White Sox Rumors: Michael Brantley might be coming
The Chicago White Sox might seriously be considering Michael Brantley.
The Chicago White Sox, as reported earlier are not getting George Springer. They don’t feel it is necessary to pay centerfield money for a right-fielder. Springer is the best position player available on the open market right now but it sounds like White Sox fans can forget about him. One player they might be getting instead is Springer’s former teammate Michael Brantley. Brantley might not be quite as good as Springer but he can still hit the ball at a high level.
The White Sox saw their Nomar Mazara experiment fail in 2020 which is leading them to be in this position right now. Brantley might be able to come in and be that guy who plays right field. They can even use him in left if they want to turn Eloy Jimenez into a designated hitter. In addition to all of that, he could even be a DH as well. Chances are that if the White Sox did decide to bring him in, he would be a great help in right and at DH.
Brantley has been an All-Star four times in his career and has a Silver Slugger Award. He also came in third place for the American League MVP in 2014. He spent the first ten years of his career with the Cleveland Indians before two with the Houston Astros so he knows the division well. He also wasn’t there in 2017 when the Astros were cheating so he had nothing to do with it.
With both clubs, he has had a lot of good postseason experience. The White Sox are a very young team with little playoff experience so adding a veteran like Brantley would help with that as well. It makes it even better that he is a great baseball player too. In 2020, he slashed .300/.364/.476 and had an OPS of .840. Those are some great numbers for a 33-year-old veteran who is looking to join a team with a bright future.
The nice thing about a Brantley addition would be that they could go out and add another position player. He could be a DH and right fielder depending on the day if they can find themselves another guy who can also do that. There are players like Joc Pederson and Adam Eaton that could be brought in as well to help out. If all of this happened, the White Sox would be very satisfied.
With Brantley being a lefty in a right-handed heavy lineup, they would really make things easier on themselves as a group. They were so good against left-handed pitching in 2020 but were only slightly above average against righties. If they added a prominent left-handed bat like Brantley, they would be a lot more even in terms of handedness.
Three targets for the White Sox at the Winter Meetings. light. Hot
Of course, anything is possible right now with the Winter Meetings currently going on but it sounds like the White Sox have a real chance at Brantley. He is the name to watch right now for White Sox free agency. The pitching market appears to be hot right now but once that cools off you should start to see teams act on bats. Hopefully, the White Sox do something to make themselves even better soon. Brantley would be a great start.