Most baseball fans have heard of the Black Sox scandal. That involved the White Sox throwing the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. One of the factors that made the White Sox ripe for throwing the series was the cheapness of the then owner of the White Sox, Charles Comisky. That tradition of cheapness is alive and well on the south side of Chicago.
The White Sox could easily be the favorites in the AL Central if they wanted to spend a little bit.
Going into this offseason, the Sox had a few pronounced needs: Outfield help, second base, catcher and a starting pitcher. They quickly overpaid for free agent/ accused domestic abuser Mike Clevenger. They then made a move that makes sense. They signed left fielder Adam Benintendi to the richest contract in Sox history, five years for $75 million.
Benintendi should lock down left field. Right field is up for grabs with rookie, Oscar Colas being the current favorite to win the job. I'm ok with that. Colas profiles as a power guy with a good arm, low on base percentage, and decent glove. Honestly, if Colas manages to hit his projections, he'll be an upgrade over the wasteland that was the White Sox right field production of 2022.
Second base is a gulag of mediocrity in the form of Romy Gonzalez, Leury Garcia and Lenyn Sosa. Gonzalez is 26 and really hasn't distinguished himself. Tony LaRussa, in what was seemingly his idea of giving the bird to Sox fans, played Garcia far more than anyone who did fall asleep at the games would. At least Sosa, at 23, does have some upside.
At catcher, the Sox apparently are banking on Yasmani Grandal finding some holy water to bathe his legs in. I don't like their chances.
And on top of their other woes, their closer, Liam Hendriks is dealing with cancer.
Don't just stand there, do something!
I suspect the White Sox would like to win, I just don't think they {meaning Jerry Reinsdorf) want to spent a dollar more than necessary to do it. In this age in MLB, that's like a team working with one hand tied behind their back.
Apparently, Jerry has an exaggerated sense of fair play. His franchise has more assets to work with than any other franchise in the AL Central. But Jerry seems reluctant to use that advantage. I'm just not sure why.
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