Chicago White Sox - The Covid-19 Years (2020-2029)

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2020

2023

101

Decade

2021

2024

121

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Titles:

Top White Sox Players during the Twenty Twenties

2020 - WC Lost to A's

2021 - ALDS Lost to Houston

Pitchers:

Dylan Cease (11.93) - 31

BallPark: New Comiskey Park

Lucas Giolito (8.36) - 23

Liam Hendriks (4.35) - 18

Team Name: White Sox

Lance Lynn (5.06) - 13

Dallas Keuchel (1.04) - 11

Owner: Jerry Reinsdorf

Michael Kopech (4.75) - 8

Carlos Rodon (4.76) - 8

General Managers:

Mike Clevinger (3.3) - 6

Ken Williams (2020-2023) President

Erick Fedde (4.7) - 6

Rick Hahn (2020-2023) GM

Garret Crochet (5.84) - 6

Chris Getz (2024)

Johnny Cueto (3.46) - 5

Managers:

Catchers:

Rick Renteria (2020)

Yasmani Grandal (2.46) - 16

Tony LaRussa (2021-2022)

Miguel Cairo (2022)

First Basemen:

Pedro Grifol (2023-2024)

Jose Abreu (10.14) - 26

Grady Sizemore (2025)

Andrew Vaughn (1.16) - 23

Hall of Famers:

Second Basemen:

None

Elvis Andrus (2.39) - 7

Leury Garcia (1.74) - 5

No Hitters:

2020 - Lucas Giolito Pittsburgh)

ShortStop:

2021 - Carlos Rodon (Cleveland)

Tim Anderson (6.33) - 28

Rookie of the Year:

Third Base:

None

Yoan Moncada (6.03) - 19

MVP:

Outfield:

2020 - Jose Abreu

Luis Robert (13.173) - 39

Eloy Jimenez (4.04) - 14

Cy Young:

Gavin Sheets (-2.46) - 7

None

Andrew Benintendi (-0.6) - 7

Adam Engel (2.14) - 6

Notable Events:

2020 - After a very poor seven year run to close out the previous decade in which

the Pale Hose averaged a 71-91 record, Chicago turned it around in '20

2024 - The question is - what to do with this team? A complete rebuild looks

with a second place finish and a 35-25 mark. They lost in the Wild Card round

pretty much inevitable. But new management might want to keep some guys

to the A's. Massive improvements were made both on offense and pitching.

around. This was a bad team last year, 61-101 and they don't look any

The Sox had been gathering high draft picks due to their poor performance

better for '24. Not really much positive to write about other than Luis Robert.

also picked up some top youngsters thru trading their top assets like ace

No one else on the team is performing anywhere near above replacement level.

LHP Chris Sale and OF Adam Eaton. They also picked up some prospect depth

dealing the likes of RHP Jose Quintana, Closer David Robertson and OF

The once promising offense:

Melky Cabrera. Trading these players just made things worse during the

Out of all the highly valued prospects, the only one that didn't turn into a suspect

bad times, but that was OK, as Chicago got better draft positions.

was CF Luis Robert. Even tho' he's only twenty six, by the time the Sox turn

Sensing that they were on the cusp of their youngsters turning things around,

this thing around, his time frame won't be matching the rest of the club.

the White Sox spent on free agents in '20 picking up ace righthander Dallas

Therefore, if the right deal comes along, he probably should be moved.

Keuchel and excellent catcher Yasmani Grandal. They also invested in a couple

The suspects are: 1B Andrew Vaughn, 26; 3B Yoan Moncada, 29;

of big names that didn't pan out in Gio Gonzalez and Edwin Encarnacion.

OF Andrew Benintendi, 29; 1B Gavin Sheets, 28; OF Eloy Jimenez, 27.

It wasn't just White Sox management, everybody thought these guys would be

□ Jerry Reinsdorf has owned the White Sox for forty years. The Sox performance

good and they aren't. There were several more, but these are the ones that

has been middle of the road over that period with six division titles and thirteen

are still left in the organization.

second place finishes. Jerry has been one of the league's more reactionary

owners during his tenure. He played a major role in the near disastrous player

The once promising pitching staff is mostly gone.

lockout in '94. He's also blown hot and cold with his spending over the years.

Guys like Carlos Rodon, Lucas Giolito, Aaron Bummer and Dylan Cease.

All that being said, Reinsdorf opens the decade with a team with loads of talent.

Only Michael Kopech remains of the suspects.

Twenty five year old lefty Garret Crochet remains the only prospect.

□ Rick Hahn took over the GM spot in 2013 when Kenny Williams was kicked up

to team president. Good timing for Williams as he left the cupboard bare for Hahn.

2025 - The 2024 season was "Nightmare in Chicago". The Pale Hose had

Hahn has spent the last seven years trying to build something and his hard work

one of the worst seasons in major league history going 41-121. And that

finally started paying off in '20.

was with a "hot finish" that saw them going 10-15 in September. Before that

they were on a pace to easily become the worst major league team ever

□ Tony La Russa, 76, that's right - seventy six, has been hired to manage the

at a horrific 31-106 mark. Historically bad. The Sox traded away their

White Sox for 2021. I suppose if Joe Biden, 78, and Donald Trump, 74, can

best pitcher twenty five year old lefty Garret Crochet to the Red Sox.

try to run a country, La Russa can manage a team. Rick Renteria was fired to

The change of Sox should help Garret's 6-12 W-L record.

make way for La Russa despite finishing 35-25. The reasoning for this move

is that Chicago wants an experienced manager that can guide the club to the

No point in dwelling on the specific's of this team, the team is awful.

next level now that the talent is there. They may have over shot the mark on

If there is any mercy amongst the management staff, they will liberate

the experience thing on this one, however.

OF Andrew Benintendi, 1B Andrew Vaughn and OF Luis Robert, their three

decent players, and trade them to somewhere less depressing.

2021 - All is going according to plan. Chicago wins the Division with a 93-69

mark and the arrow is pointing up everywhere. A young team loaded with talent.

The Core (Mostly young and not yet in their prime) :

Pitching:

□ RHP Dylan Cease, 25, obtained from the Cubs in '17 for Jose Quintana

□ RHP Lucas Giolito, 26, obtained from Washington in '17 trade for Adam Eaton

□ LHP Carlos Rodon, 28, 3rd overall pick in '14 draft

□ RHP Michael Kopech, 25, obtained from Boston in '17 trade for Chris Sale

□ RHP Codi Huer, 24, 6th round pick in '18 draft; '21 dealt to Cubs for Craig Kimbrel

□ LHP Garret Crochet, 21, 1st round pick in '20 draft

□ RHP Reynaldo Lopez, 26, obtained from Washington in '17 trade for Adam Eaton

□ Closer Liam Hendricks, 31, '22 FA signed from the A's

□ RHP Lance Lynn, 34, obtained from Texas in '21 for two pitching prospects

Hitting:

□ C Yasmani Grandal, 31, '20 High priced FA from Milwaukee

□ 1B Jose Abreu, 34, '14 IFA

□ 2B Leury Garcia, 30, obtained from Texas in '13 for Alex Rios

□ 2B Nick Madrigal, 24, '18 4th overall pick; dealt to Cubs in '21 for Craig Kimbrel

□ SS Tim Anderson, 28, 1st round pick in '13

□ 3B Yoan Moncada, 26, obtained from the Red Sox for Chris Sale in '17

□ OF Andrew Vaughn, 23, 3rd overall pick in '19 draft

□ OF Eloy Jimenez, 24, obtained from Cubs in '17 for Jose Quintana

□ CF Luis Robert, 23, '17 IFA

□ OF Gavin Sheets, 25, '17 2nd round pick

□ OF Adam Eaton, 32, FA signed from Nationals after '20 season

2022 - The Sox drop twelve games in the standings to a mediocre 81-81.

This was a major surprise to everyone.

Both the hitting and the pitching go backwards. The core of the team are all

in their early to mid twenties, they should be improving, not going backwards.

And, for the most part, they all did go backwards, hitting and pitching.

Before the '22 season, you would have bet on the Sox getting to around a

hundred wins just based on natural progression of their players' careers.

To drop down to 81 wins was bizarre.

The culprits on Offense:

□ C Yasmani Grandal, 33, catchers get old quick, fell off a cliff in '22

□ 1B Jose Abreu, 35, home runs dropped from 30 to 15 in '22

□ SS Tim Anderson, 29, OPS dropped from 806 to 734 in '22

□ 3B Yoan Moncada, 26, OPS dropped from 787 ito 626 n '22

□ OF Andrew Vaughn, 24, the final straw - proved he's a horrific fielder

□ OF Eloy Jimenez, 25, 858 OPS good in '22; defense horrible

□ CF Luis Robert, 24, OPS dropped from 946 to 746 in '22

□ OF Gavin Sheets, 26, OPS dropped from 830 to 706 in '22

□ OF Leury Garcia, 31, OPS dropped from 711 to 500 in '22

The Culprits on the Mound:

□ RHP Carlos Rodon, 29, missed entire '22 season with injury

□ RHP Lucas Giolito, 27, ERA jumped from 3.53 to 4.90 in '22

□ RHP Lance Lynn, 35, ERA jumped from 2.69 to 3.99 in '22

□ LHP Garret Crochet, 23, missed entire '22 season with TJ surgery

□ Righty reliever Aaron Bummer, 28, arm problems limited him to 26 in's in '22

□ RHP Dylan Cease, 26, bucked the trend and was 14-8 2.20 in '22

□ RHP Michael Kopech, 26, bucked the trend and had a decent year in '22

2023 - The inexplicable collapse is complete. Because the team was so young,

the thought was that the Sox would bounce back after an off '22. Instead,

Chicago free-fell twenty more games to 61-101 and upper management

were all fired after lengthy tenures (president Ken Williams, 23 years, and

general manager Rick Hahn, 11 years).

In just two seasons, the Sox collapsed 158 runs from the league average

in runs scored and 200 runs from the league average in runs given up.

Remarkable.