While we answered a ton of questions in the P.O. Sox-only episode of the Sox Machine Podcast on Monday, we had a bunch of questions that came through Twitter that we couldn't fit into the standard podcast runtime.
That said, they were good questions. Also, with P.O. Sox shifting to weekly Patreon-exclusive posts here on Sox Machine, I figure it'd be worthwhile to take a crack at these questions in public to give a preview of what you'll get for your $2 (or more) a month over the course of the offseason.
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With that business out of the way, let's get to the good stuff.
Depends on how closely you adhere to the phrase "this roster." After 2023, Yasmani Grandal, Lance Lynn and Lucas Giolito are on track to hit free agency, and there aren't yet in-house replacements for them. More generously, 2025 is the last year where Yoán Moncada, Eloy Jiménez and Luis Robert are all under some form of team control (guaranteed contract or option), so that's probably the more common definition.
That said, I'd caution against trying to define any window of contention until we see what the White Sox are willing to spend now that they're reaping some of the rewards of contending. This winter should define their appetite for reinforcing the notion of sustainable success with spending. There's a chance "this roster" doesn't change in meaning, but let's give them the next several months to show one way or the other.
Overall, probably Jerry Reinsdorf hiring Tony La Russa while supposedly keeping everybody in the dark about his DUI charge, which does a lot to cast considerable doubt about how freely Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams can pursue things that might require a bit of sacrifice from the ownership suite.
At the roster level, rushing to sign Adam Eaton instead of letting the market play out. It was such a bad idea! Say what you will about Joc Pederson and Eddie Rosario, but they stood a much better chance of being rosterable all year.
I thought it was a little weird that the strides made by Carlos Rodón and Dylan Cease were chalked up as Ethan Katz success stories, but the failures in the bullpen -- Evan Marshall, Craig Kimbrel, the early inconsistencies of Aaron Bummer and Liam Hendriks -- were chalked up as "relievers be volatile." Both of those interpretations could be largely correct, but it still feels like "success has a thousand fathers, defeat is an orphan," especially when you rope in the lack of development victories in the high minors. Also, the White Sox had plenty of first-hand knowledge of what Cease and Rodón had done wrong, which might give everybody a better idea of what needs to go right.
The Katz administration is still in search of its first external success story, without even modest victories of previous seasons like an immediately useful Jimmy Cordero. Fortunately, a fair amount of that can be chalked up to the incumbents being far more talented now, but I think it's in everybody's interest to keep tabs on what kind of results Katz's pitchers are getting. He gets a point for being somebody besides Don Cooper, but just like a Bed Bath and Beyond coupon, it loses a chunk of its value after the initial window.
Still, the White Sox should feel comfortable giving him projects he deems worth his time. There's a reason he's the pitching coach, right? And, if over time, he shows that he doesn't have much of an eye for talent, there's value in knowing that, too.
It already isn't. Tatis plays the left side of the infield, and can even move to the outfield. Tatis has outhomered Madrigal 79-2, and out-stolen him 52-3. Madrigal's hit tool allows him to do some cool things at the plate, but I think the way his secondary skills failed to materialize made it easier for the White Sox to trade him. I think it's spiritually closer to the Jon Garland trade, where the Cubs felt stupid for giving him away for Matt Karchner with every commendable big-league performance, but it doesn't define a franchise the way Tatis can.
If you can stomach the risk of feeling bad, it's going to be fascinating to track Madrigal next year. There's a chance the Cubs could unlock his defense and make him a real contributor on both sides of the ball. There's also a chance that the hamstring tears are just one of a series of injuries that erodes all of tools besides contact and keeps him from ever making a real impact.
This is why I caution about making the enjoyment of every season hinge on October. White Sox fans can't yet take the postseason for granted, so prematurely fearing what might happen at the managerial level in the postseason seems a few steps beyond that. Sure, I'll keep it in the back of my mind, and it'll move to the front if and when a division title becomes more bankable. For the time being, it can't be assumed, so I'm compartmentalizing and paying more attention to what kind of roster tweaks are made.
It seems like the ideal role for Reynaldo López is the role he occupied this season: a swingman who might be able to steal a win in a spot start, which frees up Michael Kopech for meaningful work in the rotation.
The long reliever has fallen out of favor, as more teams seem willing to rotate two-inning guys between the majors and Triple-A, but it makes sense to keep López's four-to-five-inning abilities intact given the lack of sixth starters in Charlotte. There are better back-end starters out there than López, and there are better relievers than López, but with an arbitration projection of $2.8 million, I'm not sure you can find a better external solution who will accept such uncertainty about his role, whereas López has to take what the White Sox give him.
I'm keeping my eye on the Tigers. After Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene, they don't have any position players to worry about blocking, and I'm thinking moves like hiring A.J. Hinch and signing Jonathan Schoop to a two-year extension aren't done with the idea of punting another year. That doesn't mean they have to push for 2022, but there are four good shortstops on the market that could help them for 2023 (Carlos Correa, Marcus Semien, Corey Seager, Trevor Story), and it's possible that move alone could put them in the offseason lead for good. Throw in some veteran ballast to the rotation and bullpen, and I'm not sure any Central team tops that.
