The early struggles of the 2023 Chicago White Sox season have been horrid, to say the least. They haven't found any rhyme or momentum, and their demanding April schedule is putting them in a ginormous hole.
When the offense steps up and scores big, the pitching lets up an abundance of runs and they lose the game. When the pitching is on, they score a minimal amount of runs and lose the game. It's a reoccurring theme that feels like it will never disappear.
The White Sox are already in a whole lot of trouble and one of the main issues through the middle of April is left-handed veteran Jake Diekman.
Pedro Grifol hasn't found a way to manage his bullpen correctly and it has come back around to bite the White Sox in almost every game they have played.
The Chicago White Sox should be trying to make their team better soon.
Outside of Jimmy Lambert, the bullpen has been mediocre at best. With a DFA of Diekman, it forces Grifol to choose other options in late-inning close games rather than sending Diekman out there for an inning every single game.
Grifol's usage of Jake Diekman has disadvantaged the White Sox and that won't change until the organization decides to let him go.
In 10 appearances this season, Diekman has a 9.00 ERA with a 1.88 WHIP. While some argue that ERA doesn't matter, if you're a reliever with an ERA over six, you shouldn't be on a major league roster and that is the case for Jake Diekman. On top of all of that, he has also walked 8 batters in 7 innings pitched.
While Diekman has seen various amounts of success at the big league level, it hasn't worked out with the Chicago White Sox. At the end of the day, it may just be time to move on. Diekman is 36 years old and not in the former all-star form he used to be in the past.
The White Sox will be forced to make a move soon, especially considering that left-handed reliever Garrett Crochet will be back in the bullpen mix soon. With Liam Hendriks also planning on returning sooner than later, it leaves Diekman as the apparent odd man out.
Diekman has lost his command, is giving up too many runners, and most importantly, needs to do his job correctly.
It will be interesting to see what the White Sox end up doing with their bullpen because if they want to see any signs of success this year, it won't happen with the currently constructed bullpen they have at the moment.