Underachieving White Sox don't deserve help at trade deadline
In life - and major-league baseball - you get what you deserve.
Well, most of the time.
On the baseball side, the White Sox have played like a team that's deserved to be booed for the better part of four months.
They haven't played like a team that's earned veteran help before Tuesday's trade deadline.
Entering the season with back-to-back playoff appearances, the Sox were a popular choice to score the hat trick this year and possibly make a World Series run.
Instead, they've struggled to stay near the .500 mark and would be buried in any division except for the AL Central, where they are fortunate to reside.
The White Sox have played well at times, but never for lengthy stretches like the last two seasons.
Good Sox teams are always rewarded at the trade deadline, even though two of the three additions last year - relief pitcher Craig Kimbrel and second baseman Cesar Hernandez - flopped.
Ryan Tepera, acquired from the Cubs like Kimbrel, was solid out of the bullpen before exiting as a free agent and signing with the Angels.
Speaking to reporters just over a week ago, general manager Rick Hahn sounded like the White Sox were going to be buyers.
"We've had a bunch of conversations and we've got a bunch of different ideas about possibilities," Hahn said. "You've got a lot of teams in it right now so the so-called true sellers are a little bit limited and what they have may not exactly align with what we need.
"It will be fun couple of weeks from the standpoint of playing different ideas and hopefully we find a way to make this team better."
That gets us back to getting what you deserve.
The Sox haven't hit or pitched well enough, they play sloppy defense and their base running has been abysmal.
Add it all up and they're lucky to still be hanging around in the Central. Either they overtake first-place Minnesota and second-place Cleveland down the stretch or very likely go home, because the White Sox have four teams in front of them in the race for the two wild-card spots.
Hahn does want to add - he didn't spend four long years rebuilding the roster to give up now - but getting chairman Jerry Reinsdorf to agree is probably a tough sell.
The Sox have very few quality prospects in their minor-league system. Trading for pitching or a left-handed bat would cost them young talent they can't afford to waste and probably doesn't get them over the hump.
Keep the same roster, hope for the best in August and September and that's about it.
That's all the Sox deserve.
If the White Sox do stand pat, second baseman Josh Harrison has thoughts on how they can finally get turned around.
"We've got chemistry," Harrison said. "Chemistry doesn't necessarily translate to wins. When you look at the game of baseball, 162 games, we haven't played our best baseball. Sometimes we are going up there feeling like we have to be the guy to change it. You have to show up every day and rely on the next man.
"That has nothing to do with chemistry. That's the game of baseball weighing down on you and us putting more pressure on ourselves instead of going and playing the game we love and know how to play."