3 things the White Sox must address at the 2023 Winter Meetings
The Chicago White Sox have a few things to address at the Winter Meetings
The Chicago White Sox and Major League Baseball are already underway with the 2023 Winter Meetings. They are taking place all week in Nashville, Tennessee.
The White Sox are going to be a team looking to improve their roster and organization as they are tearing it down a little bit once again.
The last rebuild was a total failure so they might approach things a bit differently this time around. That could mean making a few trades or signings along the way. The White Sox won't be huge spenders like the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, or New York Mets. They could end up being a team that makes a few sneaky good moves though.
Of everything that they need to do this off-season, these are the three things that Chris Getz and his staff must address at the Winter Meetings:
Starting pitching is going to be a major need for the Chicago White Sox
There is a good chance that the White Sox trade Dylan Cease over the next few weeks. That would leave Michael Kopech as the only starter that was on the roster last Opening Day.
With Kopech potentially even moving to the bullpen, the White Sox need help in this department. They might use a few of the replacement guys from last year but making a signing won't hurt them either.
As far as free agents go, there are some good ones to consider. Guys like Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, and Marcus Stroman lead the pack of unsigned starters right now. There are also some good cheaper options as well like Martin Perez, Michael Wacha, and Jack Flaherty.
Former White Sox starters like Lucas Giolito and Mike Clevinger are out there as well. Neither of them is likely to be back but it was interesting seeing them as free agents who could sign with any team.
There are also a few trades they could make to address this department as well. Tyler Glasnow is probably the best pitcher to consider trading for right now but even he comes with a little bit of risk. It will be interesting to see how much focus goes into that position during the Winter Meetings.
The White Sox need a back-up plan at manager ahead of the 2024 season
Pedro Grifol was not a good manager for the White Sox in 2023. He helped them be one of the worst teams that the franchise ended up having (61-101). Grifol was bad because his in-game strategy was terrible, he lost the clubhouse, and he was terrible at speaking about the team to the media.
It didn't look like they wanted to be out there on most days. There were also some incidents within the players on the team in 2023 which is never a good sign for the manager either.
For some reason, the White Sox are going to keep him for 2024. He deserved to be fired following this season. He didn't help them take a step forward following the Tony La Russa departure. He made it worse and the team fell backward.
We can only hope that with Chris Getz in the GM chair for the long haul now, he had enough conversations with Grifol to make sure he is a good guy for the job in 2024. Fans and media will need to see it for themselves.
When the team is supposed to be good but they were flat-out terrible, someone has to be held accountable. Well, Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams were fired so Grifol is the next in line if things don't start well next year. They must make sure that he is prepared better for 2024 since they are keeping him.
The Chicago White Sox need to get a right fielder for the 2024 season
The Chicago White Sox need to address the position of right field. It has been an issue for a long time but they don't do anything smart about it when it comes to addressing the problem.
Gavin Sheets is the only one currently listed on their depth chart right now which is a big problem because he is a first baseman playing that RF position poorly regularly.
Oscar Colas isn't listed there but he is still very much on their 40-man roster. They put all of their eggs in his rookie basket last season and it failed miserably. He was bad with his glove and he couldn't hit.
He slashed .216/.257/.314 for an OPS of .571. He hit five home runs, had 19 RBIs, and 32 runs scored. All of his bad stats came together to give him a -1.5 WAR.
The Winter Meetings would be a great place for the White Sox to spend on a right fielder. Guys like Teoscar Hernandez, Hunter Renfroe, Wil Myers, and Randal Grichuk are a few names available in free agency for that position. The White Sox could sure use the help.
Next. The 15 worst contracts in Chicago White Sox history. dark