Five Chicago White Sox doomed to be gone by next season
There are some Chicago White Sox players who are doomed to not return in 2021.
The Chicago White Sox had a pretty awesome season based on the circumstances. On the final day of the season, they could have been as high as the second seed in the American League and as low as the seventh seed. Things didn’t fall their way on that day and they ended up as the seventh seed. They had a first-round matchup with the Oakland Athletics where they fell in a very contentious three-game series. There are a lot of things to build on but there are also a lot of things to learn from.
They have a lot of big decisions to make over the course of the next few years. It feels like there are some players on this team who are locks to be there for a long time. That doesn’t even just mean the players who are locked in for a long time. That includes players who still need their extensions over the next year or two.
There are also some players who feel like they are doomed to not return to the White Sox for the 2021 season. There are so many different reasons as to why but the team will need to move forward no matter what happens. Some of these guys are players the White Sox might try and bring back but it feels like it is going to be difficult.
When good players leave the White Sox it is tough to see and when struggling players leave the White Sox we can only hope they find success down the road with someone else. In this case, there might be a lot of both. These are the five players most likely doomed to be gone by next season:
. SP. Chicago White Sox. Reynaldo Lopez. 40. player. 128
Things were not good for Reynaldo Lopez this season. He got off to a miserable start before getting hurt and that caused the White Sox to send him to Schaumburg not long after he came back. He had a couple of good starts mixed in there but it doesn’t feel like enough to warrant putting much future stock in him. He did start the game that the White Sox won to clinch their playoff berth and that was awesome but beyond that, there wasn’t much.
He was the second piece in the trade that sent Adam Eaton to the Washington Nationals. It was a great trade for the White Sox as they also got Lucas Giolito and Dane Dunning out of it but Lopez isn’t worth it anymore. There are people that have passed him by and it will be even more apparent if they add a free agent starter over the winter.
He might still get an opportunity with another team if they let him go. The talent is there and he has proven it before but for some reason, it hasn’t worked out since the 2018 season. If the White Sox do make the decision to keep him, they will likely move him to be a bullpen guy but don’t be surprised if he has made his last career start. The fact that he didn’t even make the playoff roster is very telling about what they think of him at this time.
Gio Gonzalez. 47. player. 128. . SP. Chicago White Sox
The Gio Gonzalez experiment should be over after one miserable year with the team that originally drafted him. No disrespect to him, but he just wasn’t very good for the White Sox this year. He has had a good career in the NHL but it feels like they should not even consider bringing him back next year. It would be much wiser to see the younger kids get a chance to lock up spots in the rotation.
He had a -0.3 WAR so he literally had negative value to the White Sox this season. He went 1-2 with a 4.83 ERA and 1.863 WHIP. Those are some pretty awful numbers for a pitcher on a team that is a playoff contender. You have to think that they would have had a much better seed if they were able to get better pitching from him or someone else in his place.
At 35 years old, it isn’t a lock that his career is over but it should be with the White Sox. They didn’t work out as a match but he might be able to go to a rebuilding team to help out with that. He was a nice addition at the time but in hindsight, they would be much better off by handing the ball over to someone else. He really isn’t even worth keeping for the bullpen at this point either.
128. . DH. Chicago White Sox. Edwin Encarnacion. 23. player
Edwin Encarnacion was one of the big offseason signings. Everyone in the fanbase was excited about it because they haven’t had good production from the designated hitter in years. He was supposed to bring some of that power to help them out and be a better offense. It didn’t really work that way this year in the short-season as he really hurt the White Sox more than he helped them. He had a -0.5 WAR which shows that he wasn’t much of a help at all.
They definitely either need more from him or to replace him going into 2021. He will be 38 years old by the time next season starts so he might be coming towards the end here. The White Sox could use their option to bring him back if they want to but it would probably be better for everyone to move on. There are plenty of options to fill that DH spot from within the organization including some much younger players.
Edwin Encarnacion deserves respect. He is one of the active home run leaders for a reason. He has had a fantastic career but he just wasn’t that good with the Chicago White Sox. Both sides will move on but we can remember his career fondly because of how good he was.
C. Chicago White Sox. James McCann. 33. player. 128.
All of the players on this list so far are there for negative reasons. When you aren’t good, you shouldn’t be brought back many more times. Well, that isn’t the case here with James McCann. The reason that he is more than likely gone is because of how good he has been with the White Sox. He came over from the Detroit Tigers ahead of the 2019 season and we knew he was awesome defensively but he has really elevated his offensive game since arriving in Chicago.
McCann played in a 1B role with Yasmani Grandal in 2020. They were both very good but we know who the White Sox would choose if push came to shove. Grandal can be the best catcher in all of baseball in any given year so they are going to stick with him and his three years left on his deal. McCann’s deal is up and he can probably go and get starter money somewhere else.
Nobody would blame him if he wanted to move on and be the team’s number one guy. He is certainly good enough for his team both on and off the field. The White Sox are going to try really hard to sign him, you would think, but it feels like it is going to be really hard.
128. . RF. Chicago White Sox. Nomar Mazara. 30. player
Back to being negative. Nomar Mazara wasn’t great for the White Sox at all. He feels doomed to be gone as well because there are good players that are going to be available in free agency or trades to play right field. They can go for someone like George Springer, J.D. Martinez, Joc Pederson, or someone outside the box but it won’t be hard to replace the season Mazara had.
He had a -0.3 WAR so it was a pretty big hole in the White Sox lineup. It feels like he was one of many White Sox players who had a negative WAR despite the team playing so well as a whole. That should show everyone how good that they are going to be when they get some of these holes in the lineup/pitching staff worked out.
Mazara had a grand total of one home run this season. He had 31 hits for a .228 batting average. His slash line of .228/.295/.294 which is a pretty awful look. His OPS of .589 shows that his year was much worse than he would have expected. It was a short season so you have to wonder if the water would have leveled if they got to play 162 games but they don’t have much time to experiment now that the window to win is open.
light. Hot. 2020 was house money for the Chicago White Sox
Obviously, in sports, anything can happen. One or more of these guys could shock us all and make their way back but they all are in danger of losing their jobs right now. They should all be able to find work if the White Sox do move on but you never know. Hopefully, whatever the White Sox does is for the betterment of the team.