Fansided

3 White Sox players to avoid losing in an overreaction trade

By Vincent Parise |
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 30: Eloy Jimenez #74 of the Chicago White Sox celebrates after hitting a solo home run against the Kansas City Royals during the seventh inning at Guaranteed Rate Field on August 30, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 30: Eloy Jimenez #74 of the Chicago White Sox celebrates after hitting a solo home run against the Kansas City Royals during the seventh inning at Guaranteed Rate Field on August 30, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
1 of 3
Next

The Chicago White Sox are having a very bad season right now. They aren’t one of the worst teams in the league but 63-66 is not where a team should be when they came into the year with World Series aspirations.

It has been a tough year from the start and now it is looking like the end. With September approaching, people are going to start looking towards the offseason and what the team can do moving forward to get back into contention.

Whenever something like this happens, you have to avoid overreacting. There were expectations going in early for a reason. It is more about figuring out what the problem is instead of trying to change everything.

There are a few players that need to stick around because they are amazing despite what some people may think. These are the three players the White Sox need to avoid moving in an over reactionary trade:

Eloy Jimenez. 74. player. 128. . LF. Chicago White Sox

The Chicago White Sox need to make sure that they hang onto Eloy Jimenez.

Eloy Jimenez now has the reputation of a player that gets injured a lot. He has missed significant time in each full season that he has played. However, it is so obvious that he is an elite hitter when he is healthy. He showed that in 2020 and he showed that in the second half of 2022.

Most of Eloy’s injuries have been self-inflicted which means that he can be coached better. The one in 2022 was a bit of a fluke and doesn’t have to happen again. If he can figure this out, he can be a game-changing power bat that makes a lot of money in his career.

Since the All-Star break this year, Jimenez has been the White Sox’s best hitter and it isn’t really even close. They need to make sure he is there and ready to go in 2023 as they try to contend for the playoffs again.

(Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images)
(Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images) /

player. 128. . 1B/OF/DH. Chicago White Sox. Gavin Sheets. 32

Gavin Sheets is someone that the Chicago White Sox should try to keep around.

Gavin Sheets, like most players on the Chicago White Sox, had a tough start to the year. He was sent down to AAA Charlotte to figure some things out and he came back to MLB and started to get it going again. He is someone that the White Sox should really consider for the future.

Of course, Sheets is not an elite all-around player that you have to keep at all costs. Eloy Jimenez is more valuable than him for example. However, unless a big-time trade offer that you can’t refuse comes in from another team, you have to keep him.

This is not the type of player that you just move on from so you can make a change. He is a big-time power bat that comes from the left side. When he is feeling good, he can get you back in a game or pull you ahead with one swing.

As mentioned before, Jimenez has been the team’s best hitter since the All-Star break. Well, Sheets is probably the second-best hitter since that point so he should be happy with his performance.

He just kept grinding this season and now it is paying off for him. There is a chance that he ends up leading the White Sox in home runs which would be really nice for him. Again, unless the package is really beneficial to the White Sox, they shouldn’t just trade him to trade him.

(Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
(Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

Lucas Giolito. 27. player. 128. . SP. Chicago White Sox

The Chicago White Sox needs to be very careful with Lucas Giolito going forward.

Before we get going here, let’s make one thing very clear. Lucas Giolito was brutal in 2022. He is one of the team’s biggest reasons for having a bad season. If he was the Giolito that we’ve seen from 2019-2021, they might be much closer to being a playoff team.

Now that it’s out of the way, we can move on. He was an elite pitcher during those aforementioned 2019 – 2021 seasons. He was a top-11 finisher for the Cy Young Award in each of those three seasons and deserves a lot of praise for that. However, that doesn’t give him a pass for 2022 either.

Baseball is a very “what have you done for me lately?” type of sport. Lately, Giolito has been awful. With that in mind, the White Sox need to keep his previous potential in mind when dealing with him during the offseason. They should absolutely not overreact and trade him.

His value isn’t that high right now and there is no chance that they would get a good return for him. Then he’d go to another team and dominate again and make the White Sox look foolish. That would be a major mistake.

The 2022 season has been hard for pretty much everyone. They need to make changes but they need to avoid overreacting with some of the players. Hopefully, the right choices are made to help the 2023 squad excel.

Related Story. The Chicago White Sox played on Tuesday without TLR. light

Next
Home / White Sox News

Schedule