The Chicago White Sox have been all quiet on the free-agent front for the most part. They signed Kendall Graveman to a deal and he is a really good bullpen piece. They also signed Leury Garcia to a three-year deal as he was free to sign with any team in the league. Outside of those moves, they have been mostly quiet.
It makes you wonder if that means they are actually doing nothing or if something big is brewing. There are a lot of people upset with the fact that not much has happened yet but they might need to be a little bit more patient. The looming lockout makes things worse.
However, there is something that a lot of people are forgetting. The White Sox won their division by double digits and had 93 wins in 2021. It isn’t just that they won that many games because that shouldn’t be the only goal. It is the fact that they did that without some superstars in the lineup for most of the season.
Both Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert missed a significant portion of the season. They both missed almost the entire first half and it bled into the second half a little bit. Their return was a big spark to the group but they might have won more than 93 games if those two played the entire year.
They also missed a fair amount of time from Yasmani Grandal who was sensational when he was actually in the lineup. You can argue that when healthy, these are the three most powerful hitters on the team. Missing them for a short amount of time is tough but they missed more than a short amount.
The Chicago White Sox are loaded with good players ready to go off in 2022.
There were less than ten times in 2021 that the White Sox had Yoan Moncada, Tim Anderson, Jose Abreu, Luis Robert, Eloy Jimenez, and Yasmani Grandal all in the starting lineup at the same time. There is a likely chance that will change in 2022.
In fact, if all goes well, they should all be in the Opening Day lineup and see where it goes from there. When they were all in the lineup together this year, they only lost one time so you can see how impactful it was.
Yes, it would be nice to see the White Sox make a big move. However, it is okay to be patient because they truly do have a roster just loaded with talent that is ready to take the next step. It is a fantastic time to be a White Sox fan.