Three needs White Sox still have to address this offseason

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The Chicago White Sox have had a solid offseason so far, but left the Winter Meetings with some needs to address still.

They have accomplished a lot, including the very strong signing of Yasmani Grandal that will certainly help their defense and overall production behind the dish in 2020.

Keeping Jose Abreu in a White Sox uniform was a big deal for the club too as they look to have some leadership with a young team going in next season.

Acquiring Nomar Mazara in a trade with the Texas Rangers was a smart move as well, although it certainly left something to be desired with bigger-name targets such as J.D. Martinez (before he opted-in to his contract with the Red Sox) and Nicholas Castellanos.

In addition, the team expects to make some internal acquisitions early next season when Luis Robert and Nick Madrigal both joining the team.

However, they, unfortunately, missed out on some of their bigger targets in Zack Wheeler and Stephen Strasburg, who both signed massive deals with the Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals, respectively.

With all of this being taken into account, the White Sox still need to remain active the rest of the offseason in order to address their 2020 needs. Here are the three things they must address before Opening Day.

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1. Starting Pitching

The Chicago White Sox are going to enter the 2020 season with a relatively youthful and also inexperienced rotation if the season started today.

As of now, the team only has three starters guaranteed to be ready on Opening Day in Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, and Dylan Cease. Michael Kopech won’t be too far behind, but Carlos Rodon won’t be ready likely until at least the All-Star break.

That means the team could probably use two starting pitchers on the open market.

With Strasburg, Wheeler, and Gerrit Cole off the board, Madison Bumgarner has likely become the best starting pitcher left on the open market.

However, the White Sox have not been connected to him seriously to this point in the offseason.

That makes me think, and so far their behavior suggests this, that the team is looking more into the second-tier arms in the market such as Dallas Keuchel, who they’ve expressed interest in already.

Hyun-Jin Ryu would also represent a strong option for the team to sign as I detailed a few days ago here.

The team definitely needs to sign at least one starter from that tier of pitchers at a minimum and arguably should be looking to sign two this offseason.

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2. The Bullpen

This need isn’t one of the more glaring ones for the White Sox entering the 2020 season as they actually finished 14th in all of baseball in bullpen ERA at 4.31 (ESPN).

So, while the statistics would suggest they are roughly average in that category, the team needs some depth in this area to ensure 2020 success.

The only arms that have proven to be possible long-term solutions in this regard are Alex Colome, Aaron Bummer, and Evan Marshall.

The last two names really only broke out this past season as Bummer had a 4.26 ERA in 2018 and Marshall had a 7.71 ERA that season.

Both could prove to be long-term impact options, but the White Sox can’t bank on that being the case and need to be on the lookout for relievers this offseason.

According to Jon Morosi of MLB.com, Craig Stammen is one reliever the club has spoken with about joining the organization in 2020.

Stammen, 35, has a 3.06 ERA, 1.131 WHIP, and 3.57 FIP with 8.8 K/9 as compared to 2.2 BB/9 over his last three years with the San Diego Padres.

While Stammen would be a solid addition to the team’s bullpen, he shouldn’t be the only one as the team should pursue at least two on major league deals and then look to sign smart minors deals with relievers who get under-valued in the free agent market.

There’s always a bullpen arm that falls victim to free agency due to the volatility of relievers in general.

3. Infield/Outfield Depth

So, this is usually something most teams tend to save for much later in the offseason as they have bigger fish to fry early on.

That being said, it’s usually these types of moves that end up making the difference between a playoff team and one sitting on the couch come October.

If Luis Robert and Nick Madrigal start the season on the major league roster, which is not a guarantee right now, the team should be set positionally all over the diamond.

That being said, both could struggle early on and potentially could need to be optioned at some point.

Nomar Mazara could prove to not be a good enough option in right field to play every day for the team.

Jose Abreu could need to be the team’s DH because of poor defense or because James McCann‘s bat proves to be inadequate for that spot.

The point is that there is the potential for a lot to go wrong for this team and that’s not even accounting for injuries that are certain to pop up throughout the season.

Right now, the team only has one player that could potentially fix those problems in Leury Garcia.

In 2019, Garcia played a career-high 140 games in which he managed a respectable, but not great .688 OPS.

Garcia has played second, shortstop, and third in the infield while also playing all three outfield spots over the course of his career.

While Garcia could be part of the solution if some of these issues arose, he can’t be the entirety of their backup plan.

They need to find a way to acquire at least one infielder and one outfielder who could step in right away in case someone on the roster gets hurt or underperforms.

Some names that could make sense are Jarrod Dyson, Travis Shaw, Kevin Pillar, and Asdrubal Cabrera.

Next. White Sox: Is David Price Worth Trading For?. dark

If the team truly wants to contend in 2020, the White Sox need to address all three of these holes at a bare minimum.

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