The front office refuses to use the only bright side of this losing to get looks at prospects who have the talent to contribute at the big leagues.
Jairo Iriarte made his big-league debut yesterday and picked up his first career strikeout.
First @MLB strikeout for Jairo Iriarte 👏 pic.twitter.com/nWDkhcXLkJ
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) September 4, 2024
The only problem was the Sox fifth-best prospect should have made his big-league debut about two weeks ago.
The only bright side of all these defeats is the Sox can use this time to get evaluations of prospects they have that have the talent to be in the majors without fear of losing.
Yet, the front office continues to roll out veterans like Chris Flexen, Touki Toussaint, and Chad Kuhl. The bullpen has been terrible that the front office can execute pitching guru Brian Bannister's development plan.
Sox’ No. 5 prospect Jairo Iriarte gets his first big league action. He’s a starter but will work out of the ‘pen.
— Vinnie Duber (@VinnieDuber) September 4, 2024
Brian Bannister said this earlier in the summer: “I personally am a big believer of getting the minor league starters into the major league bullpen at year end.”
Prospects Jake Eder, Sean Burke, and Ky Bush could be getting development time instead of rolling out bad pitchers such as Jared Shuster and Justin Anderson.
Bryan Ramos is getting regular at-bats at Triple-A when he should be getting them in the bigs. Zach DeLoach was hitting well before his promotion and he will be sitting on the bench so Andrew Benintendi can get plate appearances.
While Benintendi is hitting better lately, we know what he can do and he is a lock to be on the roster next season. His at-bats must be cut down so DeLoach can audition to be on the 26-man next year.
Nicky Lopez should not be getting plate appearances the rest of the season either. The excuse of what are the better options completely ignores that this time should be used an early spring training. Get evaluations on younger players to have a clue if they can be contributors down the road.
Instead, the front office continues to stick with the logic that going with tried and true veterans will help them avoid being the worst team ever when it has put them in a prime position to cement that distinction.