The Chicago White Sox didn’t even give Carlos Rodon a qualifying offer after the 2021 season ended. That was a completely boneheaded move by the organization as a whole. It also would have been a horrid mistake to let him walk at all even if he denied the qualifying offer.
He was, before his arm soreness issue, the team’s best pitcher during the 2021 season. He deserved a brand new contract that showed some faith in him and the White Sox should have been the ones to give it to him.
Yes, there are injury concerns with Rodon but they are worth dealing with when you get an elite player when he is on the field. Now, he is a member of the San Francisco Giants making the White Sox look terrible.
On Wednesday, the White Sox used Dallas Keuchel and Jimmy Lambert as their starting pitchers for their doubleheader against the Cleveland Guardians. Lambert actually did okay but those aren’t the guys that a World Series contender like the Sox should be using.
The Chicago White Sox should have done everything they can to keep Carlos Rodon.
Following the doubleheader sweep by Cleveland, we got to see Carlos Rodon in action with the Giants. He went up against another former elite White Sox pitcher named Chris Bassitt who was on the mound for the New York Mets.
Rodon picked up the win by going 5.0 innings where he allowed no runs n three hits. He had eight strikeouts as well which is very impressive. It was another great outing for him on a day where Dallas Keuchel had eight earned runs against instead of eight strikeouts like Rodon.
It was simply a poor decision by the White Sox front office team. They have made a lot of outstanding trades and signings so it is hard to get too negative about them but this move was a big one.
If Carlos Rodon was on this White Sox team, they would be even better. With Dylan Cease, Lucas Giolito, Michael Kopech, and Lance Lynn, they would have formed the best starting rotation in the league. It would have, actually, been very similar to what they had in 2021 but even better.
Lucas Giolito and Lance Lynn each also had to miss time to start this season which tested the depth of the team. It sure would have been nice to have Rodon there in that spot. It is just a tough pill to swallow for the White Sox as they let him get away.
The White Sox will face Rodon this summer as the White Sox have a few clashes with the NL West division. We can only hope that he has an off day if he has to face the Sox at any point. Outside of that, it is easy to keep rooting for him to succeed because his success is well deserved.