3 former White Sox players to bring back in free-agency
The Chicago White Sox have seen a lot of good players come and go over the years. For a few years there, they were a good team but a lot of the most impactful players are gone.
Now, a few of them are free agents looking for new homes ahead of the 2024 season. On Monday, we saw Reynaldo Lopez head to the Atlanta Braves while Lance Lynn signed with the St. Louis Cardinals. Those two are now off the table.
So would Chris Getz consider bringing a few former Whtie Sox players back into the mix in his first off-season as GM?
That remains to be seen over the next few weeks, but there are a few players worth considering especially when it comes to arms. These are the three former White Sox players that they should try bringing back for 2024:
Lucas Giolito
In 2023, the Chicago White Sox traded Lucas Giolito to the Los Angeles Angels for a couple of prospects. He was having a very nice year with the Sox which is why the Angles were willing to give up some good young players to get him. He had a 3.79 ERA with 131 strikeouts in 121.0 innings with the White Sox so the Angels were hoping for more of that.
Unfortunately, Giolito wasn't able to pitch well in an Angels uniform. He pitched in 32.2 innings with them where he had a 6.89 ERA and 34 strikeouts.
It was an effort to get on track with Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout both in the mix. It failed in spectacular fashion and the Angels are now in a terrible spot now that Ohtani is going to be changing teams in free agency.
To save some money in the final month of the season, Giolito (along with four other players) was put on waivers for non-performance-based reasons.
He was claimed by the Cleveland Guardians and was even worse. He had a 7.04 ERA with 39 strikeouts in 30.2 innings for the Guardians. He was just never able to get on track after leaving the White Sox where he was pitching very well.
Now, knowing how good he can be in their uniform, the White Sox should consider going back after him this off-season. They need starting pitching to get them through this transitional period and Giolito would be a great fit for them.
Frankie Montas
There might be some people reading this who may not even realize that Frankie Montas was with the Chicago White Sox. He was signed as an amateur free agent by the Boston Red Sox but he made his way over to the White Sox in the Jake Peavy trade to Boston.
This trade also landed the White Sox Avisail Garcia who played some good ball for the Sox for a few years. This was a three-team trade involving the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers.
Montas played in seven games for the White Sox in 2015 and two of those were starts. In those seven appearances, he had a 4.80 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 15.0 innings pitched. The potential was there.
That would be it for him in a White Sox uniform though as he was eventually part of a three-team trade again. He went to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the deal that the Cincinnati Reds sent Todd Frazier to the White Sox.
Montas never played for the Dodgers though as he made his way to the Oakland A's in another trade and that is where he became a star. He then was with the New York Yankees in the second half of 2022 and all of 2023.
The thing is that Montas missed pretty much the entire 2023 season recovering from shoulder surgery. He pitched in one 1.1 innings in the final week of the season. He had a strikeout and didn't give up a run in this relief appearance. He was also credited with the win for New York.
Now, Montas is looking for a new home and the White Sox would be perfect for him. They need multiple starters and Montas would be a good one for them to consider because of the stuff he can bring to the mound when he is healthy.
Eduardo Escobar
In 2006, the White Sox signed Escobar as an international free agent. He went on to play with them for a couple of years before he was eventually traded to the Minnesota Twins for Francisco Liriano. He has since bounced around the league a good bit with his best seasons coming when he was with Arizona.
In his All-Star 2021 season split between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Milwaukee Brewers, he slashed .253/.314/.472 with an OPS of .786. He also had 28 home runs, 90 RBIs, and 77 runs scored.
He joined the New York Mets ahead of the 2022 season and he started to take steps back. He slashed .240/.295/.430 with an OPS of .725. He hit 20 home runs and had 69 RBIs with 58 runs scored.
His role wasn't as big with New York as it was with Arizona or Milwaukee so the drop-off makes a little bit of sense but he wanted to be better for them.
He started the 2023 season with the Mets but was eventually traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The season as a whole was bad for him as he had a -1.1 WAR thanks to his slash of .226/.269/.344 with an OPS of .613. He hit six home runs, had 31 RBIs, and 32 runs scored. It was a bad year.
He has a lot of experience playing in the AL Central so the White Sox might as well consider bringing him back. After a bad 2023 season, he will be on the cheaper side.
This isn't like getting him in 2021 but bringing him back to the south side makes sense right now. He can be an injury filler for a few different positions (all infield) and he provides depth at third, second, and short. This is a former White Sox player to think long and hard about.
Next. The 15 worst contracts in Chicago White Sox history. dark