The Chicago White Sox do not have a lot of valuable players according to their top five in WAR
The Chicago White Sox don't have a lot of great performers but there are a few.
The Chicago White Sox are one of the worst teams in baseball. They made themselves even worse at the trade deadline by shipping out a few roster players.
It's not like these roster players were helping them win all that much. They are 27-84 for a reason. It is one of the greatest disasters in the history of the league.
The Sox didn't trade all of their great players though. They still have a couple of respectable guys on this team who aren't a complete joke.
Following the deadline, these are the team's five leaders according to bWAR...
Chad Kuhl is fifth on the Chicago White Sox in WAR with a 0.6
Having a guy with a 0.6 WAR be the fifth ranked guy on a team shows just how bad this team is. He doesn't have a whole lot of competition but is is there nonetheless.
Kuhl is not at fault for any of this. He is just a reliever trying to continue his MLB career. He spent the first five years of his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates but now he finds himself on this horrible team which is the fourth overall that he's played for.
Right now, Kuhl has an ERA of 3.69 with a WHIP of 1.389. He has 27 strikeouts in 31.0 innings pitched. He isn't this star reliever or anything but he has been solid in his limited innings.
Seeing him in fifth on the White Sox WAR list isn't ideal but that shows just how bad the team is. He isn't part of the future or anything like that but he can be proud of the fact that he has pitched okay on a team this bad.
Luis Robert Jr is fourth on the Chicago White Sox in WAR with a 1.1
Luis Robert Jr. is haivng a terrible season by his standard and he is still one of the five best players on the White Sox in terms of WAR. He is the top position player.
Again, this isn't saying much for a team that has 84 losses before the beginning of August. Robert was a big-time trade candidate but teams didn't want to overpay for a guy that seems sluggish all of the time.
When he isn't sluggish, he is hurt. He was brilliant in 2023 but that magic seems to be gone as fast as it came. It is a shame because he is truly talented too.
Right now, Robert has a slash of .222/.294/.449 for an OPS of .743 with 12 home runs and 25 RBIs and 26 runs scored. His stats certainly don't jump off the page but he is the best position player on the White Sox right now.
Chris Flexin is third on the Chicago White Sox in WAR with a 1.2
Chris Flexin is 2-10 with a 5.13 ERA and 1.424 WHIP. He has 80 strikeouts in 112.1 innings pitched to go with it.
Those are some pretty horrible numbers for a guy who is third on a Major League team in WAR. He has no business being this high on the list but again, the White Sox are truly that bad.
Flexin is 30 years old so it isn't like he is going to come around and reach his true potential any time soon. He is on the White Sox roster because they need a serviceable player to eat innings for them.
Serious teams don't have Chris Flexin as their number three WAR guy and the third guy in the rotation. His stats speak for themselves but he also didn't put himself in this situation. He is certainly a guy that is making the best out of a bad situation.
Jonathan Cannon is second on the Chicago White Sox in WAR with a 1.4
The Chicago White Sox have Jonathan Cannon as their second overall player in terms of WAR. He has a 1.4 through this point of the season.
He hasn't pitched awful or anything like that but he's exactly what you'd expect a team this bad to have as their number two guy in the rotation following the deadline.
Cannon currently has an ERA of 4.11 with a 1.271 WHIP. He isn't much of a strikeout guy as he has 46 over 70.0 innings pitched.
11 of Cannon's 13 appearances this season have come as the starting pitcher. Now that the deadline has passed, you can expect him to be a mainstay in the rotation for the rest of the season. Only time will tell what his future with the organization is.
Garrett Crochet is first on the Chicago White Sox in WAR with a 3.9
Right now, it is fair to say the Chicago White Sox did Garrett Crochet dirty. They didn't trade him to a contender ahead of the 2024 MLB Trade Deadline.
He doesn't want to pitch in the postseason unless he has a contract extension. At least trading him away would have given him that opportunity to find a deal.
Nobody can blame Crochet for feeling the way that he feels. If he blows out his arm again, the chances are that his big payday is never coming.
Crochet is one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball right now. He has a 3.9 ERA. If it goes over five on the worst team in MLB history, it will be one of the most impressive feats the White Sox have ever had in a pitcher.
Nobody denies who the best player on the team is. Crochet's last appearance on a team that won a game was with the American League All-Stars in mid-July.
Entering August, Crochet has a 3.23 record with a 1.006 WHIP. He has 160 strikeouts in 114.1 innings pitched. His innings will likely be limited down the stretch which will keep him away from league leaderboards but his dominance will continue when he is out there.
It is a shame that the White Sox are wasting him. If they were smart, they'd be the team to extend him. You can build around big-time lefties as other teams have shown in the past. Don't expect them to be that smart.
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