The White Sox Are Completely Horrible

Say this for the White Sox: They scored runs on Thursday. Sure, they have been thrashed 14–5 by the Rays, which prolonged their shedding streak to eight video games, however they ended their scoreless streak at 25 innings, scored extra runs than they’d within the earlier 4 video games (three), and matched their complete of hits from the earlier three video games (11). When you’ve misplaced 13 out of your final 15 video games, this counts as progress.

Chicago’s present skid has dropped the crew’s file to 7–19, the third-worst within the majors. There’s no ambiguity about whether or not the White Sox are unhealthy: in addition they have the third-worst run differential and projected successful proportion, in response to each PythagenPat and BaseRuns:

In the phrases of James Brown, “People, it’s bad.”

This was purported to be a greater crew, aggressive within the AL Central if not a juggernaut. Under new supervisor Pedro Grifol, who changed the retired Tony La Russa after the crew declined from 93 wins and the division title in 2021 to 81 wins final 12 months, the White Sox have been forecast for about 80 wins through our preseason Playoff Odds, albeit with a 30.5% probability of constructing the postseason. To date, nonetheless, no crew’s preseason odds have plummeted additional:

Of the opposite 29 groups, solely the Cardinals (down 25.3%, from 67.4% to 42.1%) and Mariners (down 23.8%, from 40.5% to 16.7%) have fallen almost as far, however each are at the least nonetheless in double-digit territory. Not so the White Sox.

As you’ll be able to surmise from that first desk, the White Sox have main points on either side of the ball. Through Thursday, their 3.88 runs per sport and .373 slugging proportion each ranked eleventh within the AL, their .289 on-base proportion and 84 wRC+ thirteenth, and their 6.6% stroll fee 14th. They’ve scored three or fewer runs in 14 of their 26 video games; solely twice throughout this shedding streak have they scored greater than three. Thursday’s loss broke a five-game streak during which they collected 5 or fewer hits and a four-game streak during which they collected 4 or fewer; over the latter stretch, they totaled simply six runs, batting .122/.175/.199.

To be honest, accidents have performed a big half within the offense’s woes. Eloy Jiménez, Tim Anderson, and Yoán Moncada have all hung out on the injured record this month, an all-too-familiar state of affairs on condition that the trio totaled simply 267 video games final 12 months. Jiménez missed eight video games after struggling a low-grade left hamstring pressure; final 12 months, he missed 65 video games from late April to early July after tearing a hamstring tendon in his proper knee, although when he did play, his 144 wRC+ led the crew. This 12 months, the 26-year-old slugger has but to get it going, batting simply .174/.240/.304 (51 wRC+) in 75 PA. His 42.3% chase fee, 19.8% swinging-strike fee and 30.7% strikeout fee are all properly above profession norms, a sample that strongly suggests a hitter who’s urgent.

Anderson, whose 2022 season ended final August when he tore ligaments in his left center finger, was hitting .298/.327/.404 via his first 11 video games earlier than spraining his left knee on April 10. The excellent news is that he’s heading for a rehab task with Triple-A Charlotte this weekend. Moncada, who was restricted to 104 video games and a 76 wRC+ final 12 months by three separate journeys to the IL (strains of the indirect and each hamstrings), began out scorching, hitting .308/.325/.564 with a pair of homers via his first 9 video games. He hasn’t performed since April 9, although, because of what was initially termed decrease again soreness however has since been recognized as a protruding disc that’s impinging upon a nerve. While he has elevated his stage of exercise in current days, he’s not but prepared to begin a rehab task. The chance of offseason surgical procedure looms, although the percentages nonetheless favor avoiding it. Via the Chicago Sun Times‘ Daryl Van Schouwen:

“My understanding medically is that about 80% of them, they’re able to calm down naturally, and then you go on with your life,” [general manager Rick] Hahn stated. “And then about maybe two out of every 10, you have to have some sort of intervention in the offseason. It’s trending the right way right now. Hopefully he continues to progress over these seven or eight days and will have an assignment soon after.”

Even if one accounts for the aforementioned accidents, solely two of the crew’s high seven gamers when it comes to plate appearances — all people with 60 or extra — have a wRC+ of 100 or higher: Yasmani Grandal (120 in a welcome bounceback from final 12 months) and Andrew Vaughn (100), although the latter has fallen far in need of the 137 wRC+ put up by José Abreu, who departed through free company. Letting Abreu go doesn’t appear to be the worst concept on condition that he’s 36 and has only a 54 wRC+ with the Astros thus far, however Andrew Benintendi, Chicago’s huge free-agent addition — his five-year, $75 million deal represented the biggest assured contract in membership historical past — has hit a skinny .283/.333/.337 (88 wRC+). Luis Robert Jr. has been underwhelming (.223/.252/.427, 80 wRC+). Elvis Andrus, re-signed in late February, has been sub-replacement stage (.187/.250/.220, 31 wRC+), as has rookie Oscar Colás (.221/.284/.294, 64 wRC+). Part-time infielders Lenyn Sosa and Romy Gonzalez have mixed for 78 PA; the previous has a 1 wRC+, the latter -6. Somebody open a window, please.

The White Sox can’t even level to an absence of luck — an abundance of hard-hit balls that aren’t turning into hits — in accounting for his or her offensive struggles. On a team-wide foundation, their 6.9% barrel fee is twenty first within the majors, however their 87.5 mph common exit velocity and 34% hard-hit fee each rank among the many backside six groups. Their .362 xSLG is twenty eighth, three factors under their precise SLG, and their .287 xwOBA is lifeless final, two factors under their precise wOBA. Individually, solely Anderson, Vaughn, third base fill-in Jake Burger, and part-timer Gavin Sheets have xwOBAs above .291. A horrible efficiency deserves a horrible joke: This crew is xwOBAgone.

If all the crew’s issues might be laid on the ft of the offense, that may be one factor, however relative to the foremost league common scoring fee of 4.56 runs per sport, the White Sox have been additional off the mark when it comes to run prevention, giving up a ghastly 6.12 runs per sport; solely the A’s have been worse. Their rotation, which positioned fifteenth in our preseason Positional Power Rankings and has gotten all 26 begins from the projected beginning 5, is third-to-last within the AL in ERA (5.55), FIP (5.37), and HR/9 (1.67), and in a digital tie for final in stroll fee (10.4%).

Individually, Dylan Cease (4.15 ERA, 4.08 FIP) and Lucas Giolito (4.50 ERA, 4.28 FIP) have each pitched respectably, and the crew is 5–6 of their begins, partially as a result of each pitchers have been backed with greater than 4 runs per sport. Giolito is the one one of many quintet with a single-digit stroll fee (5%), and his fluffed-up ERA is basically a product of permitting seven of his 14 earned runs to the red-hot Pirates in a four-inning begin on April 7. Cease is strolling 10.6% of hitters and has been pulled after four-plus innings in every of his final two begins; he’s allowed 10 runs (9 earned) in eight innings in these turns, each towards Tampa Bay, and so they’ve greater than doubled his ERA.

As for the others, each Lance Lynn (7.52 ERA, 5.97 FIP) and Michael Kopech (7.01 ERA, 7.40 FIP) have been dreadful, and Mike Clevinger (4.81 ERA, 5.45 FIP) merely unhealthy; the crew is 2–13 of their begins. Kopech has been rocked for a 9.88 xERA, the majors’ highest mark of any pitcher with at the least 20 innings, and amongst that set solely Ken Waldichuk has the next FIP or residence run fee than his 2.81 per 9. Pour a 13.4% stroll fee throughout his 93 mph common exit velo, 20.3% barrel fee, and 58.1% hard-hit fee, and also you’ve received an open-and-shut case of arson. Lynn’s 2.39 homers per 9, 10.5% stroll fee, and 6.40 xERA look good solely by comparability. Clevinger isn’t lacking bats; his 6.8% swinging-strike fee is properly under his profession mark (12%) and even final 12 months’s post-Tommy John surgical procedure mark (10.6%). His 16.1% strikeout fee, in the meantime, is 9.3 factors under his profession mark and a pair of.7 factors under final 12 months, and he’s strolling 12.5% of hitters.

Speaking broadly, with this group it comes all the way down to location, location, location. Collectively, this quintet’s 104 Stuff+ rating is the fifth-best within the AL, however their 99 Location+ is thirteenth, and so they’re under 100 in that division in each providing however four-seam (100) and cutter (110), the final of which is nearly totally Lynn’s doing — and his Stuff+ rating for the pitch is simply 91.

The starters have been unhealthy, however at the least they’ve absorbed innings; the meals is horrible however the parts beneficiant. The unit’s 5.2 innings per flip (that’s decimal, not 5 2/3) is correct on the league common, a blessing with regards to a bullpen with a 6.06 ERA (14th within the AL), 4.76 FIP (thirteenth), and 12.2% stroll fee (thirteenth). At least among the drawback might be defined by the lack of Liam Hendriks, who underwent chemotherapy for non-Hodgkins lymphoma and fortunately was declared cancer-free final week; he’s hoping to be cleared to begin a rehab task quickly, with a return later in May. That doesn’t clarify why the usually dependable Aaron Bummer, Jake Diekman, Kendall Graveman, and Reynaldo López have pitched badly, with ERAs of 4.66 or larger, and each Diekman and López above 7.00. The latter, the crew’s fill-in nearer in Hendriks’ absence, has allowed 4 homers in 10.2 innings and is 3-for-5 in save alternatives, although one in all his two blown saves was within the seventh inning; the opposite was a grisly April 21 loss to the Rays during which he blew a two-run lead by serving up homers to Christian Bethancourt and Brandon Lowe, the latter a two-run walk-off. How unhealthy are issues? Only one different time has the crew even had a save alternative to blow, and that was within the seventh inning of their second sport of the season.

The returns of Hendriks and Garrett Crochet, the latter from Tommy John surgical procedure, ought to each assist the bullpen. The White Sox hope that Joe Kelly, who was activated earlier this week after lacking two weeks because of a groin stain, can assist as properly, although his 6.42 ERA and 12.8% stroll fee since donning the Pale Hose final 12 months doesn’t encourage a ton of confidence.

It’s honest to surprise if Grifol, a first-time supervisor, is in over his head, however Hahn has already stepped ahead to assert accountability. “Put it on me… That’s the job. That’s the absolute gig,” he instructed reporters earlier this week. “I’ll tell you this — and let’s make it real clear — it sure as heck isn’t on Pedro [Grifol] and his coaching staff.”

Certainly, one can level to the Benintendi and Clevinger signings — the latter punctuated by a home violence investigation (although he was cleared) — on the expense of different potential strikes as one aspect of the crew’s woes. Likewise the farm system, which ranked lifeless final final 12 months in response to each us and Baseball America’s organizational rankings and is barely as much as twenty third within the former and twenty eighth within the latter this 12 months. Lots of this comes again to possession as properly, because the crew’s Opening Day payroll was down over $12 million relative to final 12 months ($181.2 million versus $193.4 million), admittedly after rising by $65 million the 12 months earlier than.

Already the vultures are circling, the chance of a sell-off looming. Among the pending free brokers (Giolito, Grandal, Andrus, Clevinger, López, and Keynan Middleton), solely the primary two would deliver again a lot worth given their present performances. Among these with membership choices (Anderson, Graveman, Hendriks, and Lynn), Chicago may get extra, however buying and selling its star shortstop and nearer would each be unpopular strikes that may hardly clear up all of the ills.

At some level, this crew figures to enhance upon this depressing early-season efficiency; no one is as unhealthy as they appear throughout a shedding streak. Still, it’s trying prefer it might be an extended summer season on the South Side.