Last season was an absolute disaster for the Chicago White Sox. Despite coming off two straight years of being in the postseason, the team was mediocre all season. All year they showed no fight and could never get any consistency going. While manager Tony LaRussa was clearly past his prime, when he was out with health issues, we saw what kind of team they really were. I think it’s safe to say that the Chicago White Sox rebuild has been a failure.
For the better part of 11 seasons, the White Sox have been rebuilding. During that time, they were able to acquire many talented players like Tim Anderson, Jose Abreu, Luis Robert, Dylan Cease, and more. It eventually all paid off with an appearance in the postseason in 2020. Prior to that appearance, the south side hadn’t seen October baseball since 2008. Despite losing to the Oakland Athletics in the wild-card game, the White Sox had a lot to hang their hats on. Jose Abreu won AL MVP, Eloy Jimenez and Tim Anderson won Silver Slugger awards, and Luis Robert won a Gold Glove award. Also, pitchers Dallas Keuchel and Lucas Giolito all received votes for the AL CY Young award.
In 2021, it seemed as though everything that the White Sox spent the past 11 years building was coming together. The Sox cruised to a 93-69 record and an AL Central division title; this was the White Sox first division win since 2008. It was also the first time in franchise history that the White Sox went to the postseason in consecutive years. Their 93-69 record was also the sixth-best record in baseball. Only the Brewers, Dodgers, Giants, Astros and Rays finished with better records in the regular season.
However, the White Sox once again had an early postseason exit, this time in the ALDS to the Houston Astros. However, the Sox once again had another very accomplishing year. Tim Anderson, Liam Hendriks, Carlos Rodon, and Lance Lynn were all selected to the All-Star team. Dallas Keuchel even won a Gold Glove and closer Liam Hendriks was selected to the All-MLB first team. The future was looking very bright for the Chicago White Sox.
Going into the 2022 season, most people expected the White Sox to be serious postseason contenders. After all, the division was weak and the White Sox on paper had the most talented roster in the AL Central. However, the White Sox finished with a disappointing 81-81 and missed the postseason. All season, the Sox looked flat and were oftentimes not very competitive. The White Sox opponents outscored them by 31 runs and were 31-36 against teams with a .500 or better record.
Wrong Manager Hire
One of the things that the White Sox got wrong in the rebuild was the manager. After the 2020 season, the White Sox opted to fire Rick Renteria after four years at the helm and a 236-309 record. Despite top available candidates like AJ Hinch the White Sox opted to hire 76-year-old hall-of-fame manager Tony LaRussa. LaRussa hadn’t managed since 2011 and this was widely seen as a personal hire by White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf. Some say Reinsdorf felt bad about firing him in 1986 after seeing him have all that success with the Athletics and Cardinals. Critics were also concerned about his ability to relate to players.
This hiring reminded me of a scene in the movie “Any Given Sunday.” In that scene, Tony D’Amato (Al Pacino) approached Willie Beaman (Jamie Foxx) and asked him about the music he was listening to. When Beaman answered Trick Daddy, D’Amato had no idea who that was. This can easily be applied to LaRussa taking over a then very young club.
LaRussa looked like a poor fit for this club from the start. It all came to head in 2021 when LaRussa and Yermin Mercedes clashed over baseball’s “unwritten rules.” The apparent crime was when Mercedes crushed a 429-foot home run off Minnesota Twins position player Willians Astudillo. The Sox were clobbering the Twins 15-4 and LaRussa apparently didn’t want him to swing at all. This ended up being a clash that sparked unnecessary distracting headlines for a team that was off to a good 25-17 start. This clearly showed the early signs of the game-changing on Tony LaRussa and his failure to go evolve with it.
At almost the same time that season, LaRussa admitted that he didn’t know the runner on second base extra innings rule. This occurred in a 1-0 extra innings loss to the Cincinnati Reds. In that game, LaRussa decided to pull Andrew Vaughn and put in Liam Hendriks on second base to begin the inning. He could’ve put Jose Abreu on base instead of a pitcher.
Despite the issues, the White Sox blew out Cleveland for their first division title since 2008. However, the White Sox had a record of only 27-29 against teams with a .500 or better record. They also had just an 18-24 record in games decided by just one run. They won their division because all the other teams had records below .500. Aside from the White Sox, the next best team in that division was Cleveland at 80-82.
The White Sox were clearly outmatched in their playoff matchup against the Houston Astros. They would bow out in four games and only scored a grand total of two runs in those games. Houston pitching dominated the White Sox offense.
This past season, the mistake of luring Tony LaRussa out of retirement blew up in the White Sox face. He once again proved the critics right by showing that the game had indeed gotten away from him. The team itself also lacked any real determination or effort all season long. It seemed obvious that the team was tired of LaRussa’s act. LaRussa also didn’t make it through his second season on the south side as health issues sidelined him for the last 34 games of the season. Even with interim manager Miguel Cairo, the White Sox still lacked real determination on the field. The Sox would go 18-16 in those last 34 games under Cairo.
Unwillingness To Spend
Over the years, talent development has been anything but linear. This means that to contend for a World Series title, adding top talent in free agency is necessary. However, for some reason, the White Sox have refused to pay the big dollars for those kinds of players. Top talents like Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Gerrit Cole, and more have all been available and would have made major impacts. Despite premium players being available, the White Sox never made any real pursuit of them.
Instead, we’ve seen them sign Josh Harrison, Dallas Keuchel, Yasmani Grandal, AJ Pollock, James McCann, Gio Gonzalez, Steve Cishek, Vince Velasquez, and Kendall Graveman. Most of these players are no longer with the team as they did not make any major impact. The only signing that has given the Sox some dividends is Graveman.
While the White Sox made some questionable free-agent signings, the worst mistake they made was in whom they chose not to retain. The player that comes to mind is Carlos Rodon. After having many injury issues, Rodon put together a career season in 2021 which netted him an All-Star selection. After his team-friendly deal rant out, the White Sox let him sign with the Giants in free agency. This past season was even better than 2021 as he was healthy from the beginning of the year to the end. He set career numbers in innings and strikeouts and was selected for another All-Star game.
An Aging Roster And A Dried Up Minor League System
The White Sox are no longer a young team. The average roster age is now 29.76 which is the fourth oldest team in all of baseball. Only the Mets, Yankees, and Nationals have rosters older than the Chicago White Sox. The farm system that at one point was just outside the top five in the rankings and bubbling with talent has dried up. In 2022, experts ranked them near the bottom of the league. At the beginning of last season, their system ranked last in all of baseball. In 2022, they only had one player ranked in the top 100.
Injuries
While everything can’t be pinned on injuries, the White Sox had horrible luck when it came to keeping players healthy. In the past two seasons, Sox players have spent over 2,629 days on the injured list. Once promising players like Luis Robert, Eloy Jimenez, Yoan Moncada, and more have spent more time on the injured list than on the field. It should be noted that Jimenez hasn’t played in more than 100 games since his rookie year.
Talent Regression
In 2021, the White Sox had an offense that was ranked in the top ten in baseball statistically. In 2022, the Sox offense dropped to 18th. Also, despite having many power hitters in the line-up, the White Sox had an apparent power outage. As a team, they combined to hit only 149 home runs and only the Rockies, Marlins, Rays, Royals, Tigers, Athletics, Nationals and Guardians hit less.
The Sox pitching staff was ranked in the top five in baseball in 2021. As a team, they only had a combined ERA of 3.73. Only the Dodgers, Giants, Brewers and Rays had lower earned run averages. In 2022, the Sox pitching staff dropped to 16th and they never seemed to get any consistency in the rotation. The only individual pitcher to have consistent success in 2022 was Dylan Cease.
In Post Mortem
This rebuild has only resulted in two playoff wins for the Chicago White Sox. While injuries are to blame, the front office and ownership don’t get away without blame. Owner Jerry Reinsdorf and General Manager Rick Hahn are responsible for failing to build around the core they developed. Reinsdorf’s unwillingness to spend on top talent has been dooming the Sox for years and this situation isn’t any different. Despite having better and more up-to-date managers to hire, the Sox went backward with the LaRussa hire. With new manager Pedro Grifol now the new skipper, it may be their last chance to show any meaningful results. As their roster currently stands, their failure is just about complete.
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3 Comments
your article was good .. the rebuild was at least 8 years.. ventura/renteria were not guven enough
Reinsdorf clearly didn’t care about what was best for the White Sox with the La Russa hire. Friendship mattered more to him! This was no different than if the Bears hired back Mike Ditka to be head coach! The team showed no determination, but did La Russa ever do anything to address this? Not just lack of determination, but nonstop, amateurish fielding and baserunning mistakes that would not be acceptable at a minor league level! Engaged managers would have nipped these issues in the bud! La Russa thought that his job was just to sit around collecting a paycheck! Ownership and management’s way of plugging holes in the roster was to sign players with expired shelf lives, players who were released from other teams because they were past the use by date! Fans who patiently listened to talk of Victory Parades to come have every right to feel betrayed and lied to!
We all came into 2022 expecting the White Sox to play like gangbusters! Actually, what happened in 2022 shouldn’t be a surprise! 2022 picked up where 2021 left off. After being 54-35 at the 2021 All Star Break, the Sox were barely over .500 the whole second half of 2021! This cost them home field in the playoffs! Something clearly hasn’t been right with the team since the 2021 All Star Break!