If you think the White Sox roster looks thin now, wait till August and September.
Not exactly oozing players contending teams would find useful for postseason pushes, the 6-25 team that begins a six-game road trip in St. Louis Friday could be even less equipped to win games after the July 30 trade deadline.
The Sox are not contending this season and likely won’t next season, and should be looking to trade what assets they have to bolster a farm system that recently climbed to 18th in the majors per MLB Pipeline.
Unless they dangle All-Star center fielder Luis Robert Jr., potential staff ace left-hander Garrett Crochet and back-end reliever Michael Kopech, who have three, two and one years of contract control remaining, respectively – and a case could be made they should — the Sox’ best trade chip right now looks like right-hander Erick Fedde, who is on the first year of a two-year, $15 million deal. Fedde’s 2.60 ERA with 39 strikeouts and nine walks in seven starts has teams needing starters such as the Yankees watching closely.
Veteran starters Chris Flexen, Brad Keller and Mike Clevinger could fetch prospects depending on performances between now and then.
Teams are always looking for bullpen help, and John Brebbia, Steven Wilson and lefty Tim Hill could have value.
Tommy Pham, batting .375/.375/.583 in six games after being signed to a minor-league deal, was wisely acquired by the Diamondbacks at last year’s deadline and will be on the block again.
Oft-injured designated hitter Eloy Jimenez and third baseman Yoan Moncada, have $16.5 million and $25 million club options next season that won’t be picked up, so they would be expendable, too.
How these players perform and the buying teams will drive the market, which won’t heat up till near the July 20 deadline. But the process begins much sooner.
Last season, then vice president Ken Williams and general manager Rick Hahn embarked on another Sox rebuild by trading Lucas Giolito and Lance Lynn from the starting rotation; Kendall Graveman, Joe Kelly, Reynaldo Lopez and Keynan Middleton from the bullpen; and Jake Burger from the everyday lineup for prospects before the deadline.
The Sox’ return included reliever Jordan Leasure (3.00 ERA) and starter Nick Nastrini, who had one good start and one bad before being sent back to Triple-A Charlotte; catcher Korey Lee, currently tied with Gavin Sheets as the Sox’ top position player per Baseball Reference with 0.4 wins above replacement; Double-A Birmingham catcher Edgar Quero, the Sox’ No. 5 prospect per MLB Pipeline who is batting .274/.353/.521 with five homers in 21 games; lefty Ky Bush (No. 19), who has a 1.27 ERA in four starts at Birmingham; and lefty Jake Eder, 5.12 in four starts for Birmingham.
Hired to replace Williams and Hahn, general manager Chris Getz traded left-handed Aaron Bummer to the Braves in December for five players, and offered up staff ace Dylan Cease all winter before sending him to the Padres for three prospects and major league Wilson two weeks before the regular season.
For Bummer (5.23 ERA in 11 appearances), Getz got infielders Nicky Lopez (.205/.298/.217) and Braden Shewmake (.159/.174/.273), right-hander Michael Soroka (6.48 ERA in seven starts), left-hander Jared Shuster (1.42 ERA in 6 1/3 innings) and Double-A Birmingham righty Riley Gowins (3.98 ERA in four starts).
The early returns for Cease look better. Right-hander Drew Thorpe, the No. 85-ranked prospect, is 4-1 with a 1.20 ERA in five starts at Birmingham, and righty Jairo Iriarte has a 1.46 ERA in five starts for the Barons. Left-handed center fielder Samuel Zavala, 19, is batting .207/.277/.337 at High-A Winston Salem. Thorpe, Zavala and Iriarte are the Sox’ No. 3, 6 and 9-ranked prospects.
The focus on the future is where it’s at. It looks to be far away.
“It takes time,” Getz said. “You look at what we’ve been able to do on the trade market and some of the players we drafted [first round shortstops Colson Montgomery and Jacob Gonzalez and first-round left-hander Noah Schultz] and some players we signed internationally [third baseman Bryan Ramos], there’s been some positives. We have to stay at it.”
NOTE: Right-hander Deivi Garcia cleared waivers and was outrighted to Charlotte.