White Sox: 3 players who definitely won’t be back with Chicago in 2021
The Chicago White Sox are a great team now but some people won’t be along for the ride.
The Chicago White Sox are going to be a good baseball team in 2021. Whether you like the new manager hire or not, they are improved there which should improve their chances to win games. At a minimum, Tony La Russa should be able to be better with lineup construction and bullpen management which was a big issue for the 2020 White Sox. There are going to be some bounce-back performances to go along with some breakout years so people can really expect a good season.
As the White Sox move through their championship window, people are going to come to find that some players are going to come and go. There will be experiments that work and some that don’t. We know which guys are part of the long-term core and which aren’t. There are some that we wish could be a part of the long-term core but that just isn’t always going to be the case.
It is hard to keep teams together for a very long time but the White Sox are in good shape to do something special with a few of their core guys. They do, however, need to supplement some of those core guys with good depth pieces.
Well, in order to have good depth in 2021, they might need to find some good replacements for a few guys we have come to know over the past couple of seasons. It is up to Rick Hahn to make sure that the right replacements are used for anyone that leaves. These are three players that probably won’t be back with the White Sox in 2021:
. DH. Chicago White Sox. Edwin Encarnacion. 23. player. 128
The Chicago White Sox already declined the option of Edwin Encarnacion for the 2021 season. They aren’t bringing him back on his original deal that he was signed to. They could make him a much lesser offer down the road but it seems unlikely at this point. He wasn’t very good for the team on the field in 2020 but you can claim that he was a good leader for some of the young guys.
The problem for Encarnacion’s tenure with the White Sox is that it came when they were trying to win. There are still a lot of young players with a lot to learn but they need to win baseball games now. As fun and exciting as this winning window seems like it will be for them, it won’t last forever. A few bad moves and the window could pass them by so they need to have some accountability along the way.
Encarnacion was bad in 2020 so they aren’t bringing him back. As nice of a player as he was throughout his career, the Sox don’t have the time to be messing around. They need to supplement their young core with a lot of great players down in the lineup. If someone with league average numbers replaced Encarnacion in 2021, the White Sox offense will be even more lethal than it was in 2020.
. SP. Chicago White Sox. Gio Gonzalez. 47. player. 128
The Chicago White Sox aren’t going to bring back Gio Gonzalez either. They already declined to bring him back in 2021 in the same way that they aren’t bringing Edwin Encarnacion back. It didn’t work out as well for Gonzalez on the mound in 2020 the way that he (or they) thought that it would. He had a pretty good career but it was clear that the White Sox are better off without him on the team.
He had a negative impact on the 2020 White Sox (-0.3 WAR). He went 1-2 with a 4.83 ERA and 1.863 WHIP. It was clear during the season that he wasn’t going to work out long term so they cut ties with him. They could, in theory, still bring him back on a different deal but it doesn’t seem likely.
The reason that it doesn’t seem likely is that there are plenty of better options. It would be much better to use guys like Michael Kopech, Dane Dunning, or Garrett Crochet amongst others so they can get used to the big leagues rather than trotting out a guy like Gio Gonzalez. There are so many good arms coming up and they are going to start getting their chance. Gio Gonzalez deserves respect but he is no longer a good fit for the White Sox.
128. . C. Chicago White Sox. James McCann. 33. player
The one player not returning that is a knock on the team is James McCann. It isn’t a lock that he will be gone (in theory) but he deserves to be paid like a starter and get a starter salary. He has been nothing short of sensational since coming over to the Chicago White Sox from the Detroit Tigers. A lot of teams are going to be calling him with big-time offers. With Yasmani Grandal in the mix making a lot of money, it is hard to see them paying McCann what he is worth.
McCann’s defense was the biggest praise for him as he came to Chicago. He is an elite pitch framer and defensive catcher. His 2020 Gold Glove nomination made it where both White Sox catchers were nominated for the award. He was also huge in helping Lucas Giolito turn his career around on the mound. The young pitchers benefit from having him around.
One thing that exploded for McCann in Chicago is his offense. He was a decent offensive player in Detroit but he was all-star worthy in two years with the Sox. In 2020, he slashed .289/.360/.536 with an OPS of .896. His all-around game as a catcher is elite and something people will pay big bucks for.
light. Hot. Luis Robert is a Gold Glove winner
James deserves to be treated like a starter. He may, in light of the pandemic and all of the issues that come with that, decide to just come back to Chicago but it isn’t guaranteed. We would like to have him back but it doesn’t seem likely at this point in time. He is the one on this list that we actually want back but the most important thing is that they are all replaced with good players.