Now that Lance Lynn is officially retired, he has time to speak his mind. The former White Sox pitcher appeared on Foul Territory today and had some interesting thoughts on the organization that once employed him.
Lynn’s Résumé
Lynn’s résumé speaks for itself. He played 13 MLB seasons with six different teams, making two All-Star teams. He also won 10 games or more in a season on nine different occasions and was part of the 2011 World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals. All told, Lynn spent 17 seasons in professional baseball. He has seen everything there is to see, and his words hold meaning.
Lynn’s Brutal Assessment Of White Sox Organization
Lynn covered multiple topics in his appearance, including his plans following his baseball career and his current desire to stay retired for good. The conversation then shifted to his time with the White Sox, where he was brutally honest regarding the state of the organization relative to the rest of MLB.
“Obviously Chicago is behind everybody… it’s just the honest truth. Like there’s a lot of great people there, but when it comes to top-to-bottom organizationally, like even minor leagues coming up…I went down and spent a month rehabbing my knee there, and I stayed with the Triple-A team. And just seeing the way that things were going about and stuff like that, there definitely needs to be some changes.”, Lynn said.
Lance Lynn says the White Sox are behind every organization in the sport. 😬
"It's just the honest truth." pic.twitter.com/tB6mX4AlZy
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) April 10, 2025
White Sox Downward Spiral
Lynn saw firsthand how the White Sox rebuild played out from start to finish. When the team acquired him in December 2020, they had come off their first playoff appearance in 12 years. The future looked bright, and the team had championship aspirations. The whole reason they traded for him was to be a workhorse in the playoffs and to hopefully bring a World Series back to Chicago. However, when the White Sox traded him away to the Los Angeles Dodgers in July 2023, the hopes of winning a World Series had long been over. The window to win was gone, and the front office dismantled the roster. The team never even won a single playoff series with Lynn on the team. They eventually lost 101 games that season.
As bad as Lynn’s perception of the team was when they employed him, it has worsened since he left. The White Sox lost a record setting 121 games last season, and if the start of the 2025 season is any indication, they could lose even more games this year. The organization has completely plateaued at the MLB level in the last two years, as the roster is completely devoid of talent. Lynn is not wrong. The White Sox are behind the rest of the league. The historically futile product on the field is evidence of that.
Steps In The Right Direction
While the big league team has been historically bad of late, the farm system has improved significantly through trades and the draft. MLB.com ranked the White Sox as having the sixth-best farm system in baseball before this season. For comparison, the team’s farm system ranked 26th in MLB before the 2023 season.
The organization has made strides in other areas since Lynn’s departure as well. They fired Vice President Kenny Williams and General Manager Rick Hahn in August 2023, only weeks after trading Lynn. Later that year, they brought in Brian Bannister, the new Director of Pitching. The team also reportedly reorganized and rebranded their analytics department after the end of last season and subsequently hired Ryan Fuller, the new Director of Hitting. While progress has not yet been evident at the MLB level, there have been tangible efforts to improve the organization from top to bottom over the past few years.
Lance Lynn Speaks The Truth
Lance Lynn has never been afraid to speak his mind. Changes in the White Sox organization were long overdue, and that process has finally started. A new era with a new group of players is taking shape on the South Side. These efforts to restructure the franchise will take a long time to show on the big league field, but the organization is taking baby steps in the right direction for the first time in a while.
Until Jerry dies or sells the team, I will not waste a minute of my time following the team and definitley not spending a penny to help this cheap-ass!! I wish someone would put a story together showing how much each mlb team spends in staff at the mlb level and minor-league. We know Jerry spends the least and he doesn’t even have to pay much for the stadium. He had no costs for the first 10 years and now only has to pay $1.5M annutally while the city and state each pay $5M. This clown has ruined 2 good… Read more »
I could be wrong, but I believe the ranking of farm systems is based on the talent in the system, not the overall system itself including the talent. So, although the Sox may be ranked 6th, I’ll bet it’s based on the talent in the system and that the Sox’ system still stinks. We have not seen one position player come up from the minors that has been worth a damn. Colson Montgomery who was supposed to be our top guy has been underwhelming and doesn’t seem to be improving. As I’ve said before until I see it in the… Read more »
Everyone knows the Sox are dead last when is comes to modern baseball practices and or thinking. They won’t embrace analytics. The player development system is a joke. High School teams are better at development that this clown-show. Their scouting system is also a laughing stock. Case in point: Colson Montgomery. He is looking more and more like a bust. Inept Getz bragged during the off-season how they now have one and only one Traject hitting machine. Most other teams will have several of them… including a couple within their minor league organization. Again White Sox have ONE! That’s because… Read more »
Thank you Lance … happy anyone can and will tell the TRUTH!