Spring training will tell us these 3 things ahead of 2024 White Sox season
Folks, baseball’s spring training is almost upon us! After what seemed like a very long wait, baseball is about to be back, and we will certainly welcome it. Chicago White Sox fans may feel a little down, however. Right now, before the start of the spring training period, the White Sox aren’t looking like a team that’s going to be a contender. Some prognosticators have them sitting at the bottom of the AL Central this year heading into spring’s annual start to baseball.
Right now, it’s difficult to predict just how well the White Sox are going to do as we head into spring training. Some things will get figured out in spring training, as they always are, and hopefully some good things will come out of the toil. Let’s hope that the White Sox can figure some of their issues out and get them solved in spring, as opposed to fighting with them all season. Now, of course, every problem can’t be solved in spring, but it would be nice if they were.
In analyzing the White Sox as they head into spring training, there are a few things that we should be able to “discover” and understand once spring training is over. There are three that stick out.
White Sox pitching will be suspect
Let’s face it, Dylan Cease remains the best pitcher on the team and the other pitchers on the team have left something to be desired. The White Sox don’t have a lot of big-name pitchers, but what they do have are a lot of guys that have done some good but not great things.
Perhaps the most interesting of the group is former Korean Baseball Organization pitcher Erick Fedde. Fedde appears to have the most upside outside of Cease, and could end up being a star for the White Sox. Some of the other guys, like Touki Toussaint and even Michael Kopech, still have a lot to prove and thus make this group suspect.
Kopech is another interesting player that could have a big impact on the White Sox pitching this year if he can stay healthy and get it together. We could see three pitchers that perform well out of the five-man rotation this year. Will that be enough for the White Sox to win games and stay competitive? The team performing competently hinges on their pitching this year. If they can pitch well and keep their pitchers healthy (see Kopech) they may have a decent, although not playoff-worthy, season.
The White Sox will be stuck with Eloy Jimenez
Rumors have surfaced claiming the White Sox tried to offload designated hitter Eloy Jimenez during the offseason, but no one would take him. Jimenez isn’t exactly a lights-out star player and has been somewhat of a thorn in the side of the Sox. He can’t stay healthy, he often appears to lack motivation, and his attitude might need some adjusting. This is a make-or-break year for Jimenez, and if he doesn’t play up to expectations (or ends up hurt again), he could end up going away and not being a White Sox any longer.
But who will take him?
Unless he has a huge spring training, no one is going to want to trade much of anything for Jimenez, so the White Sox will end up being stuck with him when it’s all said and done. Now it would benefit the team in many ways if he was able to step things up and play better than he has. If he can stay healthy and increase his numbers, he just might be someone the Sox trade away and get a good haul for in the future. But my bet is he stays the same old Eloy Jimenez and doesn’t impress in 2024.
Their Full-Time Catcher Will Be….?
The White Sox full-time catcher, when all is said and done at the end of spring training, will be Max Stassi. I know that former Astro Martin Maldonado is the “slicker” option, but Stassi will come out on top and be the guy that the White Sox lean on most of the season. I think that Maldonado will stay on the roster as the backup, however. I just think that Stassi has more to give than Maldonado.
You might be laughing at me for thinking this, but I believe that Stassi has the edge in this one. Plus, he’s a guy that you must pull for after hearing about his more recent life experiences. Not that I am saying that just because a guy is someone that you should pull for, he should be a starter, but Stassi deserves to be. I think it will be an interesting “battle” at catcher between him and Maldonado and will be something to keep an eye on in spring training. But, in the end, Stassi will come out on top.