(Black Sox General Manager and part-time South Side Towing driver Vic Caleca is seated in a booth at Schoop’s Hamburgers in Calumet City shortly after 7 p.m., with his tow truck parked outside. His iPhone rings, he sees it’s Sox owner Vinnie Vitale, and answers the call.)
Vic Caleca: Hey, Vinnie.
Vinnie Vitale: Hey, Vic. Say, Billy told me you had a driving shift tonight. Am I gettin’ you at a bad time?
Caleca: Nah. I’m finishing up dinner at Schoop’s. What’s up?
Vinnie: Hey, Schoop’s is awesome. You get the loaded fries?
Caleca: Just the regular. The loaded are a heart attack waiting to happen.
Vinnie: Yeah, but what a way to go.
Caleca (laughs): You trying to tell me something, Vinnie?
Vinnie: Course not, course not. You’re like a brother to me. A no ‘count ex-con brother, but still.
Caleca: Oh yeah, I’m feelin’ the love.
François 'Frank' Mangin
Caleca: Mauro Flores? Yeah, he signed with Edmonton. We made a good offer, but not quite that good.
Vinnie: You were tellin’ me this guy could make a difference for us, though.
Caleca: Well, yeah. He’s pretty good, but he ended up signing for north of $14.5 million per, and that’s a little richer than we wanted to go. I’m trying to steward your money, Vinnie.
Vinnie: And don’t think I don’t appreciate it, Vic!
Caleca: Enough to take me off tow truck duty?
Vinnie: Let’s not get crazy here. So, what’s the plan now? We still going after pitching?
Caleca: I don’t think so. None of the starters left are doing much for me, and you know we’ve got François Mangin in Carolina.
Vinnie: He didn’t do so good in Huntsville, though.
Caleca: Well, I don’t think that stadium did him any favors. I think he’s worth a good solid look in the new park - plus he did pretty well with another season in AAA.
Vinnie: Any chance he'd consider going with Frank as the first name?
Caleca: What the hell is it with you and names? No, we're not going to call him Frank. That's not his name.
Vinnie: All right, all right. No need to get testy.
Caleca: You're makin' me nuts with the name thing ... Hey, one other interesting thing I wanted to mention, Vinnie …
Vinnie: Yeah, what’s that?
Caleca: The scouts are telling me that Luis Gonzáles seems to have developed some with his off-season workout. They’re grading him out at a 65 overall now.
Luis Gonzáles
Caleca: Yeah, that's true. That's what they were grading him as a starter, which we experimented with at the end of the year. But they give him quite a bump as a reliever. In fact, Bret … Bret Richards, the manager …
Vinnie: I know who Bret Richards is, Caleca.
Caleca: Just making sure there, Vinnie …
Vinnie: He’s got one ‘t’ in Bret. What’s up with that?
Caleca (sighs): For God's sake, Vinnie. Focus ... Anyway, Bret wants to try Gonzáles in the closer role instead of Archer.
Vinnie: Well, whatever. Both of those guys sucked last year … he sure about this?
Caleca: He wants to kick the tires on it.
Vinnie: OK. He’s the baseball brain … supposedly. Speakin’ of tires, your break must be about over, ain’t it?
Caleca: Yep. Just about. (Signals waitress for the check.)
Vinnie: Well, keep me in the loop, OK? You trying for offense in free agency now?
Caleca: There’s one guy I’m gonna put an offer to, and if that doesn’t pan out, we might just look for a couple more minor league types and save your cash.
Vinnie: Saving my cash. I kinda like the sounds of that …
Caleca: Don’t get too excited. I still might spend a boatload – you never know.
Vinnie: I’ve got Billy’s phone number, you know. We can make those back-to-back-to-back overnights cruising the Dan Ryan if you want.
Caleca (Scoffs): Like you haven’t done that aleady. Gotta go, Vinnie. There’s Beemers and Benzes out there just waitin’ to be hooked.
Vinnie: Go get ‘em, slugger.
[Call and recording end]
