In the same conference call where Chris Getz said the White Sox will attempt to stretch out Garrett Crochet as a starter, he discussed a couple other items of news not involving Dylan Cease that Vinnie Duber helpfully relayed in the most detail.
Chris Flexen's role is the most noteworthy of what we couldn't be sure about, just because at one year and $1.75 million, his salary is in the at-least-it's-a-major-league-deal territory that got Paul DeJong to bite. That could be starter money, but that could also be long reliever money, or "do as you're told" money.
Getz said he expects Flexen to be in the rotation and provide starter innings, and Brian Bannister has some adjustments in mind:
“When we go through our assessment for arms that we feel can help our club, going back to even Erick Fedde, using Brian Bannister and our acquisition team, we try to identify some things in their arsenal, or it could be a mechanic, that we feel like we can bring those players in here, improve them and get them out there and make them be productive major league players,” Getz said. “Chris Flexen, his pitch attack, some mechanical adjustments needed to be made. We’re on the same page and look forward to watching that play out.”
The White Sox have a fair amount of arms to absorb starts, and hopefully innings to go along with it.
- Dylan Cease
- Erick Fedde
- Mike Soroka
- Chris Flexen
- Michael Kopech
- Touki Toussaint
- Jared Shuster
- Jesse Scholtens
Maybe Shane Drohan takes some opener opportunities if he hangs around as a Rule 5 pick, Then maybe Davis Martin gets thrown back in the mix after recovering from Tommy John surgery, Cristian Mena, Nick Nastrini and Jake Eder make their MLB debuts at some point, and hell, maybe Crochet shocks the world. That's not a rotation that can be expected to hold up its end of the bargain for contending, but that's a decent amount of options to cross days off the calendar. At least looking at it a month before spring training. If nothing breaks the White Sox's way, they could run through all their options by the end of May.
The position-player side of the equation is where Getz's credibility is going to get stretched.
He completed a rite of passage for White Sox general managers when he said the White Sox are "looking to add" a right fielder, but there's no way to present the incumbent situation favorably.
“We have some internal candidates,” Getz said, “but we aren’t ready to establish who is going to be in right field at this point.”
The White Sox entered 2023 with the worst projected performance in right field, then went out and posted the worst production from any single position. FanGraphs said White Sox right fielders combined for -2.2 WAR, the only individual position to breach -2 WAR.
Getz has to say something to answer the question, and it doesn't do him any good to call right field a chasm of despair, but here's a case where action is required to ultimately answer the question to a satisfactory degree. If he somehow lands a MLB-ready rookie like Heston Kjerstad, then it didn't matter how he described the situation on Jan. 9. If he's counting on non-roster invitees to supplement last year's mess, then he shouldn't even bother trying to spin it.
That tension is simmering under the bigger picture as well. Duber relayed Getz's attempt to describe what the offense could look like when he hasn't prioritized it, and if all the improvement is coming from the White Sox's third set of hitting coaches in three years, then it's pretty grim.
Tuesday, Getz placed the emphasis on what a new-look coaching staff – Marcus Thames and Mike Tosar replaced José Castro and Chris Johnson as hitting coaches – and new leadership in the front office can do to improve the team’s hitters.
“We look forward to getting everyone out there and establishing what we’re going to be moving forward,” Getz said. “It starts with putting together quality at-bats, understanding certain situations…. (Players) need to understand the value of having that awareness and carrying out that plan on a consistent basis. And being even-keeled, not being too high when things are going well or too low when there are struggles."
White Sox Baseball: We're Trying Not to Freak Out.
