It has been one calendar year since Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf shockingly fired long time front-office heads, Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn.
Things have not gotten better since the necessary firings took place.
rick hahn & kenny williams were fired 365 days ago
— Jay Cuda (@JayCuda) August 21, 2024
the white sox have lost over 120 games since that day
One reason for that is Reinsdorf hastily promoted Chris Getz despite Getz failing as the director of player development. The owner did not even conduct interviews with any other candidate.
His reasoning for the worst GM search ever was Getz knew the franchise so well that he could evaluate the team's needs fast and get things turned around quickly.
Everything has turned out to be opposite from what the misguided owner believed.
The White Sox are on pace to finish 38-124. That would break the 1962 New York Mets record for the worst record ever in the 162-game era.
The franchise tied the American League record for consecutive losses. That 21-game losing streak set a new franchise record for consecutive defeats, a mark that this club had already set this season.
Getz has made some decent moves as general manager. He signed pitcher Erick Fedde from the KBO and he turned into a very good starting pitcher this year. Getz also bumbled the return for Fedde at the trade deadline and that has the clock for getting back to being competitive set to a later time.
Getz deserves credit for hiring Brian Bannister to basically run the development of the team's pitching. It was also smart to agree to move Garrett Crochet to the rotation. He was also brilliant in moving Michael Kopech to the bullpen.
At the same time, Getz put together a terrible roster for this season. He emphasized improving the clubhouse culture. For the most part, that has worked out, but the players he added were all replacement-level guys. That is not exactly the way to turn things around rapidly.
The bullpen is good at blowing leads consistently. He failed terribly in upgrading the team's defense.
This team might be a worse defensive team this year than they were in 2023. That team was terrible in the field.
Failing to upgrade the defense also left the lineup very weak. The White Sox are the worst offense in the league by a country mile. It is a big reason the club is closing in on losing 100 games before August ends.
Now in the long run, hiring someone like former Houston Astros GM James Click to run things or even former Kansas City Royals general manager Dayton Moore to mentor Getz is likely going to be the correct outcome. In the present, Click, Moore, or even waiting for Kim Ng to hit the market, would not have mattered.