Robin Redux

The more I see of Grady Sizemore in the dugout, the more he reminds me of Robin Ventura, a very good ballplayer in over his head as manager. Sizemore’s 3-16 record since taking over for Mickey Mouse looks to be proof of that. Last night, the Sad Sox fell to the Mets, 5-1, collecting all of five hits. But, hey, that’s better than the three on Thursday, right? For you fans keeping count out there, the Sad Sox are 31-105 on the season. A loss today, and they equal a franchise-worst 106, WITH A MONTH LEFT TO PLAY. After the game, Sizemore told reporters, “Sometimes you don’t get the hits, or they don’t fall in, and you can’t get them when you need them. It’s just baseball.” [today’s Sun-Times] What, he was watching “Chinatown” before the game? Sizemore also said he’s trying to have players focus on the game at hand, not the record that looks ever more likely to be set with each loss. “The record is not anything we can focus on. It’s about getting better, playing good baseball and competing.” Mickey Mouse couldn‘t have said it better. Here’s the thing—a manager should want to avoid that record at all costs, save for possible injury. To pretend it doesn’t matter contradicts the very essence of competitive sports. The idea is to win, not lose. People keep score and judge accordingly.

How Bad Is It?

Let me count the ways. By losing to the Rangers 2-1 yesterday afternoon, the Sad Sox saw their record drop to a pitiful 31-104. That’s three ahead of the ’62 Mets. Nick Nastirni was called up to start the game and gave up one run in six innings of work, good enough to earn the loss. The sad ones avoided their fifteenth shutout of the season with an Andrew Benintendi homerun in the bottom of the ninth. In other words, shutout losses have constituted ten percent of the Sox season. And we’ve got a month to go, folks. Sox hitters, such as they are, managed three hits on the day. That’s just what you’d expect from a team last in the majors in runs and on-base percentage. The Mariners, who have 37 more wins than the Sox, are actually last in batting average at .216 vs. .220 for the palest of pale hose. The Mariners recently replaced their hitting coach. I guess those four points are the difference between a job and unemployment. Lucky Marcus Thames. How fitting that the Mets come to town for a weekend series. The old recordholder passing the baton to the new. I’m sure Jerry Reinsdorf is bursting with pride that his team at some point in September will snatch away a record from his hometown.

Stupid Is/Stupid Does, #’s 102 and `03

Say this for the White Sox—they’re depressingly efficient. Rather than lose one game to the Rangers yesterday, they dropped two, by scores of 3-1 and 4-3. The losses add up to a 31-103 record, with a month of baseball left to set the record for futility. Right now, that belongs those lovable Mets of 1962, but here’s the thing. The Sad Sox are three games ahead of the Mets’ pace. And here’s one of the ways they’ve accomplished it, by trading for Miguel Vargas. After keeping Bryan Ramos around for all of a day, the Sox started Vargas both games at third base. About the best you could say is he didn’t get hurt playing there. As for hitting, he went 1-for-7 on the afternoon. That makes Vargas 7-for-69 since coming over from LA. Yup, anyone hitting .101 definitely belongs on this team.

Looking for Clues

In the words of the late, great Robert Palmer, I’m “looking for clues.” And the ones popping up aren’t too encouraging. How could they be for a team that lost for the 101st time last night, 6-3 to the Tigers? A couple of days ago, White Sox GM Chris Getz told reporters, “We are committed to doing what’s right for us long term. And we’ve got to stay the course. Not cave based on pressures or noise outside of the organization and do what’s right for us so we can be successful in the future.” [“White Sox cross disappointing threshold with 100th loss,” story on team website] Say what? Not cave—that can only mean Getz won’t be pursuing big-ticket free agents. No, he’s going to develop the talent to compete, something the organization hasn’t excelled at since Jerry Reinsdorf took over the team in 1981. Beyond that, pure word salad. Ditto interim manager Grady Sizemore, who saw his team blow yet another lead in falling 70 (!!!) games under .500 at 31-71. Sizemore referred to the Tigers as “pesky hitters” who “they put the ball in play. They were giving us tough at-bats the whole series. It was just a tough outing. Shu's [Jared Shuster, who gave up four earned runs in 1.1 innings of work in relief of starter Davis Martin] been great for us. Sometimes, it happens. We haven't had a lot of things go our way, and they put together a good inning." And here I always thought you make your own luck in sports. Two tiny clues to keep me from jumping off the ledge involve Martin and the just-recalled Bryan Ramos. Martin has been a revelation since coming back from Tommy John surgery, notching a 2.96 ERA over 27.1 innings and six games, five of them starts. He says being around Garrett Crochet has helped. Maybe they can text after Crochet gets traded at the winter meetings. As for Ramos, he’s back and he’s an American citizen; I knew there was something up by how he acted at the swearing-in ceremony at the game Clare and I attended back in May. The 22-year old has also been on a tear all month in Triple-A Charlotte, including a two-homer game on Sunday. Now, let’s see if he can bump Lenyn Sosa and Miguel Vargas off of third base.

The Wrong Stuff

How do you lose 100 games with six days to go in August? Do what the White Sox did yesterday, coughing up yet another to fall to the Tigers, 9-4. Start off by sitting two of your best players, center fielder Luis Robert Jr. and catcher Korie Lee, replacing them with Dominic Fletcher (0-for-4, .212 BA) and Chuckie Robinson (1-for-4, .148), respectively. And just for fun, give Miguel Vargas a start. Vargas lifted his average to .173 on the season by going 1-for-4. The game was relatively close at 5-3 Detroit going into the seventh inning, when Grady Sizemore, managing more like Mickey Mouse by the day, brought in Enyel De Los Santos. Pitching with the Yankees not even two weeks ago, De Los Santos gave up seven runs to the Sox. New York DFA’d him two days later, and, out of gratitude, the Sox signed him. De Los Santos gave up two runs in an inning of work. Did I mention that Grady Sizemore was channeling his inner Mouse? In other words, he called on Touki Toussaint for a second straight game. Toussaint did what he does best, give up runs, in this case, two in two innings for a 7.71 ERA on the season. Did I mention Matt Foster got sent down to make room for De Los Santos, this after Foster rehabbed his way back from Tommy John surgery and looked good both in Triple A and his one appearance for the Sox? Or that the Sox are two games ahead of the pace set by the ’62 Mets? Maybe it’s just too damn depressing to mention.

Cranky

I heard White Sox GM Chris Getz addressing the media yesterday about doing things right in the rebuild. Oh, please. The Sox traded the enigmatic Michael Kopech to the Dodgers at the trade deadline last month. It was a three-way deal involving the Cardinals, so it’s a little hard to say who got traded for whom. But I do know one of the three players the Sox received is on the 26-man roster, and that’s 24-year old Miguel Vargas, who’s batting .086 for the Sox in 58 at-bats . And Kopech? He’s 2-0 with a 0.79 ERA in eleven games spanning 11.1 innings. But Getz is content to go with the likes of Touki Toussaint and John Brebbia out of the pen Between them, those two gave up eight earned runs in 1.2 innings of work. Tigers 13 Sad Sox 4. Yeah, Getz is going to get it right. And I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell.

Happy Anniversary

We’re one week shy of a year since Jerry Reinsdorf fired Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn. As I recall, Reinsdorf said he didn’t wait for the end of the season because he wanted to give Hahn a head start on getting his next job. Unless Hahn is working undercover, his ex-boss needn’t have bothered. And didn’t Reinsdorf say the Sox wouldn’t be in the market for Shohei Ohtani? Of course not, teams with a record of 31-98—including last night’s 5-2 loss to the Tigers—don’t go after a player like Ohtani. Ohtani has 40 homeruns and 92 RBIs. Andrew Vaughn and Andrew Benintendi are the top two RBI producers on the Sox, with a combined total of 95. The top three Sox homerun hitters—Luis Robert Jr., Vaughn and Benintendi—total 40 on the season. And yet baseball allows Reinsdorf to maintain control of the team. Go figure.

Isn't It a Pity?

Back in the day, I played the great South Side game of Fast Pitch, two to a side, may the better team win. We all lived to be on the right side of a blowout. That way, up by ten or more runs, we could let the opposing pitcher know just how bad he was with a pity swing—wouldn’t do it with the game on the line, but now we just wanted to get the game over with. The Giants gave the Sad Sox a pity win yesterday afternoon, 6-2. And all this time I thought only the other team could score four runs in the ninth. Yea, Korey Lee and Lenyn Sosa both had two-out, two-run singles. Maybe that will provide the momentum for turning this season around. Just kidding, sort of like when the Sox pitch Garrett Crochet. Yesterday, Crochet threw 57 pitches over four innings. On the season, he’s gone 128.2 innings, fanning 180. Now, will somebody tell me if Crochet will ever reach 200 innings in a season? Theoretically, he could get seven more starts, totaling, what, another 28 innings? That would put him at 156.2. Any takers that he won’t hit that mark? How about 200 innings in a season for the White Sox? Didn’t think so.

Stone Cold

The Hitless Blunders were at it again last night in San Francisco. Three hits total in a 4-1 loss to the Giants. What new? What really caught my attention was yesterday’s Steve Stone interview in the Sun-Times. It was basically a valentine to White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf. Stone said because Reinsdorf has been so good to him “I will be loyal to Jerry as long as I’m around.” Stone is 77, so we can hope that won’t be too much longer. Stone also offered up this gem: “The fans are so unhappy that they want to take it out on one person, and the easiest way is to take it out on the man who owns the team.” The stopped clock got that right because fans know to blame the person responsible for this record-setting dumpster fire.

Stupid is as Stupid Does

Nice to see Brooks Baldwin take my criticism to heart (yes, I think my reach is that great. Why not?) And Korey Lee. And Gavin Sheets. If only it added up to a win. Giants 5 Sad Sox 3. Sheets had an RBI pinch-hit single in the eighth while Lee had two hits with a double. Baldwin? Two singles, two walks, a run and a stolen base from the nine hole. If only some of that had rubbed off on Lenyn Sosa. Interim manager Grady Sizemore must have been channeling his inner Mickey Mouse when he made up last night’s lineup, with Sosa batting leadoff. Sosa is batting .091 over his last seven games, .120 over his last fifteen. The promise of mid-June is long faded, I’d say. Sosa batted in the top of the third, bases loaded nobody out; he struck out on three pitches. In the fifth with one out and one on, he popped to third. With two out and one on in the seventh, he flied out to right. Sox nation was spared a fourth Sosa at-bat in the ninth. Sosa has fourteen runs scored, seventeen RBIs and 48 hits in 227 at-bats vs. eight, eight and 20 in 90 at-bats for Baldwin, who’s also batting .261 over his last seven games and .241 over his last fifteen. These would seem to be two players headed in opposite directions. The smart thing to do would be to call up Colson Montgomery from Triple-A, his .206 BA be damned; .206 would fit perfectly in this lineup. Heck, Miguel Vargas looks clueless batting .179, and he still gets to play. That, or show some institutional loyalty to someone like Danny Mendick, who’d make a good coach in the not-too-distant future. Or get Bryan Ramos back up here. This is a team knocking at infamy’s door with its 30-96 record. Standing pat is the last thing it should be doing.

More Threadbare

White Sox rookie lefthander Ky Bush did his Houdini thing again yesterday in Houston. Two runners on nobody out in the first, bases loaded two out in the third, and no damage either time. You’d think one run in six innings would quality Bush for the win, but you’d be wrong. Astros 2 Sad Sox 0. That’s fourteen shutout losses, in case you’re counting. The sad ones managed three singles and a walk to go with thirteen strikeouts. Not one of the nine starters—including Luis Robert Jr., Andrew Vaughn and Korey Lee—deserves a guaranteed starting job going into spring training. How bad is it? Vaughn leads the team in batting average (.242) and RBIs (52). The Sad Sox record stands at 30-95, equal to the ‘’62 Mets at the same point in the season. You Gotta Believe.

Threadbare

Is it really a MLB game when teams face the White Sox? I mean, what are the odds of losing when you go up against Chris Flexen? Astros 6 Sad Sox 1. Flexen labored through four innings, giving up four earned runs on seven hits. The 30-year old righty is now 2-12 on the season with a 5.45 ERA. Flexen hasn’t won a game since May 8, and the Sox are 0-18 in his eighteen starts since. Holy ’62 Mets. Then again, Cy Young would have problems winning with the lineup interim manager Grady Sizemore cobbles together from game to game. Last night, it included catcher Chuckie Robinson (0-for-2, .136 BA); Lenyn Sosa (0-for-3, .214); and Brooks Baldwin (0-for-3, .205). What Sizemore sees in outfielder Dominic Fletcher (0-for-3, .215) is beyond me. Add it all up, and you have five gaping roster holes, four if you cut Baldwin some slack for being a rookie thrown into the fire. And teams can only call up three players come September? Holy ’62 Mets.

What's the Point?

White Sox victories are so rare, you’d think I’d be happy about last night’s 5-4 win over the Astros, and I am, sort of. But, beyond embarrassing the opposition, what’s the point? Garrett Crochet started and had Houston hitters eating out of his hand, with nine strikeouts in four innings. Why only four innings? Because the Sox “brain trust” wants to manage his load. OK, for who’s benefit? Crochet’s? I doubt it. More like they want to make sure their trading chip doesn’t get injured before they can unload him. And they want to unload a 25-year old lefthander who has 176 strikeouts in 124.2 innings in this, his first season as a starter? In heaven’s name, why? Which brings us to Luis Robert Jr., he of the two homeruns and four RBIs last night. The 27-year old centerfielder is rumored to be on his way out, too. Again, why? There’s no way GM Chris Getz isn’t going to get anything near the talent he’d be shipping out. The smart thing to do would be to solve the mystery that is Luis Robert Jr. But the White Sox don’t do smart, do they?

Stop Me if You’ve Heard This One Before

Oh, that White Sox bullpen. Another seventh inning lead out the window last night as the Yankees form a conga line around the bases. New York 10, Sad Sox 2. What other choice do I have but to accentuate the positive? Davis Martin made his second straight quality start. It’s one thing to pitch well against the A’s, quite another when you’re doing it against Aaron Judge and company. Please, oh please, Davis, keep it up. If you do, you may even notch a win before season’s end. And then there’s Gavin Sheets, who had a double and homerun to go with two RBIs. Sheets is 13-for-27 in his last seven games with six extra-base hits. No doubt, playing five of those games without Mickey Mouse in the dugout is just a coincidence. And Brooks Baldwin picked up another double. All in all, not much to cheer about, but more than there was just a week ago.

Back to That

Good rule of thumb—don’t give up three homeruns to Juan Soto. Yankees 4 White Sox 1. That said, Jonathan Cannon didn’t look too bad, and the Sox actually had the winning run at the plate in the person of Brooks Baldwin, who struck out. Learning moment, I hope. Baldwin and Gavin Sheets both doubled, so there’s that. And the Yankees—let’s just say they’re a team with a lot of pop and a lot of holes. Aaron Judge in center field? Danger, Will Robinson. Plus nobody at first and third. Shades of Abbott and Costello, there.

Perchance, To Dream

The world turned upside down last night with the Yankees in town, Goliath vs. the 95-pound weakling, only the weakling poured it on by a score of 12-2. The worst team in baseball looked anything but with eighteen hits, highlighted by Gavin Sheets’ three opposite-field doubles. Sheets went 4-for-5 with four RBIs. Andrew Vaughn joined Sheets in a 4-for-5 night while Korey Lee and Brooks Baldwin both homered. Some of the damage was even done against a good starter. Luis Gil, now 12-6, gave up four runs and seven hits for the loss. Sox starter Ky Bush—who reminds me of a young J.K. Simmons—pulled off a Houdini act for the ages. Bush fell one out short of the win, no doubt exhausted from all the bullets he’d dodged. The 24-year old lefty gave up six hits and seven walks that turned into a mere two runs. After the game, players and Ozzie Guillen went on at length about all the energy suddenly present in the clubhouse and dugout and on the field. If interim manager Grady Sizemore is the cause, then shame on GM Chris Getz and Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf for sticking with ex-manager Mickey Mouse for as long as they did. A 3-21 start should’ve been more than enough motivation to make a change both necessary and inevitable. Oh, well. Better late than never, right?

Like Parent, Like Son

My grandson, who just turned three, is already hitting line drives. He’ll do it off a tee or with someone pitching to him, it doesn’t matter. Come spring, I’ll give him the bat his mom used at that age. The one he has now is closer to modified Flintstones than a full-on caveman club. Either way, he should in the not-too-distant future be swinging something with a narrower circumference. Clare did at three years and ten months, so that’s when we’ll do it with Leo, if only at Grandma and Grandpa’s house; I don’t want to be the overbearing grandparent, visiting grandparent, that is. I’m pretty sure the kid will do just fine when the time comes. As it is, Clare is in full hitting-instructor mode, positioning his feet and teaching him to shift his weight as he swings the bat. She’s pretty good at it, too. She must’ve had a good teacher. My grandson is also big into football, which isn’t too surprising, given that his dad played in college and presently coaches a high school team. Last week, we spent a good half-hour with me hiking a small-sized ball and Leo running from one end of his back porch to the other, at which point he would knock me down and shout, “Touchdown! Let’s do it again, Grandpa.” When we got home, my chest actually from where he kept jamming the ball into it as he knocked me to the floor. At least by sitting, I didn’t have that far to go. The boy is also musical, like his dad, who plays the guitar. Leo, though, has shown a more-than-passing interest in the piano; there’s one at his daycare. Paderewski meets Musial meets Gronkowski. I can’t wait.

By the Numbers

The White Sox lost to the Cubs last night, 3-1, to fall to 28-91 on the season. The 1916 A’s are the only other team in MLB history to have lost at least 91 games over the course of the first 119 games in a season. The Sox managed seven hits vs. thirteen strikeouts. Luis Robert Jr. is on an absolute tear in that regard. Robert struck out four times. Batting him second has really made a difference. The ’62 Mets were two games better at this point in the season. Again, Jerry Reinsdorf must be proud.

Answer Me This—

Why didn’t Grady Sizemore bunt in the bottom of the ninth, the White Sox down by a run, two runners on, nobody out and Nicky Lopez up? Letting Lopez swing away and fly out meekly to left was a move worthy of Mickey Mouse. Oh, well. Cubs 7 Sox 6. Maybe Mouse’s exit can be felt in more subtle ways, like Lopez and Gavin Sheets each collecting three hits on the night while Andrew Benintendi hit another two homeruns; that’s five in five games for Benintendi. Garrett Crochet gave up seven runs, but the bullpen actually managed 6.2 scoreless innings. And how nice to see Jerry Reinsdorf at the park. He must be proud.

You Don't Say

Ex-White Sox manager Mickey Mouse—and doesn’t that feel good to say?—was forever telling reporters how he was in regular communication with team owner Jerry Reinsdorf and GM Chris Getz. How interesting, then, for Getz to cite “some different belief systems” among his reasons for showing Mouse the door. Like confusing losing with winning, I guess. Anyway, the guessing game around the next Sox manager has started, with everyone short of A.J. Pierzynski and Ozzie Guillen possibilities; sorry, A.J. and Ozzie, you guys may want the job, but Reinsdorf doesn’t want you. Remember, absolute loyalty first, then knowing how to talk less in public than the Sphynx. The thing of it is, anyone’s an improvement over Mouse, who set the bar so low it’s buried ten feet down. I’ll be ecstatic if interim manager Grady Sizemore can earn a split with the two games coming up against the Cubs.

Oh, Happy Day

I just went online to check to see if the White Sox website had the same quote the Tribune did for manager Mickey Mouse’s reasoning behind bringing in Touki Toussaint to relieve Davis Martin, who’d thrown six shutout innings against the A’s yesterday afternoon. Mouse thought “Touki was a good matchup,” only he wasn’t. Toussaint gave up three runs. Sox lose, 3-2. But enough of the same old same old. Like I said, I was going on the website, and there it was, a headline announcing: White Sox dismiss Grifol; search underway for new manager. Oh, happy day.

One Down, One to Go

That’s one nightmare down with a 5-1 White Sox win over the A’s last night. Thank you, Jonathan Cannon. If only Garrett Crochet were sticking around so you and he could team up in the rotation next year. But before anyone gets all excited over Andrew Benintendi’s recent power surge, remember this—these Sad Sox are 28-88. While they may not break the ’61 Phillies’ record of 23 consecutive losses (at least I think they won’t), they could still out-Met the ’62 Mets. Casey’s Kids’ record stood at 30-86 after 116 games. Do the math. And remember who we have managing this team.

Mirror, Mirror

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, which baseball team has the worst losing streak of all? Pretty soon, and it’s the White Sox. Last night, the Sad Sox bagged their 21st straight loss, with a 5-1 sleepwalk in Oakland. Let me repeat that—Oakland, as in the Coliseum, as in 4971 fans on hand, or so they said. But, hey, four hits is nothing to sneeze at. Before the game, manager Mickey Mouse praised his coaches, who “have done a really good job navigating through this stuff.” It would’ve been nice if Mouse had mentioned people by name. Did he mean the coaches who have worked with batters for a team dead last in the major leagues in batting average, runs scored and on-base percentage, or those coaches working with pitchers who comprise a staff with the second-worst ERA in all of baseball? Only the Rockies are worse, and they have a built-in excuse of playing their home games in thin air. As we speak, the Sox have tied the 1988 Orioles for longest losing streak in the AL; two more losses, and they tie the MLB record held by the ’61 Phillies, a team that went 47-107-1 on the season. Here’s the thing, though. The next season, the Phillies won 81 games. Of course, they had a real manager both years in Gene Mauch. And who do we have?

Teacher's Pet

The streaking Sad Sox made it twenty losses in a row on Sunday, with a 13-7 drubbing at the hands of the Twins. You’d think manager Mickey Mouse would be busy cleaning out his desk, but you’d be wrong. Mouse is busy polishing Jerry Reinsdorf’s apple. Mouse told reporters yesterday he’s been talking to the Chairman and CM Chris Getz. What did they talk about? Mouse won’t say because good Jerry Sox don’t say anything in public. But the worst manager in franchise history did share this about Reinsdorf. “He’s an incredible owner, an incredible man. I know how much he loves Chicago and how much he loves those fans. Jerry’s a winner. He’s an absolute winner.” [quotes in today’s Sun-Times] No, he’s not. If Reinsdorf were anything close to a winner, he’d have shown Mouse the door at the end of last season. Even a mediocre owner would’ve found someone else by now. But what do we get with Reinsdorf? A man so insecure he keeps Mickey Mouse around for no other discernible reason other than to sing his praises. Sox fans must’ve really ticked off the Almighty to deserve this level of punishment.

Going Through the Motions

White Sox manager Mickey Mouse pulled Garrett Crochet after four innings last night against the Twins because…that’s what Mickey Mouse does. We can’t have Crochet injured going into the December baseball meetings, now can we? Of course, if the Sox want to get full value for their pitcher, it would seem to make sense that he compile stats that prove his value. But what do I know vs. a ballclub that’s already 27-86 on the season? Twins 6 Sad Sox 2, which comes out to nineteen losses in a row. Speaking of future trades, what does GM Chris Getz expect to get in return for Luis Robert Jr.? Another 19-year old, or two, if he’s lucky? Robert is batting .154 over his last seven games and .214 on the season. Those 87 strikeouts in 215 at-bats indicate something, and it sure isn’t that Robert cares. I guess Robert’s approach and attitude are two more things Mouse can’t control. Oh, well. Twenty in a row, here we come.

Merrily We Go Along

I have this theory that young players, or anyone fighting for starting spot on a bad-to-mediocre team, is prone to injury in the attempt to will their team to victory. It happened to Tim Anderson back in 2019 and Danny Mendick in 2022. You can probably add rookie pitcher Drew Thorpe to the list too. Thorpe was put on the 15-day IL with a flexor strain in his right forearm; it dates to his last two starts, both of which have pretty much stunk: 5.2 innings pitched, fourteen earned runs allowed, two losses. Thorpe says he tried to pitch through the discomfort, which could signal he had it for a while. Wait, it gets worse. The Sox have a number of interesting pitchers in Double- and Triple-A, none of whom were called up. No, they brought up Charlotte reliever Prelander Berroa instead. Of course, the TV broadcast was all excited, with a graphic about how Berroa hadn’t given up a run in six of his last seven appearances. What the graphic didn’t show was his ERA, which was a tad on the high side at 6.69. Oh, those White Sox. Anyway, Berroa came into the eighth inning last night in Minnesota, after Steven Wilson had given up four two-out runs to the Twins; Berroa made it six all night. Final score, Twins 10-Sad Sox 2. That’s eighteen in a row, in case you’re counting. The Sox record stands at 27-85 vs. 30-82 for the ’62 Mets, in case you care. As for manager Mickey Mouse, he says, “I’m going to control the things I can control.” And that means “get to the ballpark, work as hard as I can, prepare as hard as I can, make sure our staff is ready to go, make sure we get a good day’s work in and get motivated to win a baseball game.” [today’s Sun-Times] In other words, he thinks of his job in terms of a participation award. It's time to switch things up. Maybe Mouse should consider not getting to the ballpark. The team couldn’t do any worse.

Money (Not) Well Spent

This is sad. Reports indicate that the White Sox didn’t trade Eloy Jimenez to the Orioles for a minor-league pitcher Trey McGough. No, they traded Jimenez and $4 million for McGough. Here’s a thought. Why didn’t the Sox keep—or release—Eloy and use the money instead to buy out the remainder of manager Mickey Mouse’s contract? That would have been the smart thing to do. Never mind.

Hence, to Plummet

The consensus is that White Sox GM Chris Getz gave up a lot more than he got during the trade deadline. Miguel Vargas, the one Sox acquisition put on the major-league roster, went from Dodger darling last season to expendable this year. In two games on the South Side, Vargas is 0-for-8 with three strikeouts. He did almost catch a ball yesterday in left field, so there’s that. Local media has spent the last few days trying to corner Getz on the future of his manager, but he won’t commit, and who can blame him? A manager who’s overseen losing streaks of fourteen and seventeen games (and this one’s ongoing, folks) in the same season doesn’t exactly elicit words of praise. Do the man a favor, I say, and show him the door. Now. Because Mickey Mouse is starting to embarrass himself. Before yesterday’s 10-3 loss to the Royals, Mouse did an interview in which he basically compared himself to Job: “There’s a reason why the good Lord put me in this job. There’s a reason why we’ve been hit with this storm. I choose to believe that. That’s my faith. That’s my foundation. I’m not crying about this. I’m going to fight through it. I’m not going to give up.” [quote from online story today on team website] That’s all, folks.