Last year on Aug. 31, the White Sox officially promoted Chris Getz to general manager. After a brief internal search, chairman Jerry Reinsdorf explained the reason for the urgency of the hire during a bitterly disappointing 101-loss season that confirmed the 2017-19 rebuild had failed.
“One of the things I owe the fans is to get better as fast as we can possibly get better,” Reinsdorf told a group of reporters that day. “Speed is of the essence. I don’t want this to be a long-term proposition.
“I would hope — and I expect — that next year is going to be a lot better than this year. How much better? I don’t know.”
On the first anniversary of that move, the Sox tied a franchise record with their 106th loss, falling 5-3 to the Mets on Saturday.
The 1970 group that set the floor finished 56-106 and didn’t lose for the 106th time until its last game of the year. This team, in Getz’s first full season as GM, is 31-106 and reached that mark on the last day of August.
After a winter in which he didn’t succeed in assembling a smarter and more fundamentally sound team, Getz confirmed the club’s direction in spring training. He dealt ace Dylan Cease to the Padres, a move that contradicted Reinsdorf’s stated reason for the quickness in replacing Rick Hahn and Ken Williams.
Despite what Reinsdorf said a year ago, his franchise is in the throes of its second painful rebuild within a decade. The Sox’ most prized properties — Garrett Crochet and Luis Robert Jr. — are candidates to be traded away this winter as the organization tries to accrue more assets.
The Sox must go 12-13 in their last 25 games to avoid tying the 1962 Mets’ record 120 losses. At .226, they’re also challenging the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics’ record-low .235 winning percentage.
They’ve lost nine in a row and must win Sunday to avoid their third double-digit skid. The Sox finished August 4-22, haven’t won 10 games in a calendar month and dropped to 4-35 in the second half.
Other than being No. 106, this latest loss wasn’t too unusual besides a ninth-inning rally against the Mets’ Jose Butto. With two on and two outs and a run in, Andrew Benintendi grounded out to end the game.
“We’re seeing good at-bats,” interim manager Grady Sizemore said. “You’re seeing guys just keep fighting and not giving away at-bats, especially late in the game when we’re down.”
Sox starter Davis Martin allowed back-to-back home runs in the first inning to Pete Alonso and Jesse Winker, which delighted the dozens of orange-clad Mets fans sitting in the right-center bleachers and sprinkled around the ballpark. Those New York supporters had the game’s loudest moments, other than the pregame standing ovation for Frank Thomas, who walked to the mound and handed the ball to his son to throw out a ceremonial first pitch.
Martin went five innings, allowing four runs and five hits.
“It’s really just two mistakes that you’ve just got to live with,” Martin said.
Miguel Vargas, Gavin Sheets and Corey Julks drove in runs, but it wasn’t enough to avoid another defeat for a team trying to maintain morale during a historically bad season.
“Sticking together,” Andrew Vaughn said before the game. “Playing for each other. We’ve got to show up for each other every single day.”
Sizemore and his players — and Reinsdorf and Getz — hope that can lead to some winning soon.
“It’s not going our way right now,” Sizemore said, “but we just try to pull some positive things, keep the guys upbeat and just keep them fighting.”