Sox drubbed again, fall 7-0 to Blue Jays
Given his druthers, of course general manager Rick Hahn wants the White Sox to win now.
He said so at SoxFest, during spring training and several times during the early part of the season.
Hahn doesn't have a fan base that is interested in mulitple years of misery, but he has always followed the “We want to win now” comment with talk of sustained success.
Like this, from SoxFest in late January.
“We feel we have the ability to contend,” Hahn said. “But the most important thing for us is going to be to allow these young guys some room to grow, to allow the new hitting philosophy of Todd Steverson, our new hitting coach, a chance to flourish, and see what we envision in terms of a young core of the next generation of White Sox players start to coalesce and come together and grow towards a sustained run of championship success.”
During, and after, last year's crawl to 99 losses, Hahn went to work on fixing the American League's worst offense.
He hit the jackpot with the Jose Abreu signing and also did well getting Avisail Garcia, who is out for the season with a shoulder injury, and Adam Eaton.
Entering Thursday night's game against the Blue Jays with a 12-game hitting streak, Eaton had to exit the game in the first inning with what was described as a lower leg cramp.
And don't forget about third baseman Matt Davidson, who ranks fourth in the International League with 13 home runs but needs to boost the .195 batting average.
In order to bolster the offense, Hahn traded veteran pitchers Jake Peavy, Addison Reed, Hector Santiago, Matt Thornton and Jesse Crain.
As he continues to “reshape” the Sox, Hahn has to bolster the pitching staff.
Prior to Thursday night's 7-0 loss at Toronto, which dropped the White Sox to 36-44, left-handed relief pitcher Scott Downs (0-2, 6.08 ERA) was designated for assignment.
Scott Carroll returned to the rotation after being demoted to the bullpen and the Blue Jays scored 5 runs on 9 hits in 5 innings.
Erik Surkamp, who was called up from Charlotte to take Downs' spot, allowed 1 run in 1.1 innings, and Rienzo, who lost his starting job to Carroll, also allowed 1 run in relief.
Outside of the White Sox' three left-handed starters — Chris Sale, Jose Quintana and John Danks — the pitching staff is a disaster.
The Sox' 4.41 ERA is among the worst in baseball, and Surkamp is the 10th pitcher from Charlotte on the 25-man roster this season.
If Hahn shifts back into sell mode as the July 31 nonwaiver trade deadline closes in, adding pitching has got to be the priority.