Chicago White Sox: Nelson Cruz news is very tough to hear
The Chicago White Sox were one of the teams that were interested in Nelson Cruz as a free agent. He is an awesome power bat that is now north of 40 years old. He shows no sign of slowing down and could be very different from most 40-year-olds. He has over 400 career home runs and he wasn’t even close to 100 career home runs by the age of 30. For the past few seasons, he has been with the division-rival Minnesota Twins and that is going to remain the case.
The Chicago White Sox will have to face Nelson Cruz a lot in 2021.
The Minnesota Twins are right there with the White Sox in terms of chances to win the American League Central. The White Sox are looking very nice on paper but they still have that Minnesota Twins hurdle to climb over. Well, now Cruz is back with them and is certainly going to have a good season. He will hit a lot of home runs, have a good batting average, and produce runs for them as they try to be a playoff team once again.
Meanwhile, the White Sox have a lineup that is just as deep. They wanted Cruz to fill the hole that they have for the designated hitter. Now, they have to look at a few other options. Marcell Ozuna going to the Minnesota Twins would have been a much worse scenario for the White Sox than Cruz going there. He is still out there and could be looking for an American League team since the universal DH ruling still remains in the air. If the White Sox offered him enough money, he might think about joining this awesome team.
As for now, we project Andrew Vaughn to be the designated hitter for most of 2021. He might not get a deal before the season because of the way the pandemic shook things out for Minor League players in 2020 but he could prove to be worth it soon into the new season. He is one of the best power-hitting prospects in the world and the White Sox are lucky to have him.
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It isn’t great that the White Sox have to deal with facing Cruz again for the next season but they have the pitching to do it. He will have his success but the White Sox can only control what they can control. If they figure out who their long-term DH is going to be, they will be better off than if they signed a 40-year-old to a one or two year deal anyway.