3 White Sox prospects who should not be added when rosters expand
The Chicago White Sox are an incredible baseball team. This is one of the best teams in franchise history and they haven’t even reached September. They have serious aspirations of winning the World Series right now.
There are some really good teams in the American League right now so it is not a guarantee but they can play with anyone out there. If it doesn’t happen this year, it could certainly happen over the next three to five years.
The way that the White Sox got to this point is special. They rebuilt their organization from top to bottom. It started by trading away a player like Chris Sale who might be a Hall of Famer in the middle of his prime. Putting together some really good drafts, other great trades, and awesome free agency work, they have become one of the great teams in the MLB.
As they head into the playoffs, they are trying to show that they can be one of the best teams in the league. They just went 7-7 in a 14 game stretch against the New York Yankees, Oakland A’s, Tampa Bay Rays, and Toronto Blue Jays. It could be better but it could certainly be worse. It is fine now that they just defeated the Chicago Cubs in two games out of three.
The Chicago White Sox are going to see thier roster expand going into September.
The rosters are going to expand from 26 to 28 when September comes. That is going to be huge for the White Sox as they can add some depth to the organization. There are plenty of great players to choose from.
However, there are some prospects that they should probably avoid bringing up at this point. Development is also key for them right now and throwing these guys into these kinds of races might not be the right move. These are the three players to avoid calling up in September:
Yoelqui Cespedes
Yoelqui Cespedes is going to be a big part of the Chicago White Sox one day soon.
The Chicago White Sox has a lot of great talent at the MLB level. They also have a lot of great talent at the Minor League level. One of those guys is Yoelqui Cespedes. The White Sox landed this guy in the international free-agent market last winner. He was the top guy in his class and the White Sox landed him. Now, we can only hope that he reaches his potential because that would make this team even deeper.
He is currently in AA with an ETA of 2022. According to MLB’s list of top prospects, he is the number two guy in the White Sox organization. The only player ahead of him right now is Colson Montgomery who was just drafted in the first round a few months ago. He is going to look great playing right field one day.
However, he should absolutely be someone that waits until 2022. He might not even be there early in 2022 depending on how things go with the player and the organization. When he is ready he will be called up but there is no point to bring up a talent like this right now. Brian Goodwin, Adam Engel, and Andrew Vaughn can do a fine job in the meantime.
Jimmy Lambert
The Chicago White Sox are not in a position to be using Jimmy Lambert at the time.
The Chicago White Sox are loaded with pitching. They have an elite starting rotation and a very talented bullpen. They are still waiting to see the best from the bullpen but it is coming. With some of the starters that they have ready to go, however, they don’t need to be worried about adding more arms right now.
Bringing up Jimmy Lambert would be a terrible mistake. He is currently the White Sox number 14 guy. He has dropped a little bit since the beginning of 2020 but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have talent. However, he has struggled in his short MLB time and that includes 2021. This White Sox team is good enough to win the World Series so they have no business putting guys like this out there right now.
Lambert is a good pitcher that can develop because he has good stuff. However, nothing has indicated that he should be thrown right into a pennant race. It wouldn’t be fair to the team and it wouldn’t be fair to him. The White Sox need to be much smarter than that with their September call-ups. As they get healthier, these decisions get harder for Rick Hahn and his staff.
Jonathan Stiever
Jonathan Stiever is not someone that the Chicago White Sox should be calling up.
The Chicago White Sox, for a lot of the same reasons, should not call up Jonathan Stiever. They are very loaded right now and if he were playing in the playoffs, that would mean something went terribly wrong. Stiever is mostly a starter so with Lance Lynn, Lucas Giolito, Dallas Keuchel, Dylan Cease, and Carlos Rodon in the mix, there is no reason to have him.
Guys like Michael Kopech, Reynaldo Lopez, or Garrett Crochet would honestly deserve a start over Stiever at this point. He is a talented pitcher with good potential but he should not be put in the middle of a race on an elite team. This team believes they can win the World Series and having Stiever on the active roster isn’t the way.
The best-case scenario for Stiever would be to get traded to a team that is less deep than the White Sox. It doesn’t seem like there is a clear path for him to the big leagues unless he starts dominating AAA in an unrealistic way. He needs to just keep grinding until that next opportunity comes and it just might happen. Unfortunately, it shouldn’t be for the 2021 White Sox.
The players that the White Sox are going to call up feel cut and dry but you never know. Luckily, it is fair to believe that they also care about the future just as much as the present. Both are bright if they continue on this course of organizational depth.
Related Story. Yasmani Grandal dominated in his return. light