For as far back as I can remember (I'm 34 years old), the Chicago White Sox have been in a precarious situation and there is no foreseeable way out in the near future. That situation, of course, is that they play second fiddle to the Cubs, whose fanbase is not only greater in number, but also seems to care less about the team's record when deciding whether or not to buy baseball tickets. The White Sox, therefore, have to win games, or else, they don't draw fans or maximize profits.
This entails that the Sox, quite literally, can't afford to put together successive losing seasons in order to put on a full rebuild. And, unfortunately, for the 3rd time since the 2007 season, I am going to write a column opining for exactly that.
The Sox's front office is handcuffed. They can't throw big money to lure the top-notch free agents, and when they land the second tier free agents, bad things usually happen. Four years ago, Adam Dunn was Exhibit A, and this season, Melky Cabrera and Adam LaRoche are challenging to be 1A and 1B. Through 40 games, Cabrera, who signed a 3-year $42 million contract, has posted a .570 OPS and -0.3 WAR, and LaRoche (2-years, $25 million) has a .712 OPS (almost .100 points below his career average). I should note, to be fair, that David Robertson is having a spectacular season and figures to be the most successful big money free agent the White Sox have signed since inking Albert Belle back in 1997.
As a rule of thumb, I try to withhold judgement on Major League Baseball players and teams until Memorial Day, to gather a decent sample size. On the day before Memorial Day, the White Sox have scored the fewest runs in the American League and second fewest overall. They have the fewest home runs, fewest triples, and second fewest doubles in the A.L., so it should go as no surprise that their team dead last team SLG% of .358 is 40 points below league average. They posses a paltry .666 OPS.
The White Sox have the second fewest walks in the A.L, too and of recent, have begun striking out at alarming rates. In a recent 4-game home series vs the Indians in which the Sox lost 3 games and scored 8 runs total, the team struck out 42 times with only 11 walks. Not only are the Sox failing at epic rates to reach base, but they are making outs at sickening rates even when they do reach. They've stolen only 9 bases while getting thrown out 12 times (dead last in MLB), have been picked off once, and have 19 outs on the basepaths (third worst in MLB). They're baserunning is flat out atrocious.
Chicago's south side team has a -34 run differential and play in the same division as the Kansas City Royals, who at +70 own the best record in MLB. Not too far behind Kansas City is Detroit's Tigers, who have some issues of their own but will figure to sit comfortably in second place for some time. I thought the Sox could win at least 86 games and contend for a Wild Card spot this year, but it was probably naive of me to think a team featuring Tyler Flowers and Conor Gillaspie in the every day lineup and John Danks and Hector Noesi at the back of the rotation could possibly finish that many games over .500. I wasn't counting on those four players to contribute much anyway, but I was counting on guys like Chris Sale, Adam Eaton, Jeff Samardzija, and Alexei Ramirez to play a high level, and, frankly, they have disappointed.
In 2013, I wrote that the White Sox's rebuild is 6 years over due, and detailed how much different the team could be had they traded valuable veterans such as Jermaine Dye, Mark Buehrle, Jim Thome, Paul Konerko, A.J. Pierzynski, and Matt Thornton back in 2007, when they finished 72-90. In addition to saving hundreds of millions of dollars by avoiding paying those players and signing expensive free agents, the Sox would have replenished their minors and, I firmly believe, would have one of the best young teams in the American League right now.
The 2015 Chicago White Sox are an underwhelming bunch and there is little hope of turning this season around. There are two obvious players on the roster who could help the Sox get younger and shore up positions of dire need (catcher and third base, to start)--Samardzija and Ramirez. The sooner they advertise themselves as sellers the better, as teams are more likely to give up more talent in early June as opposed to late July, since their newly acquired veterans get to play more games for their franchise. Cabrera and LaRoche are two players I wouldn't mind see go, however, their value is almost zero and the Sox would have to pay a significant portion of their remaining salaries which is something they seldom show any interest in doing.
Should the White Sox entertain offer for Sale, Robertson, Jose Quinana, and Jose Abreu? I believe they should. If they are going into full-rebuild mode (as I believe they should), they are not likely to be contending again while those players are under contract. Sale, in particular, would be worth a king's ransom in the trade market. The Sox could easily pick up 5 or 6 young players for him, and at least 4 of them would be the other team's top prospects.
But alas, this is a fanciful wish, because the White Sox know that by going into full rebuild mode, they will fail to draw fans to the park. So instead, they'll throw bad money onto bad money. They'll try to shore up a weakness by trading one of their few remaining worthwhile prospects for marginal Major Leaguer. They'll lose Samardzija for nothing in December, and they'll hang onto guys like Sale and Abreu for years until their age (and value) diminish and they won't win nary a playoff game in the process. If White Sox ownership could deal with two or three bad years at the turnstiles, they could significantly improve their future chances at a Championship. But they can't. And they won't.
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