This weekend is the last chance to try out for the Chicago White Sox fire sale, which is expected to happen before the trade deadline.
Not everybody has to go.
However, given the Sox’s dismal start to the 2024 campaign—they have dropped 27 of their previous 33 games and are now 20-57 following a 2-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Friday in the first game of a three-game series—general manager Chris Getz is forced to act as a motivated seller.
On the South Side, there’s a custom unlike any other where the old models have to give way to new ones.
While much of the media focus has been on budding star Garrett Crochet and slugger Luis Robert Jr., Erick Fedde, who took a 3.09 ERA into Friday’s series opener against the Tigers, will be one of the more heavily scouted pitchers the next few weeks.
Fedde had another strong outing, allowing two runs on five hits over seven innings, retiring the last 14 hitters he faced. But the Sox fell in mind-numbing fashion again, as Paul DeJong was doubled off first on a routine fly to center to end it.
It was only a mental slip-up, DeJong added. “I simply neglected to keep track of (the outs) because I’m worried about getting on base.” That was entirely my fault and cost us the match. It hurts a lot, but try to improve the following time. All I can say is that.
Pedro Grifol, the manager, didn’t want to talk about his opinions of the play when he spoke after his players. He was questioned about DeJong being doubled off after he neglected to address it in his lengthy summary of the game.
“Did you talk to him? You asked him?” he asked a reporter.
Grifol was told that DeJong admitted it was a mental lapse.
“He already answered the answer,” Grifol said. “That’s what it is. … DeJong plays the game really hard every day. He prepares. If he says he had a mental lapse, he had a mental lapse. That’s part of it. We’re all human. That’s why you asked him the question. That’s why he answered it.”
Are those types of mistakes a result of all the losses?
Grifol remarked, “I don’t think it has anything to do with losing.” “I believe he experienced a mental breakdown during that specific play.”
With one out, DeJong had reached on a single by Jason Foley’s pitch. He might have become distracted by a lengthy analysis of Detroit’s call challenge.
DeJong declared, “I don’t want to make any excuses.” “I must be aware of the circumstances. Yes, the hit-by-pitch aspect of the review rather sapped my motivation, and it also made me less of a fan of the game’s rhythm. All you have to do is improve and come back once the game resumes.
DeJong said he didn’t hear anything from first-base coach Jason Bourgeois. He was going on the swing with two strikes on pinch hitter Andrew Benintendi and was at second when the ball was caught.
“Just one of those things,” DeJong said. “It sucks, but just got to move on.”
Fedde sprung to DeJong’s defense afterward.
“Paulie is a great guy, he’s been working his butt off all year for us,” he said. “You play 162 games, sometimes you have brain farts. I think we’ve all been there. It’s just one of those things.
“The guy is putting in work and doing what he needs to do. It’s not something to jump on him for.”
Fedde’s performance should boost his trade worth, and following DeJong’s error, he shown clubhouse leadership.
Fedde will be among the best pitchers available after transferring his performance from the Korean Baseball Organization to the major leagues and signing a cheap two-year deal.
With a team in a losing streak and rookies Jonathan Cannon and Drew Thorpe receiving rotational time, Fedde ought to be daydreaming about pitching for a contender by August.
This week, Getz stated, “There’s an argument from a strategy standpoint to continue bringing in pitching to help you acquire position players.” “There will come a time when we really must do better offensively. Although the offensive side has somewhat improved over the past few weeks, we still know that in the long run, we’ll need batters who can hit regularly, have good power, and possibly even steal bases depending on the player.
The Sox are worst in the majors in a number of offensive metrics, such as slugging (.345), runs scored (235), on base percentage (.281), and hitting (.219). Thus, even if they don’t make it to the scouts, DeJong, Tommy Pham, and Gavin Sheets might still be trying out.
This week, Getz stated, “There’s an argument from a strategy standpoint to continue bringing in pitching to help you acquire position players.” “There will come a time when we really must do better offensively. Although the offensive side has somewhat improved over the past few weeks, we still know that in the long run, we’ll need batters who can hit regularly, have good power, and possibly even steal bases depending on the player.
The Sox are worst in the majors in a number of offensive metrics, such as slugging (.345), runs scored (235), on base percentage (.281), and hitting (.219). Thus, even if they don’t make it to the scouts, DeJong, Tommy Pham, and Gavin Sheets might still be trying out.
In a four-month period last winter, Thorpe—called up from Double-A Birmingham and set to make his third start at Comerica Park on Saturday—participated in two major trades: the Juan Soto trade from the New York Yankees to San Diego in December, and the Dylan Cease trade from the Padres to the White Sox in mid-March.
Thorpe is now regarded as one of the Sox’s foundational players, much like Michael Kopech and Cease were in their early years. Thorpe claimed that since his ordeal, he no longer feels that level of pressure.
“Two trades in the offseason, it was kind of a whirlwind,” Thorpe said Friday. “Just trying to clear my head. Obviously you’re traded for two really big players, so that gives you a little bit of confidence going in.
“It was a lot (to process). I didn’t really know what to think when it happened. At the end of the day, it’s the same game. It doesn’t matter what team you’re on or where you’re at.”
Robert was in the DH slot on Friday, which Grifol said was “part of the plan” for the center fielder, who did himself no favors Thursday by botching a routine fly for an error. Getz said Monday that Robert “certainly on the defensive side, he’s a game changer in so many different ways. An inquiring team would have to bring something that is pretty significant for us to move on some of these guys.”
But as valuable as the Sox believe Robert is, scouts watching him play with that kind of indifference surely are marking down notes in their reports and sending it back to their respective GMs. If that’s Robert’s “audition,” he’s doing it all wrong.
Grifol inserted Oscar Colás in center Friday, giving the once highly touted prospect a chance to show what he can do in the position Robert usually mans. Colás has played sparingly with Robert up and Pham mostly playing right, but Grifol said he wants to get him more at-bats against right-handers.
“It’s hard to get him in there,” he said. “We’ve got some days off with some guys coming too. I’ll do my very best to get him in there. I like his bat. I like his tools. We all do.”
Colás could also be auditioning for a new team — a change of scenery might help. It’s not just the veterans looking at the trade rumors.
Meanwhile, Class A Kannapolis reliever Christian Edwards was suspended for 80 games without pay by MLB on Friday after testing positive for PEDs.
“While we were disappointed to learn of the discipline, we are fully supportive of MLB’s policies to deter the use of performance-enhancing drugs,” the Sox said in a statement.
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