'Better days coming' as Chicago White Sox limp into Wrigley Field
The Chicago White Sox are going to show up at Wrigley Field this weekend.
“Nobody is feeling sorry for us,” manager Rick Renteria said.
That has been Renteria's message to his players for most of a young season that already is long lost.
The White Sox were expected to struggle this year while waiting for the next wave of prospects — headed by pitcher Michael Kopech and outfielder Eloy Jimenez — to join the 25-man roster.
Struggle they have, but now it appears the 2018 White Sox could be even worse than originally feared.
Not only are they off to the second-worst start (9-25) in franchise history, the team's 3-15 home record ranks first on the all-time worst list.
“We know we have better days coming,” Renteria said. “We have better days coming with these guys who are here and with everything that will ultimately be here for the future. I think we all will continue to chip away and try to progress as best as we possibly can and always put our best foot forward.”
The Sox are walking into one of the highlight series of the season this weekend — three games against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
Given what they already have been through this season, the overmatched White Sox are looking forward to playing some meaningful games in front of big crowds.
“I think there is certainly an added energy in both of these ballparks when the two teams square off,” Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. “It's cliché to say playoff atmosphere or the rivalry increases the intensity, but you do feel a little bit of a different vibe, where you have a lot of fans from both clubs inside a sold-out ballpark and there's that pitch-to-pitch excitement.
“It'll be definitely good for our guys to be in that environment and hopefully go down there and come away with some wins.”
The White Sox figure to have a much better chance of defeating the Cubs next year, when Jimenez should be a presence in the middle of the lineup. And their odds of success should be even higher in 2020, when Dylan Cease is likely to join the starting rotation.
Last July, the White Sox acquired Jimenez and Cease from the Cubs in the Jose Quintana trade.
Jimenez missed the first two weeks of the season with a strained pectoral muscle, but the 21-year-old outfielder has a .346/.375/.704 hitting line in 20 games with Class AA Birmingham, and he ranks second in the Southern League with 7 home runs and 23 RBI.
“Tremendous work ethic, a great focus on where he wants to go and the willingness to put in the work to get there,” Hahn said. “He's also a tremendous teammate. He's got a real positive effect on those around him. He's a very impressive young man, especially considering his age.”
In 6 starts with high Class A Winston-Salem this season, Cease is 4-1, and he ranks fifth in the Carolina League with a 1.95 ERA. The 22-year-old righty also leads the league with 42 strikeouts (in 32.1 innings).
“I definitely feel like I've taken a step forward,” Cease said on a conference call Thursday. “The ability is there, it's just whether you consistently do it. I feel like I've been doing it better and finding the consistent things I need to do in order to put myself in the best position to execute my pitches.”
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