Look at the bright side: If the White Sox ended up only losing 100, 105, 110 games in a way that wouldn't have surprised Chris Getz, there's a chance that few people outside of Chicago would have noticed.
But because the White Sox appear intent on setting the modern MLB record for losses as quickly as possible -- after Saturday's loss to the Padres, they have two losses to go with seven games to play -- they're drawing the sort of sustained scrutiny that circumstances have seldom demanded, and the floodgates could open.
In the wake of the Ken Rosenthal/Britt Ghiroli exposé in The Athletic of the way Jerry Reinsdorf's archaic mindset has dragged the franchise into the ground, Jake Peavy became the first former player to add his voice to the choir. If others follow suit, the shreds of the franchise could be ripped to shreds.
Peavy spoke to Paul M. Banks in an article for Responsible Gambler*, and he reinforced the idea of an organization that's barely able to run itself because nobody seemed to have the franchise's greater interest or direction in mind.
Peavy is a particularly fascinating character to weigh in on the events. On one hand, his relationship with Ozzie Guillen deteriorated in real time, so he may not be the most objective party. On the other hand, the combination of his strong personality and catastrophic injury meant that he required assertive management, and there was none to be found.
"You look at Allen Thomas, strength and conditioning coach; there was not a cohesive plan between Herm Schneider, the training staff, and the strength staff. Herm disliked what was going on there [in the weight room].
"[Pitching coach] Don Cooper ran every bit of the pitching, where Ozzie didn't really do anything with pitchers. [Base coach] Joey Cora kind of made the lineup, while Ozzie talked to the media and just kind of sat above everybody's heads.
"Ozzie thought he was in charge, Joey thought he was in charge, Coop thinks he's in charge, Herm Schneider thinks he's in charge, him and Jerry are best friends, and he really trumps anybody in the room.
"Then you have a manager in Ozzie, who can't speak to Kenny Williams, can't even be in the same room. You're at a huge disadvantage, and we were like that for years, and that was just since I was there."
Peavy summed it all up later by describing the environment as one where "the situation is in charge," which is a line worth storing in the rotation. But seeing him rip Schneider -- and bringing in Alex Avila, who he says activated himself from the injured list after working with Thomas independent of Schneider -- hints at all the ways the franchise's dysfunction can be explored from here, now that one prominent article has laid it all out in the open.
(*If anybody has forgotten what the blogosphere used to be like, it's a site with fewer than 300 Twitter followers running an extremely candid interview because somebody talked to the right athlete promoting a soy candle company on the right day. God, I miss it.)
Yoán Moncada doesn't know why he's with the White Sox, either
In contemporary White Sox confusion, Yoán Moncada has been with the White Sox for five games, and he's still been limited to one appearance -- and pinch-running in the 12th inning could not have been less planned.
Part of the inactivity can be easily explained. It's clear why Moncada isn't getting reps at his preferred position, because Miguel Vargas and Bryan Ramos take priority in figuring out where to start with the 2025 roster, and the White Sox probably wish it were only that simple.
Alas, after two consecutive nights where Dominic Fletcher was left to falter in a high-leverage situation because the White Sox optioned their right-handed outfielder to make room for Moncada, those demented enough to keep watching are supplied with fresh reasons to wonder what, exactly, everybody is doing here.
Scott Merkin has updates from the parties most directly involved in San Diego. Moncada doesn't have an answer ...
“Coming back from injury, and go start playing. But once I got here, nobody told me anything of how they would use me or what my role would be. I’m still trying to figure that out.”
... and Grady Sizemore admitted that Moncada has a reason to be miffed:
“Adding a third guy makes it even harder,” said Sizemore, hours before Lenyn Sosa tied Friday’s game with a two-out, two-strike homer in the ninth. “I should probably still be talking about him more about what the plan is. But at the same time, we have to kind of see what these guys have."
Moncada said he'd rather be in Charlotte if there isn't playing time in Chicago, and the White Sox probably would have preferred that as well, because they used the maximum 20 days for Moncada's rehabilitation before recalling him unceremoniously. The decision really came down to Chicago or a DFA, and if Moncada's not being used even to spare a player like Fletcher from being put in a position to fail, it's fair to question the point in bringing him back. Corey Julks doesn't look like he's part of any future, either, but at least he's part of a team.
It all feels vaguely retaliatory, as though the White Sox were frustrated by Moncada's prolonged rehab and "anticipated soreness" setback, and are responding in kind ("If you're not ready when we expect you to play, we're not ready when you expect to play"). Either that, or it's merely an exquisitely timed new episode of The Situation Is In Charge, because that's just what happens in a Jerry Reinsdorf organization no matter how many other names are swapped out.
