{"id":467087,"date":"2026-02-13T22:52:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T22:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/467087\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T22:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T22:52:08","slug":"its-white-sox-spring-training-let-the-gaffes-begin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/467087\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s White Sox spring training. Let the gaffes begin!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feb. 15, 2016 was a fine day to be a baseball fan in Chicago, particularly for those inclined to read newspapers.<\/p>\n

USA Today came out with a major league preview that day, projecting season records for every team, and at the very top of the arc were the Cubs<\/a>, forecast to win a whopping 101 games. It was a good call, too, because the Cubs would end up flying the \u201cW\u201d 103 times and \u2014 stop us if you\u2019ve heard this before \u2014 winning the World Series for the first time since 1908.<\/p>\n

But the Cubs weren\u2019t the only local team stirring imaginations. The self-monikered \u201cNation\u2019s Newspaper\u201d was also high on the White Sox<\/a>, pegging them to finish tied atop the American League at 90-72 despite their streak of three straight losing seasons.<\/p>\n

The Sun-Times, too, was relatively smitten, with a Sox story that same day saying, \u201c[Their] seven-season playoff drought is among the longest in the AL, but the additions of Todd Frazier, Brett Lawrie, Alex Avila and Mat Latos \u2014 coupled with one of the best rotations in the league \u2014 should make the Sox contenders once again.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, the big reveal: Did it?<\/p>\n

Come on, of course it didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Those Sox got off to a red-hot 23-10 start, then imploded over the next month, going 6-20 to fall below .500 for the first time at 29-30. They traded for starting pitcher James Shields just in time for the veteran right-hander to take team loss No. 30 in his Sox debut, a disastrous outing against the Nationals in which he gave up four first-inning runs and then \u2014 enter cascading boos from the crowd at Rate Field \u2014 back-to-back homers to start the second.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t just Shields who made believers in the 2016 Sox stare down at their shoes and kick the dirt in disappointment, wishing for a do-over. The front office\u2019s decision to bring back manager Robin Ventura for a fifth year made little sense. The Sox didn\u2019t do anything to address a subpar outfield and, in a doomed-from-the-start move, handed the catcher\u2019s gear to Dioner Navarro. Jose Abreu had a struggle-filled first half. The Sox went ice-cold in clutch hitting situations. Throughout, there was rancor between players and management stemming in part from the oft-revisited Adam LaRoche fiasco.<\/p>\n

The Sox ended up in fourth place, initiating an all-out rebuild. Perhaps needless to say, there have been far more bad times than good ones since.<\/p>\n

Why the walk down memory lane? What does 2016 have to do with right now, when the Sox are in a completely different rebuild headed by a largely different regime?<\/p>\n

Oh, nothing, really.<\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s not true.<\/p>\n

The truth is it\u2019s hard to believe in the Sox no matter who\u2019s in charge. Admittedly, this is partly just a reflex. But also, it\u2019s the middle of February \u2014 has spring training even started yet? \u2014 and already the Sox are committing little gaffes<\/a> that might make anyone question what\u2019s going on here, that might make anyone feel creeping, all-too-familiar doubt about this organization doing little things well enough to accomplish big things.<\/p>\n

By now, you\u2019re probably aware that general manager Chris Getz has repeatedly, and inaccurately, referred in interviews to new Sox player Luisangel Acuna \u2014 the top returning piece in last month\u2019s trade of Luis Robert Jr. to the Mets \u2014 as a switch-hitter. It\u2019s possible Acuna sinks putts or forks linguini from the left side, but he swings at baseballs from the right side only. This is the sort of thing whoever delivers the mail to Camelback Ranch might get wrong, but the GM ought to be a different story. It\u2019s more than a little odd.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I probably have been getting carried away describing his versatility,\u201d Getz explained in a statement delivered via a team spokesman. \u201cHe can play every position on the field. Why does it have to stop there? I called Luisangel and told him that even though he\u2019s just right-handed, we still love him.\u201d<\/p>\n

OK, hardly the end of the world. We can even give Getz a couple of points for the dry humor.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe misspoke,\u201d assistant GM Josh Barfield said, \u201cbut in typical Getzy fashion, he kind of lets it roll off his back and we just keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the Sox also misspelled prized newcomer Munetaka Murakami\u2019s name (\u201cMunetaki\u201d) on the nameplate above the Japanese slugger\u2019s locker. And they didn\u2019t stop there, misspelling pitching prospect Jairo Iriarte\u2019s name (\u201cIriate\u201d) on his jersey. Not exactly huge missteps \u2014 and certainly not on Getz, who neither engraves nor stitches for a living \u2014 but, again, what\u2019s going on here?<\/p>\n

LaRoche abruptly leaving the team during spring training in 2016, after then-vice president Kenny Williams told him to stop bringing his 14-year-old son into the clubhouse every day, was as awkward as it gets.<\/p>\n

The return of Tony La Russa as manager in 2021 \u2014 a Jerry Reinsdorf special delivery \u2014 was like something out of \u201cThe Twilight Zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then-GM Rick Hahn having to explain on the first day of camp in 2023 that the team had signed pitcher Mike Clevinger without knowing he was under league investigation for allegations of domestic abuse was a four-egg omelet on the face.<\/p>\n

This spring isn\u2019t nearly as eggy, not yet, but it\u2019s already a bit embarrassing. And that\u2019s no yolk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 15, 2016 was a fine day to be a baseball fan in Chicago, particularly for those inclined…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":["post-467087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}