The Chicago White Sox make a lot of terrible mistakes. One of them came during the 2021-22 offseason when they lost Carlos Rodon for nothing. They didn’t even give him a qualifying offer so he became a free agent with them getting nothing out of it.
This came after a year where he was an All-Star pitcher with a 13-5 record, a 2.37 ERA, a 0.957 WHIP, and 185 strikeouts over 132.2 innings pitched. All of this earned him a fifth-place finish for the American League Cy Young.
If he pitched a few more innings, he probably would have won the award or at least been nominated (top three). Because of his injury history that preceded his magical 2021 season, there was skepticism that he could do it again.
The problem is that he was hurt which kept him from showing his elite-level stuff that made him a third overall pick. All he had to do was stay healthy to reach his full potential. It is a fair concern but a risk you have to take if you are the White Sox.
The Chicago White Sox let Carlos Rodon go for voting which was foolish.
Instead, he went on to sign a big contract with the San Francisco Giants. So far with them this season, he has a 2.70 ERA, a 1.060 WHIP, and 124 strikeouts in 100.0 innings pitched. He was snubbed from the All-Star Game initially which was one of the worst snubs in the NL.
Luckily, MLB did the right thing and chose him to be Josh Hader’s replacement in the mid-summer classic. He will go to Los Angeles and represent the Giants well. Unlike 2021, he should have a chance to actually pitch in the game.
Rodon is well-deserving of this honor. Of course, he doesn’t pitch for Chicago anymore but it is still okay to root hard for one of the home-grown pitchers that had to go through a lot to get to this point.
It would be nice to see Dylan Cease get the same treatment if someone on the American League squad sees someone on the mound back out. He deserves to be there just as much and it is clear that Carlos Rodon would agree with that.