Sisyphus (Maria Stavria/Getty Images)
The Chicago White Sox are currently on pace to win a few more games than the 1962 New York Mets. While they could nosedive after a potential selloff, they will still probably win more than 40 games. And there is the question of how a team this bad nosedives, but we can talk about that at another time. What is frustrating is than in the hands of better ownership and management, there could be hope in a couple of years.
There is real potential for a good starting rotation
Garrett Crochet is a bona fide ace if healthy. Erick Fedde is a good number three starter and while Drew Thorpe has had mixed results, there’s a decent chance he could develop into a 2/3 starter. Noah Schultz and Ky Bush are going great guns in AA, not the Alcoholics Anonymous but in the Southern League.
That is at least the basis for being competitive in a couple of seasons. Even now, this team would have a better record if the relief pitchers matched the production of the starters.
But plenty of huge holes
The only position player I see in the minors who might be of some help to the Sox in 2025 is catcher, Edgar Quero in AA. Quero currently has 11 home runs and an OPS of .833. In some organizations the temptation might be to spend some money on free decent free agents. The Sox, however, seem to have a different approach.
Rather than sign one decent free agent for $12 million per year, they would rather sign 12 free agents at $1 million per year.
Let’s blow it up again!
With two building blocks on the team, Garret Crochet and Luis Robert Jr., the Sox seem to be ready to launch what little talent they have and prolong recovery even more. A bold strategy for an owner nearing 90 and who said he made an internal hire at the GM position to reduce the time until the Sox are competitive again.
I’ve known of some MLB owners who when getting up in years actually tried to win. Gene Autry and Mike Illich come to mind.
Of course, a couple of years ago, when the White Sox seemed poised to make run at a championship, White Sox owner, Jerry Reinsdorf, hired Tony LaRussa to manage the team. And the boulder was at the bottom of the hill again.
At least this time the boulder isn’t very far up the hill.
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