Zack Wheeler and Cole Hamels signing affects the White Sox

The Chicago White Sox showed some significant interest in the two free-agent starters but they are both headed to the NL East.

The Chicago White Sox are out on both Zack Wheeler and Cole Hamels. Wheeler is headed to the Philadelphia Phillies and Hamels is headed to the Atlanta Braves. That pair of moves make the N.L. East much more interesting than it already was. Those two teams along with the New York Mets and the defending World Series Champion Washington Nationals all have a legit chance to have good seasons in 2020.

The White Sox, however, looked like they might be in contention for both of these pitchers to really solidify their rotation but they missed on both. Hamels opted to take the money and go to a proven winner in Atlanta while Wheeler made a family decision to go play where his wife is from. You can’t really fault Rick Hahn for those two decisions being made but it does change how the White Sox will use the offseason.

There are still some really good pitchers out there like Madison Bumgarner, Gerrit Cole, and Stephen Strasburg for the White Sox took look at. There is no guarantee that any of them end up on the South Side but there is a chance. The White Sox certainly has money and roster spots to offer along with a really nice core of players. They are likely going to be a pretty good team in 2020 and some more arms might accelerate that even more.

There is no doubt that this move affects the White Sox but they need to just get back at it with some other guys. They have already had a really good offseason so they obviously need to not worry too much about this. They have given Jose Abreu and James McCann contract extensions while signing Yasmani Grandal to a big-money four-year contract. They are committed to winning and this is just the beginning. Hopefully, they still manage to add one more starter or two.