The White Sox enter the offseason coming off their first division title in thirteen years. General manager Rick Hahn has met with the media a few times in recent days to discuss a couple key early offseason decisions and provide updates on a few players already under team control.
First and foremost, Hahn addressed a pair of decisions Chicago has already made: exercising a $16MM club option on reliever Craig Kimbrel and declining to issue an $18.4MM qualifying offer to starter Carlos Rodón. Last month, Bob Nightengale of USA Today suggested the Sox could look to deal Kimbrel after exercising the option, and Hahn acknowledged that as a possibility.
“We view him as a potentially impactful reliever, as he’s been for the vast majority of his career,” Hahn said of Kimbrel (via Jesse Rogers of ESPN). “What we have to figure out is if it makes the most sense to have Craig in a White Sox uniform going forward or is there a better use of that spot and him perhaps via trade?”
Kimbrel’s one of trickier players around the league to value. As Hahn noted, the righty has been one of the best relievers in recent history over the course of his career. He’s an eight-time All-Star who posted an absurd 0.49 ERA with a 46.7% strikeout rate in 36 2/3 innings for the Cubs last season. But Kimbrel struggled badly with the North Siders from 2019-20, and he was tagged for a 5.09 ERA (albeit with a still-excellent 36.7% strikeout percentage) in 23 frames after being traded to the South Side at the deadline. There’ll certainly be plenty of teams intrigued by the possibility of Kimbrel as a late-game stopper, but clubs will have to weigh his upside against his recent run of inconsistency and fairly high price tag in 2022.
On Rodón, Hahn told reporters (including Scott Merkin of MLB.com) the team remained open to his return. “(The qualifying offer) was not offered to him. It doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in bringing him back,” Hahn said. “We have not ruled out him returning.” Nightengale previously reported the Sox didn’t intend to make a great effort to bringing the southpaw back, though, and it seems likely Rodón and his representatives at the Boras Corporation will be able to top the $18.4MM QO value — which Chicago was unwilling to risk, at least this early in the offseason — on the open market.
One could make the case the Sox already have an in-house option to step into Rodón’s rotation spot in Michael Kopech. The flamethrowing righty missed all of 2019-20 after undergoing Tommy John surgery and opting out of the 2020 campaign due to concerns about COVID-19. Chicago used him as a multi-inning relief weapon this past season to keep his workload in check, but Hahn told reporters (including James Fegan of the Athletic) last week the club is committed to stretching Kopech out as a starter in 2022.
The 25-year-old Kopech worked 69 1/3 innings in 2021, posting a 3.50 ERA with a huge 36.1% strikeout percentage and a fine 8.4% walk rate. There’s some risk in taking him out of a bullpen role to which he acclimated so well, but public scouting reports have long suggested Kopech could have top-of-the-rotation upside if given the opportunity. The White Sox are set to explore that possibility, although Hahn cautioned that Kopech may not be ready to take on an ace-caliber workload from Day One.
“I’m going to probably be sitting in this chair some point next summer explaining why we are doing something with Michael in terms of giving him a break in order to keep him strong over the course of that season,” Hahn said (via Fegan). “It’s the innings base and what can we reasonably tack onto him over the course of ideally seven months next year. We are going to have to be diligent in our monitoring of him over the course of the offseason as well as he goes through spring training, and over the course of the regular season in terms of how the ball looks coming out of his hand, what his mechanics look like, what the data is telling us, how Michael is reporting how he feels.”
Hahn also provided updates on a pair of injured players last week. Lance Lynn will spend the next 3-4 weeks resting and rehabbing a right knee issue that sent him to the injured list in late August (via Mark Gonzales). Outfielder Adam Engel, meanwhile, recently underwent surgery to address a left shoulder injury that landed him on the shelf in August as well (according to Maddie Lee of NBC Sports Chicago). That procedure is not expected to affect Engel’s readiness for the start of next season.
I’ve been hearing chatter in Twins circles that Rodon is on their short list for rotation upgrades. Not surprising given its widely known they are on the hunt for pitching but some Twins writers are reporting Rodon is indeed a Target.
Go get Castellanos and leave him in right field. Hahn can do that right? We don’t need Hahn telling us about Sheets and Engel and Vaughn and how happy he is if they decide to go that way.
Castellanos would be a good fit however the Sox have a need for a left handed bat in their lineup. Eloy Jimenez in left field makes Castellanos look like a gold glove winner, however with those two as your corner outfielders you might need to play two centerfielders at the same time.
Lol what? Watch the games. Eloy is fine in the field.
His point is Eloy is fine in LF as long as you have Luis Robert and Adam Engel in CF and RF.
Eloy is fine in left field? When was the last time you saw a White Sox game? He is a butcher, it’s hilarious when he gets caught in the net down the left-field line and it happens often. A butcher and it’s an insult to butchers everywhere for me to say that. Eloy is a DH period.
Every defensive metric would disagree with you. He’s a professional athlete so he probably looks better than the local high school kid but that doesn’t mean he’s good.
What is it with you people and your obsession with the net? JFC.
His career slash as a DH is .165/.252/.340 If you think that’s good, you do you man lol.
Castellanos is indeed right handed, but he hits righties very well. Eaton was a left handed hitter but terrible. They need a good right handed hitter more than a bad left handed hitter. As long as whoever they get can hit righties, it does not matter which side they bat from.
Not that it makes any difference, I entered Rodon going to the Royals and E. Rodriguez coming to the Twins
what’s the word on what MIN’s off-season plan is anyways?
Pitching. Rotation and pen. Shortstop. Sounds like Tier 2 starters and they will dangle a carrot at a top SS. (Albeit a small one). They will look to trade for higher end starting pitching and stay away from top guys on the market. They should know what not to try by this point. Pohlad says money is there to spend. My best guess is they will end up with the same type of get you nowhere pitching and Andrelton Simmons again.
Royce Lewis should be ready for SS duties in ’22.
A target for Target Field? 🙂
I’m quite baffled by the White Sox not giving Carlos Rodon a QO. They’ve actually got some nice production out of the guy cheap in his arbitration years now he may walk without any draft pick compensation.
He was on the injured list thru his arb years.
Fred, why are you baffled? Reinsdorf owns the team, and unless he can get taxpayers to pay for his players or get them cheap from Cuba, he doesn’t sign them.
Rodon hasn’t finished a season healthy in 6 years. He rested a lot in the 2nd half, had two weeks off prior to the playoffs, and still could barely go 2 innings. A guy likely to be injured or fatigued in October doesn’t have great value to a team trying to win in the playoffs. Great as he looked during the season, the durability has never been there and that is unlikely to change.
Praying for the team.
High Upside – High Price Free Agent
So they have injury concerns with Rodon(rightly so) but want to fill his spot with a converted reliever who fairly recently had TJ surgery with less than 20 innings as a starter at the MLB level.. Doesn’t sound like a solid plan, they have to sign some SP depth.
It really is hilarious how much “Boras Corporation” sounds like some evil entity from a Terminator movie or something.
It is.
The White Sox not willing to risk $18M on their pitcher, who gave them ace-level performance for most of the year, is why they’re not gong to win. I’ll give them a pass if it turns out Rodon’s shoulder is toast, but that doesn’t sound like the situation. He had barely pitched in two seasons, but was healthy in 2021 and simply ran out of gas. That said, they got him up to 130 innings, setting him up for 160+ next year, a number he has reached previously. Some other team will get that reward. Reinsdorf can count his dollars into his grave. At nearly 86, it’s coming soon. What he won’t be able to count is another World Series title. He just doesn’t have what it takes to play with the big teams money wise, and he doesn’t believe in the analytics to play with the Rays, A’s, etc. There will always be a team out there to beat the White Sox. So enjoy watching Madrigal on the Cubs. Enjoy watching Rodon pitch against the White Sox. The Sox can coast to another division title in the weak Central, compiling a nice record against a soft schedule vs Central teams, and then they’ll bounced in the first round. The new Twins.
“…but was healthy in 2021 and simply ran out of gas.”
Uh, ok. I guess that makes sense to one of us lol.
The dudes arm is an injury away from falling off. I love Rodon but wouldn’t mind them finding someone more dependable
This will be the next World Series opponent for the Braves…sometime this decade.
Rick: – you fired your previous manager then hired another who gave your organization the same results.
Whats your response?
rick – no comment
You think Hahn hired TLR? You’re funny.
Reinsdorf hired his buddy LaRussa so they both could get one more World Series Championship. If it doesn’t happen in 2022 for them it won’t happen. Hahn had nothing to do with the hire.
Well it certainly wasn’t hawk that hired him 😉
I like Rodon a lot. But he’s had a variety of injuries over the course of his career, and if you’re counting on him to anchor your rotation for a full season and then deep into the playoffs you’re delusional. I hope he succeeds because he’s been through a lot and kept his sense of humor, but I see why the Sox didn’t extend the QO. I think Hahn wants to be able to reap the rewards for multiple seasons if they commit money to him and he comes back strong in 2022.
Still can’t believe the White Sox gave up Madrigal for a few months of Kimbrel.
My assumption is they don’t think Madrigal will be any good after his injury so gambled on Kimbrel, who until the trade, was as good as any closer…
Leg injuries on guys that rely on their speed can be tough to return to form from.
Kimbrell is worth $19. That seems to be the going rate for closers
I’d pay $18.99
@tstats I passed by Taco Bell today and there was a big banner outside that said “Closers $19 an Hour.” That’s the going rate.
Seems fair in this market.
Kimbrel for Gregorius makes too much sense. Sox slide Didi into second, Phillies take on a little more cash. Prove it contract for a prove it contract. Both teams gamble on high upside potential to fill roster needs.
Gregorius was beyond awful both offensively (71 OPS+) and defensively (=.7 dWAR), while Kimbrel had a difficult transition to setup guy, but still finished with a 2.26 ERA, 15.1 K/9 and a WHIP of .9. I have seen this trade idea more than once and it makes me throw up in my mouth a bit when I think about it.
Surely they can do better than Didi
The other option would be Segura. I don’t think it’s an unreasonable trade whatsoever. Also you are quoting Didi’s UZR at SS. I would imagine he might actually transition quite well to second. Maybe just a step below Cesar Hernandez defensively which is good enough.
I don’t mind them finding a replacement for Rodon, but I hope they’re not simply trying to replace a bottom of the rotation level starter because that’s not what his production wound up being by any stretch of the imagination. They need a #2 level starter after letting this one walk. I get the injury risk with Rodon for sure, so I don’t have a problem with them letting him go, but now they have to find a way to replace that production. I really hope they don’t try to find it in the bargain bin.
future Hall of fame closer for so so shortstop on decline.
NO.
How about Kimbrel for glebber torres and 2 aaa prospects from the yanks.
Now this one is much more appetizing. Torres struggled defensively at short but I’m sure would be fine at 2nd, and is 24 with a 38 hr /128 OPS+ season just 2 years ago.
I still don’t understand what exactly they think they’re gonna get for Kimbrel. They wouldn’t get a blue chip prospect for him even if he was making minimum wage. At 16 million there’s no way anyone gives up anything of value
If that were the case the White Sox wouldn’t have picked up his option.
My dude…you’re talking about a guy that the Cubs were trying to release just 6 months ago…Let’s be real here. The White Sox picked up his option because they’re idiots. Not because of anything else. There’s absolutely no way on this planet or any other that any team eats that 16 million and gives up a top prospect. IF the White Sox eat 12 million of that I can see them getting an orgs top 20-30 prospect. Not to mention that they didn;t give up that much for him when he was dealing and was owed significantly less.
Did you see his numbers this year? You’re the moron
When was the last time Nightengale correct on anything.
Seems like Kimbrel has trouble adapting to new surroundings. Despite the same city, it took him awhile to adjust to being in a Cubs uniform, before becoming utterly dominant. Now he seems to be in that same early, uneasy stage in a White Sox uniform. Question becomes how long the Sox are willing to give him to adjust. Even looking back to his days as a Padre, there were some initial hiccups.