ARLINGTON, Texas — During those disappointing days of 2022, when the White Sox were fading fast after their abbreviated heyday of a rebuild produced nothing more than two winning seasons, right-hander Lucas Giolito often talked about the importance of getting back to making baseball fun.
Giolito mentioned it again when the Sox were sinking even deeper this season, to a place so bad they had no choice but to trade him away.
‘‘Winning is fun and fun is winning,’’ said Ozzie Guillen, the former Sox manager who oversaw real World Series fun in 2005.
The two go hand-in-hand. Fun can’t be quantified or noted in scouting reports; it only passes or fails eye tests in the clubhouse, dugout and team flights. Players talk about the lack of it, especially when they’re struggling (as the Sox are), as well as the importance of it in a winning culture. So its place shouldn’t be overlooked.
No one is having fun around the Sox this season.
‘‘The clubhouse has been kind of weird all year,’’ right-hander Michael Kopech said. ‘‘We had high expectations for ourselves. I don’t know if we ever clicked or even really got close to reaching our potential.’’
With a 43-64 record going into a road trip against the Rangers and Guardians, it’s safe to say it hasn’t clicked under first-year manager Pedro Grifol. With Giolito and fellow right-handers Reynaldo Lopez, Lance Lynn, Joe Kelly and Kendall Graveman shipped out in recent days in advance of the trade deadline Tuesday, the roster — primarily the pitching staff — will have a drastically different look.
More players could go before Tuesday. The Sox have waning need for 34-year-old catcher Yasmani Grandal, whose overpriced four-year, $73 million contract expires after the season. A minor-leaguer to add to the bunch the Sox collected in deals for the aforementioned veterans might be had for right-hander Keynan Middleton.
That’s a lot of overhaul. The clubhouse already has a different feel — maybe one that can have more fun, for what it’s worth.
‘‘Right now, I think the primary focus of this clubhouse is to loosen up and go back to having some fun playing the game,’’ Kopech said. ‘‘I know it’s hard when you’re 20 games under, but it can’t get too much more miserable than losing a lot. We’re going to go out there and play hard and compete and try to have fun doing it.’’
The Sox hope to watch center fielder Luis Robert Jr. blossom in a leadership capacity, especially among Latin players. Before general manager Rick Hahn alluded to first baseman Andrew Vaughn’s leadership role moving forward, field staff such as assistant hitting coach Chris Johnson already had talked with Vaughn, infielder Jake Burger and outfielder/designated hitter Gavin Sheets about leadership responsibilities.
Everyday players make for the best leadership guys, and the Sox had a somewhat unusual clubhouse environment with pitcher-heavy leadership roles for veterans Lynn, Giolito, Graveman and Kelly. But as the season unraveled, it became apparent most of them were welcoming the possibility of getting traded to a contender. Lynn was dragging around a 6.47 ERA, and his body language when plays weren’t made behind him didn’t fly with everyone.
So it goes when you’re losing.
‘‘We still have some good veteran [people in] leadership roles in this clubhouse now, and they’re going to do what they can to change the atmosphere here,’’ Kopech said.
Having fun is only one layer of the clubhouse culture Grifol wants to change. He had this message for Kopech on Sunday after the slumping pitcher’s latest rough outing: ‘‘Just got to go out there and really enjoy pitching and not put so much pressure on himself. We’ve all seen him go out there and just have a lot of fun and be electric. So we’ve got to get him to that point.’’
Winning some games will go a long way.
Contributing: James Fegan
