And there’s only one category where they can go
News the White Sox optioned to Charlotte both Andrew Vaughn (five years too late) and Tim Elko (at least a month too soon) conjures up the vision of a defensive alignment that calls for pitchers to run over to first base really, really quickly on every ground ball. The Sox lack the creativity for that, though, so they’ll probably just have Lenyn Sosa play first more, which improves the defense at both first, where Vaughn is a horror show, and second, where Sosa is terrible. (In the first game after the moves, Miguel Vargas started at first, thereby making the D at third much worse with Josh Rojas there, which is as typical a White Sox move as you can get.)
Bringing up both Andrew Benintendi and Mike Tauchman from rehab assignments in Charlotte would appear to make for a crowded outfield, unless Will Venable does get creative and takes my old suggestion to move Benintendi to first, thereby improving left field defense a whole bunch. Doubt that will happen, though.
Of course, the outfield is only seriously overcrowded if Bob Nightengale proves once again to be Jerry Reinsdorf’s typist and they really do trade Luis Robert Jr. by Memorial Day. Even Luis admits he has no trade value any more (ah, the opportunity missed at the end of 2023). Teams are unlikely to be searching for a chance to pay the rest of Robert’s $15 million salary to a good-field, no-hit, short-end-of-a-platoon center fielder/pinch runner — that short end coming against lefties, where his batting average is more than twice what it is against righties (you read that right) with a very good, .286/.388/.452 slash line. But, what the heck, maybe some GM will go brain-dead for an hour or two and offer up a slightly used hot dog bun in a swap.
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Robert is the only realistic trade bait among veteran position players (forget about all the dumpster-dive rentals), and all the young position players being desperately needed because there aren’t enough of them worth anything to fill out a lineup card. Well, except for catchers, a nice situation due to which the Sox should get a middling prospect for whomever gets determined to be surplus to requirements. But what the White Sox really have to do to have any future while you-know-who is still alive is bite the bullet, or at least the resin bag, and look moundward.
WHAT? TRADE A PITCHER? YOU NUTS?
Hey, a team’s gotta do what a team’s gotta do. Trading from strength is generally a good idea, especially a strength that’s bound to be desirable to every single other team.
The Sox have four young, controllable starters who have been in the rotation and mostly doing well, two potential stars working their way up in Noah Schulz and Hagen Smith, and some others in the upper minors who have MLB possibilities as well.
Sure, some will get injured, quite possibly even need Tommy John. As the saying goes, you never can have too much pitching. But when you have a team so desperately in need of skills at so many positions, you have to take that chance.
Chase Meidroth should really be playing second, and about the only person who still thinks Colson Montgomery is a major-league capable shortstop is Colson — well, maybe also his mom. No team, not even one where short is blocked by a star on a long-term contract, is giving up a good shortstop prospect who’s nearly ready for the show for Robert or any other non-pitcher on the White Sox. Heck, not even for the whole non-pitcher roster. But for a reliable starting pitcher? Quite possible. Same goes for outfielders.
If a starting pitcher is to be traded, it should be soon. Of the four in the majors, only Jonathan Cannon threw more than 94 innings last year. The other three are already more than halfway to their 2024 totals (major and minor league), with Davis Martin only 15 innings shy of that mark. That raises a strong likelihood they’ll tire down the stretch, so any acquiring team will want to have control of their workload as early as possible in order to plan usage out the way they want to. Nobody will want a pitcher the Sox have already run into the ground for 2025.
It’s unfortunate, but the White Sox need to trade a starting pitcher, for whom they’ll get good players in return. It’s either that, or hope Robert suddenly remembers how to hit or some GM somehow decides spending tens of millions of dollars on Benintendi is a good idea.