Half a Roster

Right now, the White Sox look to be stuck in the teardown phase of their rebuild. Yesterday, they blew a 2-0 lead to lose 4-2 to the Orioles. By my count, they had six real hitters—and that’s ignoring early-season slumps—in the lineup while employing at most one major-league pitcher out of the six used, and that’s granting Jordan Leasure major-league status. Sorry, Jordan Hicks and his hittable 100-mph fastball don’t count, as evidenced by his 9.00 ERA. Wait, there’s more. Brooks Baldwin, who was expected to see plenty of action in the outfield, is out for the season with surgery on his right elbow. In his absence, we have the likes of Luisangel Acuna; Dustin Harris; Tristan Peters; and Derek Hill. How many RBIs has that quartet managed in eleven games? One. Still not done. Shane Smith started, threw 3.2 shutout innings but got sent down to Triple-A Charlotte. Why? Because he needed 99 pitches to record ten outs. It’s never a good look when you send down your Opening Day pitcher after three starts, but that’s your 2026 White Sox. The longer GM Chris Getz waits to promote the talent that he does have (starters Noah Schultz, Hagen Smith and Tanner McDougal along with newly-minted left fielder Sam Antonacci), the deeper the hole he digs for his team and the more he risks alienating the fanbase. But it’s been said many times, may ways. What do I know?