Back to the drawing board for Chicago White Sox
On paper, the Chicago White Sox still look much like they did at the start of the season.
They stack up as a team with solid pitching and plenty of proven hitters. They look like a team that should be preparing to make a final push for the playoffs.
On the field, it just hasn't happened for the Sox this year. While they are not yet mathematically eliminated from the postseason, their realistic goal should be finishing with a .500 record.
Unlike the recent past, when the White Sox finished last in the AL Central with a 63-99 record in 2013 and a 73-89 record in '14, this year was supposed to be different.
Jeff Samardzija was acquired in a trade. There's your No. 2 starter. Melky Cabrera and Adam LaRoche were free-agent additions. There is the needed offensive pop.
Two other free agents - David Robertson and Zach Duke - have given the bullpen a boost, but it hasn't been nearly enough.
Meeting with the media before Tuesday night's rain-delayed game against the Cleveland Indians at U.S. Cellular Field, Sox general manager Rick Hahn said there will be no mulligan for this year's roster.
"I do think there is a chance for this current roster to show improvement without change," Hahn said. "Just because of the history, the track record of a lot of guys, you would reasonably expect there to be better performances in their future. That said, that's not very likely going to be the path we follow.
"As we look through every element and every player and every element of our operations, there are areas we can get better. The results haven't been here at the big-league level, and we need to get things lined up so we can produce more wins here."
Before Samardzija (9-11, 4.87 ERA) hits the free-agent market at the end of the season, he's expected to get a one-year qualifying offer from the White Sox. That ensures the Sox get a draft pick from the team that winds up signing the 30-year-old pitcher.
The White Sox also are expected to decline the $10 million club option on shortstop Alexei Ramirez for next season, but there is not much wiggle room after that unless the Sox are willing to pay players such as LaRoche and John Danks not to play.
As for his own job and the status of executive vice president Kenny Williams, manager Robin Ventura and the coaching staff, Hahn said "we're evaluating everything."
Managers typically take the fall when expectations are not met, but the feeling is Ventura will be back in 2016 on the final year of his contract.
There has been some speculation that three straight losing years have worn on Ventura and he is going to resign his post at the end of the season.
On Tuesday, the 48-year-old manager sure sounded like he wants to come back.
"Absolutely," Ventura said. "People that think I don't care, that's an unfair assessment. Nobody cares more about how it's going here than I do."