For any MLB team, a bases-loaded collision is an embarrassing play. For the Chicago White Sox, it’s just another game in what’s shaping up to be the worst season in MLB history.
Ignominy struck once again at Chicago’s game against the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday. The situation: bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the second inning, with the Orioles already up 4-0. The hitter: Eloy Jimenez, once a pillar of the White Sox’s future, now just an outfielder traded as a rental player.
The play: an easy fly ball to left field. The result: a black eye, both figuratively and literally.
White Sox third baseman Miguel Vargas, shortstop Jacob Amaya and left fielder Andrew Benintendi all found themselves with the ball. On such occasions, it’s usually the outfielder’s ball, but Vargas seemed to think he had it. Until he ran headlong into Benintendi’s shoulder.
7-0 Orioles. As announcer Kevin Brown said, “My God, the White Sox have become the White Sox.”
The pain didn’t stop there for Chicago. Vargas stayed in the game despite being clearly shaken, but later left with a black eye. The White Sox announced He left with an abrasion on his right eye and was being further evaluated.
This is all comically awful play for a comically awful team run by a comically awful owner, and yet it gets worse the more you look at it.
A deeper look at the Chicago White Sox
For example, Vargas’ injury is especially bad because he was one of the young players acquired at the MLB trade deadline, when the White Sox decided to get even worse this year to provide more hope for the future. That decision took Vargas away from the Los Angeles Dodgers, current owners of MLB’s best record, and placed him in Chicago, where he entered Tuesday batting .122/.240/.195 in 25 games.
In exchange for Vargas, the White Sox sent Michael Kopech back to Los Angeles as part of a three-team trade. Kopech had a 4.74 ERA in 43 2/3 innings with Chicago this year. He has a 0.63 ERA in 14 1/3 innings with the Dodgers.
Jimenez, another player the White Sox traded, entered Tuesday hitting .284/.321/.392 for the Orioles after hitting .240/.297/.345 for the White Sox.
And let’s not forget that Benintendi, who is hitting .218/.279/.375, is in the second year of a five-year, $75 million contract, which is the most guaranteed money Reinsdorf and the White Sox have ever given a player.
So what we just saw was a hitter who was performing much better after leaving the White Sox, having his easy ball ruined by a young player whose numbers have plummeted since joining the White Sox, because he ran into the most expensive player in White Sox history, and falling even further behind an Orioles team that, like the White Sox, did a complete dismantling a few years ago and is now aiming for the playoffs.
The White Sox, who already fired manager Pedro Grifol, were eliminated from the MLB postseason earlier than any other team in history and set a team record for losses in a season, still have plenty of movement to make in the history books. They entered Tuesday on an 11-game losing streak, after previously posting streaks of 21 and 14 games, and need just 13 more losses in their next 23 games to break the single-season losing record held by the 1962 New York Mets.