The Chicago White Sox started their rebuild in 2016. The “rebuilding” phase is over and they have made the playoffs for two straight seasons. However, it took a lot to get to that point. They have made great trades, awesome draft picks, and been in on a lot of different free agents.
Of course, they didn’t land every single free agent that they were in on but it was refreshing to see them in on some of these guys. The most iconic misses came in the 2018-19 offseason when they didn’t sign either Manny Machado or Bryce Harper.
The White Sox would have loved to have Machado as he is an elite player. However, they have Tim Anderson and Yoan Moncada as amazing players at short and third. The real miss came with Harper because they still haven’t found anyone to play right field at an above-average level.
If the White Sox had Bryce Harper right now, they would be even better than their 93-69 selves (injuries kept it from being even higher). They never got elite production from the right field position over the last two years and that could have really helped them out.
Bryce Harper would have been perfect for the current Chicago White Sox.
In 2021 especially, Bryce Harper was outstanding. He is back to being his MVP level self as he won the award in the National League for the second time in his career. He slashed .309/.429/.615 for an OPS of 1.044. He also had 35 home runs, 84 RBIs, and 101 runs scored. All of this led to his outstanding 5.9 WAR.
His RBI numbers were a bit low for an MVP but we all know that the Philadelphia Phillies did him no favors as most of his home runs were solo shots because nobody got on base ahead of him. If he were on the White Sox with that slash line and those power numbers, he would have had 125 RBIs and the White Sox may have won another 10 games.
Unfortunately, this was a major miss for the White Sox but it was also a miss for Harper. If he was on the White Sox, his playoff future would be much brighter. He already missed out on winning the World Series as the Washington Nationals won it the year after he left.
If he were on the White Sox, his chances of winning it in the future would be much brighter than they are on the Phillies. The defending champion Atlanta Braves and resurgent New York Mets are right there in the division which is a big hurdle right there. It really is a shame that they weren’t able to come together ahead of the 2019 season. He would be a great fit.