5 things became clear when it came to the Chicago White Sox after getting swept by the Kansas City Royals
The Chicago White Sox must get an impact player like Bobby Witt Jr.
The Chicago White Sox got destroyed in a three-game sweep by the Kansas City Royals. Ironically, the Sox have been mocked for trying to copy the Royals, and Kansas City went out and outscored the Southsiders 17-3.
However, the mocking was worth it in the offseason as the Royals somehow were worse than White Sox in 2023--a season where the Sox lost 101 games. It also did not help that the White Sox kept adding former Kansas City Royals players that were either way past their prime or not very good.
This is not last year's Royals. They are 10 games over .500 and holding onto the final wild spot in the American League.
In talking with my counterparts at Kings of Kauffman in Jacob Milham and Mike Gillespie, the Royals turned things around by spending their free-agent dollars on starting pitching and having a foundational, impact bat in Bobby Witt Jr.
Watching the Royals starting rotation render the White Sox lineup useless and Witt Jr. dominating the Sox, five things became abundantly clear about Chicago's AL team...
The White Sox must get an impact bat like Witt Jr. and they will likely have to trade Garrett Crochet and even Luis Robert Jr. to get one.
Bobby Witt Jr. went 9-for-11 with a walk, a homer, two RBI, and four runs. It was nearly impossible for the Sox to get him out.
Witt Jr. is leading the way for the Royals with a .337 average, .958 OPS, and 17 home runs. The most important thing he brings besides an unworldly way he can deploy all five tools he has is that Witt Jr. can be in the lineup almost every day.
You could argue the Sox have an impact player in Robert Jr. The problem is LRJ has played just one full season. He has been in the league since 2020 and has played in 413 career games. Witt Jr. has been in the leagues since 2022 and he has been in the lineup for 408 games.
Remember when the Sox were going great with Tim Anderson raking? It shows you that a team's success is always great when they have a stud shortstop.
The White Sox were in a position to take a high-ceiling shortstop in Konnor Griffin and they took pitcher Hagen Smith instead. While it is not the end of the world that the Sox went with a big, left-handed flamethrowing pitcher since the franchise has a track record of developing those type of pitchers.
The problem is if the Sox want to get a guy with a talent like Bobby Witt Jr., they must move the best asset, Garrett Crochet. He is the only asset the Sox have that a contender should be willing to give up a player that projects to be an impact bat at the big-league level.
USA Today's Bob Nightengale reported that the New York Yankees are willing to trade one of their top prospects, Spencer Jones, to get Crochet.
Drew Thorpe's performance shows the Sox have cover at the top of the rotation if they trade Crochet.
He was one of the few bright spots the Sox had at Kaufman Stadium when he threw six scoreless innings.
Thorpe continues to show through seven starts that even though he does not have great velocity on his fastball, he has tremendous command along with a deadly changeup.
He continues to pitch like this, it means the White Sox have a pitcher capable of stepping into the No. 1 role that mitigates the Sox trading Crochet to get that impact bat.
The White Sox might lose 80 games before they win 30 games.
Chicago is 3-12 in July. They are in the middle of a seven-game losing streak where the offense has failed to score more than five runs.
2024 #WhiteSox (27-74)
— Brett Ballantini (@BrettBallantini) July 22, 2024
Worst 101-game start in Sox history by 7 games (1970)
Tied for 11th-worst MLB start ever, none worse post-1979
Season-worst -191 run differential tied for 37th-worst ever
Season-worst 47 G under
More games (29) 1 or fewer runs than Ws (27)
Swept 14x
The Sox have a better chance of losing six more games to hit 80 losses than they do getting three more victories to reach 30 wins. The White Sox have to play four games on the road against Texas and the Pale Hose are terrible on the road this season.
Then the Seattle Mariners come to town where the Sox nearly swept Seattle on the road, but the bullpen blew three leads. Chicago also could gotten swept in that series too.
There also seems to be a really good chance the White Sox hit 100 losses before they get to 40 wins because the offense has been so inconsistent, the defense is still bad, and the bullpen cannot hold leads.
The Sox are probably going to get worse at the trade deadline when all the veteran assets are sold off.
Tommy Pham played like he wanted to stay in Kansas City.
The Royals are rumored to be interested in adding the Sox veteran outfielder. He made a good showing as he went 5-for-13 with two doubles, an RBI, and a run scored.
It is good to see Pham starting to hit better to build up his trade value. He has a .278/.333/.417 slash line over the past 30 days.
Hopefully, the Royals were impressed enough to part with a prospect that has a high ceiling.
Why are Pham, Paul DeJong, and Chris Flexen still on this team?
While moving Crochet, Erick Fedde, Michael Kopech, and Robert Jr. might go up to the deadline expiring with the type of prospects they can get back, Pham, DeJong, and Flexen are probably only going to yield a young prospect with a high ceiling. They could also yield a pitcher who could be a high-leverage reliever.
While contenders are still shy when it comes to pulling off a deal, the Sox should be agressive in getting those three off their roster because as every day passes, those three trade value could decrease.
Flexen was awful on Friday. While he is not a pitcher who will not likely start a postseason game, he is good enough for a contender to be a fifth-starter upgrade and then throw in long relief.
DeJong can be a power bat off the bench. It just feels like the Sox are either trying to package Pham, DeJong, or Flexen in a Crochet or Robert Jr. deal. Otherwise, they are still asking for too much as those three should be easily traded much like when the Sox moved Robbie Grossman earlier this season. Grossman was terrible at the time he was moved.
The Sox got to get these three veterans off the roster as soon as possible even if it means the Sox will get to 110 losses well before they get to 45 wins.
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