2 Chicago White Sox targets that can replace Lance Lynn
The season hasn’t started yet but the injuries are already piling up for the Chicago White Sox. The latest casualty is Lance Lynn. Lynn walked gingerly off the mound before exiting his last Cactus League start Saturday.
Rick Hahn told reporters that Lynn has a slight tear near his knee. He will undergo surgery Tuesday and be out for the foreseeable future. The big right-hander will not begin throwing off a mound again for at least another four weeks. After that, he will need some ramp-up time before rejoining the rotation.
This comes on the heels of the announcement that Garrett Crochet will likely need to undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery.
The Lynn news is especially devasting. The 34-year-old was the favorite to be the White Sox Opening Day starter. He was coming off a career year that saw him post a 2.69 ERA and 11-6 record. That was good enough for third in the AL Cy Young Award voting.
Now, the White Sox will have to turn to Vince Velasquez or Reynaldo López to fill the hole. Velasquez had an ERA north of six last season while López had a solid year. However, López has been very inconsistent throughout his career so the White Sox won’t know what they are getting.
The Chicago White Sox needs to do something to add to their rotation in 2022.
Meanwhile, the rest of the rotation is filled out by Dallas Keuchel, who is coming off an abysmal season, and Micheal Kopech who is getting his first chance as an everyday starter.
The White Sox championship window is right now. Their core will not be together forever so they must capitalize while they have the chance.
If the White Sox would like to be serious contenders, they need to strongly consider adding some rotational depth. Unfortunately for them, the top arms in free agency are already off the board. With the season fast approaching, they will need to swing a trade.
Here are three pitchers the White Sox should consider adding:
Frankie Montas
Frankie Montas would be perfect for the Chicago White Sox rotation in 2022.
The White Sox may have missed out on Sean Manaea but the Oakland Athletics have another pitcher on the trading block in Frankie Montas. Montas has a solid track record. The hard-throwing right-hander has a 3.86 career ERA in his 102 big league appearances. He was recently named the A’s Opening Day starter.
A durable starter that can eat innings is just what the doctor ordered in Lynn’s absence. Montas posted a 13-9 record last season and owned a 3.37 ERA. That was the fifth-best mark in the American League. He proved to be durable as well, leading the American League with 32 starts.
That wasn’t the only accolade Montas collected last season. He also was named AL Pitcher of the Month in September. His 207 strikeouts were also good enough for fourth-best in the AL. He finished sixth in the Cy Young voting.
Montas’s career began with the White Sox in 2015 before getting traded. After coming off his best season to date, his price tag figures to be a bit higher than Manaea’s. It was reported that the White Sox were in the running for Manaea but the Padres had more to offer.
Having the 30th ranked farm system will make things difficult so Rick Hahn is going to have to up the ante for Montas’ services.
Chris Paddack
The Chicago White Sox should consider adding Chris Paddack from the Padres.
After adding Sean Manaea, the San Diego Padres have an embarrassment of riches in their starting rotation. Manea joins a group headlined by Yu Darvish and Blake Snell. The Padres rotation also features Mike Clevinger and young arms in Dinelson Lamet and MacKenzie Gore.
Chirs Paddack is young and under team control. However, the Padres’ prelockout deal with Nick Martinez and trade for Sean Manaea seems to suggest that a player like Chris Paddack is expendable.
He is coming off a rough 2021 campaign. He struggled to the tune of a 5.07 ERA. During his rookie campaign, he had a 3.33 ERA in 26 games. He held opponents to a .204 batting average and stuck out 153 strikeouts. He also had an impressive 0.98 WHIP.
In 2020, his walk rate was amongst the top 10 percent of the league at 4.9%. In 2021, he cracked the top five percent with a 4.8% mark. His fastball velocity is also in the 75th percentile of the league.
There is already some trade buzz surrounding Paddack. The Padres reportedly came close on a four-player swap with the Mets this week that would’ve seen Eric Hosmer, Chris Paddack, and Emilio Pagan all sent to New York for Dominic Smith. It may be worth rolling the dice to see if Paddack can return to form. The talent is there.