA and 0.98 WHIP in 48 appearances for the Dodgers last season. He has a 3.83 ERA in his 10-year MLB career.