The White Sox are mired in another long losing streak.
The underperforming team has lost six in a row. In the last 10 games, the team is 3-7 despite several quality starts. The Sox are currently in last place in the AL Central with a 28-36 record (.438), 10 games behind.
The vast majority of people believed that the White Sox had a very good off-season, acquiring good talent to fill major holes including DH, LF and the bullpen.
But nothing seems to be going right. The White Sox have a negative 68 run differential which shows that the team cannot generate any offense. They lost last night to the Pirates, 3 to 2.
The hue and cry is what can be done to right this sinking ship.
Who do you fire to fire up the team?
Probably no one.
Manager Robin Ventura is an obvious choice. In his four years, the team has never really contended to a divisional title. His laid back attitude (even though he got thrown out in last night's game) does not seem to generate passion on the field. It is not to say that a firebrand like Ozzie Guillen could get more production from this roster.
You could fire the hitting coach but no one knows his name or cares.
You could fire the general manager for over-rating the talent he acquired, but Rick Hahn has only been on the job for a short time. Some media members question whether Hahn actually has full authority to run the show, with former GM Kenny Williams lurking in the background. As has been pointed out, except for pitchers, Williams tenure as GM was a failure in drafting and developing position players. The Sox have been in a trade for and sign free agent mode to fill holes for almost a decade.
So by firing Ventura, would that make any difference since you still have the same ball players on the roster? If the players liked Ventura, they would play harder for him. But it is not like the team has quit on Ventura or the season. There is a malaise factor that at times the team is going through the motions, perhaps because they cannot sustain an inning like the young Cubs seem to do on a regular basis (especially last night with several batting through the order innings in a 17-0 blowout of the Indians.)
The White Sox dug themselves a rut that has grown into a sink hole. Firing anyone at this point does not seem to fix the fundamental problems on this team: offense and defense.
