On this date one year ago, the Minnesota Twins were 39-50, placing them 15 games behind the White Sox in the AL Central and 11 1/2 games out of a Wild Card spot. They fell a little bit further back by the deadline and decided they had to do some selling. This was surely a disappointing result after two straight division titles and three postseason berths in four years, but they didn’t have much choice. Injuries and underperformance forced them to punt the season for the sake of the future. However, they still wanted to return to competing in 2022, selling only rentals like Nelson Cruz, J.A. Happ and Hansel Robles. The one exception was José Berríos, who had a year and a half of team control at the time.
The Twins traded Berríos to the Blue Jays, adding a couple of blue chip prospects to the system in Austin Martin and Simeon Woods Richardson. The hope at the time was that they could bolster their farm but still leave the big league club intact enough to take another shot in 2022. Despite Kenta Maeda’s subsequent Tommy John surgery, it’s still largely gone to plan so far. The club added Dylan Bundy, Chris Archer, Sonny Gray and Chris Paddack this offseason. Even though Paddack followed Maeda down the Tommy John path, the Twins are 49-41, tops in the division, 4 1/2 games ahead of the Guardians.
This year’s White Sox are in a somewhat analogous position to last year’s Twins, although not quite as desperate. They, too, are coming off two consecutive trips to the postseason and had hopes of competing that have been hampered by injury and underperformance. They are currently 43-45, five games behind the Twins in the division and 3 1/2 games out in the Wild Card race. With about three weeks until the deadline, there’s still plenty of time for them to gain some ground and get back in the thick of things. But if things go the other direction and they slip further back, they might consider following the playbook of the Twins last year, picking up some prospects but without destroying the team, and then giving it another go next year.
In a conversation this week between Alyson Footer, Mark Feinsand and Jon Morosi at MLB.com, Morosi shared this thought: “I think it would take a significant tumble for the White Sox for Lucas Giolito to become truly available, but that’s a situation worth watching.” It doesn’t seem like Morosi’s sharing any insider information there, merely speculating on what could become possible in that scenario. Giolito is in the same position as Berríos last year, being a year and a half away from free agency, making him perhaps Chicago’s best chance at recouping a significant prospect return. In terms of rentals, José Abreu is the biggest name but doesn’t seem likely to be dealt given his status within the organization. Johnny Cueto is having a nice season but is 36 years old and probably won’t net a massive haul. Vince Velasquez is doing his usual thing. AJ Pollock is having a poor season, giving him negligible trade value and making it likely he exercises his $10MM player option for next year. Josh Harrison is having an okay-ish season but the 35-year-old utility guy won’t be a hot commodity at the deadline. He also has a $5.5MM club option for next year that comes with a $1.5MM buyout.
Giolito, with his excellent results in recent years and extra control, is perhaps the team’s best shot at really cashing in. One slight problem is that Giolito, like the White Sox, is having a down season. From 2019 to 2021, he put up an ERA of 3.47 over 72 starts, with a 30.7% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate and 35.6% ground ball rate. This year, through 16 starts, his ERA has jumped up to 4.69. His 27.1% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate are a bit worse than recent seasons, but not by much. BABIP seems to be a factor here, as his .338 mark on the season is well above his .272 career rate. That’s not pure bad luck, however, since he’s definitely getting hit harder. His 10.4% barrel rate is well above last year’s 6.7% and the 5.6% from the year before. Giolito is only in the 19th percentile of pitchers in terms of hard hit percentage and 29th in terms of average exit velocity.
Those struggles will likely put a dent in the return the White Sox would get in any trade, but they might need to consider it anyway if they truly slip from the race, as their farm system is generally regarded to be in poor shape. Baseball America recently ranked them last in the majors in their most recent list of organizational talent. Ditto for The Athletic and ESPN and MLB Pipeline. FanGraphs places them 29th, ahead of only Atlanta, with no White Sox prospects on their Top 100 list. In the upcoming draft, they are selecting 26th overall and have the 28th-highest total draft pool.
This makes their position outside the playoff race particularly uncomfortable. Since they’re not that far out, they might want to make a big splash at the deadline in order to give the club a boost and get them back into the race. But doing so would involve further weakening a system that is already in very poor shape. At some point, there must be a point where they consider turning their attention to the future for a few months and then trying to reload in the offseason.
In the scenario where Giolito is moved, the rotation wouldn’t be in awful shape next year. Cueto would also be gone as he’s on a one-year deal, but they would still have Lance Lynn, Dylan Cease and Michael Kopech. That’s still a strong front three to work with. Davis Martin is having a nice season as a depth starter and could perhaps earn a spot at the back of the rotation for next year. Of course, there’s the risk of an injury further depleting the staff, as happened to the Twins when Maeda went down. But they were still able to pivot and overcome that with a busy offseason.
The odds of any of this coming together are still long. With the Sox just 3 1/2 games out of a Wild Card spot, one hot week can completely wipe out any thoughts of selling. But the same is true in the other direction, as one bad week could suddenly have them six, seven or eight games out. While trading Giolito now would be selling a bit low given his mediocre year, there would surely be clubs who could look to his past results and feel they could turn him around. Just about every contender is looking for starting pitching, with most clubs being connected to Luis Castillo, Frankie Montas and Tyler Mahle. But many teams will miss out on those three and be looking for other options. If the White Sox want to give a quick boost to their weak farm but then try to compete again while they still have the core of Tim Anderson, Luis Robert, Eloy Jimenez, Yoan Moncada, Andrew Vaughn and those aforementioned pitchers, this might be their best bet.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
“Vince Velasquez is doing his usual thing” I couldn’t have said it any nicer myself
Trade him. Fighting over 50,000 in the off-season with the team doesn’t exactly say he wants to re-sign. I don’t see why we don’t trade him
This tracks.
The White Sox do not sell. They will continue to delude themselves into thinking that, by some magic, this will become a good team when they’re the worst team, fundamentally.
He’s overrated so I wish they would take the best offer for him. Maybe, the Dodgers can make an ace out of him.
Quite an assertive statement. Wait, the last time given the opportunity, didn’t they sell Quintana, Eaton and Sale for a package combined of Cease, Jimenez, Kopech, Moncada, Giolito and Dunning (which turned into Lance Lynn)? Mark me if that was all a myth
I love that White Sox still brag about their prospect haul and not their playoff success…
There’s a difference between bragging about prospect haul and answering a question.
Do you know the difference between a statement and a question?
Do you know the difference between a relevant conversation about the trade deadline and an irrelevant conversation regarding playoff success?
I get that you think playoff success is irrelevant considering the White Sox have not won a playoff series since 2005…
I also understand that you do not see how trades, the trade deadline and playoff success correlate so allow me to explain. Competitive teams make trades at the deadline so they can make the playoffs and have success in said playoffs. Non-competitive teams trade players to get prospects so they can in turn build a competitive team so they also can make the playoffs and have success in the playoffs in the future.
White Sox fans still hang their hats on being the top ranked farm system and how they got great hauls for their prospects despite having little to no on field success with those players.
Sox have one of the worst ranked farm systems right now and im not aware of too many Sox Fans who are “hanging their hats” on their top ranked farm system
And the only ones who got rings were Quintana, Eaton, and Sale.
When did Quintana get a World Series ring?
With the Cubs I think I’m 2016
Nevermind he got traded there in 2017. No ring for Quintana.
What’s so great about Jiminez?
Moncada is not very good at baseball. He is totally inconsistent, as is Kopech overrated.
Explain to me how Michael Kopech is overrated and Yoan Moncada, a Major League Baseball player, is “not very good at baseball”
Never ask for, or expect coherent discourse about anything from a (typical) Cubs fan.
First ask Dogbones mommy if he has picked up his tinker toys
Dogbone, is probably a balding middle age man that is around 5’6, pushing 230 lbs. with no athleticism yet says a professional athlete not being good at baseball. In the meantime, Dogbone probably missed Moncada’s last two games due to having to do chores in his parents’ basement.
Its all about context…. They ‘sold’ Quintana, Eaton, Sale during a rebuild. The Sox believe they are in a window to ‘win now’.
White flag.
Not happening.
Title is confusing to me. I get what you mean though. But could he be this years Jose berrios ? Meaning a major downturn in his career like Jose berrios this year ?
Must be from San Antonio
It’s yet more of the hacky bait and switch headlines that this site is trending towards.
What has been a bait and switch? I think the title was pretty clear as was the article.
I understand that it would be a risk, and they don’t have that farm system anymore, but LG in Houston would put them past NYY as the World Series favorites IMO.
Might be a good pickup for the Braves to be a project to pitch with his buddy Max Fried.
Ya I was thinking that too. The only thing is I doubt he would be sold for anything other than what you would expect from a strong no.2 that isn’t a free agent until 2024. If the Braves were to do that we would probably have to get creative because the farm isn’t what it was a few years ago.
Everyone might be changing his or her tone about the White Sox after taking the series or even sweeping the Twins going into the All Star break. It will definitely change the playing field in the American League Central to people thinking the White Sox need to start trading away players to firing Tony LaRussa.
LaRussa needs to go.
Nobody will change their minds. The whole division sucks. The only reason either is over .500 is because they all play each other 20 times a year. Every record in that putrid division is tainted.
I assume you have closely followed just about every game on the white Sox schedule in order to make that statement but just in case you haven’t I’ll let you know that the Sox have a top 10 ranked schedule in difficulty so far this year. This is due to the fact that they have played many teams that don’t belong to the Al central who are good.
So if they do sweep the twins saying that no one would change there minds and that there record is tainted due to their division would be wrong because regardless of the division the Sox have actually played a harder then average schedule so far so there record should then in fact be more impressive
Definitely been following the schedule to the early injuries the White Sox dealt with yet they have been a little disappointing but not shutting them out at all. The White Sox did have a tough first half yet kept close in the division.
Yeah, and the Sox have shown little, or nothing, against most good teams they have played. So who has not been watching the game? This recent push against the Guardians and Twins is nice, but not indicative of what this team really is as it sits. Its only a frustrating reminder of how good this team could be, and how badly they play against tough competition. At least, yknow, if the Sox are serious about ‘winning it all’ and not just trying to get another division banner on the stadium.
Anyone else read the headline with the theme from Soap in their head?
Oh my gosh……. best comment ever on this site? F’n love that! Open invite to sitcom viewing at my place, Riffraff (RHPS reference?), we’re currently catching up on Only Murders in the Building, the.n What we do in the Shadows.
The solution is a lot easier. Fire LaRussa and get a decent manager.
That’s a start, and stop getting managers that are lapdogs for the front office or a guy who should be managing an iced tea on his poach while watching the birds fly by.
White Sox should trade him to the Twins for Austin Martin and Simeon Woods-Richardson.
The Sox aren’t chasing the Yankees or Dodgers for the division. They’re chasing the Twins and Guardians. The Sox are not sellers. For all the LaRussa haters, no manager would have made a difference with all the injuries the Sox have incurred. A fair assessment for LaRussa would be a healthy team. He never should have said he told players not to bust ass running bases for no reason. Who the hell says or does that? They should be busting ass all the time. If they’re that dainty move on from them.
Sox, I think, will still win their division and that’s not saying much. Their window is still open and will be for a couple more seasons. Time to make it happen.
LaRussa said the trainers told the players like Vaughn, Pollock, Abreu, and Robert not to run out routine grounders they know that the fielders can easily make a play on.
Yeah, but I think that’s also an indictment of either how soft these guys are, the lack of depth on this club, or the horrible inept training and conditioning staff, or all three things combined.
LaRussa needs to be fired.
No he doesn’t!!! He’s doing a great job!!! I love it.
I still see them taking the division. No one is going anywhere. If they win the division it will be due to the Cueto signing. He was off two years for TJS and threw all 12 games in 2020. He’s right again now with a 94 mph heater which is good enough given his delivery and knowledge. Easy to blame TLR when no one was hitting. He did give the game away Monday night by leaving Lynn in. However was under pressure not to burn the pen with several games in a row following. The best is yet to come this season. Playoffs – that’s another story. Be lucky to win the first series. Bottom line TLR and no players will be moved.
Who cares if they get the division? I think this is what these superfans do not understand.. divisions don’t matter, winning a WS does. While I get that you should win your division to get a chance, time has shown wild cards teams do awfully well in the playoffs too. Be a better club that can beat talented teams, and not just the rebuilding teams in the division, and then that shows me something. The Sox have show the past two years that they can win enough to get to the playoffs, but then show their bellies when facing talented clubs who belong in the playoffs. By the way Renteria showed this too, and this point LaRussa has not shown me anything that Renteria could not have likely gotten done with this group.
Calling Josh Harrison’s season “okay-ish” is hilarious.
Darragh, was Josh Harrison in the room with you when you wrote this?
I think it’s because he started so bad and has been playing pretty good in the last month or so. And one War at the break is about average.
Apparently only a few know how deep the White Sox problems run.
I believe that includes the owner and the FO.
It took me 6-8 months to realize why they brought in Kimbrel and his salary while trading a controlled young quality player (with no one to replace him) AND a pitching prospect. I kept asking: Why would a team 2 years out of a rebuild “Go For It” when they supposedly had so many good young players? That’s the sort of desperate move teams make when they know that it’s their last chance to win before the team begins to break up.
Turned out the decision makers weren’t as dumb as I thought they were when the trade was made.
Put another way: “When some see the writing on the wall, they think it’s a forgery”.
Sox are buyers. The AL Central is just that bad.
everlastingdave;
Help me here……
They’re at the max payroll limit based on their revenues, and may well lose money this season. To be a “buyer” at the deadline a team must take on salary.
As the article notes, they have one of the worst ranked farm systems in MLB – i.e. few prospects to trade for high-priced players that team are trying to get rid of for prospects.
$15MM below the first tax threshold. And no matter how bad the farm system, there’s always the capital necessary to pick up a fungible reliever or infielder. That’s what they’ll do. If the Twins were on a 100 win pace this is a different conversation, but no team in this division is so good you’d give up on chasing them.
You – “$15MM below the first tax threshold.”
Me – “”They’re at the max payroll limit based on their revenues, and may well lose money this season.”
Tampa Bay, Oakland, Cleveland, Miami, Pittsburgh and 10 other teams are well under the first tax threshold. So? Where do they get the money to pay salaries to get up to it?
–
You – ” And no matter how bad the farm system,…… there’s always the capital necessary to pick up a fungible reliever or infielder. That’s what they’ll do.”
Me – They’ve needed a 2B all year. Why didn’t they buy one? And what team deals a “fungible reliever or infielder” and asks nothing back but money? You have an example of that? If a team has a decent “fungible reliever or infielder” they take bids from teams that want the player. Generally they take the best bid. This isn’t a fast food restaurant pick-up window.
They did ‘buy’ a 2nd baseman but Hahn was being cheap so he broke out the KW playbook and took a chance on a guy 5 years past his prime and thought a super ute guy could fit that bill..
But they have nothing to spend. Who can they trade, and will their ownership allow salary to be added?
The white sox world series window slammed shut before it even opened. Joke of a team.
Can you explain how it’s possible to shut something that hasn’t been opened?
Double closed. So closed it broke the window frame. You ain’t ever seen a window as closed as white Sox World Series one. Hope that explains 😉
I’ve seen bad rebuilds where few players were acquired and developed. But I don’t recall a team so mismanaging coming out of a rebuild as the Sox did. To begin with they spent like drunken sailors giving out questionable long-term contracts to multiple FA’s, leaving themselves no money in reserve to make moves as they found what was still needed once the young players began playing in the majors.
Then there’s the makeup of the position players. As per usual for the Sox they totally ignored defense, speed / baserunning, bat control, Baseball IQ, athleticism and coachability; relying on big burly guys that want to swing for HR’s. Most of their main position players are 1B / DH types, some of whom have to be played at other positions.
Put succinctly, that is not a team built to win in the playoffs.
Again Samuel spouting off nonsense, in his own little world. “They totally ignored bat control. Relying on big burly guys who hit for home runs”. Big burly guys and bat control is not their problem. The White Sox are 4th in the AL in BA (7th in MLB), but 11th (25th) in HRs, and 13th (25th) in SLG. Its actually a chronic power outage with power hitters like Eloy, Grandal – who also are known for their plate discipline out for much the season, which hurts as they play in a park suited for power. The Sox also have the 4th least KS (6th in all of MLB), while a middling 7th in runs (18 in MLB).
If you go back to 2021, to see how they’re constructed, back when they were relatively healthy- though again missing Robert, they finished 7th in MLB in runs, 5th in BA, 3rd in OBP, 7th in OPS, but 19th in HRs. Hey, but don’t let facts get in the way of continuing to pull stuff out of your butt. You’re doing great!
It’s rather misleading to simply say the farm system is in rough shape. In a vacuum, one might see it that way because of the rankings of the players currently down there. The true story, however, is that the farm system was amongst the best in baseball for several years and those players have now graduated to the big league team. That young core is still there, but the writing would have you believe all the players either fizzled out or were dealt away.
The best teams just backfill their prospects once they graduate. The White Sox have not shown they can do that. Therefore, their farm stinks. Bad.
How many teams graduate 5 – 7 top 100 prospects and immediately replace? Jimmy Lambert, Davis Martin, Tanner Banks, Seby Zavala, etc are all non ranked prospects producing in the majors. Sox have high ceiling talent in the low minors that’ll move up the ranks in the next couple years.
Very solid point – that’s exactly the way you want to have a bad farm – because everyone is contributing at the majors – even recent signees like Vaughn and Crochet (until injury). And while the overall farm might be so-so, there are still highlights like Cespedes, Colas, Sosa & Vera. You don’t need EVERYONE to make it to the bigs – just a few game-changing stars!
They should extend Garcia to an even longer extension, then prioritize locking up Moncada, Pollock and Grand all for as long as humanely possible before it’s to late.
Lol. I would not include Moncada on your list though. He will be one of the players leading the team to another division title when the twinkies fade.
The White Sox do not trade Giolito under any circumstances for a number of reasons (and if these have already been covered, my apologies, as I wanted to shoot straight without getting influenced from other comments first). 1) I think the WS FO and most WS fandom sees Giolito as our next Mark Buehrle. He’ll be extended before being allowed to walk later in life 2) the White Sox just do not spend big money on free agents, especially starting pitching, so his spot in the rotation will be very difficult to fill 3) In this difficult season, with fans hanging on by a thread, trading fan favorite Giolito would be too much for many to stomach… echoes of the ‘98 White Flag trade would stain this team all over again, even amongst its biggest fans 4) (as mentioned) this would be selling low, while Giolito has also put some great starts together. I have no idea if he was tipping pitches or had a mechanical issue, but his last few starts have been some of his best this year, which could help be the difference in the WS being competitive in 2022 or not.
Correct
The Sox will let LG walk. They wouldn’t even offer Rodon the qualifying offer. They’re not giving a 29-30 year old LG the 100+ million contract he’s looking for.
White flag trade was in 97′. Seeing that Grandal’s contract is the largest they’ve ever given out, and that Giolito will likely be looking for more I’d say it is unlikely they re-sign/extend him. If he’s performing as they’d like, he’s likely to demand more than they’re comfortable in offering. It’s not impossible, but there’s little to no precedence for such a move from the White Sox.
Good grief – They aint selling nothin, they could be 3 games back by the time the sun goes down today
Jumpy Sox fans this year from both fanbases. Let the bottle breath ….
Keep wearing those rose colored glasses, that will help this team be better… This club has shown REPEATEDLY that they cannot meet the challenge of playing better clubs and winning those games. Winning the division does not matter if the division is godawful, (this same group of superfans were running around thumping their chests about how ‘bad’ this division was going to be and the Sox are still in third place as of this comment, and they still cannot solve Cleveland’s pitchers). This team has also been walked right out of the playoffs in the past two seasons and looking quite inept while getting their rears handed to them.
Again…it seems writers get paid by the word around here. There 70+ games left and your 4 out after your team limped and hobbled through the first half with injuries. Not happening…
“This year’s White Sox are in a somewhat analogous position to last year’s Twins”
No, no the Sox are not. The Sox were favorites last year and the Twins were 15 games out. The Sox are favorites this year and have 3 more games with the Twins before the AS break after taking game 1/4 and are 4 games out of the division.
The Sox are buyers despite their record.
No way the Sox are sellers. This is their window to win. If anything, they’ll be buyers.
I honestly hope they trade him. With the arbitration issue, he seems dead-set on getting full market value (or what he believes he’s worth), so Sox have no reason to lock themselves into the risk of a long-term extension before he becomes a FA. Sox aren’t likely to be the high bidders and whether there will be a QO pick is still up in the air. With this year feeling like a lost season, I think they should get what they can.
Now what they *will* do is trade a middle infielder for a pitcher only to watch that pitcher suck and the middle infielder develop into a star elsewhere. My guess is Montgomery is gone, much as that would suck.
I’d be shocked if Giolito is traded.
1-The WS have more money to spend than the Twins, who count every dime.
2-Trading Giolito would be tanking the season, and a scathing indictment of the FO & TLR. Someone would have to fall on their sword.
3-The Twins were 18-20 games back last year. That is not remotely close to being 4 games back. They have 3 @ MN and 4 at home v CL in the next 7 games. They could be in 1st in 9 days. They then follow that up with 19 games against teams < .500.
I like a rebuild as much as anyone, and thought the Twins made a great deal. But this situation looks nothing like the Berrios situation.
i think he’ll probably get traded in the off-season because they’re the white sox and he’s a player’s union rep entering his final arb year.
even though they’re completely different pitchers and the teams are in different spot, the berrios comp is a good trade baseline given metrics like FIP and ERA+ from 2019-2021. i’m not sure if a team is willing to give up a top 40 prospect (austin martin at the time of the berrios deal) and a borderline top 100 prospect (sim woods-richardson at the time of the deal).
if someone offers a package that matches/exceeds that (e.g. Cardinals offer Matt Liberatore and Masyn Winn), then go for it. But a deal like that seems unlikely given Giolito’s down year and inability to repeat his mechanics on a consistent basis.
TLDR – trade him if someone is willing to match/beat the Berrios package, otherwise keep him and see how the season plays out
Unless a team offers an embarrassment of riches in a desperation move at the deadline (looking at you A.J. Preller) than it is very unlikely the White Sox trade Giolito.
Some of the same people who believe that LaRussa is the worst manager in MLB, now want to dismantle a team that is 4 games out of first place.
That’s funny.
What’s it matter how many games out the Sox are in the AL Central. The team is not good, and they have no possible way to improve. We’ve seen what happens with mediocre teams somehow make the playoffs. There really is no reason for optimism.
Jerry is that you? White Flag says hi!
Sox have been below .500 since the All Star break last season. They didn’t address any of their critical needs in the off season. Then spent money on bad relief pitching. And, even signed Kelly who was still hurt and was never really good to begin with.
Any one is a fool if they think the Sox will make the post season.
Also, Giolito’s agent is Boras. He will go to arbitration this next off season, He will not sign a lowball contract. Ebenezer Reindorf will not pay once he hits FA. Better to get something for him now, than nothing later.
Sox have always been terrible at drafting and even worse at player development. So if they can pull off a trade for even a half way decent prospect that potentially MLB ready.. they should do it.
I predicted everything that is happening with the Sox.
This is what you get when you rebuild a roster with Jerry Reinsdorf team owner. Inaction, dithering and regression, followed by a selloff.
I always saw Giolito as a number three starter and nothing more. Giolito did put on some muscle in his legs during the off-season to be able to last longer in his starts and the season. Let Giolito prove that he is worth a long term deal!
Looking more like a #4. Another John Danks?
As a White Sox fan it hurts me to say this, trade him now. This team could still easily win the division but who are we kidding, they’re NOT in the same class as the Yankees, Dodgers, Astros and even the Mets. I don’t see them winning it all this year with so many questions / injuries surrounding the team. Might as well sell some pieces now, load up on prospects, retool in the offseason and go after the championship next year. They will still have their core players around (possibly minus Abreu who’s a FA): Anderson, Vaughn, Robert, Cease, Hendriks, Kopech, Jimenez…. There are some good pitchers on the FA market they can go after to replace Giolito. They need to find a 2B and a better RF (and LF if they move Eloy to DH full time) and another starter. Plus a lefty power bat is needed.
2023 Roster so far:
C – Grandal (unfortunately stuck with him)
1B – Vaughn
2B – ???
SS – Anderson
3B – Moncada (Same as Grandal)
LF – ???
CF – Robert
RF – ??? (Temporarily until Colas is ready in 2024)
DH – Jimenez
SP – Cease, Lynn (stuck with him because of his struggles so far this season), Kopech, ??? and ???
Bullpen – Hendriks, Kelly, Graveman, Bummer will be back, Crochet will be back sometime mid season. Hopefully Lopez comes back or even moves back into the rotation as the 5th starter. Since his eye surgery, he’s been very good.
And for Pete’s sake, get rid of Leury Garcia!!!
Yolbert Sanchez will probably be playing 2B for the White Sox next season. This all depends on his progress in AAA this year.
The Sox brought in Pollock to hold a spot for Cespedes or Colas.
If Abreu wants to play again, and Pollock decides to exercise his option, Sox will be in a familiar place in 23 off-season as they were in 22 from both need and money. 5th & 6th starter, regular 2b (or stick with the platoon), and no real RF option. In that scenario, how will they handle the 18.5m from Keuchel falling off? Decide to extend Dylan and TA? I wouldn’t bet on it. Sign a FA 2B? Hard to imagine them going after a big bat in the OF given the DH problem they have and Colas/Cespedes in the minors.
It’s my understanding Cease hired Boras, not Giolito.
Looking at the puzzle as constructed, I wonder if they dangle Colson Montgomery at the deadline and see what cost-controlled starter or infielder they can get back. Whit Merrifield seems like a long shot. Montas is riskier.
Giolito is fools gold. Maybe if he had a pitching coach that could teach him to adapt to what teams are doing to him he may get better, but he wants ‘Ace’ money when its clear he is not one (no matter how hard the superfans want to wish it). The problem is the Sox started playing better and are within reach of 1st place. This will delude the management into believing they still have a chance and, knowing Chicago baseball history, they will like fall back down to earth again and slip to third place in the division again once the deadline passes when they could have made some trades to get better.
I hope Im wrong, but just knowing the history of this club, I just see history more likely repeating itself sadly.
Nrd: Love it. LG is pretty pompous and delusional. After ’20 covid shortened season after facing only poor nlc/alc lineups, “I know what I’m worth” when issue of extensions came up. Me too-your first line (like Darvish who Cubs smartly dealt). Sox fans here either too young or forget the ’05 roster happened b/c they were horrible on defense and station to station. Exit Carlos Lee/enter Scotty Pods, Dye FA, Uribe “defensive” SS bc Ozzie knew that matters most at that position, Catcher with a pulse instead of playing to empty calorie stats on a Dodger team that benched him when it mattered (Grandal). Poor FO is motivated to delusion in your last comments-serves them when reality is the roster is poorly constructed……fixable with retool trades at this deadline!!
Unload Lucas and his high school pitching coach!!