That’s putting it mildly. They’ve been playing pretty damn shitty baseball for the last month.
Damn, I see they lost today, too. Ugh. WTF?
Though the Sox lost again, I have to say Jonathan Cannon pitched a really good game for them. Not bad for a pretty fresh rookie.
Back below .250!
On pace for: 40-122
The Chisox play Arizona this weekend, which wouldn’t be the most intimidating opponent for a real team, but everyone is great compared to the Sox. Both Erick Fedde and Garret Crochet pitch this weekend so a decent chance for a win.
At the time he came to the Yanks he was in the small minority of players in the league that were hitting above .300. He was something they were missing, a contact hitter who got on base for their sluggers. Although he didn’t do as well when he came over and then broke his hand they still wanted him. He just asked for way too much money. The White Sox gave it to him.
I saw a post on Facebook today, which noted this:
Three years ago, the White Sox won 93 games, and won the AL Central. Their starting lineup from Game 1 of the ALDS (note: adjectives used are by the person who created the post, not me; my notes are in parentheses)
- Tim Anderson: unemployed (was designated for assignment by the Marlins yesterday)
- Yoan Moncada: always hurt (currently on the 60 day IL, and has only played in 11 games this season, after missing almost half of 2023)
- Jose Abreu: unemployed (was released by the Astros last month, after hitting .124 this season; he’s 37, and may well be done)
- Yasmani Grandal: completely washed (has played in 38 games for the Pirates this season, and is batting .174)
- Luis Robert Jr: good (hitting only .215 this year, but he won a Silver Slugger last year)
- Eloy Jimenez: always hurt (already missed 40+ games this season, 40 games last year, and 80 games in '22; hitting only .239 this year, which is actually not bad by White Sox standards)
- Gavin Sheets: meh (hitting .235 this year; has not had a positive bWAR since 2021)
- Adam Engel: out of baseball (spent most of 2023 with the Mariners’ AAA team; retired after the season)
- Leury Garcia: in AAA (out of baseball in 2023; currently in the Braves’ minor-league system)
Also of note: Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet was named the AL Pitcher of the Month for June; he was only 1-1 (because the Sox are terrible), but he had a 1.91 ERA with 56 strikeouts in 6 starts during the month. It’s pretty much a given that he’ll be traded away soon.
The Blue Jays are a year away from similar collapse. At least Vladimir Guerrero is still really good.
I expect most Jays veterans to be dealt this month. I won’t guarantee it though. The team has an issue with accountability and they still won’t admit the team is out of contention.
This is I suspect because the GM, Ross Atkins, is trying to retain his job as long as possible. If he admits the team is dead, logically he’s the one who failed. So, my concern is that in his ongoing campaign of not admitting things are going wrong, he will refuse to trade away veterans (since that would be implying things are going wrong) and they’ll just blunder along to a 72-90 record and have no young players to show for it.
Hard to believe now that at one point both Moncada and Benintendi were top 5 prospects for the Red Sox.
ChiSox continue their less-than-stellar play after the All-Star break, getting swept in Kansas City. The 3 losses extended their losing streak to 7 games. They have now been swept in 14 series this season.
Their bullpen leads the majors with 24 blown saves and 33 losses.
And, it’s all but inevitable that their two best players – starting pitchers Garrett Crochet and Erick Fedde – will be ex-Sox by next week (the trade deadline is next Tuesday, the 30th).
They still have a shot at 121 wins but they do have to get worse. Currently on pace for 119.
by 2027
Got me.
The Onion is on the case:
The Mariners are playing the White Sox right now. The score is 8-0.
It’s the first inning still.
The last 3 batters for the Mariners have hit back-to-back-to-back home runs (as I type this).
The Sox rallied and allowed only two runs the rest of the game. Final was 10-0.
That was the 12th straight loss for the Sox and the 13th time they’ve been shut out this season. They are now 27-79 and trail first-place Cleveland by 36 1/2 games. They are 52 or more games under .500 for the first time they were 49-102 in 1932.
The Sox lost a 13th straight to go to 27-80. Now on pace for 41-121! History beckons!
Barring a last season surge to 50-112 or something we have to start assessing their place amongst the all time worst teams. Even excluding the 19th century, when baseball was a bit less professional, or Negro League teams, who played shorter seasons and didn’t have the same roster and contract conventions, here have been teams with worse winning percentages, such as the 1916 A’s.
I’d think we have to consider a few factors besides winning percentage, though that’s the top one:
- Winning percentage
- The team’s EXPECTED winning percentage - e.g. were they really that bad or just a bit unlucky?
- Presence of actual good individual performances or Hall of Fame players, so the fans can have something to cheer for,
- Exciting rookies. A terrible team with an exciting rookie at least has promise, and
- Offense; a team that is awful but can score a few runs is at least a bit exciting.
The White Sox:
- Have a .252 winning percentage. Only three modern teams have done worse - the 1916 A’s, 1935 Braves, and 1962 Mets.
- Are unlucky by a 3-game margin. Not much, but a little. The 1962 Mets were very unlucky, as they won 40 games but really should have won 50. The 1935 Braves were unlucky by TWELVE games, a huge total. The 1916 A’s by five. (Almost all terrible teams are a bit unlucky.) So the White Sox “win” for misery here.
- The White Sox have no apparent Hall of Famers; they have a couple of good starting pitchers but might trade them (I do not understand the rush to trade Garrett Crochet) but it’s not like either is blowing the league away.
- If the Sox have any thrilling rookies, I cannot name them.
- The Sox are not just the worst offense in baseball; they might actually be the worst offense in the history of the major leagues. The team has basically no above average hitters AT ALL; Luis Robert and Tommy Pham are perhaps a tiny bit above that line, but would be below average for outfielders.
To give you some idea of how bad the White Sox offense is, the average MLB team scores 4.39 runs a game, which is a bit low. The second worst MLB team is Miami; they have scored 3.63 runs a game. Chicago is at 3.06. They are further below Miami than Miami is below the nine teams ahead of them. They are 30 percent below average, a staggering figure. They have a team OPS+ of 75, which I can’t recall ever seeing before.
I don’t have time to figure out how to run a report but I cannot think of a worse offense, ever. The 2010 Mariners were REALLY bad, but they were not quite this bad.
Is it wrong to be kind of rooting for it at this point?
Not at all. It’s kinda like Hunter S. Thompson and drug collections. You want to see just how far you can push it.
When was the last time a team hadn’t won 30 games by the All-Star Break?
I remember when the Cleveland Browns were 1-31 and they were so bad it turned from a badge of shame to a badge of pride. When your team is making history, even when it’s for something negative, that in itself can be exciting.
I mean, the fans actually threw a damn parade, LOL.
Plus the stress goes away after a while. Once you accept your team is bad, the losses are easier to handle.