The Chicago White Sox are facing a lost season but can they turn it around
By Todd Welter
Okay, breath, take a deep breath. All is not lost. It is still early in a marathon of a 162-game season.
One thing baseball has shown is poor starts does not mean a team is doomed. The Atlanta Braves last season was typically three-games under .500 into early August and they went on to win the World Series.
Granted, they had to make some trade deadline moves to upgrade their offense but they had the pitching infrastructure in place to make a run towards a championship.
The Chicago White Sox certainly have the rotation and bullpen (when healthy) to win the World Series. The Sox pitching just happened to run into two of the hottest offenses in the Boston Red Sox and the Blue Jays. It is not time to panic about the pitching yet although giving up six more runs last night did nothing to ease the tension.
If the Sox are going to go on a winning run, they have to do something about their offense.
The Chicago White Sox are without Tim Anderson and Eloy Jimenez but this is an offense that has been struggling mightily even with them in it. It is anemic and showing no signs of starting a run flood anytime soon.
After getting swept by the Blue Jays, the White Sox run differential (-55) is the fifth-worst in MLB. They’re not going to be able to keep hanging around .500 without raising their level of play.https://t.co/KGFWYyrYV0
— James Fegan (@JRFegan) June 2, 2022
Part of the problem is the person responsible for filling out the lineup card. This is the line up the Chicago White Sox trotted out in the series finale against Toronto.
Today's White Sox lineup by wRC+ (100 is league average)
— A Broken Fan (@WriteSox) June 2, 2022
1. 28 SS
2. 119 CF
3. 18 3B
4. 126 1B
5. 79 RF
6. 49 C
7. 141 LF
8. 42 DH
9. 55 2B
At some point, general manager Rick Hahn has to convince owner Jerry Reisndorf that manager Tony La Russa cannot be trusted to have full authority over the batting lineup. At the very least, he has to find a way to convince his boss to tell La Russa that Leury Garcia is never allowed to bat in the top-three of the lineup.
Someone has to get through to this manager that Andrew Vaughn needs to be higher in the lineup.
Someone has to get through to Hahn that his grand (cheap) plans at second base and rightfield did not work. He needs to do something right now. It does not have to be something dramatic at this time.
Simple and quick way to improve the #WhiteSox
— Patrick Nolan (@SoxMach_pnoles) June 2, 2022
1) Grandal to IL, promote Carlos Perez
2) DFA Josh Harrison, promote Yolbert Sanchez
3) Option Gavin Sheets, promote Adam Haseley
That won't stop all of the bleeding, but it's at least something.
It is time to send Gavin Sheets back to Charlotte. Yes, you lose a left-handed power bat but he is currently not hitting. The White Sox had no problem moving on from Adam Eaton last season so it should not be a problem to move on from Josh Harrison.
They are already eating Dallas Keuchel’s considerable remaining salary so what does a few million more in dead money matter?
Yasmani Grandal could benefit from some extended time off. While we are at it, Yoan Moncada still looks hurt so maybe another IL stint will help.