I’m spending the morning of the first day after Major League Baseball’s lockout on balky hotel wi-fi before driving several hours home, so it’s hard for me to crank out a comprehensive summary of the White Sox’s unfinished business. Fortunately, James Fegan already did that sort lifting at The Athletic, so read that, then come back.
There's a lot to be made out of the White Sox's holes in right field and second base, because the Sox don't have a viable everyday starter for either, and even possible platoon combinations have holes in their games. But the Sox at least have multiple ways to fill both spots with some degree of credibility for short periods of time. Were the White Sox to sign Michael Conforto, they could focus the remaining position-player energy on a playable backup catcher, and keep an open mind with a few intriguing options for a second baseman who’d be batting ninth no matter what.
But the discussion there is the same as it was before the lockout, because none of the coming changes affect the calculus. With my limited literal and figurative bandwidth, I think it’s worth revisiting another position that changes considerably due to the revised schedule.
If the White Sox are playing 162 games over seven fewer days following a shorter runway of a spring training, the team's starting depth is going to be tested in a way that wasn't factored into the pre-lockout calculations. Some off days will be sacrificed, others dates will turn into doubleheaders, and those will be nine-inning games now.
Back when doubleheaders were seven innings apiece, four strong innings from Michael Kopech felt like five (past the halfway point) or six (three innings remaining). Even rolling with Jimmy Lambert in hopes of a decent three had its uses -- especially so on the road, where a less fortunate outing would remove yet another inning from the equation.
Kopech's penciled into the rotation now. Since he hasn't yet survived a six-month grind, the Sox will be motivated to find rest for him whenever possible. The same can be said for Lance Lynn, who dealt with various aches and pains over the 2021 season, and Dallas Keuchel, who struggled in the second half. There are no inherent reasons to spell Lucas Giolito and Dylan Cease, but given the nature of pitching, some could arise. And because of the lost week, there will be fewer natural opportunities to skip starts or rearrange the rotation.
That means that the White Sox's sixth, seventh and eighth starters are more vital to the smoothness of the season than they were on Dec. 1, and the Sox lack a candidate for regular work. Reynaldo López is a fine option for emergency starts and not so much for regular turns ... yet that's also more than can be said about Lambert or Jonathan Stiever. The former hasn't shown the ability to make it beyond one time through. The latter had an infinite ERA at the MLB level to open his 2021, and lat surgery to end his minor-league season.
The combination of five good options and little behind them creates a conundrum for finishing the picture. There are only a couple of starters on the open market worth relegating Kopech to bullpen work, and neither Carlos Rodón nor Clayton Kershaw seem likely (update: Rodón signed later this day with the Giants). Lesser free agents might be hard to sell on the Sox, because any stumbles could put them on a swingman’s path.
That leaves the path the White Sox chose in 2006. Brandon McCarthy was supposed to inherit Orlando Hernandez’s rotation spot to complement four veterans, and that would’ve been perfectly defensible. Kenny Willliams sought a more stable option to offset the toll that 2005 took on the rotation, and he traded for Javier Vazquez instead, which shoved McCarthy to the bullpen for another year.
The plan worked in a way, and didn’t in another. The White Sox’s top five starters made 30 or more starts, and José Contreras brought up the rear with an innings total that would’ve led the American League in 2021 with 196, but they all provided more quantity than quality. Still, it was probably better than standing pat with McCarthy, who struggled to survive a full season’s worth of innings in subsequent years with subsequent organizations.
It’s hard to see the White Sox having the resources to trade for a Chris Bassitt, but given that Williams and Rick Hahn are still in the building, it wouldn’t surprise me if they chose that route again, especially since one wrong turn through the rotation could be a lot more costly with a far less forgiving schedule. I don’t think one more starter ranks higher on the board than a right fielder or a second baseman, but I think it creeps ahead of a right fielder and a second baseman.
