Dear Jerry Reinsdorf,
We all know how much money it takes to run not one, but two professional sports teams.
The fan base is fed up with the moves you make (or, in this case, do not make). You and your other owners, Chris Getz, and Getz’s front office group, need to clean house during the second half of the season.
The best way to start this off is to trade all of the veterans or tradable assets. There are not many teams who are out of the race like the White Sox are, so they should be able to control the market. With this in mind, trade veteran pitchers Erik Fedde, Chris Flexen, John Brebbia, Steven Wilson and Tanner Banks.
Plenty of teams need pitching depth, and those five would help out many teams (especially Fedde). If you want to have an even more thorough cleanse, you could trade both Michael Koepch and Garrett Crochet. Trading Crochet would probably give you a haul since he is young and controllable for more seasons than other starters, but you wouldn’t have a building block for the future if you traded him.
Turning to the infield, the Paul DeJong signing has worked out so far. He is leading the team in home runs, second in RBIs and third in doubles. He has rebuilt his value and should be traded since he is a rental player. There are a few teams that could use some middle infield help, and the Sox could call up Colson Montgomery to take over. They also could see if teams need a good veteran backup defensive minded infielder by trading Nicky Lopez as well. It is highly unlikely even with Andrew Vaughn’s resurgence from a slow start he will have a market. Gavin Sheets is in the same boat. They could try, however.
When it comes to the outfield, Tommy Pham has done exactly what he and the team both wanted when it came to signing him. He has been one of their most clutch hitters and has filled in admirably for Luis Robert in CF. Pham has to be traded, and Robert would also be a good idea to trade since he would get a huge haul. But on the other hand, if Robert is gone, they do not have a hand hold to build around for future seasons.
Lastly, Eloy Jimenez and Andrew Benintendi are untradeable due to performances and injury.
Once the team trades their veterans or core players, the next step is to fire manager Pedro Grifol. We all know paying multiple managers or coaches isn’t the most fun thing to do but it is the right thing to do. You have to admit you made a mistake. Stop compounding it by staying the course, because it is not working.
If you want the current young talent to succeed when you call them up, you need the right person controlling the ship. You have seen how Dominic Fletcher, Oscar Colas, Zach DeLoach, Lenyn Sosa and Bryan Ramos haven’t done so well so far this season, which continues the trend from last year. They also lack consistency. That falls on the manager not knowing to handle young talent. So you need to say goodbye to Grifol and let Charlie Montoyo take over since he has success in both the major/minor leagues. Let’s see if he can change things up, or at the very minimum, help the young talent succeed.
In summary, please clean it up in the second half of the season. Trade all of the veterans (or core players if needed) to rebuild and start over. Then start over by replacing the management of Grifol. Release the Sox fans from their never-ending cycle of misery already and serve up some hope for the future.
Sincerely,
White Sox fans.
