“I see as much young talent here as I’ve ever seen anywhere,” White Sox catcher Welington Castillo told Steve Greenberg of the Chicago Sun-Times about his new team’s spring camp, and that includes Castillo’s previous stint on the north side of Chicago. “In 2013, when I was with the Cubs, we weren’t even close to what we’ve got here,’’ Castillo said. ‘‘In 2014, [the Cubs] started changing; you started to see more about the big prospects. But they still weren’t really coming to the big leagues. The White Sox, our prospects are already here, and they’re building together. This organization is still a step ahead of the Cubs [in 2014].” It remains to be seen if the current Sox core can possibly match up with what the Cubs have accomplished over the last three seasons, though given the amount of top-tier young players the White Sox have acquired in their rebuild, there is no shortage of promise for a quick return to contention for the franchise.
Here’s more from the White Sox camp…
- Both Jose Abreu and Kevan Smith made early exits from today’s Cactus League game with the Rangers, as MLB.com’s Alyson Footer and others reported. Left hamstring tightness forced Abreu out of the game after two innings, while Smith suffered a left ankle sprain in the fifth inning. More will be known about both injuries tomorrow, though manager Rick Renteria doesn’t believe either issue is particularly serious. X-rays on Smith’s ankle already came back negative, yet any missed time could hurt the catcher in his battle with Omar Narvaez for the backup catcher’s job behind Castillo. Abreu’s roster spot obviously isn’t in question, though any type of injury to their best hitter is worrisome for the White Sox.
- Renteria hinted that Hector Santiago may have won himself a 25-man roster spot, telling The Athletic’s James Fegan (Twitter link) and other reporters that he likes to use a left-hander (like Santiago) in relief of a right-handed starter, and noted Santiago’s ability to provide multiple innings out of the pen. Chicago signed several veteran relievers to minor league deals this winter, though Santiago is standing out from the competition with excellent spring numbers, posting an 0.75 ERA over his first 12 innings. Santiago’s minors contract with the White Sox will pay him $2MM should he crack the Major League roster.
- Matt Davidson is “not paying attention to anything else other than really my contact rate” this spring, the third baseman tells James Fegan of The Athletic (subscription required). Davidson hit 26 homers in 443 PA last season, but contributed little else besides that pure power, with an overall .220/.260/.452 slash line and a whopping 165 strikeouts against just 19 walks. Davidson knows he has to become a more well-rounded player in order to stick with the Sox given the strong competition for jobs in camp and during the regular season.
Really interested to see how the Sox come along this year. I think they’ll be better than expected.
I think they may surprise some people this year. Second place for sure especially in that division.
I like the White Sox and what they’ve done and built a lot … but I don’t think they’re quite ahead of the Twins just yet … give it one more year .. I still think the Twins will battle the Angels again for the last wild card … next year will be the beginning of the beginning for the White Sox lol
Chris Davis 2.0 wouldn’t be too shabby.
I so agree !
Agree. They have looked pretty good in “spring training” if it can carry over into the regular season and that 4IP by Fulmer cpl days back was nothing short of spectacular. Possibly a surprise WC contender??
Beef Welington callin it how he sees it. Beltin Bill Melton insists that Jerry will be willing to spend what he needs to next offseason on the bigtime FA’s. Im not gonna call Beltin’ a liar. This is a 2 yr rebuild folks, 3 years Max. Sox will be better than expected this year & 2019 they will be in the wildcard hunt. Those boys in Cleveland not getting any younger & they have a lot of fragile players. Twinkies aren’t scaring anyone with the plethera of mediocre FA’s they added. Outside of Dozier & Sano name me another legit hitter. They arent trying to extend Dozier either. Pitching staff has an unproven but good Berrios, an injured old Ervin Santana & a bunch of old BP arms. Sox should win 100 games in 2020 in this division. Cant say i’m optimistic about our BP but that is the easiest aspect of a team to correct. Opening Day starter ought to be Giolito, Put Shields in the stands as a Beer Vendor. Starters will surprise this season, better than Brewers starting staff minus Shields. Hahn needs to get Jose extended this season & if Avi plays like he did last year extend him as well. 2019-2020 lineup will have at least one of the following Harper, Machado or Arenado. Lets Go White Sox!!!!!!
I think you’re wrong about Shields.
Buxton
Mauer
Polanco
Escobar
Rosario
Morrison
All of those guys are “legit hitters”
You can have your .290/3Hr/75 RBI 1Bman Mauer i’ll pass. Buxton has been a bust outside of hot streak last season. Escobar is a good little player loved him on the White Sox not a difference maker. Polanco n Rosario had good years last yr no proven track record. Cmon man that lineup scares nobody. Even Sano hasnt had a full season of raking
Cmon Cory, i guarantee you Twins don’t sniff the playoffs in 2018. Polanco needed PED’s to hit 13 bombs & 74 RBI last year. He is suspended for 80 games to start 2018. LoMo’s high for HR’s was 23 back in 2011 before last year. Rosario had 78 RBI in 2017 a legit corner outfielder gets you 90+ RBI. No proven track records besides Dozier of big time bats in that lineup
Yes, Davidson strikes out a lot, but if he can somehow knock that down even a touch, he could be really good. There’s so much raw power in his game it’s unheard of. If he gets full-time AB’s he could top 40 HR’s even with the high strikeout rate!
If he gets 600 plate appearances, he’d be on pace for almost 225 strikeouts.
He needs to drop it way more than a touch.
Yeah, he has power, but 40 homer potential is not “unheard” of.
Right now, he is Chris Davis 2.0
But Chris Davis makes good money hitting lots of homeruns. Because statheads dig the long ball.
Pretty sure the Chris Davis contract wasn’t about “statheads,” who generally hated it from the get, but about an ownership group who digs the longball.
And Davis is better than Davidson anyways.
Mark Reynolds has had a fairly decent career striking out this much as well. Obviously you’d want to cut the K rate but sometimes more contact isn’t ideal; Albert Pujols, for example, shouldn’t be putting the ball in play these days because he can no longer run and a double play is a much worse outcome than a strikeout. But players tend to not be able to decrease their K rates much by the time they make the majors. There are he occasional outliers like Justin Turner who manage, but usually a guy who strikes out 200 times a year when he’s young will always strike out a lot.
Davidson never walks and strikes out a ton. Power-only guys aren’t unheard of, they’re just not viewed particularly well by the league. Team’s had no interest in Mike Moustakas this winter, and he’s better than Davidson is at everything.
If he can improve his contact rate, like he’s apparently trying to do, maybe he can stick around for a few years, but he’s barely a minor-league player right now, and he’s almost 27.
The GM there has done a fabulous job, just tremendous. When he does elect to expend $ in free agency, that is one scary good team.
Yes “You could put on the Board YES”
Completely disagree with Castillo. The 2015 Cubs won 97 games. No way the 2019 White Sox win 97. Way too early to start planning a White Sox dynasty.
with the young rotation that they have maybe 2019 if everything goes right.
So you completely disagree with something Castillo never said?
He said the Sox were a step ahead of the Cubs were in 2014. Like he said, in order for that to be true, the White Sox would have to win more than 97 games in 2019. So yes, what he disputed IS what Castillo said.
You literally just made an inference based on a quote from Castillo, and then claimed that your inference is actually a quote from Castillo.
Except it’s not at all.
As it stands today, the 2018 Sox are in a better position than the 2014 Cubs were. Being a step ahead of where they were in 2014 has little to do with where they went in 2015. They obviously made huge improvements between those 2 seasons. If the Sox do similarly, which is a huge if, then yes, they will be just as good in 2019 as the Cubs were in 2015. A whole lot has to go right for that to happen though, and it still has absolutely nothing to do with what Castillo said.
At least somebody understands ^
Except they didn’t make “huge improvements”. The “huge improvements” were the graduation of Bryant and Russell and the resurgence of Arrieta. The only “improvement” they made was signing Lester. About 95% of their “improvements” were the product of home-grown talent, whether it be direct or via trade.
UNTIL they do something similar, they aren’t in a better position.
They’ll be competing alright, with the Marlins for the worst record in baseball. This team isn’t close
I doubt that happens. They’re the best team out Detroit and Kansas. They’ll be able to rack up wins in those games
If everyone important stays healthy and the young guys play well, competing with the Marlins for dead last would be one of the best things that could happen for this club going forward.
This is only the start of year 2 of the “rebuild.” They haven’t even had 1 draft (in the rebuild) with a top 5 pick yet. To be where they are this quickly is pretty ridiculous. They’re still a ways off, but they’re a heck of a lot closer than you think.
Just for fun, what team are you a fan of? I’d be willing to bet it’s one a little further north.
They are not rushing their young SP so guys like shields and Gonzalez will suck up some bad innings to protect them till they are ready next year
Like every rebuild, it’s aided by impact FA signings. If Hahn spends correctly, there’s no reason to think the White Sox make a splash during the coming off season and are pushing for a Wild Card spot in ‘19.
If the White Sox outbid NY for Machado’s services, the message will be loud and clear. They have the roster flexibility to do it, the question will Reinsdorf stand in the way?
Santiago has done well with a 0.75 ERA in 12 innings, but Volstad has done even better with a 0.00 ERA in 11 innings so far and he is the one “standing out from the competition”. He has pitched practically perfectly and if spring training actually means anything he should make the team easily.
Easiest futures bet on the board, over 72 wins for Chi-Sox
75-87
The won’t be a step ahead until just about every single one of their highly-lauded prospects pans out as it did for the Cubs. Bryant, Russell, Baez, Schwarber, Contreras, and Happ are all starting-caliber big leaguers right now.
Kyle Schwarber is not a starting caliber big leaguer right now, unless you like guys who put up 0 WAR.
He hit 30 HR and had an OPS of .782 in a down year. He currently has a career OPS of .800 with 46 HR in 1 1/2 seasons. Hate to break it to you, but that’s starting caliber on any team.
Sure. Starting caliber on any team that needs a platoon DH.
But hey, at least the Chicago media is pushing the “best shape of his life” narrative. So there may be some hope for him yet.
Wrong
Baez and Contreras were leftovers from the Jim Hendry reign. Contreras is a fine player but was he a highly-lauded prospect when in 2014 they left him eligible for another team to nab via Rule 5 Draft.
The White Sox have barely started their rebuild. Some of these prospects aren’t going to become impact MLB players because of injuries or flame outs. If Jimenez or Kopech are one of these players the rebuild could be derailed. This is another year of minor league development (something the White Sox have been very poor at over the last few decades) and competing for the #1 draft pick. 2020 is the year fans should start having expectations. The Sox need to accumulate more prospects in this draft and the next draft, then look to add FA if on field development dictates. Accumulating talent is the easy part, staying healthy and developing is the heavy lifting and it is just starting.
Stop with the Sox are going to surprise some people. Stop with the wildcard contention. Number reason why they are not contending for anything is lack of a pitching staff, front to back. Second reason will be the amount of errors they will commit this year. Just sit back and enjoy kids trying to play the game the best way they can. Their time will come. Just not this year.
Whitesox defense will be fine. But the rotation is terrible, and the minor league depth isn’t what a lot of fans think it is.
I’m loving all the Cubbie fan boy trolls on this thread! It’s almost as if they’re sweating about the future of this organization and what Eloy will become in this city. Bwahahahahaha
Bwhahahahahaha exactly. Scrubs have a top 5 team in MLB &cub fans are skrrrrd about what ChiSox are building. That’s Cub
Hope the #4 pick this year is one of the high profile Shortstops. Need a long-term answer there and left side of the infield in general is system weak point. Avi looking like a flat out good hitter now to fetch a solid return if they don’t want to extend him in prime as he finally develops into what they hoped.