Like a Broken Record

According to today’s The Athletic, White Sox manager Rick Renteria and his boss GM Rick Hahn are both feeling a little cranky on account of all the questions surrounding the Sox rebuild.  Well, in that case allow me to pile on.

How can you feel good about the rebuild after last night’s 14-4 loss to the Twins?  How can you feel good about starter Reynaldo Lopez, who was staked to a three-run lead in the third inning?  Lopez promised at the All-Star break that he was going to do better, and he did, for six starts.  But the last two have been terrible.  With two out and nobody on in the fifth and the socre already tied, Lopez proceeded to give up four runs.  Granted, if Welington Castillo knew how to throw a ball or Jose Abreu catch one, he would’ve been out of the inning with no damage done.  But hitting the next batter and then giving up a bases-loaded double is not exactly what you call pitching over the error.  Calling Don Cooper, if only he’d answer.

The game was relatively close, 7-4 Twins, going into the bottom of the eighth, when Renteria trotted out the bottom of the bullpen.  Kelvin Herrera was tagged for five runs in .2 of an inning while Hector Santiago gave up another two runs in his third of an inning.  Herrera has stunk all year, which makes you wonder what Hahn saw in the free agent that other teams didn’t.  And Santiago, a genuinely nice guy, is no longer a major-league talent.  Why is he on the roster?  Calling Mr. Hahn.

That’s the kind of stuff to get Sox fans riled up, along with the fact that Luis Robert, Nick Madrigal and some guy name Daniel Palka are tearing up Triple-A pitching.  Robert and Madrigal have both moved from high-A to Double-A to Triple-A.  Altogether, Madrigal is hitting .305 on the season with a .372 OBP while Robert is at .336 with 29 homeruns, thirteen at Triple-A Charlotte.  As for my pal Palka, he’s swatted 26 homers and 23 doubles to go with a .388 OBP at Charlotte.

Granted, none of these guys can pitch, but why nor see what they can do on the field and at bat?  The peasants are restless, gentlemen, and Leury Garcia misjudging another fly ball isn’t going to fix things.