Now that the World Series is over the attention of the baseball world has shifted to 2024. White Sox fans are eager to wash the taste of a disastrous 2023 campaign out of their mouth. However, it’s not going to be easy and things could get much worse before they get better.
The White Sox entered the offseason as the most dysfunctional team in baseball. They are fresh off a 101-loss season, their most since 1970. In the second half of the season, it looked like the team had completely quit on first-year manager Pedro Grifol. They went 23-47 in their final 70 games with a whopping -133 run differential.
Overall the White Sox posted a -200 run differential which was the second worst in the AL behind only the Oakland Athletics. Part of their issue was their inability to defend the home field. They floundered at Guaranteed Rate Field going just 31-50. The Athletics were the only team in the MLB to own a worse record (26-55) in their home ballpark.
As a team, the White Sox hit .236 which was 25th in the MLB. Their 4.87 ERA was the 26th worst in the MLB while their 95 errors were the seventh most in the MLB.
Baseball pundits and Vegas oddsmakers have taken notice. Multiple World Series odds for next season have already been released with DraftKings and FanDuel with the White Sox coming in as a long shot at +20000. That is tied with the Washington Nationals, and Kansas City Royals for 27th in the MLB.
The only two teams with higher odds are the Colorado Rockies and Oakland Athletics.
Meanwhile, ESPN released their “Way-too-early 2024 MLB power rankings” and had the White Sox listed as 30th. Senior ESPN writer David Schoenfield called the White Sox “the most dysfunctional organization of 2023” a fitting assessment for a team last in the power rankings.
The Athletic was a bit kinder, placing the White Sox at 27th in their power rankings. However, their assessment painted a bleak picture for the South Siders.
“All that’s left is Luis Robert Jr. and piles of rubble. Robert has 5 WAR, according to FanGraphs. Next is Elvis Andrus, at 1.3. No other hitter is above 1 WAR. The rotation still has Dylan Cease and Mike Clevinger - since no one wanted to take his contract when he went through waivers - but the major-league roster is mostly a wasteland now.”
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Clevinger has since opted out of his mutual option leaving the rotation with Cease and four question marks. Chris Getz and the front office are going to have their work cut out for them.
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