Word Salad, With a Side of Gibber

Luis Castillo started for the White Sox yesterday, which is to say the Sox lost to the Astros, 6-2. GM Chris Getz’s most questionable acquisition this season gave up all six runs in four innings. But, hey, he’s trying, according to Sox manager Vibes Venable. Castillo received his very own participation trophy during Venable’s postgame comments with reporters: “Luis’s been doing a really good job of trying to make adjustments, just haven’t found the right one yet. He’s going to continue to work and have a good few days before his next start and hopefully find some better results.” [quote from story in today’s Tribune] Wait, there’s more. Venable also said Castillo is “here to help us and ultimately his job is not to go out there and throw six scoreless innings. He needs to give us a chance to win. And there's been a couple in which we haven't been able to get there.” [quote from story today on team website] What in God’s name does Venable mean by this word salad? Effort alone doesn’t count for anything in baseball; results do. And Castillo is 1-2 with a 7.52 ERA in six starts for the Sox. And who’s this “we” Venable mentioned? Castillo? The offense? The coaching staff? Everybody? God help me, there’s more. Munetaka Murakami is batting .125 over his last seven games, which is actually up over his last fifteen games, during which he’s hit .091. During his last 30 games, Murakami is batting .136 with eight RBIs. But Venable neither sits him nor moves him from his two-spot in the order. Professor Gump would know what to call this kind of decision-making.