With just over two weeks remaining in the regular season, it’s all but assured that the 2024 Chicago White Sox will finish the year as the worst single-season team in Major League Baseball history. And apparently, they’re looking to run it back on the South Side.
Getz was in the NBC Sports Chicago booth during the third inning of Friday’s game against the Oakland Athletics. He revealed that the team will not be re-tooling in the offseason. Instead, they’ll be hoping that the current players improve.
“We’re not gonna be working heavy in free agency,” Getz said. “We’ve got guys out on the field right now that need to improve their game. A lot of these guys are young players and need to make the adjustments to be more productive.”
“We’re not gonna be working heavy in free agency. We’ve got guys on the field right now who need to improve their game.”
Get excited White Sox fans. According to GM Chris Getz, the team that’s 33-115 in 2024 will have a lot of returning players in 2025.pic.twitter.com/s4sjMmiN43
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 14, 2024
If you’re a fan of the Cleveland Guardians, Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins or Detroit Tigers, that’s welcome news. Similarly, if you’re a connoisseur of baseball bloopers and mishaps, you have to like hearing that from Getz. The White Sox have been the gift that keeps on giving in 2024.
But if you’re a fan of the White Sox, that’s rough to hear. At the time Getz made these comments, Chicago was 33-114 (they’d lose to fall to 33-115). To put that into perspective, even if the White Sox win every remaining game this season, they’ll finish with MLB’s worst record by no fewer than eight games. And call it a hunch, but the White Sox aren’t winning every remaining game.
Sure, some players are going to have better seasons in 2025 than they did in 2024. But how many players need to do that for the White Sox and their fans to have any optimism about the future of the franchise? More importantly, how much better do they need to be?
Obviously, Getz is dealing with the budget constraints given to him by owner Jerry Reinsdorf. And in a way, we have to salute him for his honesty. He’s certainly not giving the White Sox fans any false hope. Still, it’s not unreasonable to say that no team in the modern history of Major League Baseball has been worse than Chicago this year. Telling people that next year’s team will look similar isn’t going to inspire a lot of confidence.
