I’ve been lobbying hard for the White Sox to do their best to do their worst.
If they’re going to be awful at baseball, they might as well be godawful at it. That means going all the way with this — all the way to the top of the record book for most losses in a season. What’s in it for Sox fans? Laughter instead of tears. Without gallows humor, they’re looking at a rope and a hangman named Jerry.
But here’s where the fun and games have to stop: The idea of trading ace Garrett Crochet needs to be taken off the table. The 25-year-old flamethrower is about the only reason to watch the team, and then only every fifth day. The 24-63 Sox can break the 1962 Mets’ record of 120 losses even with Crochet on the roster. Losing him would be a crueler and more unusual punishment than chronically abused Sox fans are used to.
Jerry Reinsdorf has a responsibility as chairman of this sinking ship to throw fans an emotional life preserver. If he’s looking to completely demoralize the faithful, trading away the team’s best young player would do it.
We know Reinsdorf’s historical aversion to paying pitchers. He believes the strain that throwing a baseball puts on arms makes throwing big money at pitchers very risky. And we know that Crochet has already had Tommy John surgery once. But given what Reinsdorf has put fans through the past few years, he owes them something good. The one good thing he has is Crochet, who was just named the American League Pitcher of the Month for June. Would it kill him to keep the lefthander and pay him? A black-hearted Sox fan might reply: Let’s find out!
According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the Sox had brief, unfruitful contract extension talks with Crochet and plan on trading him. It means Sox fans will have to trust that general manager Chris Getz picks the right trading partner with the right prospects to turn the Sox into winners down the road. That would be like trusting a cannibal to order dinner for you. Getz was overseeing the Sox’ player development department when some of their best prospects hit a wall at the major-league level.
The team will be active sellers before the July 30 trade deadline, hoping to land big-time prospects in return for some of their best players. That will go a long way toward helping the Sox break the ’62 Mets’ record.
It’s how modern-day rebuilds work. Sell off everything to stock the farm system with young, talented players who will someday lead the big-league club to a World Series. It’s a grand ambition. It’s also a way to fool a numb fan base. Because it worked for the Cubs in the run-up to their 2016 title, as well as for other teams, it’s become a popular way for owners to not spend money but still charge chumps a lot for tickets. It’s a way to sell hope without investing in it.
One problem. The Cubs’ mastermind was Theo Epstein, who had helped build two world champions in Boston before coming to Chicago. The Sox have Getz, who was part of the previous failed rebuild on the South Side.
Crochet is 6-6 with a 3.02 earned-run average. That means he’s responsible for a quarter of his team’s victories. It’s not easy being successful when most everybody around you is horrendous. That points not just to someone who is gifted but to someone who has enough determination to avoid getting sucked into the abyss. That’s someone worth keeping.
Luis Robert Jr. and his thick binder of X-rays figure to be on the trading block. It was nice kind of knowing him. He’s a talent, but he’s physically unreliable. He was part of the fruits of the first teardown and rebuild. He was going to pull everyone else up the mountain. Remember? But injuries hit him and Eloy Jimenez hard and often. Their maladies became the running joke that helped define the rebuild — that and Reinsdorf’s bizarre decision to hire 76-year-old Tony La Russa nine years after he had last managed a team.
I mentioned earlier that Reinsdorf owes the fan base something. After all he’s put fans through – including his unspoken threat to move the team if he doesn’t get a new ballpark – he needs to throw them a bone.
And what about those of us who want to see the club make history this season? I like the Sox’ chances of breaking the Mets’ record, even with Crochet firing away for them.
I don’t like Getz’ chances of fixing whatever comes next.