The Chicago White Sox have a little bit of an issue on their hands coming about. They are faced with the fact that they have both Yoan Moncada, freshly back from a long injury stint, and Jake Burger at third base.
The issue is they are both talented and both worthy of being in the lineup but of course, only one of them can play at a time at third base.
Which one will it be?
Both bring their own unique qualities to the lineup. Moncada is a better fielder than Burger but Burger is the better and more powerful hitter. Burger tends to stay healthier more than Moncada who has suffered greatly (to stay healthy) over the past few seasons.
In this scenario, if the White Sox are all about offense, they are going to want to choose Burger to be the guy that they utilize to get that offense.
But Moncada does have some perks on offense and can hit the ball effectively and consistently. He doesn’t have the power that Burger has but he can be an asset scoring runs.
The Chicago White Sox have some decisions to make with third base.
We saw something that the White Sox tried in their first game against the Cubs last week. They put Moncada at third and placed Burger at second base. The experiment went ok, both seemed to do well at their new positions.
On offense, Moncada actually had one RBI while striking out twice. He almost had a grand slam as well. Burger struck out once in three plate appearances not doing much to help his team score runs. But the White Sox wanted them both in the lineup and that’s what they got.
Is this a preview of what we might be seeing in the future with Moncada at third and Burger at second?
It’s possible unless the White Sox bring in someone from the outside to handle their woes at second base. Then what would they do with Burger?
They can’t make him the designated hitter for every game (or nearly every game). They have Eloy Jimenez for that.
Trading Burger could be an option but that leaves them with the perpetually injured Moncada who is just a slight slip away from being hurt. If they were to trade Burger, they would lose a very capable backup and one of the best hitters on the team.
It’s tough to tell which option is the right one for the White Sox right now. Both Burger and Moncada are fully capable players able to hit the ball and play good defense.
I think that the solution of putting Burger at second base, while it may not be a great long-term solution, could be the solution that the White Sox go with for the rest of the season. Then, this offseason, they can figure out what to do with this situation.
Hopefully, the White Sox's future includes both of them in some capacity on the team. They are both valuable assets to the batting lineup and on defense.
Without Burger, the White Sox wouldn’t have won a handful of the games they won this season. And if Moncada can stay healthy, the White Sox will have a weapon that they can use to their advantage to score runs and win games.