White Sox toughest year of the rebuild will soon be over as the team is close to losing 100 games but could finish with another top-five draft pick for 2019.
White Sox fans have seen it all this season. From injuries to top pitching prospects, stalled promotions and surprising players, the end result will be another 95-plus loss season. In the second year of the team’s current rebuild, this will be remembered as its worst.
Entering this season, many Sox fans embraced another losing year on the Southside. Although I had rather foolish ambitions before the start of the season, the Sox played how they were supposed to as a team full of many young unproven players.
The Sox had some memorable moments this season despite their win-loss record. Reynaldo Lopez showed he’s capable of being a force at the top of the pitching rotation moving forward. Down the stretch, Lopez had his best starts against playoff teams in the New York Yankees and the Cubs.
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Throughout this season, Sox fans grew with the team through its bad and good stretches. There were players who struggled mightily for most of the season in Yoan Moncada. But there were others such as Tim Anderson who improved drastically on defense, and Daniel Palka who captured the hearts of many Sox fans with his team-record four pinch-hit home runs.
Carlos Rodon had a dominant stretch of starts before he struggled in September. James Shields will possibly be picked up by a team in need of a durable starter after his serviceable year on the mound with the Sox. Just when Sox fans had hopes of a great future featuring Michael Kopech, their dreams were put on hold after he needed to get Tommy John surgery.
While White Sox fans were disagreeing on the promotion of Eloy Jimenez, the front office made the decision to wait until next year so the young player could continue working on his ‘defense’. Jimenez had a special season in the minors in 2018, but he didn’t get a chance to play against the team that originally signed him out of the Dominican Republic this past weekend.
There are brighter days ahead for the Sox. Many fans might not believe the worst of the rebuild is behind this franchise, but there’s hope for better results in 2019. Some of the players that struggled this year will have a full MLB season under their belt along with valuable experience.
The toughest year of the Sox current rebuild is almost done. This team could lose 100 games but this season was more about player development than anything else. There were many good moments for this team that shouldn’t be overshadowed by whatever the Sox record will be after this Sunday.