Directionless 

By Mike Rifkin

The MLB season is in full swing, and while most fan bases have a belief that their respective team can reach the postseason, that’s not the case for one team.

The White Sox have started the season 3-18 and things are not looking great on the South Side. The White Sox are 28th in team ERA only the Astros, who have had a lot of injuries to their rotation and the Rockies, who have the Coors Field effect are worse. If you thought the pitching was bad, somehow the offense is worse. The White Sox as a team are hitting .188 as a team and  11 homers, both of which are last in MLB. 

When the White Sox started their “rebuild” in 2016, they were excited over the prospect haul they got in two separate trades; Chris Sale and Jose Quintana. In December of 2016 Sale was traded to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Alexander Basabe, and Victor Diaz. Diaz and Basabe didn’t pan out. Kopech, currently the closer of the club, was bouncing around the rotation and has a 15-20 record with a 4.29 ERA and has two saves this season. Kopech has also had some issues with health. In eight years with the Sox, Moncada has 93 homers and 339 RBI with a slash line of .254/.332/.424. And like Kopech, Moncada’s career has been filled with injuries as he is currently out with an adductor injury. Moncada is in the final year of his contract, so it seems likely that a breakup is on the way although there is a club option for next season. 

The other deal that got people giddy in Chicago was when they traded Jose Quintana to the Cubs in exchange for Eloy Jimenez, Dylan Cease, Matt Rose and Bryant Flete. Flete and Rose didn’t make it. Jimenez has 90 homers and 278 RBI with a slash line of  .273/.323/.483. Jimenez, like Moncada, has a club option not just for 2025 but 2026 as well. Cease was 43-35 with a 3.83 ERA with the White Sox over five years and was second in CY Young voting in 2022. Right before the start of the season the White Sox flipped Cease to the Padres. 

In 2021 the White Sox won 93 games, and most people (myself included) thought it was going to be the beginning of a strong run on the South Side, but it wasn’t meant to be. Then there were three fall guys : Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa retired after 2022, and then last year the White Sox fired longtime GM Rick Hahn and Vice President Kenny Williams. But instead of casting a wide search the team promoted Assistant GM Chris Getz for the role of GM.  But how long is his leash along with Manager Pedro Grifol? This team isn’t getting better and will have some decisions coming on what the next core should look like. The Chris Getz era is off to an awful start and right now I am unsure what the White Sox could tell their fan base.