Once the initial rush -- or the closest thing to it -- of the Elvis Andrus signing faded, it was fair to circle back to Romy González, and why the White Sox pumped him up to such a noticeable extent.
Rick Hahn didn't exactly use the no-brainer nature of a $3 million Andrus to back off. He could've said that Andrus was the only freely available player who stabilized the infield at his price, and, should González start the season in Charlotte, he'll be able to have the kind of developmental experience that injury and illness prevented him from experiencing in 2022. If his World's Best Offseason translates into Charlotte's Best April, they'll be happy to make him an opportunity somehow.
Instead, Hahn maintained González's readiness with a very aggressive comp.
You can dismiss González measuring up to Zobrist in any meaningful way in 2023, but it's noteworthy that Hahn went that lofty route when Leury García is right there.
Unless ... García isn't there?
Pedro Grifol made it sound like García's future isn't as certain as the remaining two years of his ill-advised three-year, $15.5 million deal would have you believe.
First, Grifol also talked up González:
“Everybody’s competing here other than obviously our main guys,” Grifol said. “I’ve been telling Romy all along even before we spoke about Elvis that he needed to make sure he works at other positions. His bat really looks like it’s going to play at some point. The way he runs, he’s athletic, he’s capable of playing multiple positions. I’ve been telling him all along even prior to Elvis that there’s a good opportunity that he becomes a Swiss Army knife.”
And then he issued a murky forecast for the Swiss Army knife already on the roster.
“I’ve seen Leury play for a while. Leury’s a talented player,” Grifol said. “For the most part, everybody’s competing here, other than obviously our main guys. This is spring training, I get it, but there is some competition.”
García is just a year removed from being a valuable supersub with the White Sox's only 2021 postseason highlight with resonance. That said, the year he put forth in 2022 is pretty much impossible to distinguish from what González or Lenyn Sosa would look like if you gave them 315 plate appearances -- .210/.233/.267, two stolen bases, seven walks, 65 strikeouts.
What's fascinating is that García is feeling some heat at the same time that guys like Lance Lynn and Yasmani Grandal can refer to 2021 as a past caused by ... circumstances ... that won't be repeated because Grifol is now in charge. Andrus himself wanted to turn the page as soon as he arrived, even though he's one of the few White Sox who could call it a triumph.
“(The White Sox have) great talent. But I don’t think winning teams have too much to do with talent,” Andrus said. “Every team has a lot of talent. It’s about, ‘How can we play as a team, stay together, everybody pulling the same way instead of each guy trying to do their thing?’ I think that was the only thing I saw lacking towards the end of last year.
“We addressed it already. Pedro, he’s an amazing manager. He’s a really smart coach, and he’ll find a way to get us there. As soon as we all stay together, the talent will take over. And there is a lot of talent on this team.”
I get it, but you could make the argument that among the many players who weren't well-served by the previous administration, Tony La Russa hurt García more than any other individual. We knew going in that La Russa had a favorite utility man at every stop, but even García didn't understand why he played as much as he did in 2022. La Russa insisted that García wasn't a superutility guy, but a starter who played many positions, and he led them both over the ledge trying to prove that point.
It's a miracle that García of all people is the only White Sox left from the first time Rick Hahn tore it down, and considering he has two more years of salary coming his way no matter what, nobody should feel bad if he ends up being the odd man out. The White Sox would have just picked the most confusing way to go about it.
A bench without Leury García
I'm not inclined to think the Sox will be free of García that easily, because they might not want to be. For all they've been hyping González, I'm not sure why they couldn't just call him up in May if García continues to look like toast in April. If you don't know how messy dinner is going to be, then you may as well grab extra napkins.
There are eight fixed starters:
- Yasmani Grandal
- Andrew Vaughn
- Elvis Andrus
- Yoán Moncada
- Tim Anderson
- Andrew Benintendi
- Luis Robert Jr.
- Eloy Jiménez
Let's say Oscar Colás breaks camp with the big-league club, which gets you to nine.
That brings the bench into the conversation. Seby Zavala should be the backup catcher, and Gavin Sheets should be some form of left-handed power, so that's 11.
You could theoretically carry González and García with the last two spots, but similar to the discussion last year with García and Josh Harrison, you don't want to devote finite resources to players who don't do anything particularly well, because the returns diminish fairly rapidly.
The 2021 form of García is valuable by himself, but not because he secretly deserves starting plate appearances. No, his appeal is that he covers six positions by himself, which enables another bench spot to go to a specialist, like Jake Burger for power, or Billy Hamilton for speed and defense, or Jake Marisnick for outfield defense and the occasional homer. If you have one Swiss Army knife, you don't need two Swiss Army knives. You'd rather have one Swiss Army knife and a real pair of scissors, or a full-size screwdriver, or a hand saw.
That's why García and González strike me as mutually exclusive in the big picture. I just wouldn't rush to declare a winner anytime soon, because six of the fixed eight above dealt with injury/conditioning concerns of some sort in 2022. In the small picture, we have to see who gets out of spring training alive.
