The White Sox haven\u2019t been doing much winning lately.<\/p>\n
Perhaps you\u2019ve noticed.<\/p>\n
With their 7-22 nosedive to start the season, the Sox were only one game better off than last year\u2019s all-time-worst team was after 29 games.<\/p>\n
From that 121-loss-bound mess to this?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not ideal,\u201d left fielder Andrew Benintendi said.<\/p>\n
As living the big-league dream goes, it can\u2019t be all that fun.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think anybody wants to be on a losing team,\u201d Benintendi said. \u201cIt\u2019s just part of it, I guess. We\u2019re going through a rebuild. It is what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Benintendi \u2014 recipient of the largest player contract in Sox history, a five-year, $75 million free-agent deal signed heading into 2023 \u2014 has seen highs and lows in his career, and definitely in that chronological order.<\/p>\n
In 2016, his first full year of pro ball, he rocketed from High-A all the way to the majors, skipping right past Triple-A to join the playoff-bound Red Sox. Two seasons later, he banged out 168 hits and drove in 87 runs on a team that steamrolled to 108 wins and the World Series title. It doesn\u2019t get much higher than that.<\/p>\n
But little, if anything, since joining the White Sox has gone as hoped.<\/p>\n
Benintendi was sold a bill of goods about the 2023 Sox, who strutted in with a roster full of players who\u2019d won a division in 2021 but then failed in every way \u2014 Benintendi\u2019s meager production one of countless disappointments \u2014 en route to a 61-101 finish.<\/p>\n
And as bad as the Sox were last season, Benintendi was right there keeping the pace. He hit a career-low .229, had a puny on-base percentage of .289 and ended with a negative WAR \u2014 an ignominious distinction.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year was terrible,\u201d he said. \u201cI think everybody that was part of that doesn\u2019t want to do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first time Benintendi sat down with the Sun-Times, at the start of spring training in 2023, he went out of his way to defuse interest in him as a topic. He called himself \u201cboring.\u201d Added that he \u201chated\u201d to talk about himself. Said, \u201cIf no one notices me, that would be great.\u201d<\/p>\n
A reporter reminded him of that this week. In a sense, Benintendi has gotten what he wished for \u2014 though certainly not in the manner he wanted.<\/p>\n
Benintendi\u2019s reaction to that was a bit surprising. The Sox continue to lose with historic frequency. Benintendi isn\u2019t exactly hitting the cover off the ball this season. But he swears he\u2019s having more fun this go-round and that his mood around the ballpark has been better, lighter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas I down sometimes last year? A hundred percent, yeah,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not like I have a new perspective now, but I\u2019m really trying to just take this season for what it is and try to enjoy it as much as possible. \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cI realize I\u2019m not going to play forever. I\u2019ll be 31 in July. I\u2019m realizing that not everything is so life or death. I guess last year, I maybe got all my bad mojo out of the way. Now I can kind of breathe.\u201d<\/p>\n
For one thing, he has been through the triple-digit-loss wringer more than once now and lived to tell about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if that makes it easier,\u201d he said, \u201cbut it\u2019s not as shocking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last season\u2019s Sox clubhouse environment was fine, he said \u2014 \u201cThere were no fights\u201d \u2014 but this one has been a step up in part, according to Benintendi, because this team turns the page more quickly after a bad game. No doubt, an improved disposition from a 10-year veteran helps, too.<\/p>\n
Benintendi is even finding more enjoyment in life in the city away from the ballpark. He\u2019s venturing out of his West Loop home more often and having regular \u201cYou know what? This isn\u2019t bad\u201d moments.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s super nice,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s food everywhere. It\u2019s walkable. I used to never leave my place.\u201d<\/p>\n
And about that contract: It\u2019s not his fault it\u2019s the biggest the Sox have forked over. There are at least half a dozen players in the Sox\u2019 division who have richer total contracts and at least a few others beyond that group with higher annual salaries. And this is the lowest-payroll division in the game, mind you \u2014 no big spenders in the group.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t hold the Sox\u2019 shameful miserliness against Benintendi.<\/p>\n
Besides, he\u2019s trying to see a brighter side of things.<\/p>\n
\u201cHave fun, right?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s worth a shot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cI realize I\u2019m not going to play forever,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":52257,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n