The Chicago White Sox would make a terrible mistake if they traded Michael Kopeech.
The Chicago White Sox are starting to be in trade rumors. They are a good team so them buying is something that people want to believe they will do. There are people within baseball that believe that they are going hard for some starting pitching. Names like Lance Lynn have come up but nobody actually knows how the White Sox are going to handle the trade deadline. One thing that should be very clear is that they should not trade Michael Kopech at this point.
He is one of their top prospects and has been for a few years now. There is no doubt that it is disappointing that Tommy John and opt-out of the COVID-19 shortened season has made it where we haven’t seen him pitch in a game that counts since 2018. He is a brilliant pitcher but it feels like he is so far removed from pitching in the MLB. He does, however, still have nasty stuff and the making of a superstar starting pitcher.
He can throw the ball over 100 miles per hour whenever he wants and his two-seam fastball has so much movement. It really combines well with his other pitches and makes it hard to hit against him. This is why the White Sox need to hang on to him. He has the pure talent of a star pitcher which is the reason that the White Sox wanted him back in a trade for Chris Sale.
If they give up on him now, there is a good chance they regret it later. He could go somewhere else, come out in 2021, and absolutely shove. You don’t want to trade him for a “proven pitcher” because they might come here and be bad while Kopech is awesome with his new team. It feels like it would, to a lesser degree, be a repeat of the Fernando Tatis Jr. fiasco. This is something they need to strongly be against unless it is a trade where they are getting someone with a significantly higher ceiling.