6 White Sox trade candidates that can be had by July 1

The starting pitchers

There are lots of starting pitchers that the Chicago White Sox can move.

The White Sox pitching staff has not functioned as a very solid unit to kick off the 2023 campaign. While (somehow) they lead the entire major leagues in strikeouts, there have also been some serious concerns about control and the sheer amount of baserunners they're allowing to reach base.

Two starters fall under the category of rentals, and they are both dynamic, top-of-the-rotation types of pitchers: Lucas Giolito and Mike Clevinger.

Giolito, 28, has been up and down since joining the White Sox prior to the 2017 season, but he's in the midst of a solid season for them in 2023.

The former All-Star and three-time AL Cy Young vote-getter has made 15 starts this year and has a 5-4 record, 3.54 ERA, 4.28 FIP, and 123 ERA+. Around the rumor mill, he has been considered one of the top available starters in the market, and Rosenthal's comments cement that thought.

Throughout his eight-year big league career, Giolito has always done a great job at being both a strikeout pitcher and a groundball pitcher at the exact same time.

He has always been right around 10 K/9, especially since breaking out in 2019, and has inducted groundballs at a rate of 33 percent or higher in every single season of his career.

He has done an excellent job of keeping his team in the ballgame whenever he takes the mound and would be a great addition to any club in need of one more starter.

Then there's Clevinger, who comes with a team option for a second season, but also has quite a bit more baggage as a person. Over this past offseason, MLB underwent an investigation against him in which some pretty nasty allegations were made against him.

While he did not miss any time during the regular season, there's reason to believe this may have stained his name a bit.

While battling through his off-the-field issues and a few injuries this year, the 32-year-old has actually been a fairly decent starter. In 12 outings, he is 3-4 with a 3.88 ERA, 4.89 FIP, and a 113 ERA+.

While he no longer appears to be one of the more promising starters in the game, he has still done a solid job of stringing together competitive outings. His potential extra year of team control may add to his value a bit, but he still will not have as long of a list of teams eyeing him as Giolito will.

The relief pitchers

The relief pitchers that the White Sox have can be moved soon.

This year's relief pitching corps has been dreadful for the White Sox, and there's really no way around that. As things currently stand, the club's relievers have combined to post a 4.68 ERA, which is fifth-lowest in the major leagues.

In Rosenthal's piece, there are two relief pitchers who are named as potential trade chips from the Sox: Reynaldo López and Keynan Middleton.

López, 29, seemingly found his groove over the past few years once he began to focus more on relieving than starting.

In 2021, he had a 128 ERA+ in 20 outings, which he followed up with a highly impressive 2022 performance. Last year, he had a sparkling 2.76 ERA and 1.93 FIP across 61 outings and 65.1 innings pitched.

Things have not gone smoothly for him to kick off the current campaign, and López has actually been one of the more inconsistent and unreliable relievers in the game.

In 33 appearances, he has a 5.52 ERA and an ERA+ of just 80, which suggests he's been 20 percent worse than the league average this year. This does not necessarily mean that all hope is gone, though, as he has been striking out batters at a much higher rate than he ever has before in his eight-year career.

At this point, Middleton may have higher trade value than López does, which is not something anybody had on their bingo cards at the beginning of the 2023 season.

Middleton, 29, hasn't been a solid reliever since all the way back in the 2017-2019 range when he was with the Angels. Now, the right-hander has been one of the more reliable arms in the White Sox bullpen.

In 26 games this year, he has a sparkling 1.80 ERA and 245 ERA+. He has found his swagger again and is striking out a ton of batters while surrendering way fewer hits and home runs than he has in years past.

The position players

There are some position players worth trading for the White Sox.

Finally, we have the position players. A group highlighted by the likes of Luis Robert Jr., Andrew Vaughn, Tim Anderson, and Eloy Jiménez should not be struggling as mightily as they have been this year, but yet here we are.

While none of those four are pending free agents, the White Sox do have infielder Elvis Andrus and catcher Yasmani Grandal on hand as players who fit that mold.

Between the two of them, it's difficult to find any way that Andrus has more value than Grandal does at this point. Andrus, 34, was brought back to the White Sox after a solid 43-game showing last year, but he's looking like a shell of the player he once was.

In 50 games this year, Andrus has just one home run with 13 runs driven in, posting a .195 average, .520 OPS, and ghastly 45 OPS+. He's been one of the worst run producers in the game this year and one has to imagine that his trade value is closer to zero than ever before.

Then there's Grandal, who is finally beginning to look like a major league player at the plate. The switch-hitter had a dreadful offensive season last year, but he has already hit five home runs with 18 RBI in 58 games this year.

Along the way, he has raised his batting average all the way up to .268 with an OPS+ of 99, which is 35 ticks higher than it was in 2022.

What complicates things a bit for the 34-year-old is the fact that his defense has gone way downhill. Grandal ranks near the bottom of the league in Pop Time to 2B and Framing, which are two of the most important statistics used to measure a catcher's defensive prowess.

While he is a respected veteran behind the plate, he has been so awful this season that it's almost worth wondering if a team in contention brings him aboard as a designated hitter rather than a legitimate catching option.