Wait Till Next Year

Two years ago, the White Sox went 41-121 while improving to 60-102 last season. Right now, their record stands at 62-58. That may be all the miracle a Sox fan can expect or ask for as their team battles for a division title (and how odd to write those words). Take yesterday afternoon’s 9-8 loss to the Reds (please). Davis Martin stunk, again; Colson Montgomery and Miguel Vargas both went 0-for-5; Braden Montgomery looks like he’s getting batting tips from the 0-fers; and somewhere manager Vibes Venable made the obvious obvious in his postgame comments. If you believe Bleacher Report and USA Today, the White Sox have the eighth-best minor-league system in all of baseball, and I think those rankings are erring on the side of caution. The team has middle infielders everywhere to go with some intriguing outfield and catching prospects plus enough pitching to keep me wondering how Erick Fedde stays employed. Speaking of which, if I were Davis Martin… Ex-GM Rick Hahn missed a chance to reset the Sox roster both after the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Yoan Moncada and Eloy Jimenez could have brought sizable returns while the team pivoted to young players like Gavin Sheets and Jake Burger. Instead, we got systemic collapse. Current GM Chris Getz now finds himself in the same situation. He has a left fielder (Sam Antonacci) who looks great when he moves to second base and a second baseman (Chase Meidroth) who can play a very nice shortstop. Plus Getz has a system full of middle infielders, starting with Roch Cholowsky, Caleb Bonemer and Billy Carlson. Something’s got to give, not this season but next. That, or Epic Collapse 2.0.