3 relievers who should be moved down the Chicago White Sox trust tree

Looks like the Chicago White Sox bullpen is picking up where it left off from last season--blowing saves.

The White Sox blowing 37 saves is one of the infinite reasons the team lost a record 121 games in 2024.

The bullpen not being able to close out the Detroit Tigers yesterday is the reason the Sox were swept in the Motor City.

That defeat signified three bullpen arms who should no longer be so high on the trust tree.

Jordan Leasure

He has been struggling to get outs ever since last May.

April and May of 2024 are when he showed promise that he could be the team's closer of the future when he did not allow a run in his first seven career appearances.

Then things started to unravel for him in June, and he was demoted to Triple-A. He briefly returned in July, but still could no longer get hitters out. He was never heard from again during that historically awful 2024 season.

A strong spring training allowed him to make the Opening Day roster. So far, he has a 2.18 WHIP.

He came in yesterday with bases loaded and walked in a run. He then gave up a walk-off double to Spencer Torkelson.

His 4-seam fastball has normally been his out pitch, but he was not fooling Torkelson. What has been concerning is the weighted on-base average he is allowing went above league average on June 10th last year, and has stayed above or near .400 ever since.

His slider is not fooling anyone with an opponent slash line of .429/.273/.857, which is worse than last season's .419/.315/.744.

The Sox have other options at Triple-A they can turn to, so if Leasure fails this week, he must head back to Charlotte.

Fraser Ellard

He got a huge out in the eighth inning yesterday when he came in to get Kerry Carpenter out after Penn Murfee allowed two runners to reach base. It was big since Carpenter was crushing White Sox pitching.

However, Ellard could not pick up the save when he allowed two free passes with one out that started the ninth-inning spiral.

That blown save is another example that he might not be cut out for high-leverage situations. His first career appearance came in one, and he failed. That was not fair to ask a youngster to debut like that, but he also failed in a couple more opportunities last season.

In high-leverage situations, the opposing hitters' slash line is .281/.375/.344 compared to the medium-leverage slash line of .048/.259/.048.

Maybe Ellard is just destined to be a lefty that comes in during the sixth inning with a safe lead or deficit that the Sox are not going to overcome.

That was his first game of the season where he allowed some earned runs, so this does not mean he should be sent down when reliever Tyler Gilbert returns from the 15-day IL.

Bradon Eisert should be the lefty who goes down. It just means Ellard should be moved down the leverage ranking when it comes to getting big outs.

Mike Clevinger

You can hate him still being on this team despite three times he has been available to the open market and 29 other teams have passed on him.

Plus, Penn Murfee's last two outings have also been rough, so he could easily be the one being discussed here.

Here is the difference: the Sox keep doubling down on Clevinger by bringing him back despite his injury history and checkered off-the-field behavior.

The organization thinks he can be a good high-leverage reliever and possibly the closer. That means he must come through in high-leverage situations.

So far, he came through on Opening Day, failed in the second game of the season, and then needed Cam Booser to bail him out yesterday.

Trying him out as a reliever, despite the character issues, is not a terrible idea, considering he is one of the few arms the Sox have that can throw a fastball 95 mph or greater.

Throwing strikes in these situations has been a concern. That is why his ranking in the circle of trust should be reduced for now.

Last Saturday, he failed to keep the game tied in part because of the 14 pitches he threw, only seven were strikes.

Yesterday, only four of his 15 pitches went for strikes.

He has thrown 2.2 innings as a reliever, and so far, has allowed a baserunner in all but one of those innings. That means maybe Clevinger is not ready to be tabbed as the first arm to be used in a high-leverage situation.

Manager Will Venable has made it clear he is going to manage his bullpen in a modern way. That means recognizing the most important outs might be needed in the seventh instead of the ninth.

However, it might be better to use Cam Booser or Bryse Wilson in those situations until Clevinger can regain his command.