Dan Szymborski On The Chisox' White Flag II Trade

The last time the Chisox had a late-season purge like this it was 1997, with the consequence that the Giants got Wilson Alvarez, Danny Darwin, and Roberto Hernandez, while the White Sox got Keith Foulke, Bob Howry, Lorenzo Barcelo, Ken Vining, Mike Caruso, and Brian Manning. The '97 Giants actually finished first, 90-72, two games over the Dodgers, while the Chisox finished 80-81, in second place but six games back of Cleveland. Dan Szymborski revisits this trade in light of that earlier one: Is this a white flag trade? Yes. Is there anything wrong with that? No. There comes a time where yes, it's smart to pull out that white flag and wave it furiously. Fighting to the last man, in many cases, including this one, where the result of losing doesn't mean that the Tigers will disembowel the wives and children of White Sox players, is nothing but romantic nonsense. The White Sox are simply a mediocre team that would have to play the best ball of their lives to have a sh...