Paul DeJong (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
The Chicago White Sox lost their 13th consecutive game last night. The final score was Cubs 7 White Sox 6. And in what has become their custom recently, the White Sox lost in an excruciating manner. Michael Kopech gave up a walk-off home run to Mike Tauchman in the bottom of the ninth inning. This was after the Sox gave up a 5-1 lead.
The White Sox have had a lead of at least five runs in each of their last five losses. Little things are killing them. Last night Sox pitchers committed two key balks and Seiya Suzuki was credited with an infield hit on a ball that Sox first baseman, Gavin Sheets, wandered too far off the bag on.
The previous night pinch runner, Duke Ellis was picked off second base in the ninth inning. Ellis was the potential tying run at the time.
Pedro Grifol is back to being positive
After the game Sox manager Pedro Grifol said this about his team: “These guys are playing good baseball, and they are giving us everything they got and that’s (all) I ask them to do every day.”
Not to quibble, but if a team has lost 13 games in a row, they probably aren’t playing good baseball. And it could get worse. It seems the White Sox are open to trading off anybody on their roster. That includes staff ace Garrett Crochet, five-tool outfielder Luis Robert Jr. and shortstop, Paul DeJong who leads the team in home runs with 10. And perhaps the easiest piece to flip starting pitcher Eric Fedde.
The Sox are already on a pace to lose the most games of any team in the modern era. The 1962 Mets are generally considered the gold standard for bad baseball. The Sox are on pace to eclipse the Mets total of 120 games.
Even their best players come with question marks
So, what could the Sox get back from their most marketable players? For example, Robert Jr. has awesome potential but has a history of being injured and his command of the strike zone is limited. In 38 plate appearances he has struck out 15 times and walked once. That’s obviously a small sample size but is troubling.
Crochet has some of the best stuff of any starter in baseball, but like Robert Jr., he has been injury prone. He’s still a valuable asset but trading him for what amounts to a lottery ticket is probably not a good formula to build on.
DeJong is having a nice bounce back season, especially when it comes to power, but probably won’t bring much back in return. And whatever he does bring back isn’t likely to help this year.
Eric Fedde is perhaps the perfect trade chip for a really bad team. Almost miraculously, Fedde has a record of 4-1 with an ERA of 3.27. He is also under team control through 2025. He should bring a nice prospect. But that leads to the real problem.
Even if the Sox pick up a talented young player, he’ll be gone before he hits free agency,
The White Sox are poised to be bad for a long time
The White Sox do have some promising pitchers in AA, but the system is almost completely devoid of potential impact position players. If you check the White Sox twitter feed, you’ll probably see some Colson Montgomery highlights. Based on that, you’d think he was tearing things up in AAA. Actually, he’s hitting .227.
Catcher Edgar Quero is currently toiling with the Birmingham Barons. He does have some upside as a bat first catcher. He is currently hitting .247 with eight home runs. At 21 years old, there is some hope.
Ultimately, with little help on the farm, a potentially historically bad major league team, and an owner unwilling to spend for top end talent, you have a recipe for a franchise to be really bad for a really long time.
Factor in an owner who also seems to be taking advice from people who are as disconnected to the realities of what’s going on as he is and fans are forced to wait for a change in ownership to have any real hope.
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