Fansided

5 more ways the Chicago White Sox were an embarrassment last week

By Todd Welter |
/ Peter Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
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The Chicago White Sox are going to be bad this season, but the hope was it would not be this bad so early in the season.

The Sox started the season getting swept by the Detroit Tigers during the season-opening series. They then had a bad viral moment when last Monday's game had to be delayed in the eighth inning because no one could find first-base coach Jason Bourgeois. It was not like a whole half-inning had been played after the game was initially delayed because of rain.

Oh wait, that did happen, and when the easy excuse of nature called should have been used, manager Pedro Grifol decided to go with Bourgeois was watching game tape. Why is that a poor excuse? Well, it shows that the manager who wants to be detail-oriented neglected to go find his first-base coach the moment the Atlanta Braves portion of the eighth ended.

Oh, and then the White Sox re-signed starting pitcher Mike Clevinger. Bringing back a player with a very controversial past does not exactly mesh with the offseason desire to have good character guys in the clubhouse.

Usually, a Monday like that should have been rock bottom for a normal franchise. The Sox specialize in continuing to find new bottoms. However, Tuesday was a brief ray of sunshine when starting pitcher Garrett Crochet dominated the Braves and the Sox got their first victory of the season.

That seems like a lifetime ago as the White Sox found five more ways to embarrass themselves during the rest of the week.

General manager Chris Getz doubles down on signing Clevinger.

There were no documented incidents of Clevinger causing trouble in the White Sox clubhouse last season. That still does not erase the major character issues regarding Clevinger. His teammates in Cleveland wanted him off the team after he broke COVID protocols during the 2020 season.

Then he was accused of domestic abuse by a former girlfriend and mother to one of his children. He did not disclose that MLB was investigating him because of the accusations when the organization signed him. MLB did not suspend him which makes many think he was cleared even though he agreed to evaluations by the joint treatment boards under the collective bargaining agreement.

Clevinger's past does not make him a prime candidate for trying to fix the character problems this team had in 2023. He was the team's most productive pitcher, but he was also waived last season and no team wanted him. Clevinger also spent the entire offseason and spring training on the free agent market. That means his services were available to 29 other teams and every team said pass despite a 2.2 fWAR 2023 season.

You have to think character played a role in that happening.

Getz was not happy with the starting rotation and decided that since no discipline was dished out, it was okay to bring back Clevinger.

Getz's logic misses the point that the White Sox are the only team that values Clevinger. They are the only franchise that thinks Clevinger is this outstanding pitcher when he is really an injury-prone, decent player. In addition, there were other free-agent options the Sox could have signed during spring training (cough Michael Lorenzen) and went with Brad Keller instead.

Getz said he does not want to be dismissive of Clevinger's domestic issue, but he is dismissing it because MLB decided not to suspend him.

The Sox need a pitcher to eat up some innings and would rather have Clevinger do it than rookie Nick Nastrini, who earned a spot with a strong spring. It is a rebuilding year and Getz would rather take the PR hit than see what he has in a promising prospect. That is so White Sox.

A bad decision to send Gavin Sheets helped flip the momentum against the Royals on Thursday.

The Sox were down 2-0 as they headed into the sixth inning on Thursday when the offense started to put a rally together. Andrew Vaughn got the Sox on the board with an RBI single. Then Braden Shewmake hit a one-out shallow fly to right fielder Hunter Renfroe with Gavin Sheets on third.

A smart ball club would not send a slow player like Sheets home against Renfroe's arm. The Sox have never been known as a smart team in decades.

That poor decision killed the Sox's momentum. According to Sheets, you have to try to score there even if it was practically a suicide decision.

An inning later, the Royals broke out for eight runs.

Poor defense led to a big inning for Kansas City.

A poor decision to throw home instead of to third and Shewmake later making an error helped the Royals destroy the Sox during the seventh inning.

This was supposed to be a smarter and better defensive team compared to 2023. Well, it looked like more of the same at least on Thursday.

Another soft tissue injury for Luis Robert Jr.

Eloy going on the IL was expected. Robert Jr. seemed to have put his injury problems behind him when he played in 145 games in 2023.

The Sox were going to need a healthy Robert all year if only to have someone worth watching this season.

Then he pulled up rounding first in the ninth on Friday in pain. He was put on the 10-day IL with a hip flexor strain.

USA Today's Bob Nightengale reported the Sox fear Robert Jr. could be out for three to four months. Making things even worse is this injury keeps showing how the Sox training staff just cannot help players avoid soft tissue injuries.

Dominic Fletcher helps the Royals get a home run.

A previous version misidentified Andrew Benintendi as making this foolish play, we apologize for the error.

Grifol thought about challenging the call just in case the ball hit the wall first but did not. This home run happened in the seventh, so it would be worth a try. Instead, the manager continues to show he is in over his head and Fletcher now has a blooper that will be on a Jumbotron near you.

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