It was nice to see the Chicago White Sox land themselves a big-time relief pitcher.
The Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs don’t make trades very often. There have been some in the past but you can’t say that you see it all the time. Well, they decided to help each other out on Thursday as each team heads in a different direction. The Cubs are coming down from a stretch of dominance while the White Sox try to get to that level that the Cubs were at a few years ago.
We all knew that the White Sox needed a bullpen arm. Their bullpen isn’t bad by any means but it isn’t as dominant as we thought they would be going into the year. Players like Codi Heuer and Aaron Bummer have had some back luck but they are showing signs of improving. We do know that Michael Kopech, Garrett Crochet, and Liam Hendriks are elite so getting another arm would go a long way.
The White Sox identified Ryan Tepera as someone that they can bring in to help them out. If you slot him right there with Kopech and Hendriks as late-inning guys, they look like a very good bullpen. His numbers suggest that he will really be able to help close down games. There are a lot of teams in the league that would like to have this guy.
In a perfect world, Tepera is the guy that Kopech hands the ball to in order for them to get to Hendriks in the 9th. As the season goes along, this could go down as one of the most important moves that Rick Hahn made in 2021. In this era, the bullpen is incredibly important. Anyone who wants to make a deep run needs a good bullpen and the White Sox are striving to do that.