It finally happened – the White Sox have traded their ace Dylan Cease to a surprising non-contender, the San Diego Padres. However, they received four players back in pitching prospects Drew Thorpe, Jairo Iriarte, outfield prospect Samuel Zavala and reliever Steve Wilson.
Thorpe was just traded from the New York Yankees for LF Juan Soto, so essentially, they gave two of their own prospects, someone else’s prospect, and a random reliever. On the other hand, for two years of control, you get four young, controllable assets in return. They are ranked five-eight in the Padres system, so that is the goal : to trade veteran assets to get future assets. They certainly accomplished this goal, however they could have gotten more back later.
Multiple teams like the Yankees, Toronto, the Mets, Miami and the Giants are missing some of their starters to kick off the season. The White Sox could have let the price go up, which was an issue in the offseason with their price being too high for other teams, but now is the time with the season weeks away. Injuries always happen, so those teams could use replacements if they want to be real playoff contenders. Many teams make crazy trades at the deadline if they think they have a chance – look at this team’s past.
The Padres are not a playoff team. They most likely are going to finish third or fourth due to many holes on the team and only having three good offensive players. Cease does fit in nicely in a rotation containing Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove, but it doesn’t matter in the long run.
Now back to Chicago. Cease is gone, and the reports are Michael Kopech, who is one of their most talented pitchers, is moving to bullpen. If that is true, maybe he could be their closer like the cross-town Cubs did with Adbert Alzolay. Alzolay was also a highly touted prospect, often battling injuries and inconsistencies. That leaves two spots open for this rotation, so the question will be do they have the worst rotation in the AL (Anaheim or Boston) or the whole league?
Erick Fedde went overseas to find work; can he repeat that success here with this rotation? It has been proven, and stated, that Chris Flex is a much better reliever. They did get two pitchers in the Aaron Bummer trade in Michael Soroka and Jared Shuster, but Soroka hasn’t been fully healthy for seasons. Garrett Crochet is coming off Tommy John surgery and should be eased back by being a reliever himself. In camp, they have Jesse Chavez (who is better as a reliever), Jake Woodford (who has only started 18 games), Chad Kuhl (who had an 8.45 ERA last season) and Brad Keller (whose career ERA is over 400). It looks like they want to put stress on a bad bullpen without a closer and by relying on various veterans on both the 40-man and minor league rosters.
The best option is to start Touki Toussiant, who showed promise last season, or turn to free agency. The options in free agency might be too expensive for the likes of Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery, but there are some bargain options too. Easy examples are resigning Mike Clevinger, bringing back Johnny Cuteo, or signing Zach Grienke, Noah Syndergaard or Michael Lorenzen. They can also take a gamble on the likes of Jake Odorizzi (who missed last season due to a shoulder surgery), Trevor Bauer (who has served his suspension/wasn’t convicted of anything) or Julio Urias (who had no charges pursued).
If they do not make any changes, it is going to be a longer season than everyone thought. Most teams rely on innings to be eaten by their rotation, not a bad bullpen. It also puts pressure on the middling offense and an in-over-his-head manager. Someone take us back to the time where these teams were all about pitching and defense so they can be competitive again.
