The White Sox look like a threat to unseat the 1962 Mets as the worst team ever. At 3-21, they’re on pace to win half as many games as the 40-120 Mets of 1962.
The White Sox have an MLB worst .556 OPS and are averaging an MLB worst 2.17 runs per game.
Tommy Pham, a fine hitter (111 OPS plus last year), should be on the way soon after signing for $3 million. Pham earlier received a similar offer from the Padres, but understandably was reluctant to take a 50 percent cut after improving his OPS 22 points.
Age is an outsized factor in free agency. Brandon Belt, even better, still doesn’t have a job.
Belt might make sense for the Red Sox, who’ve lost Triston Casas for a couple months. Garrett Cooper, just DFA’ed by the Cubs, was pursued by Boston in spring. …
Complaints about the White Sox asking too much for Dylan Cease were silly, anyway. But the Padres got him for a reasonable rate (four prospects, including Drew Thorpe, who went for Juan Soto), and now Cease is a Cy Young candidate.
The Mets, who seemed to have an extra catcher since Tomas Nido was collecting a $2M salary at Syracuse, now look thin with Francisco Alvarez out, and Nido backing up Omar Narvaez.
Mets catching prospect Kevin Parada is “a year away,” at best.
R.I.P. Ken Holtzman, a five-time World Series champion, winner of more games than any Jewish pitcher (nine more than Sandy Koufax), two-time no-hit thrower, champion of the players union and all-around mensch. He was 78.