9 drastic changes the Chicago White Sox must make this season
The Chicago White Sox have lost seven straight and 11 of their past 12 games to trend back into being historically bad this season.
Since the White Sox are not eligible for the MLB Draft Lottery next season, there is no reward for being historically bad. Something needs to be done to at least get back to being fun bad.
Not playing the bulk of the AL East in 13 consecutive games will help. The schedule is still brutal as the Sox are not even halfway through this tough 39-game stretch of schedule.
If the White Sox want to avoid being historically awful, or at least get back to being watchable, they need to make these nine changes...
1) Fire Pedro Grifol.
Grifol is like the pro wrestler who desperately wants to get over as a babyface (the term used for the hero) that the crowd rejects and is finally embracing being a heel (the villain).
He got into a conflict with his players over his viewpoint on how the team played last Sunday. Grifol seems to have sworn a blood oath to owner Jerry Reinsdorf in some lame attempt to save his job.
"Nobody wants to win more than Jerry Reinsdorf does," Pedro Grifol tells our @CST_soxvan. Ahem: https://t.co/NnSlGNROAV
— Steve Greenberg (@SLGreenberg) May 29, 2024
Complimenting the owner everyone hates is part of a heel turn if I ever seen one.
Here is the thing, 76-142 is not something that even loyalty can wash over. Grifol has been a disaster as the manager.
His lineups range from head-scratching to a little league coach could do better. Every time Pedro speaks publicly, he makes the organization look foolish. Although, it is pretty easy to make the White Sox look bad. However, Grifol finds ways to open up his mouth and make the organization look even worse.
When you're the manager of a wildly bad last-place team owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, everything you say or do will be used against you.
— jon greenberg (@jon_greenberg) May 29, 2024
That's the situation Pedro Grifol is in right now. My column:https://t.co/NQuUpHjHCH
He keeps talking about how everyone needs to earn the right to stay in the big leagues and yet he keeps batting Andrew Vaughn and Andrew Benintendi regularly and at the top of the order.
It almost seems like he is trying to get himself fired.
The Sox must end this clown show. They have a qualified manager on the bench already in Charlie Montoyo. Put the interim label on him and see if he can get the Sox to play better baseball. If he does, great! Give him the job full-time. If he fails, go in a different direction.
At least it allows the Sox to completely clean out the leadership that let the team decline into being historically awful.
2) Designate Martin Maldonado for assignment.
Maldonado's slash line has dropped to .083/.135/.131. That is more than just bad. That is more than just being an automatic out. Those are the numbers that scream Martin should have retired two years ago.
The Sox need to put him out to pasture. He has -25 wRC+ and is a -1.5 fWAR. That is a player who literally has a negative value as a hitter and player.
Pedro likes how he calls a game, but a lot of catchers can do that and hit. Korey Lee should be given that opportunity. Chuckie Robinson and Adam Hackenberg are at Triple-A and can probably call a solid game while also providing more offense than Maldonado can.
Also, the team has DFA'd Rafael Ortega who had a worse slash line. Braden Shewmake was banished to Triple-A with his struggles. Handling a pitching staff is not an excuse for Maldonado to not be held accountable like those two players.
Additionally, the Sox could call up Edgar Quero, the perceived future No. 1 catcher, in September to get a taste of the big leagues.
3) Trade Erick Fedde to the Milwaukee Brewers
The White Sox need to add bats to their system. The Brewers could use some arms in a starting rotation that has been hit with injuries.
Fedde is relatively affordable for the small market Brewers and the Crew have positional prospects to spare. Reviewing the Brew site Dave Casper recommended to me that the Brewers could give up Eric Brown Jr. or Luke Adams as part of a package for Fedde.
Fedde has been pitching like an ace and should be the Sox All-Star representative. Brown Jr. is a former first-round pick who needs to work on his swing. He still has a lot of promise. Adams is a power-hitting corner infielder. Both are a couple of years away, but these are bats that could help the Sox in the long run.
4) Trade Tommy Pham to the Atlanta Braves
The Braves lost Ronald Acuna Jr. for the season to a knee injury. While Pham is not at the level of Acuna, he is a solid veteran playing well. Plus, he will come cheap.
While Pham has been tremendous for the Sox, his trade value should be around the same as it was last year when the New York Mets got the equivalent of a lotto ticket in infielder Jeremy Rodriguez from the Arizona Diamondbacks before last year's trade deadline. Rodriguez is a 17-year-old, left-handed bat who is ranked among the Mets' top 15 prospects, but he is years away from making the majors.
Still, it cannot hurt to see if the Sox can get a high-ceiling, super-young prospect. The Braves have a few of them in their top 30. Outfielder Douglas Glod is 19 and a hard hitter. Shortstop Diego Benitez is 19 and probably has to go third. Outfielder Isiah Drake has plenty of raw power for being 18 Mario Baez is 17 and does not strike out much.
5) Demote Andrew Vaughn
There have been calls to have Vaughn get some at-bats at Triple-A Charlotte to get out of this funk. That is looking like a good idea as he continues to struggle. Vaughn appeared to be snapping out of his awful start to the season.
That was just smoke and mirrors. Nothing has been a better example of how Vaughn is costing the Sox when he hit into a double play in the first inning of yesterday's defeat to the Blue Jays. The Sox had a rally going and came away with no runs because of that double play. He literally grabbed a bat and killed a scoring chance.
Vaughn is a -0.9 fWAR player with a wRC+ of 62 and an OPS toward the very bottom of the league. Vaughn can be benched, but he still has options left to get a chance to feast on some Triple-A pitching to get right.
6) Bench Andrew Benintendi or send him to the 10-day IL with a phantom injury.
The Sox could go really drastic and bench him. The problem with that is Reinsdorf is going to question why one of his highest paid players is riding the bench.
While his OPS is ranked at the bottom of the league, it is going to be a tough sell to tell an owner who hates spending money that the richest free-agent contract ever given is to a terrible player. That is why the phantom 10-day IL stint is the way to go.
Let him sit and get his mind right. Also, it allows the Sox to put a better defensive lineup out there. Andrew made a spectacular play yesterday, but he also missed the cut-off man in the second inning and allowed the first run to score. Missing the cut-off man has been a plague on this team Benintendi is giving the team.
His 189/.226/.265 slash line is something that has to be hidden on the injured list especially with Luis Robert Jr. nearing a return.
7) Play Corey Julks everyday
The Sox need to see if Julks is more than just being on a heater. He is still 28, so it cannot hurt to find out if he is capable of being even the fourth outfielder down the road.
Screw the matchups, the guy is hitting .310 with a .946 OPS since being acquired in a trade in mid-May.
He has had just one game so far where he has failed to reach base since joining the club. If it is just a hot streak, then ride it out. If it is the proof of a solid big-league player, then keep him out there.
8) Promote Colson Montgomery
The team's top prospect does not have the greatest average at Triple-A, but he does have seven home runs and is the future at shortstop.
Colson CRUSHED IT! 💪
— Charlotte Knights (@KnightsBaseball) May 29, 2024
Colson Montgomery goes YARD! pic.twitter.com/hHRscUm6TE
This is a lost season, so much like the Sox are doing with Bryan Ramos, it is time to see what Colson can do at shortstop. Paul DeJong's power bat and Nicky Lopez' contact bat can rotate at second. It is time to get Montgomery some big-league at-bats.
9) DFA Mike Clevinger and demote Chris Flexen to the bullpen, then replace with them Jake Woodford and Jonathan Cannon.
Clevinger is on the 15-day IL with an elbow injury. Making his traditional move to the injured list is another reason Clevinger is wasting the Sox' time. He can never stay healthy, and he has been ineffective.
Woodford replaced him in the rotation. While he was not great yesterday as he lasted just 4.1 innings, he only allowed three runs. In addition, he is 27, so it cannot hurt to see if can be salvageable much like the team did with Michael Soroka.
The White Sox must give Cannon the same opportunity as Nick Nastrini. That can be accomplished with sending Flexen back to the bullpen again.
Something must be done to shake the Sox out of the doldrums and doing one of these nine suggestions could accomplish that.
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