For any MLB team, a collision between two fielders with the bases loaded is an embarrassing mistake. For the Chicago White Sox, it’s just another game in what’s shaping up to be the worst season in MLB history.
The ignominy reared its ugly head once again in Chicago’s game against the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday. The situation: The bases were loaded with two outs in the bottom of the second inning, with the Orioles already leading 4-0. The hitter: Eloy Jiménez, once a pillar of the White Sox’s future, is now just an outfielder they traded away as a rental.
The play: an easy ball to shallow left field. The result: a black eye, both literally and figuratively.
White Sox third baseman Miguel Vargas, shortstop Jacob Amaya and left fielder Andrew Benintendi all converged on the ball. In such cases, the outfielder usually has the ball, but Vargas seemed to think he had it. Until he bumped Benintendi’s shoulder.
7-0 Orioles. As their announcer Kevin Brown said: “Oh my God, the White Sox just played their hearts out.”
The pain didn’t stop there for Chicago. Vargas stayed in the game despite being in obvious shock, but he later left the game with a black eye. The White Sox announcement He left with an abrasion to his right eye and was further evaluated.
It’s all a comically awful play for a comically awful team run by a comically awful owner, and yet the closer you look, the worse it gets.
A Deeper Dive into the Chicago White Sox
For example, Vargas’ injury is particularly serious because he was among the young players acquired at the MLB trade deadline, when the White Sox decided to do even worse this year to give more hope for the future. That move landed Vargas with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the current owners of the best record in MLB, and in Chicago, where he entered Tuesday batting .122/.240/.195 in 25 games.
In exchange for Vargas, the White Sox sent Michael Kopech to Los Angeles in 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 traded by the White Sox, 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 that represents the most guaranteed money Reinsdorf and the White Sox have ever given to a player.
So what you just saw is a hitter who is much better off after leaving the White Sox, whose easy ball was wasted by a young player whose numbers have plummeted since joining the White Sox, because he met the most expensive player in White Sox history, only to fall further behind an Orioles team that, like the White Sox, went through a complete dismantling a few years ago and is now gunning for the playoffs.
The White Sox, having already drawn…