White Sox Hire David Keller To Oversee International Scouting

The White Sox have hired David Keller to run their international scouting department, according to a report by USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. The report was later elaborated on by James Fegan of SoxMachine, who noted that Keller’s title with Chicago will be special assistant to the GM. Francys Romero also chimed in to note that the club’s international scouting department is being restructured and that the club is expected to hire a director for the department in the coming months. Prior to joining the Sox, Keller had been a scout with the Mets since 2009.

While front office members and scouts changing organizations is a fairly common occurrence in the final months of the season and the first months of the offseason, Chicago’s decision to hire external for a high-level position is especially noteworthy as a potential sign that the club has begun to look for outside voices amid what appears likely to wind up as the worst season any organization has put together in the modern era by almost any metric.

The Sox tied the the 2003 Detroit Tigers for the most losses in AL history with a loss to the Padres last night, and the club would have to win each of their final seven games in order to avoid at least tying the 120-loss 1962 Mets for the most losses in the modern era. Meanwhile, the club’s current .232 winning percentage is already the worst of the modern era, and they’d need to win at least three of their remaining games to surpass the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics, who went 36-117 for a winning percentage of .235. If they don’t win another game this year, Chicago’s 36 wins would tie the aforementioned 1916 Athletics club as well as the 1919 club for the fewest wins in a modern MLB season.

A disastrous season of this magnitude is bound to inspire reflection both inside and outside the organization, so it was no surprise when The Athletic’s Britt Ghiroli and Ken Rosenthal published a lengthy article looking at the club’s failings. MLBTR readers are encouraged to read the report in full for a look at quotes from a wide-ranging group of sources regarding the state of the White Sox organization. In Ghiroli and Rosenthal’s findings, much of the blame for the South Siders’ struggles falls onto the shoulders of owner and chairperson Jerry Reinsdorf. The article notes that while Reinsdorf has a genuine passion for baseball and a desire to see the White Sox succeed, his old-school mentality and unwillingness to invest fully in advanced…