Trying to perfect tanking: 2018 Chicago White Sox

thread title courtesy of https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2018/4/2/17187594/chicago-white-sox-redefining-tanking-cubs-astros

a pretty fun team? six home runs in their first game of the season, including three from matt davidson and two from tim anderson

The other good news is that this is the last Hawk year and Jason Benetti is awesome.

i think that title (which rany j presumably did not choose) is unreasonable

rebuilding is a long-standing practice -- they traded their dudes for high-ceiling prospects, not to deliberately be terrible and get high draft picks, like the sixers or whomever

i'd be more inclined to call whatever the marlins are doing 'tanking' except that i don't know if they are trying or even care about ultimately improving

Danny Farquhar suffered a brain hemorrhage last night and is in critical condition.

“He’s a fighter, and he’s in the fight of his life right now,’’ Chicago White Sox vice president Ken Williams said. “They had to do another surgery, cracking his skull open, and putting a clamp on it. My God.

“This certainly shows the fragility of life and how we take every day for granted. And it can change in a heartbeat. Literally.

“His wife and mother were at the game that night, and by the time they got to the clubhouse, he was already in an ambulance heading to the hospital. Can you imagine what they went through, and are still going through?’’

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2018/04/22/danny-farquhar-brain-aneurysm/540455002

First career HR:

LaMarre: "I’m not sure which uncle. I have a lot of them. But one of them caught the ball, which is crazy."

— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) August 15, 2018

kopech up tomorrow. not sure why, but his command has dramatically improved in the last six weeks -- should be intersting

maybe tim anderson is good after all

the Mets telecast just featured the phrase "White Sox legend Paul Konerko"

hate to say it, but maybe TLR wasn't the biggest problem?

they are pretty depressing. the pitching is bad all-around, their best players are constantly injured, there's still a lot of rando chaff guys in the lineup. robert started the season off hot but cooled off quickly. they made no moves at all in the offseason aside from losing abreu and signing benintendi. mostly there just doesn't seem to be any energy or motivation among the players, they should probably just go into rebuild mode at this point.

Tim Anderson is a free agent in 2024 as well.

i think they are cursed for continuing to employ mike clevinger

though the braves seem to get away with continuing to employ marcell ozuna, so who knows

xp oh yeah forgot that

Absolutely cursed 2 of those 7 wins are his starts 😑

Are we *sure* the #whitesox fired La Russa?

— Joe Sheehan (@joe_sheehan) April 26, 2023

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-white-sox-are-utterly-terrible/

took a no-hitter into the 7th inning and ended up losing 12-3 (to the rays, to be fair)

also pedro grifol pulled luis robert from the game for not hustling out a ground ball

someone hire ashlyn burger

Jake Burger said his wife analyzed video of his stance yesterday and made a correction. ‘She drew a whole diagram and everything. She was really proud of it, so I have to give her credit.”

“There was definitely a little issue with how I was setting up.”

— Daryl Van Schouwen (@CST_soxvan) July 3, 2023

i love it

i guess he's been hurt, but tim anderson is having an abysmal contract year

Off the field stuff too I think

not great

Filed to ESPN: Former White Sox reliever Keynan Middleton documents dysfunction as he saw it in Chicago. ‘No rules': Ex-White Sox pitcher rips club's culture https://t.co/Z03bbDpZE8

— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) August 7, 2023

Williams and Hahn are out

i almost made this joke last night

The Chicago White Sox have brought back Tony La Russa as a consultant, per @BNightengale.

— Daniel Greenberg (@ChiSportUpdates) August 23, 2023

OFFICIAL: Chris Getz has been named senior vice president/general manager of the Chicago White Sox. pic.twitter.com/MPjlDuI7p6

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) August 31, 2023

Ha

not much point in starting a new thread for the 2024 white sox. here is the expected rotation:

touki toussaint
garrett crochet
erick fedde
chris flexen
michael soroka

a real collection of "oh i think i recognize that name" guys
this team is going to be so depressing

have to say, crochet as the opening day starter does not bode well.

I hope his nickname is Needle.

this is getting very dark

currently on pace to be outscored by 550 runs

truly a dreadful team. they were going to be bad but then robert, jimenez and moncada all immediately got injured

I love following anything extreme, so glad you pointed this out--wow!

-- going into tonight's game, they'd hit eight home runs as a team; no one over two
-- seven of nine regulars between .069 and .222 (not much different than the Jays, actually)
-- .200/.273/.310 as a team
-- they look as hapless offensively as the '68 White Sox, who I often mention

This says as much about me as them, but of their 12 pictured WAR leaders on BRef, the only guy I know is Kevin Pillar. I see they have at least one good pitcher, Garret Crochet--maybe someone can nab him in a trade.

Tonight: shut out on four singles.

feel awful for (canadian!) RHP mike soroka

so many injuries, and now things are becoming brutal while playing for this awful team

43 runs scored in 20 games; the '68 White Sox (463 runs for the season) scored 45 in their first 20.

(Soroka deserved to win in one of his five starts; he's been pretty bad otherwise.)

Worst starts the past 100 years:

Baltimore Orioles (1988) - 2-23

CHICAGO WHITE SOX (2024) - 3-22

Cincinnati Reds (2022) - 3-22
Detroit Tigers (2003) - 3-22
St. Louis Browns (1936) - 4-21
Cleveland Indians (1969) - 4-21
Boston Red Sox (1932) - 4-21
Oakland Athletics (2023) - 5-20
Chicago White Sox (1948) - 5-20
Pittsburgh Pirates (1952) - 5-20
Kansas City Royals (2006) - 5-20
Kansas City Royals (2018) - 5-20
Philadelphia Phillies (1928) - 5-20
Houston Astros (1969) - 5-20
Montreal Expos (2004) - 5-20
Cincinnati Reds (2018) - 5-20
Chicago Cubs (1981) - 5-20
Milwaukee Brewers (1970) - 5-20
St. Louis Cardinals (1973) - 5-20
Chicago White Sox (1950) - 5-20
Kansas City Athletics (1965) - 5-20
Kansas City Royals (1992) - 5-20
Florida Marlins (1995) - 5-20

'62 Mets started 7-18.

I mentioned on another thread that the Astros (a consensus preseason top 3 pick to win the world series) are only 3.5 games ahead of the CWS... yikes.

#freedusty

Two of those teams, the '69 Astros and '73 Cards, managed to finish at 81-81. Farther down the list, the '86 Reds and '96 Red Sox started 6-19 and finished with 86/85 wins.

https://champsorchumps.us/records/worst-mlb-regular-season-records-through-25-games

The Astros this year are such a weird mix of extremes.

White Sox blew a 5-1 lead to the Cubs tonight: 13 losses in a row, 15-47. That puts them on pace to finish 39-123, one game worse than the '62 Mets.

They're even worse when you remove their two good starters, Croche and Fedde. (Sounds like some kind of niche store in a pricey mall.) Those two guys are 9-6 with a combined ERA ~ 3.25; they're 6-41 otherwise. Not sure of their record in games started by those two.

No way they both finish the season in Chicago--guessing they'll trade Fedde, who's six years older.

i read a couple days ago that San Diego is looking into Crochet

Passan said they’re also interested in trading Luis Robert Jr, who I think is rehabbing rn.

robert has been back for a couple of days. they have him under contract for a few more years so he might not get traded.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/06/white-sox-trade-rumors-luis-robert-garrett-crochet.html

Yeah they have him under a really nice deal but they would likely get a good haul of prospects for him for a rebuild if they traded him. They have some high ranked prospects but some aren’t close to ready and the rest of the farm seems to be pitching heavy so they might decide to fill up their farm that way to accelerate the process.

https://www.mlb.com/prospects/top100/

Their is clearly one better team in the battle of the Soxes.

Their's no there their.

7-31 on the road

This is called "hitting for the cycle" https://t.co/ua7HoHKjjd

— Patrick Nolan (@SoxMach_pnoles) April 11, 2024

currently celebrating carlton fisk (they're 27-72)

Bill Veeck would have been all over that as a promotion

Wilbur Wood's still alive. They should be celebrating Wilbur Wood.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Chicago White Sox haven't had a record this bad in more than a half-century. They are now on pace to match the most losses in baseball's modern era.

With their 10-2 loss Wednesday night at the Texas Rangers, the White Sox (27-77) have dropped 10 in a row and are now 50 games under .500 for the first time since finishing 56-106 in 1970.

They are the first team since the expansion Mets in 1962 to lose 77 of their first 104 games -- and New York that year went on to a record 120 losses.

17 straight losses

13 GB the rockies for 29th place

He's only thrown 115 innings (he might get to 162), but I wonder if there's been a starter as good as Garrett Crochet on a team this bad since Carlton in '72. (The Phillies were 30-85 that year in games not started by Carlton--almost identical to Chicago's 27-84 right now.)

They're getting close to some modern-day losing-streak records:

https://fansided.com/posts/longest-losing-streak-mlb-history-white-sox

After three with Minnesota, they have three with Oakland--they'll have to marshall every last ounce of their awfulness to get through those three games without a win.

Oakland are approaching 40, I’m seriously doubting if the White Sox will hit 30 before September

A's are 45-65, they must have passed 40 a couple of weeks ago. Marlins and Rockies have 40 wins each.

Funny thing is, the '62 Mets had a few famously loveable players: Marv Throneberry, Choo-Choo Coleman, Roger Craig, plus a couple of HOF'ers (Gil Hodges and Richie Ashburn), plus other names fans would remember (Clem Labine, Ed Kranepool, Don Zimmer, etc.). The White Sox have no...cultural cachet?

Oh, and their loveable HOF manager.

(Did the White Sox have any success after La Russa's recent departure? Can this all be pinned on him?)

as recently as a few years ago they looked like they were going to be great for the near future. in 2020 they had jose abreu, tim anderson, yoan moncada, eloy jimenez, yasmani grandal, luis robert, edwin encarnacion, nick madrigal, and yermin mercedes, among others, plus a pitching lineup with dylan cease, lucas giolito, reynaldo lopez, carlos rodon, and dallas keuchel as SPs, plus alex colome, aaron bummer, steve cishek, and a just-drafted garrett crochet. i know some of the fall-off was due to injuries (e.g. eloy is basically always hurt) but it's insane how many of these guys just turned horrible at some point for no discernible reason - keuchel was immediately bad in chicago, moncada never really hit a good stride, but anderson and abreu both had such sudden drop-offs after being great for several seasons. i don't know how much you can blame larussa for but he did destroy yermin mercedes' hot streak.

A's are 45-65, they must have passed 40 a couple of weeks ago. Marlins and Rockies have 40 wins each.

NA otm -- this team was built to succeed, not tank. and yet here we are (with them wanting a new ballpark, no less)

18 in a row.

19...MLB.com doesn't even include it as a sidebar story.

why would mlb.com feature the chisox sucking when it could instead troll you by mentioning ohtani doing something incredible?

i mean, i'm all in on the white sox being terrible, but you really have some issues with anyone who doesn't have your exact tastes

it's cool tho -- they've got judge in there too

It was actually your revival of this thread that got me interested again in a story I'd lost track of. I mention the omission as...something I noticed? The absence of possible history in the making? (I remember what a story the Orioles' streak was in '88.)

Anyone want to take issue with some stuff I posted about The Americans a few minutes ago? Come on in.

Thanks for the invite, just took issue with your memory in that thread. Please respond (preferably with a zing) by COB, (5pm, EST).

Already down 7-0 in the second. This is going to end up being the reverse of the Moneyball streak: they'll get right to where they're ready to tie the record, fall behind 11-0, then come back to win.

20. I've got CNN on right now, and I don't understand why they're not covering this.

oh dear

xp i hope defector is following closely enough for you: https://defector.com/tag/chicago-white-sox

Still plenty of time for a 9th inning turn around from these scrappy fight-to-the-bitter-end white sox

Only streak like this I've ever experienced following the sport was the Chris Davis O's streak. This feels....... much worse

rip

https://i.imgur.com/pJW3kTN.png

They're playing Vargas 1st in the order!? Yeah, things aren't great are they

And he has the 3rd highest slug..... wow

tbf he's . . . among their better OPB guys

Hope I demonstrate just the right amount of interest here for our resident watchdog--somewhere between mlb.com-level and something called defector--but amazing. Posnanski'post today had a lot on Snell and a lot on the White Sox:

Here’s how long ago July 10 was: I can barely remember what the world was like then. On July 10, Joe Biden was definitely still running for president, and there had not yet been an assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life.

July 10 was also the last time that the Chicago White Sox won a game.

I don't know why, but I just feel like they're going to somehow win one of their next two games and fall short of 23. But I think they'll win fewer than 40 for the year.

Hmmmmmmmmm still feel like that post demonstrates all the issues you have with people who don't have your exact taste. Please temper your interests further

lol okay i submit. incredible subhed

https://i.imgur.com/2Hpv3nT.png

my apologies

<3

top story in the espn dot com headlines yet 75% down the page on tsn

(below the hammer-thrower guy, thank god; he rules)

The white sox have more blown saves than wins

Chicag Oh No

2 ahead in the 6th. Come on sox, you can blow this!

So notable that Passan tweeted about it

The Chicago White Sox have finally won, beating the Oakland A’s, 5-1, to snap their 21-game losing streak. Their record improves to 28-88.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 7, 2024

That's the way sox, don't let yesterday get to you, you CAN build the streak again!

Grifol sacked, story here

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/40777036/white-sox-fire-manager-pedro-grifol-al-record-tying-skid

CHICAGO -- The Chicago White Sox, who tied an American League record this month with a 21-game losing streak, fired manager Pedro Grifol on Thursday.

The White did not name an interim replacement for Grifol, but announced that their next fulltime manager is "expected to be announced after the conclusion of the 2024 season."

Trying to figure out the timing...they wanted to fire him three weeks ago, but they thought they'd let him go out on a high note after a win, so they waited and waited, but they didn't want to do it the day after a win, so they waited an extra day, and now they're worried about another long losing streak and repeating the cycle. That must be it.

I think they clearly don’t know what they’re doing or why they’re doing it but nonetheless

they really need a dynamic, motivational manager to bring the spark back to this team, so that's why i'm calling on the white sox to rehire tony larussa

Bobby Valentine still alive?

obviously this mess is not really grifol's fault but he also did not seem like a very good manager
local sports radio wants them to hire aj pierzynski or david ross

Ugh I guess one advantage of them getting AJ Pierzynski is that Foul Territory might actually be watchable, the man is just awful at broadcasting. Otm re it not being his fault but you know, at least he’s free from the cycle now

interim manager Grady Sizemore

they also fired most of their other coaches

crazy that Sizemore is still young enough that in another universe he'd be on a retirement tour now, winding things down as a pinch hitter.

his post-playing career is interesting:

In February 2017, the Indians hired Sizemore as a special advisor to the team's player development department in the front office.[37] He stepped away from the position so that he could devote his time to his young children.[38]

In 2023, Sizemore asked Josh Barfield, his former teammate who was the director of player development for the Arizona Diamondbacks, about joining the organization. All positions were full, and Sizemore accepted a $15-an-hour internship with Mike Hazen, the general manager for the Diamondbacks, for the 2023 season. After the season, Barfield became assistant general manager for the White Sox, and he recommended Sizemore for a position. The White Sox hired Sizemore to their coaching staff for the 2024 season.[39]

Was Jim Riggleman unavailable?

grady sizemore intentionally walked juan soto to get to aaron judge

this should go without saying but aaron judge then homered

4-40 since july 10

i hear they have 3 seperate 10+ losing streaks this year. The other 29 teams? 1.

there can't bee too many teams who have had three separate double-digit losing streaks

now 3-19 under (ayo morbs) grady sizemore

the guy they ran out against baltimore last night, nick nastrini, is not having a great rookie season

in eight starts he's 0-7, 7.79 with 32 walks in 32.1 IP

last night he threw 72 pitches (30 strikes) to get five outs

Chris Flexen hasn't won a game since May 8, and has started 20 straight games that the White Sox have lost.

And he didn't play tonight in their win. Sizemore might be reading you posts JoeStork

the AL Central, as a whole, is 34 games under .500 and its run differential is -69

four of its five teams have winning records and their collective run differential is +243

the white sox are 51 games out of first and 42 games out of fourth in the AL Central

they're 21 games behind the marlins for 29th overall, and 31 games behind the athletics, who aren't even trying

all but five teams have literally won twice as many games, including the jays

it is incredible

I’m really rooting for them to break the modern loss record. After today they have 12 games left. If they go .500 or worse they’ll break the record. They’re playing the Angels but also the Padres and Tigers, both of which are playing for something

This White Sox account I follow is having fun with it

The casket cooler for the White Sox funeral has arrived pic.twitter.com/RD2jR1UDCL

— SouthSide Behavior (@SSBehavior) September 14, 2024

WHITE SOX LOSE #115 LFG!! AND WE’RE GONNA SUCK FOREVER! pic.twitter.com/wtgFSXzLYt

— SouthSide Behavior (@SSBehavior) September 14, 2024

they've won two in a row for the first time since june

They'll always have the 2024 season series vs. ATL to look back on fondly.

Really nice piece by Jeff Passan who followed the team to see how they have reacted to this season.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/41276213/mlb-2024-white-sox-worst-team-mlb-history-clubhouse-24-hours

LOSING AT ANYTHING takes a toll. It irradiates self-worth. It evaporates motivation. Athletes in particular spend their entire lives building up psyches strong enough to spare them from the vagaries of failure. Every major league player has been felled and gotten back up. Anyone who reaches the big leagues has inherently won. Which makes this all so particularly diabolical. The night before Martin's start, Sean Burke, a big, talented right-hander, made his major league debut in relief. He allowed one unearned run over three innings, but the loss still gnawed at him.

"I've been all around winning teams my whole life," Burke said. "I won when I was 9 years old in Little League. I won when I was in high school. I won when I was in college. This is kind of the first time I've been on a team that hasn't been winning a ton."

117 losses with 9 games to go, seems like they’ll almost definitely break the record

obviously he's trying to avoid responsibility, but nevertheless a great quote from kenny williams:

Asked about La Russa’s nearly two seasons as manager, Williams said, “I don’t yet have a way to talk about that period of time because it takes me to a bad place, and it will take me from the person I aspire to be.”

An owner who ‘thinks he knows everything’ led the White Sox to historic disaster ($)

Never thought I'd live to see a team lose more than 120 games, the living members of the '62 Mets should get together to pop champagne corks and spray each other with whipped cream.

120.

THE WHITE SOX LOSE SPECIAL #120

HISTORICALLY AWFUL!!! pic.twitter.com/ttrB0LeHlr

— SouthSide Behavior (@SSBehavior) September 22, 2024

*very spoken word artist voice*

their voices are like music

“As long as Jerry’s there, there’s going to be an effort to improve,” Harrelson said. “It’s just that simple.”

https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2024/09/12194937/USATSI_23367868-2048x1365.jpg

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5760647/2024/09/13/hawk-harrelson-white-sox-wont-watch/

😎

A shot at 40

They really really really don’t want 121.

not gonna lie I bet this feels pretty nice for them

sweeping the angels is one thing, sweeping the white-hot tigers is another

Sox have a winning record in their last 11 games

what a moment

40!