Not only did the White Sox miss out on the postseason by 26 games, but the phrase "if the postseason began today" didn't even apply to them in April. Once Jake Diekman gave up a bases-clearing double to Yordan Alvarez on March 31, the Sox were never in a wild card position the rest of the way.
One byproduct of the White Sox's utter irrelevance is that I'm really looking forward to watching baseball this month. I've long preferred the regular-season brand of baseball, which rewards depth and keeps most of the focus on individual performances instead of managerial decisions. However, now that I'm free from having to log the White Sox's logs and the pitch clock will keep games under 4 hours, I'm back in, baby.
If you somehow find yourself missing the White Sox, you can try to scratch that itch by paying closer attention to the guys who used to play for them.
American League
Houston Astros
On a personal level, José Abreu's 2023 season was a major disappointment that foreshadows tough times ahead over the remaining two years of his deal. He hit.237/.296/.383 with 18 homers, and that last number is somewhat a relief considering he had one homer through May. Even when he seemed to be heating up, it was only relative. September was his best month from an OPS perspective, and even then he hit just .237 with a .299 OBP. He just happened to compensate with seven homers and 28 RBIs over 26 games.
And yet there he is in the photo above, celebrating. Abreu might be paid front-line money, but he doesn't have to be a front-line player. He's in an offense with Kyle Tucker, Yordan Alvarez, Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve (when healthy), and increasingly productive randos like Yainer Diaz and Chas McCormick. This is what was supposed to happen in Chicago, but nobody took the reins, and when Abreu left them, nobody bothered to pick them up. He can settle into that Joe Carter Mode where he drives in 100 RBIs a year, more or less, and leaves fans to argue whether that overrules all the other ghastly stats. Good for him. He'd already served his time.
As for Kendall Graveman, this is his second half-season in Houston, and the second one where he started walking a ton more guys after the trade. He's issued 16 of them against 24 strikeouts over 22⅓ innings. He's been better as of late, but he's also been handled with care due to back and hip issues. He didn't pitch on consecutive days in September, and he only pitched on one day's rest once. Bryan Shaw has no idea how Graveman sleeps at night.
As for Sousa, I lost track of him after the Sox waived him, as the Astros are his fifth organization in 2023 alone. Yet there he is, throwing 6⅓ scoreless innings, allowing just one hit. The cruelty is that he's not eligible for the postseason roster because Houston claimed him in September.
Texas Rangers
Dunning regressed over the course of the 2023 season, but it was quiet and gentle enough to preserve a banner season in all regards. Dunning set career bests across the board while going 12-7 with a 3.70 ERA over 172⅔ innings. The Rangers may come out ahead on the Lance Lynn trade when all is said and done, but the White Sox don't seem like they would've benefited from Dunning's personal arc. He might've just gotten good enough to be traded.
As for Semien, he led the American League in games played, runs, hits and position-player WAR (7.4), so he's rewarded the Rangers for spending their way back into contention.
Toronto Blue Jays
Bassitt, Semien's trademate from Chicago to Oakland, delivered handsomely during the first year of his three-year, $63.6 million deal. The guy who didn't much beyond a swingman before his Tommy John surgery in 2017 led the American League with 16 wins and 33 starts while throwing exactly 200 innings. He's tabbed to start Game 3 of the Wild Card series if it gets that far.
Baltimore Orioles
Conversely, McCann never came close to living up to the four-year, $40 million contract he signed with the Mets after his neat, sweet two years with the White Sox, but he's only being paid $3 million by the Orioles, who let the Mets pay three-quarters of his salary. Without his salary looming over the proceedings, McCann has settled into a Chase Daniel role behind Adley Rutschman.
Tampa Bay Rays
Such was the White Sox's ineptitude that Jake Diekman could only validate Rick Hahn's faith in trading for him after Hahn designated him for assignment. He pretty much immediately resumed being effectively wild, and he rolls into October having allowed one unearned run over his last 16 appearances. Joe Kelly made it sound pretty simple:
“Diekman did it, went from worst to first,” Kelly said. “[The Rays] put in some work with him and said, ‘Stop throwing your sinker and cutter, throw your four-seamer and breaker only, throw two pitches instead of four.’ Now he’s throwing more strikes.
“I talked to him, and that’s all he’s done, throwing four-seamers down the middle and breaking balls instead of sinkers and cutters. They simplified it.”
Minnesota Twins
Nobody. And that feels right.
National League
Miami Marlins
My heart sank for Jake Burger when his departed a game against the Mets on Sept. 20 with quad tightness, but it turned out to be a false alarm. After a few days, he was back delivering very important hits, like a three-run homer against the Brewers or a game-winning single against the Pirates. Burger ended up hitting .303/.355/.505 over his first 53 games with the Marlins, although he once again stopped walking. It's like he tried it in July and didn't really care for it. He'll be the biggest individual rooting interest for a majority of White Sox fans this October, as every big hit reinforces the sense that the Burger trade will be Kenny Williams' parking meters deal.
As for the others, Cueto probably wouldn't have helped the Sox even if he wanted to come back (6.02 ERA, barely crossed 50 innings), so it's better that he can be only remembered fondly, closer to McCann than Elvis Andrus. The Marlins are Robertson's seventh different team since the White Sox traded him in 2017. He didn't fare well as Miami's closer, but he's been better in setup work down the stretch. Jon Jay is a coach on the Marlins. I just wanted to mention that.
Los Angeles Dodgers
Lance Lynn was better with the Dodgers than he was with the White Sox, but he still gave up 16 homers over 64 innings, bringing the grand total to 44 over 183⅔ innings. After experiencing immediate success with One Weird Trick (abandoning his cutter), he ended up posting a 6.23 ERA over his final seven starts, with a couple late-season quality starts coming against the dead-in-the-water Giants. He'll open the postseason on the bereavement list, and it's unclear whether he'll be in Los Angeles' postseason plans afterward.
Kelly missed a month after the trade due to elbow issues, but he hasn't allowed a hit over his last six appearances, allowing a walk while striking out 10. Like Graveman, he isn't pitching on consecutive days, so we'll see how he holds up over October usage patterns. Nick Nastrini is off to a fine start in the White Sox organization, so there's no reason to rue this deal.
Philadelphia Phillies
Kimbrel has achieved a unique equilibrium in his mid-30s as an unsteady closer. He'll lead a team in saves -- he recorded 23 over 71 games for the Phillies -- but each year presents a flaw that causes managers to second-guess themselves. With the Dodgers, Kimbrel struggled against lefties and seldom pitched on consecutive days. Here, he's given up 10 homers over 69 innings, and opponents stole 12 bases in 12 attempts.
Arizona Diamondbacks
Atlanta Braves
Milwaukee Brewers
Unless you count Alek Thomas, you're better off saying "none" and considering your Postseason Pick'em Challenge picks.
