After staving off their ignoble date with history for the final homestand of the season, the White Sox met their date with history on Friday night, losing 4-1 to the Tigers to notch their 121st loss of the season, a total unmatched in modern MLB history. Owner Jerry Reinsdorf had his fingerprints all over this one, on both sides of the field. The Tigers, managed by A.J. Hinch, who was then-GM Rick Hahn’s leading choice to manage the White Sox before Reinsdorf insisted on hiring Tony LaRussa for a second go-around, and announced by Jason Benetti, who Reinsdorf and henchman Brooks Boyer drove away from the White Sox booth this past off-season, clinched a playoff berth while handing the White Sox their record-breaking loss.
Last fall, when Reinsdorf promoted Chris Getz to General Manager after firing Hahn and Kenny Williams, he said, “One of the things that I owe the fans is to get better as fast as we can possibly get better.” He later added, “I realized that if I brought someone in from the outside it’s going to take them a year. He’s going to have to evaluate everyone in the organization.” Well, both Reinsdorf and Getz now own this year. The most losses in the 124 years of modern baseball history and second of all-time to the 1899 Cleveland Spiders. In the conversation for the worst team of all time. And outside of a handful of promising pitching prospects, most of whom have already debuted and contributed to this season’s history-making finish, very little help on the way from the minor league system. Speaking as a fan, I would have gladly traded that year for competence. Something that is sorely lacking on the corner of 35th and Shields.
