Did the Chicago White Sox Become Awful Because of Bad Players or a Bad Clubhouse?

The Chicago White Sox contention window suddenly slammed shut last season.

There were a lot of reasons for that. Owner Jerry Reinsdorf kept putting self-imposed spending restrictions. The previous front office regime led by Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn made bad free-agent signings with the money they did spend. Tony La Russa being brought in to manage the club was a disaster. Replacing him with Pedro Grifol was even worse (and he somehow still has a job).

Injuries certainly derailed the team. For example, key hitters Yoan Moncada and Eloy Jimenez just could never stay healthy. When they were in the lineup, they underperformed at the plate. Tim Anderson had injuries zap him over his hitting ability.

The clubhouse chemistry was terrible. A bad clubhouse environment can sink any team. Although, the Oakland A's of the early 1970s and the 1977 Yankees had a terrible clubhouse, and they found a way to win the World Series. That is because they had great players.

The 2023 White Sox had some talented players, but no one was going into the Hall of Fame. Having not enough talented players might be the biggest reason the Sox lost 101 games. The White Sox could have held daily kumbaya sessions and probably still would have lost that many games because of the lack of talent.

At least that was the social media debate between NBC Sports Chicago White Sox pre & postgame host and reporter Chuck Garfien and SoxMachine.com editor Patrick Nolan recently had.