On Tuesday night, the Chicago White Sox got shredded by the Oakland Athletics, 17-6. The game was a complete farce – Jeff Samardzija allowed ten runs, and recorded only nine outs. Daniel Webb recorded one out, allowed three hits, six runs (four earned), and walked three. Two position players – Leury Garcia and Alexei Ramirez – pitched for Chicago, and didn’t allow a run.
Meanwhile, Chicago’s offense was underwhelming once again. They scored six on 12 hits, but only two of those hits were for extra bases – home runs by Ramirez and Melky Cabrera. Today, all of the hot takes are about Samardzija’s value in the free agent market this winter. In reality, the focus shouldn’t be on just how damn bad Samardzija was, or how entertaining it was to see Garcia and Ramirez on the hill, but how the White Sox managed to make such a splash this offseason and somehow not upgrade where they needed to actually upgrade.
I’m guilty of overrating the White Sox – I had the team winning the AL pennant this year, figuring that a pitching staff led by Chris Sale, Samardzija, and Jose Quintana would lay waste to the American League and that a Jose Abreu/Melky Cabrera/Adam LaRoche centered lineup would turn Chicago’s top 15 offense from a year ago into a top ten, or even top five, offense this year.
Of course, I was wrong, just like everyone else who was optimistic about the White Sox. Sale’s been brilliant once again, but his ERA is a full run higher than his FIP and xFIP for reasons we’ll get to momentarily. Quintana has been wonderful yet again. Samardzija has been a mess, but a chunk of those struggles can be attributed to the same reasons Sale’s ERA is so much higher than what we’d expect. Offensively, LaRoche has been awful, Cabrera has been mediocre, and Abreu has taken a massive step back from his 2014 Rookie of the Year season.
The White Sox are still an awful defensive ballclub. In 2014, the Sox ranked 27th in baseball in DRS and 26th in UZR. This season, they rank 27th in DRS and 30th in UZR. For all of the upgrades the club made, they didn’t bother improving their defense. That poor defense isn’t doing the pitching staff any favors, leading to Sale, Quintana, Samardzija, and Carlos Rodon all allowing BABIPs of at least .314 – the league average is .296, for what its worth.
SEATTLE, WA – AUGUST 22: Catcher Tyler Flowers #21 of the Chicago White Sox looks at first after fielding a bunt off the bat of Austin Jackson of the Seattle Mariners as pitcher Carlos Rodon #55 slides past him in the second inning at Safeco Field on August 22, 2015 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)
Furthermore, not only did they not upgrade as a whole defensively, they didn’t upgrade their biggest problem positions on offense. The White Sox stood pat with the aging Alexei Ramirez at short, brought back Gordon Beckham to play third (after he gave them nothing at second a year ago), and continued to roll out Tyler Flowers behind the plate. They took three players who combined to hit .249/.291/.385 in 386 games with the team last year, gave them starting jobs again in 2015, and have watched the trio hit .235/.281/.347 this year in 332 games. What did anyone really expect? Three bad hitters got worse, and neither was able to make up for it with their gloves.
At second base, Chicago tried to upgrade from within. 24-year old Micah Johnson was given the job to start the year, couldn’t hit, couldn’t field, and lost his job to Carlos Sanchez…who can’t hit a lick, but has a plus glove. In the outfield, Adam Eaton has remained in center, a healthy Avisail Garcia is in right, and new face Melky Cabrera supplanted Dayan Viciedo in left. Cabrera has been an upgrade (though that wasn’t exactly a difficult proposition), Garcia has struggled and might not be an every day player, and Eaton has had a strange, up and down year that has seen his defensive metrics fall off a cliff (but we can’t exactly put much stock into one year fluctuations).
So overall, the White Sox punted on making a splash to strengthen their infield and bench this past winter, instead focusing on improving their bullpen, adding another starter, and adding a pair of bats on the wrong side of 30. If there’s good news for the Sox, it’s that Samardzija is a free agent, Beckham is a free agent, Ramirez has a $1 million buyout on a $10 million club option, and Flowers is still arb-eligible and can be nontendered.
It wouldn’t take much for Chicago to upgrade in the right areas this winter – the catching market is strong, and there are some solid enough infield options out there (including old friend Juan Uribe). If the club gives prospect Trayce Thompson an every day job in the outfield, lets Garcia DH in a quasi-platoon with LaRoche (and Abreu, for that matter), and makes modest upgrades behind the plate and in the infield…they could be in a much better place in 2016. An outfield of Cabrera, Eaton, and Thompson and an infield of Tyler Saladino, some free agent shortstop, Sanchez, and Abreu, the White Sox could actually end up fulfilling their potential and contending for a playoff berth in 2016.
