After a season that saw the Chicago White Sox set a modern baseball record for losses, chairman Jerry Reinsdorf wrote a letter to fans, calling the campaign “a failure” and promising to act to improve the team’s fortunes.
The White Sox sit at 40-121 heading into the final day of the season, and are now the owners of the most losses in a single season since 1900.
With a search for a permanent manager on the way, and questions about the team’s talent evaluation process swirling, the team’s owner wrote a letter to fans addressing the rough season.
Here is Reinsdorf’s full letter:
To White Sox Fans,
By all measures, our on-field performance this season was a failure. As the leader of this organization, that is my ultimate responsibility. There are no excuses.
I want to thank you for continuing to support the team throughout what was an embarrassing season. You all deserved better. This season’s performance was completely unacceptable and the varying reactions and emotions from our fanbase are completely understandable.
While embracing new ideas and outside perspectives, we will do everything we can to fix this for 2025 and the future. This will include further development of players on our current roster, development within our system, evaluating the trade and free agent markets to improve our ballclub and new leadership for our analytics department, allowing us to elevate and improve every process within our organization with a focus for competing for championships. In fact, change has already been happening in our baseball operations group throughout this past year. When named general manager in 2023, Chris Getz and his staff immediately began conducting a top-to-bottom evaluation of our existing operations. Chris is rebuilding the foundation of our baseball operations department, with key personnel changes already happening in player development, international scouting, professional scouting and analytics. Some of these changes will be apparent quickly while others will need time to produce the results we all want to see at the major-league level.
Our organization’s most important decision in the coming months is to evaluate and identify a new manager and leadership voice for this organization. Chris is well underway with this search. He has identified the key attributes and preferences for our next manager and has already begun an exhaustive search with a wide range of candidates to lead the White Sox in the clubhouse and dugout.
Even in the worst of seasons, where at times it felt like nothing was going right, there were bright spots that provided reasons for optimism about our future. The overall health of our organization is improving. Our minor league rankings show this growth. The Class AA Birmingham Barons won the Southern League title, while Class A Kannapolis reached the finals of the Carolina League, and our organization has built an impressive future pool of very talented prospects.
Whether said out loud or written in a statement, words are easy. I understand we need to show our progress through action, and I commit to you that everyone associated with the White Sox is focused on returning this organization to the level of success we all expect and desire.
Above everything else, I am a fan, a fan of baseball, of Chicago and of the White Sox. Every loss this season — every blown save, every defensive miscue, every shutout, every sweep — hurt. It was a long, painful season for us all. We recognize, on a daily basis, that it is our responsibility to earn your trust, attention, time and support. We vow to take that approach daily as we put the work in this offseason to be better.
We owe it to each and every one of you.
Jerry Reinsdorf
The White Sox will have plenty of decisions to make this offseason, between a managerial search and decisions on the futures of players like Luis Robert and Garrett Crochet, both of whom could potentially be on the trade block.
That process will get underway immediately after the season, with the Sox aiming to launch their search for a permanent skipper. Grady Sizemore, the team’s interim manager, will get an opportunity to interview for the permanent job, according to GM Chris Getz.
from NBC Chicago https://ift.tt/jqDmhWL
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