Call it what it is: White Sox fire Rick Renteria and Don Cooper

Rick Renteria

The news Monday was shocking. The White Sox stunned almost everyone in their fan base by firing manager Rick Renteria and pitching coach Don Cooper.

Sure, they called it a "mutual parting of ways," but don't be fooled by the semantics. This was a firing. 

Think about it: Why would Renteria and Cooper decide to leave now on their own accord? Two years ago, they were given a horrible roster than lost 100 games. They didn't step aside after that, so there's no reason to think they would want to leave now, just when the Sox are finally starting to field a competitive team.

General manager Rick Hahn is famous for his lawyer talk, and he's obviously dancing around the fact that these guys didn't get the job done. And, there's no reason to think they would get the job done in the coming years.

The Sox were 33-17 when they woke up on the morning of Sept. 18. A playoff position had been secured. Then, regular season and postseason combined, they went 3-10 the rest of the way. They lost the American League Central Division title to the Minnesota Twins, despite having a three-game lead with 10 games to play, and they made a quick exit from the playoffs against the Oakland A's.

You can't run from the fact that this was a collapse, nor can you run from the fact that decisions and development failings by Renteria and Cooper were significant contributors to that collapse.

A 5-4 loss to Cleveland on Sept. 24 is the one that cost the Sox the most in the division race. Renteria used Carlos Rodon in relief, trying to protect a 4-1 lead in the seventh inning. Rodon was just back from a significant injury, and he hadn't worked out of the bullpen in years. 

Predictably, Rodon lost the game. Renteria's defense for that move? Rodon "only needed to get one out" (he never got it), and the Sox wanted to see if he could handle such a situation before the playoffs.

OK, that's somewhat defensible. A playoff position had already been secured, and there is some merit to the argument of trying to see what, if anything, Rodon had to offer. Turns out, he had nothing to offer, so the correct thing to do is leave him off the playoff roster.

Instead, we saw Rodon again in relief, in a winner-take-all Game 3 in Oakland. The Sox were leading 3-2 when Rodon entered. Moments later, the Sox were trailing, 4-3. Once again, the justification was that Rodon "only needed to get one out." He never got it. The Sox lost, 6-4. Season over.

Making such an egregious mistake twice in a week, with a season on a line, that's the type of decision-making that gets a manager fired. Not to mention, Renteria started Dane Dunning in Game 3 of the playoffs, a defensible decision, but he had somebody warming up after Dunning gave up a leadoff single in the first inning.

If you have that little confidence in a starting pitcher, then don't start him. Dunning did not give up a run, but he was pulled with two on and two out in the first inning -- after throwing only 15 pitches. Not a good decision.

Renteria's moves in the playoffs had panic written all over them, and his body language in the dugout was quite bizarre. He was squatting in the ready position, acting as if he was playing shortstop, not managing the team. It made me anxious looking at him, so I wonder what his players thought of all that.

And let's not absolve Cooper. Yes, it's great that he resurrected the careers of Esteban Loaiza, Jose Contreras and Matt Thornton. But that stuff was 15 years ago now. 

Sox fans, how do we feel about the development of Dylan Cease and Reynaldo Lopez these days? Not good, right? At best, these two young right-handers have stagnated, and you can make a strong case they have regressed.

It's unfortunate that Dunning was put in such a tough spot in Game 3. He's a rookie coming off Tommy John surgery, yet he was still considered a better option than Cease or Lopez, who have more experience, but have failed to take the next step under the dinosaur Cooper, who had been with the Sox organization for 33 years -- 18 of them as pitching coach across four managerial regimes.

At some point, it's time for a different voice on the pitching front. That time is now. And at some point, it's time for a manager who is more than just a respected figure in the clubhouse -- Renteria was that. To win a championship, a team needs a manager who has some feel for handling a pitching staff -- Renteria was not that. 

It's time for Hahn to go find that guy.

White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito records 200th strikeout of the season

It's remarkable that right-hander Lucas Giolito has 14 wins in 26 starts this season, pitching for yet another terrible White Sox team.

Giolito's record dropped to 14-7 with a 3-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night, but very little of the blame for this defeat falls on him.

Sure, Giolito failed to duplicate the three-hit shutout he tossed against the Twins on Aug. 21 in Minneapolis, but his line in this latest start was still quite good. He went six innings, allowing two earned runs on only four hits. He struck out nine and walked three.

Giolito did give up two home runs in the second inning, one on a high fastball to Marwin Gonzalez and the other on a hanging slider to Jonathan Schoop. However, two runs allowed over six innings is good enough to win a lot of nights -- just not this night.

The Sox offense managed six hits -- five of them singles -- against Minnesota starter Michael Pineda (10-5) and four Twins relievers. A solo home run by Tim Anderson, his 14th of the season, provided the only run the Sox could muster.

So, Giolito suffered the loss despite pitching well, but on the bright side, he added his name to a short list of Sox pitchers who have recorded 200 or more strikeouts in a season. His strikeout total for 2019 now stands at 203 after Tuesday night.

Here are the other Sox hurlers to achieve this milestone:

Ed Walsh (1907-08, 1910-12)
Gary Peters (1964, 1967)
Wilbur Wood (1971)
Tom Bradley (1972)
Alex Fernandez (1996)
Esteban Loaiza (2003)
Javier Vazquez (2007-08)
Chris Sale (2013-16)

Giolito's accomplishment is remarkable when you consider he had only 125 strikeouts last season in 173.1 innings. This season, he's at 203 strikeouts in 157.2 innings.

This is just the latest benchmark that shows Giolito is perhaps the most improved player in all of baseball in 2019. Can you think of another player in the game who has taken this big of a step forward? I can't.

Jose Abreu elected to start All-Star Game despite horrible slump

Jose Abreu

First baseman Jose Abreu will become the first White Sox position player to start for the American League All-Star team since Frank Thomas in 1996.

(The Sox have had three pitchers -- Esteban Loaiza, Mark Buehrle and Chris Sale -- start the midsummer classic in years since.)

I would be more excited for Abreu if he weren't in the midst of the worst slump of his normally consistent and admirable career. In fact, if we were having this conversation about Abreu on June 1, I would have wholeheartedly endorsed his candidacy to be the starting American League first baseman.

Through May, Abreu had posted a slash line of .298/.360/.522 with nine home runs and 19 doubles. Those figures basically are right on par with his career totals of .296/.353/.515.

However, you can't ignore his subpar June and horrible start to July.

Abreu is hitting only .175/.232/.289 over his past 30 games with just two home runs. At one point in time, he was on pace to set a new club record for doubles in a season, but as I type here July 9, Abreu has been stuck on 27 doubles since June 20. Over that same span, he only has two extra-base hits -- a home run on June 27 and a triple on July 1.

This prolonged slump has dragged his season slash line down to a very un-Abreu-like .259/.315/.448.

There have been a couple years in the past where perhaps Abreu should have gotten an All-Star start but did not, so maybe this is a bit of a makeup call, or a reward for career achievement.

And there's no question Abreu is benefiting from a weak crop of AL first basemen this year. Future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera is out for the year. Eric Hosmer signed with the San Diego Padres last offseason and doesn't play in the American League anymore.

Who among AL first basemen really deserves the honor? Oakland's Matt Olson? Toronto's Justin Smoak? Both those men have good power numbers, but they are both .240 hitters. Boston's Mitch Moreland? I guess he's having a decent year, but does anyone really think he's a better player than Abreu?

I wouldn't say that any of these people are slam-dunk All-Stars, but somebody had to be chosen. Turns out Abreu got elected the starter, and Moreland was chosen as a reserve.

Hopefully, Abreu will find his swing sometime in the next week's worth of games. It would be nice to see him have a good showing July 17 in Washington.

Former White Sox pitcher Esteban Loaiza arrested on drug charges

Esteban Loaiza

I was surprised when I saw former White Sox pitcher Esteban Loaiza at SoxFest in January.

Loaiza's name had not been mentioned as being among the attendees before the event, and he hadn't been involved in the Sox organization much since he was traded for Jose Contreras in the middle of the 2004 season. Sure, he pitched three games for the South Siders at the end of his career in 2008, but he hadn't been heard from since.

It seemed strange that he suddenly resurfaced, 15 years after he won 21 games for the Sox and started the 2003 All-Star Game for the American League at U.S. Cellular Field.

Turns out, Loaiza might have been desperate to make whatever appearance fee the team pays former players who come to SoxFest.

The former right-hander was arrested Friday after authorities searched his home in Southern California and found more than 44 pounds of what is suspected to be cocaine.

Loaiza is being held on $200,000 bail on suspicion of possessing and transporting narcotics for sale, according to a San Diego Union-Tribune report.

According to baseball-reference.com, Loaiza made $43.7 million during his 14-year major league career. His inability to post bond to this point suggests that perhaps he blew through all that money, and perhaps he was trying to make some easy cash with the drug running.

I suspect he randomly showed up at SoxFest for the first time in years also for purposes of trying to make some easy cash.

At the end of the day, it's quite possible Loaiza soon will be throwing cut fastballs in the California Penal League. This is an unfortunate story about a player who had the best season of his career while wearing a Sox uniform in 2003.

The six worst recent White Sox reunions

You've seen the best, so now here are the worst reunions between the White Sox and their former players:

6. Darrin Jackson
First Tenure: 1994, .312/.362/.444
Second Stay: 1999, .275/.288/.430
Jackson was part of the most infamous "What If" White Sox team of the modern era, the 1994 team that had its chance to win a World Series wiped away by baseball's strike that season. Jackson enjoyed what was probably his finest professional season that summer, hitting well and playing a good right field, just like Ellis Burks -- the team's previous stopgap solution in right -- did the year before.

The Sox looked much different when Jackson returned a few years later after a couple seasons in Japan, and stops in Minnesota and Milwaukee. Gone were all of the players from the previous team who might have made a title run, except for Frank Thomas, around whom the Sox were trying to build a new core of young players.

Jackson was different, too. Instead of a starting right fielder, he played as a fourth outfielder. What was so disappointing about Jackson's return wasn't so much his play in that role, or the sad reminder of the last talented team that collapsed, but that the Sox had an abundance of young outfielders who needed looks.

Three of those those young outfielders did emerge with firm holds on jobs by the end of the year (Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Lee and Chris Singleton), and among the others who auditioned (Jeff Liefer, Jeff Abbott, McKay Christensen and Brian Simmons), the most noteworthy thing any of them did after leaving the Sox was when one of them locked himself in the bathroom during a game. So in that sense it didn't cost the franchise any opportunity to let a kid run with a job. And Jackson was so well-liked he remained with the team, first in the TV booth before moving over to radio.

Still, even season ticket holders weren't interested in watching Jackson start half the games in center field, which knowing how then-manager Jerry Manuel liked to run things, might have been a job-share that persisted had Jackson dropped in a few more singles.

5. Sandy Alomar
First Tenure: 2001-2002, .264/.296/.382, then 2003-2004, .254/.289/.365
Third Stay: 2006, .217/.255/.358
Perhaps the biggest laugher in the "Trade for an Alomar!" jokes longtime general manager Ken Williams wrote in the early and middle parts of the previous decade.

The first time the Sox brought in Alomar, they needed a catcher. After trading him to Colorado, they brought him back again as a veteran caddy for a young Miguel Olivo. Then Olivo was traded, and Alomar could not credibly start over Ben Davis. That's OK. Life is rough for catchers near the end of their careers. A.J. Pierzynski fell in the Sox's laps that offseason, and catcher wasn't a huge concern for nearly a decade.

Then when the Sox began spinning their wheels during July of their 2006 title defense, they reached for the old security blanket by bringing Alomar back again, this time in a trade with the Dodgers for some guy you've never heard of.

It's not that Alomar was costly. It's not that he wasn't marginally better than they guy he replaced (Chris Widger). It's not like he even mattered in his 19 games played behind the workhorse Pierzynski. He was a backup catcher, so who cares?

It was just the pointlessness of it. Trading for a guy who was barely better than the incumbent, who probably wasn't at all better than Chris Stewart, who wasn't all that good either, and who wasn't even going to play much, all while there were much bigger issues.

4. Roberto Alomar
First Tenure: 2003, .253/.330/.340
Second Stay: 2004, .180/.203/.449
Again, it's hard to see past the pointlessness of this one. Alomar was a shell of himself when the Sox traded for him to man second base in 2003. When it turns out the contract Alomar and Williams worked out with a handshake, on a bar napkin, or whatever was alleged, Alomar took his steeply declining career to Arizona for even less money.

The decline was so steep that Alomar, Utility Infielder of '04 was even more disappointing than Alomar, Second Baseman '03.

The only happy part of this reunion story is that Williams and the Sox weren't out the money they would have been if Alomar had been cornered without his agent.

3. Esteban Loaiza
First Tenure: 2003-04, 30-14, 3.65 ERA
Second Tenure: 0-0, 6.80 ERA, 3 IP
Loaiza was the first, and maybe remains the most famous of Sox pitching coach Don Cooper's reclamation projects. A journeyman in his 30s when he joined the Sox as a minor league free agent before 2003, Loaiza learned a cutter and finished second in the Cy Young voting that season while going 21-9 with a 2.90 ERA.

His second season in Chicago was a little rougher, and with no contract extension likely to be worked out, he was traded for Jose Contreras.

The Sox must have remembered his success with them fondly, because despite only one solid season after his exodus from the team, they brought him back for a look after he was released by the Dodgers during the 2008 season.

Be it that the end was near all along, or rumors that Loaiza wasn't working out and in game shape between stays in organizations, he never recaptured his stuff.

2. Bartolo Colon
First Tenure: 2003, 15-13, 3.87
Second Stay: 2009, 3-6, 4.19 ERA, 13 unearned runs, 13 HR allowed in 62 1/3 IP
Colon couldn't quite put the White Sox over the top and into the playoffs during his first stay, but rode a gaudy win total to a Cy Young Award a couple seasons later in Anaheim. Always an innings eater, and probably an eater of many other delicious things, his massive workload that year probably set the stage for the health problems that plagued him since, and only ended once he found a unique medical treatment.

It wasn't just the results that were a letdown from Colon, though that was less than expected, too. It's that while battling injuries, he also went missing for a time, leading to some amusing speculation that it had something to do with the King of Pop's demise.

Despite a drug suspension stemming from his treatments, Colon has been back. A couple solid seasons in Oakland even helped him sign another albatross contract the Mets would be happy to unload right now. Don't look for them to unload it on the Sox now.

1. Harold Baines
First Tenure: 1980-89, 1996-97, .288/.346/.463, 220 HR
Third Stay: .166/.240/.225, 1 HR
The first reunion was great, despite the circumstances surrounding it. The third and final reunion cut deeply into Baines' playing time as he was added via trade to be a bench bat for an ill-fated playoff run in 2000. 

At the time the Sox picked him up from Baltimore, Baines was batting .266/.349/.437 with 10 home runs. This was coming off a .312/.395/.533 year with 25 home runs split between Baltimore and Cleveland. With 2,842 hits in his career, Baines looked to be one and a half healthy seasons away from reaching the 3,000 milestone that might have bolstered his Hall of Fame case.

Hindsight tells us 3,000 probably wasn't in the cards for Baines. If he declined between 1999 and 2000, then he absolutely fell off a cliff after the trade back to the White Sox. He hit only one more home run in his career, on Aug. 15, 2000, appropriately against Baltimore. With a double that night he also had his last multi-hit game.

Baines came back with the Sox in 2001, presumably in the same bench role he occupied down the stretch the previous season. Even when a season-ending injury to Frank Thomas opened the door for playing time to rebound from a .105/.150/.105 start and start marching up the career hit list, Baines couldn't answer the bell. He finished May with a barely improved line of .117/.187/.130. Because of injuries and ineffectiveness, he played three more games, collected two more hits, and came to the plate a final time on Sept. 27 as a pinch hitter, striking out to close his career.

What was most disappointing about this reunion was that if everything had worked out as planned, the Sox would storm to another division title like they had with a young team the year before, Baines would add a few more marks on his record sheet, but probably come up short of making things tough for Hall of Fame voters.

When Thomas got hurt and contention fell through, the would-be consolation prize -- watching an old hero get a legitimate run at 3,000 hits -- also evaporated.

Even if Baines had no real shot at matching the hopes of wishful White Sox fans, in a way it was still like watching the present burn and the past fade at the same time. Or like with Jackson, for Sox fans it was facing an uncertain future while holding on to a past we couldn't make more glorious.

Top five deadline deals for the White Sox since 2000

Baseball's trade deadline looms Thursday. It's the last shopping day for teams to make moves without putting players on waivers first. Since that process is sometimes an impediment to adding reinforcements, the days before the July 31 deadline are always among the busiest on the baseball calendar.

Besides being the time to bolster rosters for the stretch run -- something neither Chicago team will be doing this year -- teams can also make more forward-thinking moves such as moving a veteran player for prospects, or picking up a veteran player under contract for multiple seasons yet. These kind of trades can be big moves that shape the future of a franchise, or small ones that add finishing pieces or future role players.

Here are the five best deals the White Sox have made near the deadline since 2000:

5. July 30, 2013. Traded Jake Peavy to the Boston Red Sox. Received Avisail Garcia from the Detroit Tigers and Francellis Montas, Cleuluis Rondon and Jeffrey Wendelken from the Red Sox. The Red Sox sent Jose Iglesias to the Tigers.

Garcia hasn't played much this season because of a shoulder injury. The Sox are hoping the fast-healing outfielder will see some time later this year because if he can develop into a solid everyday player, this trade will be exactly the kind of veteran-for-prospect deal the youth-starved Sox needed to make.

For all the flaws the Sox rotation has shown this year, Peavy isn't really missed considering his tepid performance this season and the big money he's making on the last year of his contract.

4. July 29, 2000. Traded Miguel Felix, Juan Figueroa, Jason Lakman and Brook Fordyce to the Baltimore Orioles. Received Harold Baines and Charles Johnson.

Johnson was a huge upgrade at catcher for the Sox over Fordyce (.272/.313/.464) and Mark Johnson (.225/.315/.316), batting an incredible .326/.411/.607 in 158 PAs over the last two months of the season. Consider how ridiculously talented the Sox offense was that year when Johnson, batting ninth in the playoffs, had 30 home runs on the season.

While Johnson left after the season, the Sox didn't win a playoff series and Baines wasn't a very effective bench bat during his third tour of duty with the team, this trade worked out just fine as none of the pieces the Sox gave up would haunt them down the road.

3. July 31, 2008. Traded Nick Masset and Danny Richar to the Cincinnati Reds. Received Ken Griffey, Jr. and cash.

It's easy to crack jokes about how Griffey was a shell of himself by the time he got to the Sox because it's true. He was no longer a great hitter and his play in center field could make you want to close your eyes. But consider that Brian Anderson, Dewayne Wise and down-season Nick Swisher were tasked with patrolling that spot after Alexei Ramirez was moved to second base full-time.

Griffey batted a decent .260/.347/.405 for the Sox, plus made a good defensive play to throw out the Twins' Michael Cuddyer at home plate in the 1-0 win over Minnesota in the AL Central tiebreaker. So even though Masset had a few decent seasons as a reliever, this is a trade the Sox should be happy they made.

2. July 31, 2004. Traded Esteban Loaiza to the New York Yankees. Received Jose Contreras and cash.

Despite having traded for Freddy Garcia just a month earlier, the Sox were headed in the wrong direction after losing Frank Thomas and Magglio Ordonez for the season. Loaiza, who appeared to have turned his career around the previous season, was also struggling, so the Sox opted to swap him for another right-hander who was getting roughed up, but had some potential and wasn't a free agent at the end of the year.

Contreras kept scuffling that year, pitching to a 5.30 ERA, only a slight improvement over his work with the Yankees. But the next season things clicked for the Cuban as he finished with a 3.61 ERA, including a dominant second half where he posted a 2.96 ERA and was the Game 1 starter in three playoff series as the Sox went 11-1 on their way to their first World Series title in 88 years.

1. July 31, 2005. Traded Ryan Meaux to the San Diego Padres. Received Geoff Blum.

Blum wasn't anywhere near as important as Contreras to the 2005 title march. In fact, a lot of observers were puzzled when he was the only piece added at the deadline by then-Sox GM Kenny Williams, who was notorious for his all-in style of roster building.

But it's hard to beat it when a trade deadline acquisition does this...