There may be no greater indignity in baseball than being optioned to the minors in mid-September by a team that's well out of contention, and Oscar Colás has earned it.
The White Sox sent Colás to Charlotte this afternoon as part of four roster moves, and with Colás, the circumstances suggest it's designed to make him think about what he's done.
At the plate, Colás' second stint in the majors (.219/.253/.331) wasn't much better than his first (.211/.265/.276) aside from a decent jump in his ISO, but his decision-making in the outfield continues to disappoint no matter how many times members of the White Sox call him out.
It was only last Tuesday that Elvis Andrus and Daryl Boston had words for Colás at the end of the game because he threw to the wrong base.
On Saturday, Chris Getz diplomatically discussed Colás, using polite words to paint an unflattering picture:
“Oscar, there are times where you feel like he can really impact the game in a lot of different ways,” White Sox general manager Chris Getz said on Saturday. “He’s made some mistakes, not that we were too surprised when those mistakes have happened. Now it’s a matter of minimizing those.
“You want players to go out there and play freely and be the athletes they are but within the approach of winning a baseball game and making good decisions on the field,” Getz said. “I think there have been moments that perhaps have gotten a little too big for him. As an organization and coaching staff, they can get the most out of him to help us win games. It’s a good experience for him but he certainly has some work to do.”
And then Colás proved Getz's point with another pair of miscues on Sunday. He spiked a max-effort throw to third and allowed Andre Lipcius to advance to second after his single, resulting in an error for Colás ...
... and then he collided with Andrus on a pop-up to shallow right field, which counted as an error for Andrus.
Considering Andrus could've broken his wrist on the play, he was lucky to escape with only damage to his fielding percentage.
As I said about the Tuesday incident, it's one thing to struggle at the plate, but it's another thing to mess up one play after another defensively, especially in a way that jeopardizes the health of teammates. It's been a point of focus since spring training, and there's no sign of any improvement whatsoever.
The White Sox replaced Colás on the 28-man roster with Carlos Pérez, a third catcher who probably won't see a whole lot of time if Korey Lee is getting all the chances. That's what makes the option of Colás so individually damning.
It wasn't the only move the Sox made today. Edgar Navarro was optioned as well, but that move isn't the same kind of judgment. Navarro been mostly anonymous all year, and his status on the active roster always been a temporary one. He's being replaced by Deivi García, a former top prospect of note who has done a nice job missing bats in Charlotte since the Sox claimed him. García has an option remaining after the season, so the White Sox may as well see what he does against MLB hitters as they consider the 2024 bullpen.
With Colás, the Sox have no such alternate plans for his position or his roster spot. They're going to run an end-of-the-line Trayce Thompson in right field, while Pérez will mostly be around to allow Pedro Grifol to more comfortably use Yasmani Grandal as a pinch-hitter. Grifol just doesn't want to see Colás anymore, and considering Colás would be on pace for a -3 WAR season if he played all season, it's hard to blame him.
That Rick Hahn presented Colás as an Opening Day solution to the right field picture as early as last November was cause enough to be fired. That the White Sox replaced Hahn with the director of minor league development -- the area of the organization that should've identified whether Colás was ready to process the speed of the MLB game before forgoing all attempts to find alternatives -- doesn't create a whole lot of confidence.
