White Sox: Five best players of the 2010s
The Chicago White Sox didn’t really have that good of a decade at all but there is no doubt that some good players played for them during that time.
The Chicago White Sox didn’t have that much fun as a whole during the 2010s. They were a bad team for the majority of the decade. They didn’t make the playoffs in any of the years and 2012 was the only year that they finished over .500. They had some of the players from the glory days in 2005 on the roster at the beginning of the decade. It never really worked out beyond those years in the mid-late 2000s.
Just because the White Sox didn’t really have any good years on the field in the 2010s doesn’t mean that they didn’t have any great players. They really did have guys come in that made a positive impact on the field. They have always been a fun team to root for during the decade but they never got the results that they wanted. A White Sox fan is always going to root for their players because sharing the city with another Major League team makes it that much more competitive but we want our guys to be better.
There have been some great players at all different positions over the years. There have only been a few elite players that you would put amongst the best in the league but there were definitely some all-star caliber players for sure. Hopefully, this list will be loaded with some much more difficult decisions after the 2020s are over but this list isn’t half bad at all. There might even be a Hall of Famer or two on this list as well. These are the top five best players to play for the White Sox in the 2010s:
128. . SS. Chicago White Sox. Alexei Ramirez. 5. player
The Chicago White Sox have been very fortunate to have some awesome shortstops over the years. Juan Uribe and his magnificent play will always be remembered from the 2000s and Tim Anderson is going to make a great name for himself in the 2020s. The one we remember the most from the 2010s is Alexei Ramirez. He played for the White Sox from 2008 to 2015. He had some shining moments as a member of this team.
He was most fortunate to represent the White Sox in the 2014 MLB All-Star Game. He was the man who had the honor to go in and replace Derek Jeter for the American League All-Stars as he left an All-Star Game for the last time in his career. It was really cool to see a member of the White Sox have that type of honor.
Ramirez was a very productive hitter as well during his tenure in Chicago. He was a Silver Slugger Award winner twice in the decade as he took it home in 2010 and 2014. He hit 109 home runs and had 542 RBIs with the Sox. He slashed .273/.310/.399 with an OPS of .709 in his White Sox tenure. He was one of those players who gave it his all during his time here even though it never translated to team success. It was nice having him around during one of the lesser decades in White Sox history.
RF. Chicago White Sox. Adam Eaton. 4. player. 128.
The Chicago White Sox were so bad during the 2010s that guys who only played on the team for three years were capable of making it on the top-five list. Adam Eaton has to be one of those guys. He was a great player for the team during his short three-year stay. He provided some spunk to the locker room while being a productive player on the field. In the leadoff role, he hit well and then went out there and played some solid right field.
Eaton was a guy who hit for average much more than for power which explains his role as the leadoff man. In that role for the White Sox, he accumulated 29 home runs, 150 RBIs, and 47 stolen bases over 433 games. He slashed .290/.362/.422 during with an OPS of .783. He even had a top-20 MVP finish for his efforts in the 2016 season which would end up being his last with the White Sox.
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That great season earned the White Sox a great haul. The biggest thing that Eaton will end up being remembered for the most in Chicago is the fact that they received both Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez in a trade with the Washington Nationals. Eaton went on to win the World Series with Washington Nationals so it worked out for everyone. While he was with Chicago he was a very productive player and will be recognized as such.
Jose Quintana. 3. player. 128. . P. Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox were fortunate to have Jose Quintana for a lot of reasons. He was a great pitcher while he was there. Of course, fans are always going to remember the fact that Quintana was traded away to the arch-rival Chicago Cubs an in exchange, the White Sox received Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease amongst others. It was one of the most lopsided trades in either team’s franchise history and White Sox fans are happy to hear it.
With all of that said, Quintana was still a really good player while he was with the White Sox. The Cubs thought they would be getting that version of him when they traded their top two prospects for him. He pitched from the White Sox from 2012 all the way to the halfway point of the 2017 season. He was sent to the Cubs halfway through that year.
He pitched well enough on the White Sox to earn them that haul. He was an All-Star in 2016. He also got top-10 Cy Young votes for his efforts that season. It looked like Quintana had developed into one of the best pitchers in the league by the White Sox. They had him unlocked as a frontline starter. He had a 50-54 record with the Sox which is somewhat impressive when you think about how bad they were during the decade as a whole. He also had an ERA of 3.51 and a WHIP of 1.250. He may be remembered for what came with his departure but he should also be remembered for being a good player and an all-around good dude.
player. 128. . 1B. Chicago White Sox. Jose Abreu. 2
The Chicago White Sox had one extremely consistent hitter during the decade. That guy is Jose Abreu. He was a model of consistency during his White Sox tenure. He was signed as an international free agent before the 2014 season and hit the ground running. He was so good in that season that he was the American League Rookie of the Year for 2014. It was a great year for him and a sign of what was coming.
He would go on to be the team’s leader every year that followed. It wasn’t necessarily easy for Abreu either because he was the guy who had to come in and replace the retiring Paul Konerko. He handled that pressure with class and dignity. He went out there and performed exactly the way that was expected of him and sent Paulie out with a great successor.
Abreu has hit 179 home runs and had 611 RBIs with 483 runs scored. He was the American League RBI Champion in 2019 which is likely the highlight statistic of his career. He is a three-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger Award Winner to go with it. The only thing missing from Abreu’s resume is a playoff appearance. He has been on some bad teams and could have easily requested a trade to go try and win. Instead, he wants to see this rebuild through and be a big part of it. Hopefully, Abreu can do what made him successful in the 2010s in the 2020s.
128. . P. Chicago White Sox. Chris Sale. 1. player
Chris Sale was one of the most talented pitchers to ever lace them up for the Chicago White Sox. He was a legit Cy Young threat every single season he played it seemed like. The White Sox have had some more successful pitchers in terms of wins and losses but it is hard to say they have had as many with as much raw talent as Sale. He used his powerful fastball and his wicked slider to punch out opponents as good as any pitcher in the league.
Sale played for the White Sox all the way from the 2010 season until the 2016 season. He had top-10 Cy Young voting in five of those seasons. He wasn’t just one of the best pitchers on the White Sox in the decade, he was one of the best pitchers in the entire world. He had a White Sox career ERA of 3.00 and a WHIP of 1.065. The White Sox only finished over .500 once in Sales career yet he had a record of 74-50. He added in 1244 strikeouts during that time.
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Chris Sale was traded away after the White Sox finished a miserable 2016 season. He was elite that year as usual but the team finished way lower in the standings than they should have. They knew that they needed a rebuild and he wouldn’t fit the timeline to be a part of it. They traded him away to the Boston Red Sox and got Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech amongst others in return. It is well documented as a strong deal for both teams. The White Sox had some great players this decade and Chris Sale was the best of them all. Hopefully, the 2020s are much more kind to this team.