BOSTON — As the losses mount to unimaginable numbers and the end draws nearer to a season being put out of its misery, observers far and near marvel at the magnitude of 33-111, the White Sox’ record after they lost two of three games to the Red Sox over the weekend.
A 7-2 victory Sunday was rare, indeed. The Sox got a good start from Chris Flexen, scoreless relief from the bullpen and five runs in the ninth to break a 2-all tie.
“Every day it’s something new,” a former baseball executive told the Sun-Times over the weekend. “They’re inventing ways to lose games. You could not have scripted something this bad in the history of baseball.”
It has been something to see.
In recent weeks, a collision involving left fielder Andrew Benintendi and third baseman Miguel Vargas — the major league player with a .170 batting average acquired at the trade deadline in a three-team deal that cost the Sox Erick Fedde, Michael Kopech and Tommy Pham — allowed three runs to score on former Sox Eloy Jimenez’ pop-up in Baltimore. A 2-1 loss at Detroit on June 21 ended when Paul DeJong forgot how many outs there were and got doubled off first base.
Space doesn’t allow for every folly. On a smaller scale but pertinent nonetheless, ground balls that should be double plays haven’t always been turned and runners too often get big jumps on pitchers.
Lenyn Sosa, a 24-year-old infielder who came up through the farm system, has been less than fundamentally sound, but when a warmup throw from catcher Chuckie Robinson hit him in the face on Aug. 29, a snapshot video of this team was created.
The Sox need to go 10-8 to avoid tying the 1962 Mets record for 120 losses and their minus-302 record run differential is 88 runs more than the next-worst team, the Colorado Rockies. The 1932 Red Sox record of 349 isn’t out of reach.
The Sox are last in the majors in runs, slugging, on-base percentage and homers and have been outscored 332-184 in the sixth inning and later. The bullpen has blown 31 saves.
Since the All-Star break the Sox are 6-40.
“You run out of positive things to talk about,” the former executive said. “Their second half has been brutal.”
Assistant general manager Josh Barfield, in his first year alongside first-year GM Chris Getz, looked across the diamond in Baltimore last week and noted the Orioles’ success after enduring three seasons of 108 losses or more between 2018-21. You gotta have hope.
It’s no fun being the brunt of jokes, Barfield said, but he and Getz are confident better days are ahead.
“It’s never fun going through this,” Barfield told the Sun-Times. “But you have to keep the big picture in mind. These guys [Orioles] were in a similar situation a few years ago. I went through this a couple years ago [as farm director with the Diamondbacks], as painful as it was. It’s not fun, but there are pieces coming, there’s a plan, it’s going to take a little time but we’ll get this turned around.”
When is a fair question. It won’t happen next season. While having a farm system ranked as high as eighth, it has taken a seven-game hitting streak to get the average of shortstop Colson Montgomery, a 2021 first-round draft pick ranked 28th among MLB prospects, is batting .217 in his first year at Triple-A Charlotte. Scouts are not high on another first-round middle infielder, Jacob Gonzalez (2023), batting .225/.285/.322 in 93 games at Double-A Birmingham.
Garrett Crochet and Luis Robert Jr. could be traded, and the Sox, not expected to spend much in free agency, very well could plow through another 100-loss season in 2025 with young players developing in the majors.
“That’s a possibility,” Barfield said. “You look at where we are right now, part of that is giving young guys opportunities to come up here and grow. And hopefully when everybody is starting to come into their own, that’s when that window starts to open up.”