Grading 3 Chicago White Sox offseason moves after the start of the 2024 season
There were so many offseason moves, so let's look at three that will impact the team's future.
The Chicago White Sox made a bevy of moves this offseason to prepare their club for the future.
There were so many, it’s hard to count. The pitching rotation is brand new. There is veteran leadership on the defensive side of the ball that should help. The White Sox batting leaves a little something to be desired but it will get better.
There were three that come to mind as being significant so far. One of them is glaringly obvious while the other two, although somewhat seemingly small right now, may pay dividends in the future.
In fact, they will pay dividends.
This team is seemingly on a road to nowhere. However, the moves that they made this offseason, in particular the three that we are going to look at, may have set their ship sailing towards better waters. You have to look through the moves and see the why behind them.
There is always something positive to look at in a crisis like the White Sox are going through right now. The Sox are going to be heading in the right direction sometime down the road. It will happen folks, it’s just going to take time.
Hopefully fans are patient.
So, without further delay, let’s take a look at the three offseason moves the White Sox made to help enhance the team, grading each one appropriately.
Dylan Cease Trade gets a B.
This was the biggest offseason move that the White Sox made. They had pretty much gutted much of their pitching staff and it made sense for them to try to get as much out of the star pitcher as they could. Now the jury is still out on the guys they got in return for Cease but the move itself made sense.
Why not an A? Why not an F? As stated, the move made sense for a team that was trying to get as much out of some of its current players as possible.
The White Sox get a B for the players that they got. At first, some people weren’t high on the players that they got but now that emotions have settled and these guys have had some time to show us a little bit, things might not be so bad.
Having Cease was a luxury. He was a great player on a bad team and quite frankly, it made little sense for the White Sox to keep him. Getting as much out of him as they possible could was what was needed and it’s great that they were able to get it before he got hurt or played poorly (in the regular season).
Moving Garrett Crochet to the Starting Rotation gets an A.
This one was a no-brainer. This one gets an A because the White Sox had the forward thinking to put Crochet in as a starter knowing, we assume, that he would do well.
And he has not disappointed anyone.
Barring injury, it’s hard to not see Crochet do a great job this season. One would suspect he would be the best of the starting rotation at least until Mike Clevinger comes along.
Even then, Crochet could still be the top of the lineup. It’s likely that he will be.
Health will be the biggest factor for Crochet. He’s struggled with that over the last few seasons. But if he can stay healthy he should be a great addition to the starting rotation and could end up being an all-start or even a Cy Young Award candidate before it’s all said and done. Some might think that’s a little far fetched but if Crochet continues his fine play, anything is possible.
It is a B- for the return in the Aaron Bummer trade.
The Chicago White Sox traded away reliever Aaron Bummer to the Atlanta Braves early in the year and got quite a decent return for him. What did they get? They got infielders Braden Shewmake and Nicky Lopez and three pitchers, Jared Shuster, Mike Soroka and Riley Gowens. Of those players, three of them are starters with the club at this time.
So far, Shewmake has impressed a bit at shortstop while Lopez is the starter at second base. He doesn’t have the best bat in the world but he’s holding his own as a fielder.
Soroka has started two games with a record of no wins and one loss. His ERA is 4.91 as he has allowed six earned runs including two home runs. Not great, by any means, but still just being able to be a starting pitcher and fill a spot in the rotation helps.
If Shewmake can continue playing well and Lopez improves a bit this trade could be considered a win. Right now, this trade gets a B- because we haven’t seen a lot of these players just yet. But we will and hopefully, they do well this year.
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