Don't fire Pedro Grifol. Make him watch this White Sox debacle all the way to its miserable end.

The instinct is to want White Sox manager Pedro Grifol fired today, but only because Yesterday is no longer available. He is the captain of this sunken ship, and someone among the waterlogged must go. That's how it works in sport. His continued employment is an insult to our sensibilities.

A Grifol firing might feel good for a few minutes, but, really, what good would it do? It wouldn't change anything. A new manager wouldn't make a team lacking major league talent more major league or more talented. A change would not make Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf any less responsible.

Grifol criticized his players for being “damn flat” after a loss to the Orioles a few weeks ago, and what is a manager's job if not to make sure his team is physically and mentally ready to play. ? In many other circumstances, what Grifol said would have been a fireable offense. In these circumstances, dismissal would have been lenient. Pity is too good for this team.

What must be done is the opposite of instinctive evidence.

Grifol's punishment should be to have to see this debacle through to its last drop of misery. Having his name attached to the entire 162-game season is a good thing. This will continue, as public humiliations tend to do. Casey Stengel had to live with the ignominy of being the manager of the 1962 Mets, who lost 120 games, the most in the modern era. But at least Stengel had won seven World Series titles with the Yankees. Grifol should have his Super Glued reputation with this team, which has a strong chance of breaking the Mets' record. By the way, that 1962 team was an expansion club. This sorry excuse for a team doesn't have that excuse. Or any excuse.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred isn't going to remove Reinsdorf as owner, although I guess it's safe to say that with all these losses, the president isn't acting in the best interests of baseball. It's actually causing a lack of interest in baseball, but it probably doesn't rise to the level of crowding out.

Many Sox fans stopped attending games at Guaranteed Rate Field, and others denied ever knowing there was a South Side team. “What is a White Sox?” » they say. Their absence may seem like a big penalty to Reinsdorf, who likes money, and to general manager Chris Getz, who would like Reinsdorf to spend more money.

But this doesn't seem to be painful and embarrassing enough for the superiors.

You'd think that having to listen to new Sox broadcaster John Schriffen, who thinks he's on the team but isn't, might bring this whole farce back to the powers that be, but I don't think it's the case. If Reinsdorf didn't roll his eyes after Schriffen's description of a Tommy Pham-William Contreras matchup at the plate (“We're not taking that from the Brewers!”), then Reinsdorf's eyes can't roll.

The Sox are on the verge of becoming historically awful, but I don't feel like we've given them their doo-doo.

So how can we make owners more responsible?

I proposed that the Sun-Times publish a daily “race to the bottom” chart, chronicling our antiheroes' pursuit of the MLB losing record. This would regularly remind Reinsdorf that, as much as he wishes to ignore what is happening, he cannot do so. This would keep fans informed and free them from the tyranny of math, from the burden of trying to determine whether the Sox are still on pace for the record. Some readers have requested such a table.

A 6-4 loss in 10 innings to the Red Sox on Sunday brought the White Sox record to 17-49 (.258). They have a real chance of breaking the single-season losing record, especially with the likelihood of them being sellers before the trade deadline.

Some others further down that are within reach and therefore mappable:

The modern era record for worst winning percentage is .235, set by the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics.

The 1909 Boston Doves finished 65½ games out of first place. Two and a half months into the season, the Sox are 26 games behind the Guardians, first in the American League Central.

So, a daily chart, right?

Alas, as a typical Sox outcome this season, my suggestion was ruled out. I write. I do not lay out the journal or revise it, and I have been told in no uncertain terms to stay in my lane. In fact, I was told exactly that: “Stay in your lane.”

But can we, who seek the truth, remain silent? Should we be forced to sit back when all we want to do is spread our wings and fly? Should we be ashamed of the charts?

No.

Don't fire Pedro. And get that traffic cone out of my way.