There is no logical reason for Yoan Moncada to return to the Chicago White Sox this season

Yoan Moncada is set to return to the Chicago White Sox after being out since early April with his annual stay on the injured list.

The only unknown thing about his yearly IL stay is how long it will last. A left adductor strain kept him out for most of the season.

A season in which the Sox are on a collision course with breaking the 1962 New York Mets record for most defeats in a 162-game season. While not having his bat in the lineup is a minor detail for why the club is closing in on setting a new mark in futility, his return will not delay the inventible.

He was never the missing link.

Bringing him back with 12 games left in the season to help the team win eight games to avoid breaking that awful record must be the only logical reason the front office is green-lighting his return.

Otherwise, there is no logical reason to bring him back so late in the season.

The team is expected to cut payroll this offseason. One easy way to do that is to cut Moncada a five-million-dollar check to buy out his deal rather than exercise his $25 million option for next season.

These next 12 games should be used to get Bryan Ramos and Miguel Vargas as many big-league at-bats as possible. Precious developmental time will be wasted, no matter how small it is, just so Moncada can get a farewell tour and just drag out what will eventually happen--the Sox finishing with 120 losses or more.

The White Sox must win eight games to avoid replacing the 62 Mets as the team with the most losses in 162 games. That means this team that just won its first series since June has to win the final four series of the season.

Moncada was swinging a good bat in April, but it was not enough to elevate the team to heights it has not seen all season. He was not the missing link that would have kept the White Sox from avoiding this historically bad season. His presence in the lineup was not going to add more than the seven wins the Southsiders had in July and August.

What would be valuable is giving Ramos, Vargas, and Jacob Amaya at-bats over the final 12 games to make sure they are rolling into next season. Losing five or more games is pretty much a foregone conclusion. Vargas being a bad major-league player is also a certainty, but he still is at that point in his career where he can turn things around once he accepts that he no longer plays for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Amaya is likely nothing more than a utility infielder, but he is taking advantage of the at-bats he is getting and should be rewarded for that. Ramos does have the talent to be an impact bat for years to come. Plus, he is driving the ball lately.

Getting them another potential 50 at-bats is more important to the long-term health of the franchise than making one last-ditch effort to avoid being the worst team ever. Moncada's return is nothing more than a last-minute pathetic attempt to get a stay of execution from being the worst team in a single 162-game season.