A week after the New York Times released an in-depth piece about the root causes that have led up to the White Sox historically bad 2024 season, another national news outlet has decided to join the fun.
On Tuesday the Wall Street Journal published an article looking into the White Sox failed rebuild attempt. The article rehashes many of the things that have come out about the White Sox this month, including that some people inside the organization felt that Jerry Reinsdorf’s decision to hire Tony La Russa as manager marked the beginning of the end of the team’s contention window.
Braves starter Reynaldo Lopez was one of the people interviewed for the piece, and the former White Sox right-hander was pretty honest about his experience in the clubhouse.
“No matter if you have the best players in the clubhouse, if you don’t feel like a unit, you’re not going far,” Lopez said.
He went on to say that the 2024 season probably “feels like 500 games” for the players still stuck on the White Sox. It is yet another example of current and former members of the organization speaking out.
The White Sox have garnered plenty of headlines on their march to 120 losses. Earlier this month ESPN’s Jeff Passan spent a day inside the White Sox locker room and quoted the White Sox lone All-Star representative Garrett Crochet saying: “It seems like once an inning, we will give up the flare single and then every time that we hit the flare on offense and it’s like, ‘Oh, that one’s falling,’ someone dives and catches it.”
Last week Britt Ghiroli and Ken Rosenthal spoke with nearly 40 current and former members of the organization which revealed a cheap culture that lacked many of the amenities and support systems most other teams have. This included flying on an Airbus A320, the worst plane in the MLB, hiring outside firms to do analytics, not giving players proper scouting reports or offseason plans, and dysfunction in the front office. NBC News also aired a two-minute segment detailing the White Sox losing record.
It’s the most national media attention the team has received in years but for all the wrong reasons.
