At 34-37, the Chicago White Sox have been a huge disappointment this year. While they’re technically still in the AL Central race because of how weak the division is, the team’s play would make you think they are not contenders. After a 71-game sample size, they may not be.
There are a lot of reasons why the White Sox have been bad this year, beginning with the pathetic off-season where they made none of the moves they needed to get better, countless injuries, Tony La Russa’s poor on-field management, and a lack of basic fundamentals. This team is bad at hitting, fielding, and relief pitching.
It’s too bad White Sox fans always seem to show up a year after the team is good because this year’s big crowds have seen some pretty big disappointments. It’s really upsetting because White Sox fans deserve a better team than this.
If the White Sox want to prove they’re serious at all about winning this year, they need to start making some real changes to send a message. One of those changes is that they should cut Leury Garcia from the team.
The Chicago White Sox needs to cut Leury Garcia now and they will improve.
Leury Garcia is probably the worst player in baseball at this point. He doesn’t just have a negative WAR, he has a nearly negative 1 WAR, meaning he’s been worth a whole win less than your typical replacement player.
Garcia has a slash line of .191/.210/.254. A .210 batting average might be bad enough to get a player kicked off an MLB team but a .210 on-base percentage? No player with a .210 OBP should be on a Major League team, regardless of what stage of their baseball career they are in.
In addition to being bad offensively, Garcia is not good defensively either. He’s very versatile, making errors at both center field and shortstop. As bad as Josh Harrison is, he can at least field his position well and hit above .200. The same can’t be said about Leury Garcia.
This wouldn’t be so bad if the White Sox benched Garcia and didn’t play him but Tony La Russa has feels the need to play him all over the diamond and the lineup. He has even batted him first, second, or third in the order which is criminally insane.
While there is a lot to criticize about La Russa, the biggest problem with his lineups is how often he plays Leury and how high he bats him in the order.
The guy doesn’t deserve to hit in any spot higher than 9th, yet he’s rarely batted last in the lineup. In fact, he probably doesn’t deserve to start in any spot in the lineup at all. Cutting Garcia would solve this problem.
There’s also the statistic where the Sox are 15-29 when Leury Garica starts and 19-8 when he doesn’t start.
There’s a lot to make of this (it speaks to how well Danny Mendick played and how good Tim Anderson is) but if anyone deserves to be scapegoated for the team’s poor performance, it’s the worst player on the team which is Leury Garcia.
Leury Garica is the longest-tenured Chicago White Sox player at this point, having been with the team since Alex Rios was traded for him in 2013. So many White Sox players have come and gone since then and it’s time for Leury to go as well.
The White Sox can’t just wait until his contract expires after 2024. It’s time to eat the money and for Rick Hahn to admit he made a mistake. Then they should sign an actual second baseman like Trea Turner next offseason.
It’s unfortunate that it has to be this way. If the White Sox hadn’t traded Nick Madrigal or signed a real second baseman in the offseason, this wouldn’t be needed.
Leury Garcia seems like a cool guy and he was an interesting utility player to watch once. But whatever he once had, he doesn’t have anymore. At age 31, he isn’t going to get better. It is time for the Sox to cut their losses.