Not Buying It

The White Sox record stands at 23-50 after last night’s 12-2 beatdown from the Cardinals. That’s all of four games better than last year, in case you’re wondering. That strikes me as being within the margin of error for another horrific season. I would think the entire Sox organization would be motivated to avoid repeating anything close to resembling last season’s 41-121 disaster, but, No, manager New-Mickey Venable keeps acting like Old-Mickey Mouse, especially when it comes to first base. Last night, he had Lenyn Sosa at first and Miguel Vargas at third; each one made an error because each one was playing out of position. Sosa should be at second; Vargas at first; and somebody other than Josh Rojas (.184 BA, four RBIs in 103 at-bats) at third. Hint, hint—Bryan Ramos. Speaking of talent wasted in the minors, consider the case of Brooks Baldwin, just recalled only to be sent down after three at-bats to make room for Sosa off the IL. Did Baldwin sulk at the demotion? No more than Tim Elko did when it happened to him last week. Baldwin went 3-for-3 with a homerun; two RBIs; and four runs scored. Another Four-A player? That, or someone who isn’t getting the necessary coaching at the big-league level. Baldwin struck out each of the three times he batted over the weekend in Texas; I saw two of them. He was doing what got him sent down in the first place, chasing shoulder-high pitches. What, nobody throws that in Triple-A? More likely, Sox hitting coach Marcus Thames doesn’t focus on it. A rebuild is supposed to be about hard decisions and letting young players go through growing pains. Instead, Sox GM Chris Getz and his manager play musical chairs with players who shouldn’t be here. Ramos should be playing third base, Baldwin second, or the outfield, where Luis Robert Jr. will be gone soon enough and Michael A. Taylor should be. Ditto Austin Taylor and Ryan Noda at first base, too. Hard decisions—that means figuring out what to do with Sosa, a bat-first player. Either trade him or move him to DH. Then let Elko hit until his average dips into Vinny Capra territory. Right now, that would be .108.