Chicago White Sox: Mike Wright Jr. has to be sent down now

The Chicago White Sox has a lot of great pitchers on the staff. The starting rotation is brilliant which has allowed them to overcome injuries to their star position payers. Their bullpen is also very good but there are a few question marks going into the postseason.

We know who the stars of the bullpen are. Liam Hendriks, Craig Kimbrel, Michael Kopech, and Aaron Bummer are as locked in as any group in the league. There are the guys one step below like Ryan Tepera and Garrett Crochet who are a big key to their success as well.

The ones outside of them are fighting for a spot in the playoffs right now. One of those guys is Mike Wright Jr. Unfortunately, it is time for them to send him down so he can continue working. He hasn’t been what the White Sox needs from a bullpen arm. This is not the time to be continuing with this experiment.

The White Sox clinched the division already but they are still in contention for the second seed in the American League. They don’t need to be playing games with players who won’t be there during the playoffs. If a win is staring them in the face, having Mike Wright Jr. potentially blow it is not a good idea.

The Chicago White Sox need every win before the season is over to get the 2nd seed.

That almost happened on Monday. The White Sox were playing a makeup game against the Detroit Tigers and they had an 8-2 lead in the 8th inning. Mike Wright Jr. allowed the Tigers to load the bases which forced Tony La Russa to put Garrett Crochet in a tough position. It also forced him to use Liam Hendriks in a game that they should have not needed him.

Mike Wright Jr. is a nice player but he can’t be doing that on this team right now. Having Garrett Crochet come in to start the inning would have been much better for them. You can understand what Tony La Russa was doing there as he tried to preserve his bullpen for later in the week but it is clearly not something that is worth it anymore.

Wright has an ERA this season of 5.19 to go with his WHIP of 1.50. He has 11 strikeouts in 17.1 innings so it hasn’t been all bad but he should no longer be on the roster. At 31 years old, he is what he is but the White Sox have to start preparing things for the playoffs. Unfortunately, there are players playing right now that will not be there in a week and Wright is one of them.