3 reasons it is a bad idea the Chicago White Sox promoted Chris Getz
By Todd Welter
![SCHAUMBURG, IL - JULY 30: Garrett Crochet of the Chicago White Sox speaks with White Sox Director of Player Development Chris Getz during an MLB taxi squad workout on July 30, 2020 at Boomers Stadium in Schaumburg, Illinois. Crochet was selected 11th overall by the Chicago White Sox in the 2020 Major League Baseball draft as their first round draft pick. (Photo by Ron Vesely/Getty Images) SCHAUMBURG, IL - JULY 30: Garrett Crochet of the Chicago White Sox speaks with White Sox Director of Player Development Chris Getz during an MLB taxi squad workout on July 30, 2020 at Boomers Stadium in Schaumburg, Illinois. Crochet was selected 11th overall by the Chicago White Sox in the 2020 Major League Baseball draft as their first round draft pick. (Photo by Ron Vesely/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/66b5b09cfb097095069a8999d915682850e2b320c5b767f51e263a94674c1c56.jpg)
The Chicago White Sox continue to be an insular franchise.
Reinsdorf is notoriously loyal. It has become his greatest strength as an owner but also his biggest weakness. His loyalty to Kenny and Rick is what allowed the Chicago White Sox to decline in the first place. Well, also being cheap helped.
Being loyal to both led to a dysfunctional front office where no one was really sure who was in charge.
This is not the first time Reinsdorf has tapped a former player to run the team.
Ron Schueler helped build those successful 1990s teams in Chicago. He played a couple of seasons for the Sox. After that, he was part of some other organization’s front offices and then Reinsdorf hired him to replace Larry Himes.
Kenny also played for the Sox and took over for Schueler. All Williams did at the beginning of his tenure was build a World Series-winning roster.
The problem is those hires were 20 and 30 years ago. Jerry’s recent track record of hiring good front-office people has been spotty at best.
The game has evolved to the point where a team needs to make significant investments in scouting and development. The Chicago White Sox have been behind the times in that area.
Maybe that is why Reinsdorf did not want to interview a ton of candidates. They probably all would have told him you need to spend more money in those two areas along with the team being put on the field.
We already know how much Reinsdorf distastes the current economic model in baseball. Getz will probably not rock the boat or make the financial demands to improve the club as an outsider would. Jerry gains loyalty by going with people he knows, and they do not question him.
Schueler never questioned him and publicly carried out the infamous white flag trades in 1997. Hahn never put up much of a fight, at least in public, when Reinsdorf kept putting budget restrictions on him during a contention window.
There it is
— Herb Lawrence (@Ecnerwal23) August 31, 2023
Bad owner hires unqualified employee to run the baseball team
The #WhiteSox continue to be an unserious organization & the laughingstock of Major League Baseball https://t.co/aeMaWHRFLZ
If the White Sox went about their business like the Tampa Bay Rays or the Los Angeles Dodgers, then the organization would get the benefit of the doubt of staying in-house. The team instead runs things like the Royals–being cheap and mediocre. Maybe that is why Reinsdorf likes hiring his power brokers from that organization.