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