3 White Sox pitchers to trade before spring training begins
The Chicago White Sox are a team looking to make some more changes to the group before spring training starts for the 2023 season.
They have a few areas to address in order to get back to being a good team like they were the year before.
In order to do that, they might need to use a strength to address a weakness. One strength that they might have is their pitching staff.
They might be able to trade a pitcher or two in order to get some help in other areas of the field. These are the three pitchers that could get moved before spring training gets started:
Joe Kelly
The Chicago White Sox should really move on from Joe Kelly in 2023.
The White Sox signed Joe Kelly last offseason in hopes that he can be the guy that he was for his entire career. He has won the World Series with two different teams in his career.
Those are the highlights but dominating in the regular season is also something he was good at as well. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to do that in a White Sox uniform.
Kelly has one of the worst years of his career in 2022 as did a lot of White Sox players. He didn't stay healthy, couldn't pitch consistently, and high-leverage situations were his enemy. For the contract that he was given, he failed tremendously.
If the White Sox can package Joe Kelly with a better player on the team to get someone that can help them in an area of need, it would be worth it. Another team might think that they can fix him which is totally possible.
Garrett Crochet
Garrett Crochet would make a great addition for a lot of MLB teams.
Garrett Crochet could end up being a big piece for the Chicago White Sox at this point. They could be interested in him becoming a full-time starter, a bullpen piece, or even some kind of hybrid. As a former first-round pick, the sky is the limit for this guy.
The only problem is health. He had a scare at the end of the 2020 season but he ended up being a full-time bullpen piece for the entire 2021 season. He was very effective in that role. However, he needed to have Tommy John surgery right before the 2022 season started.
it was a hard thing for the White Sox to deal with. In fact, they didn't deal with it very well as their bullpen wasn't nearly as strong as we would have thought before Crochet's injury.
Now, it might be worth it to explore trading Crochet if something valuable is presented to them. If they can address second base with a high-level player, moving Crochet might be worth it. If it meant that Jazz Chisholm or Gleyber Torres were coming to town, you make that move right away.
It wouldn't be easy to move on from a player this talented but their window to win is now and they might need to make a bold move like that sooner rather than later.
Lucas Giolito
The Chicago White Sox might want to consider moving Lucas Giolito.
The Chicago White Sox could be in the market to add another starter if they decide to move on from Lucas Giolito. He was one of the best pitchers in baseball from 2019-2021 but was absolutely terrible in 2022. He wasn't like Dallas Keuchel bad or anything but he wasn't up to his standards and it was tough to watch at times.
Now, the White Sox have to battle with the idea of trading him. If they move him, there is a good chance that he regains his confidence with another club and snaps in 2023. There is also a chance that he continues his downward spiral. Either of those two things could very well happen.
If they move him, what can they get for him? Well, probably not his whole value because of the year that he had in 2022. However, there might be a team that considers giving something somewhat good because of the ceiling that he can potentially reach. This is a good pitcher.
We don't know if the White Sox are going to trade any pitchers but it is absolutely something that they can consider. If they do it before spring training begins, it could very well end up being one of these three. Regardless of what they do, we have to hope it makes them a better baseball team.
Next. The White Sox should consider a trade for Max Fried. dark