3 midseason decisions that have already killed the White Sox's playoff chances
The Chicago White Sox have been a bad baseball team almost from the beginning. There are a ton of reasons that they are bad.
There probably isn't anything that they could have done to salvage the season early on but you never know. We've seen crazier things happen in baseball before.
A lot of decisions made by an organization have long-term effects. It usually helps or hurts the product on the field in some way.
These are the three midseason decisions that put the White Sox in the spot they're in which is no playoffs before the month of August is even over:
1. No front office switches
The Chicago White Sox did not make a single front office change.
Somehow, despite being closer to 80 losses than 60 wins, the White Sox have not fired anybody yet. The manager, and all of the coaches, Rick Hahn, and Kenny Williams are all still in their current roles.
That is just crazy. So many teams in the league that are serious about winning would have made at least one change right now.
Nothing that this team is doing is working and they don't even slightly seem to care. Jerry Reinsdorf is a terrible owner but he isn't going to fire himself.
There are reports that it could be coming in the off-season (front office changes) but that remains to be seen. Things could have gone better for the White Sox if they made these decisions sooner.
A couple of people deserve to go because they were awful and a couple of people deserve to go because they just aren't the answer at this moment in time. Hopefully, some tough moves are made soon but it is too late for 2023.
2. Took too long to release Jose Ruiz and Jake Diekman.
The Chicago White Sox didn't need Jose Ruiz or Jake Diekman.
The Chicago White Sox have had up and down pitching this year. In the case of the bullpen, there have been guys that pitched well and guys that pitched not so well.
Jake Diekman and Jose Ruiz would fall under the category of players that pitched "not well". Both of them were released by the White Sox but not fast enough.
A lot of the early season losing had their name written all over it. The White Sox clearly had better options available to use (we've seen them now) but they chose to hang on to these too a bit too long.
Of course, that is a decision that they regret but you can't change it now. You can only look forward and be happy that those guys are no longer pitching poorly for the Chicago White Sox.
3. They kept Aaron Bummer
The Chicago White Sox should have let go of Aaron Bummer with them.
The Chicago White Sox did decide to let go of Jose Ruiz and Jake Diekman. However, they kept Aaron Bummer who has pitched just as bad if not worse.
They are not good at getting struggling pitchers back on track. Bummer has great stuff but the command and luck have been low for him.
If he were on another team, he'd be thriving because they would present him with good information that helps him. Just look at how Lance Lynn has pitched with the Dodgers.
The White Sox should have DFA'd Bummer a long time ago. Instead, he remained with the team to pitch poorly and now they are really out of the race with no coming back.
It will be interesting to see if big changes are made to this organization during the off-season. If recent history suggests anything, it is that things will remain the same.
Next. The 15 worst contracts in Chicago White Sox history. dark