The Chicago White Sox are a broken team. The White Sox started a rebuild in late 2016, telling fans this was the beginning of a process that would ultimately lead to the team winning multiple World Series Championships in the 2020s. So far, that hasn’t really worked out.
Following last year’s ALDS destruction by the Houston Astros, the Chicago White Sox needed to get better in the off-season but instead got worse.
Carlos Rodon departed the team without getting so much as a qualifying offer and the second base hole was left void save for replacement-level players. All in all, offseason acquisitions Josh Harrison, Leury Garcia, AJ Pollock, Kendall Graveman, and Joe Kelly have amounted to roughly zero WAR, although Johnny Cueto has at least been good.
If the White Sox had actually tried this offseason and signed players like Marcus Semien, Carlos Rodon, and Kyle Schwarber, they would probably be in first place or close to it but that is something they refused to do. Alas, they have a lot of ground to makeup and not a lot of talent to do it with.
The Chicago White Sox needs to make win-now moves to turn this season around.
Some suggest the White Sox should now be sellers at the deadline. This is the wrong move. First of all, it would be quitting in a way similar to the team’s infamous 1997 white flag trade.
Secondly, the AL Central is an incredibly weak division and the AL Wild Card race isn’t very stacked either. Theoretically, even a solid White Sox team could sneak into the playoffs. Unfortunately, they aren’t that right now and won’t be with the current roster.
Thirdly, if anyone deserves to go through another rebuild with this team, it shouldn’t be Rick Hahn who needs to save this current roster in order to keep his job and what’s left of his reputation.
The last time Rick Hahn was pressed with the task of saving face on his roster, he traded Fernando Tatis Jr. for “Big Game” James Shields. That is a move that will forever live in infamy, even if Tatis proves to be injury-prone for most of his career.
I don’t really trust Rick Hahn to identify the players that will help turn this team around but since that’s really the only option left, it’s time to zero in on trades that will turn this team around.