Giolito And Hendriks Call White Sox Overconfident And Complacent

The White Sox season has not gone the way anyone has expected. A talented roster that won the division a year ago is struggling to stay above .500. Lucas Giolito believes part of the problem stems from the White Sox mindset entering the season.

Lucas Giolito appeared on Jomboy Media’s Chris Rose Rotation and had some very telling comments about the White Sox mindset heading into the season.

Giolito was asked about the Bob Nightengale report that said the White Sox clubhouse lacked leadership.

Giolito shared his thoughts on the matter by saying:

“I think it’s more of like a general attitude of confidence. Like overconfidence, I guess. Like, you know ‘look at how good our team is. We’re so good. We have so much talent, and we did this last year. So let’s just do the same thing. Great.’ Instead of having that really, that like chip and that inner drive each day. Whether it be individually or collectively as a team.

Like, ‘yo, we’re winning today. This is important.’ And so, I think that could have contributed to some of our issues and kind of why we’re at right now.”

The Nightengale report was a major topic of conversation around the MLB. So much so that Liam Hendriks was asked to address it at the All-Star Game. His assessment was similar to Giolito’s.

“I think the only issue that our clubhouse has had is complacency,” Hendriks said. “In the fact that we thought we would just roll out of bed and be able to do what we did last year, and that is something that has proven not to be true. And that is actually going to be better for us in the long run.”

Lucas Giolito believes overconfidence contributed to the White Sox first half struggles

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Overconfidence and complacency are two buzz words that jump off the page. It comes as no surprise to anyone who has watched the White Sox this season. They often look lackadaisical and, at times, disengaged.

Hendriks has referenced it two times already. During an interview with Parkins and Speigal on 670 The Score, the subject came up once again.

“You can just see it in some guys in the way they went about doing things. It wasn’t the sense of urgency that we had last year at the start of the year or the sense of urgency that we had towards the very end of last year.”

If there wasn’t a sense of urgency at the start of the season, there certainly is now. The White Sox are in third place in the division and desperately trying to catch the Minnesota Twins. They have suffered some brutal losses highlighted by bad defense, missed opportunities and base running mistakes.

Some of this directly reflects on the manager, Tony La Russa, for not having them ready to play. You would think that a Hall of Fame manager has been through this enough times to prevent something like this from happening.

But the majority of the blame falls on the players. The White Sox have not accomplished anything yet. Winning two playoff games in two years should not be enough to give the team a sense of entitlement.

On paper, they are far and away the most talented team in the divison. But that is why you have to play the games. Nobody wins the World Series on paper. The White Sox have to go out and earn it. The players recognizing and acknowledging the problem is a step in the right direction.