The White Sox’s rebuild compares favorably to where the cross-town Cubs were five years ago, Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune writes. The White Sox already have Tim Anderson, Carlos Rodon, Yoan Moncada, Luis Robert, Michael Kopech, Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez, all of whom could still be with the club several years from now. (The newly signed Robert, by the way, recently reported to the White Sox’ Dominican Summer League team.) Of course, the White Sox have already traded a number of key pieces, including Chris Sale and Adam Eaton, and they aren’t likely to perform as badly as the 2012 Cubs did, meaning they won’t have access to some of the draft picks the Cubs received (including the No. 2 overall pick in 2013, which netted them Kris Bryant). And obviously, a good start to a rebuild doesn’t always lead to the sort of success the Cubs have had. But the number of premium talents the White Sox already have in place would appear to put them in good position overall. Here’s more from the Central divisions.
- Andrew McCutchen’s struggles this season could potentially leave the Pirates with a decision about whether to exercise his $14.5MM 2018 option (which comes with a $1M buyout), Travis Sawchik of FanGraphs writes. That call wouldn’t have seemed like a difficult one even after McCutchen’s lackluster 2016 season, but after a modest .232/.313/.419 start in 2017, it perhaps seems possible now. The Pirates could also consider dealing him at the deadline after keeping him over the winter. McCutchen did recently make a mechanical adjustment and is batting .394/.500/.727 over the past two weeks, and he could change his outlook entirely with more of that kind of hitting. Of course, the evidence that he can continue to hit so well after over a year of mediocre work at the plate is still a bit limited, and as Sawchik suggests, the Pirates are running out of time to figure out what to do with him.
- The Royals have announced that they’ve recalled righty Jake Junis from Triple-A Omaha and optioned fellow righty Seth Maness to Omaha. Junis will start tonight against the Astros; the Royals’ rotation has struggled lately with injuries to Danny Duffy and Nate Karns, and will now lean on Junis, who has a strong 2.34 ERA, 12.1 K/9 and 1.7 BB/9 in 42 1/3 innings in Omaha thus far this season. (Junis has also already made three appearances in the big leagues, striking out six but walking seven over 6 2/3 innings.) Maness briefly pitched for Omaha earlier this season while he was returning from injury, but this will be the first time he’s been optioned to Triple-A since the Cardinals first selected his contract in 2013. He’s allowed five runs, four earned, while striking out four and walking two in 9 2/3 innings with the Royals this season.
That’s an impressive crop of young players that CHW has stockpiled. It could be even better which is scary, if they didn’t trade for Shields last year they would still have Tatis Jr. to add to that mix along with Frankie Montas and Trayce Thompson if the Frazier trade wasn’t made.
I believe Trayce Thompson is a career 4th OF/platoon bat. Not a bad thing but not someone who I think the Sox will miss long-term. Don’t think they will miss Montas either.
Wit respect to the White Sox being compared to the Cubs, we’ll see. They’d need to be on the right side of their trades for that to happen and have a laughable trade (to compare to the Shark for Addison Russel trade) , a have a lottery ticket turn into a gold mine (Arrieta) and have a few home grown prospects to round it out.
I feel like one can argue that they’re off to a better start talent-wise (I’m saying comparing year 1 of Cubs rebuild to year 1 of White Sox rebuild) and have/had better pieces to deal away (Cubs did get lucky on a few deals like the Arrieta one, who almost ended up with the White Sox in a deal that summer (story for another time of course)).
A lot of those guys like Russell, Schwarber, Bryant, Arrieta trade were after year 1 in the rebuild.
We will see if these guys actually pan out though.
My point of this post is: not a terrible start to the rebuild.
I agree. The Astros didn’t have that kind of talent until year three of their rebuild.
the sox are off to a faster and better start to the rebuild than the cubs and we only traded 2 players. We have more assets than the cubs did. and have many more.
They have to find some gems when they trade guys like Holland, Gonzalez, Robertson, Frazier, Melky. Just like the Cubs did with some of the rentals they dealt away.
I don’t think they need “gems” when they trade these guys. They have more talent now than the Cubs did in Yr 1 of their rebuild, so they don’t need a similar level of talent coming in on future deals to have the same overall talent. Besides, Holland, Gonzalez, Swarzak, and Jones (if he comes back well from injury) are the only players who might return someone of even moderate value. Robertson’s contract is too pricey for his occasional meltdowns, Frazier can’t get on base, and Melky is awful in the field. Those guys are mostly salary dumps. Quintana, should he start pitching like he has the past four years, is their last real chance to get a difference-making prospect, since the market for power hitters like Abreu is weak.
Agreed, although I would prefer the White Sox hang on to Jose Abreu, at least in the short term to mentor fellow Cuban Yoan Moncada later this summer as he had during spring training. That being said, it really only takes one team in need to create a market and last I checked the Yankees production at first base was quite “offensive”.
According to the following link: (pinstripealley.com/2017/5/26/15695532/yankees-firs…) as of May 25th, they ranked last at 1B in wRC+ (71), 25th in HR’s (5), and last in BA (.177). Their first baseman also had fanned in 34.2% of their PA’s.
Jose Abreu’s current numbers of 1o HR’s, 31 RBI’s and triple slash of .279/.333/.475 look pretty appealing in comparison, and this after a very poor April for the White Sox slugger.
If the Sox got some more OF prospects, of which the Yankees have plenty, maybe something could be worked out. There’s the possibility of the Yankees also being interested in Quintana, but I don’t know if the Yankees have the prospects to get both since they won’t part ways with Judge and Torres seems off-limits, too. Still, with the Yankees just starting their competitive window, they’ll still be good when the White Sox open theirs. Not sure the Sox would ideally trade with someone to make their road to the WS even harder than it would already be. Their best trade partners are win-now teams, like the Nationals and Red Sox.
I’d like a deal centered around Clint Frazier personally (IF Q starts pitching great). Yankees have Ellsbury for 4 more years and Judge should be a lock for a corner spot. Also, a lot of people like to speculate that they will go after Harper. They also have Rutherford and Fowler in the pipeline and any young infielder that may be potentially blocked in the infield at that time.
You might want to check out the article, MLB Metrics 101: The Biggest Trade Needs for Each MLB Contender. bleacherreport.com/articles/2714016-mlb-metrics-10…
It’s a very comprehensive look into contender needs. The White Sox have a bevy of veterans available to help solve most all of them, be it starting pitching, relievers, 1B, 3B, LF or DH.
The only problem with the white sox is that they dont have good coaches in their minors they all suck hopefully that doesnt screw the players developement
The single biggest difference between the Cubs and White Sox rebuild appears to be pitching. The Cubs prioritized positional players with advanced hit tools in the June Rule 4 draft while the White Sox have continued to concentrate on adding advanced college arms to their system.
The White Sox did select an advanced college bat in catcher Zack Collins with their first #1 pick last June but then turned to college arms with their second first rounder (Zack Burdi) and #2 selection (Alec Hansen). Later on, the White Sox selected a couple more college bats in OF’s Alex Call and Jameson Fisher, each of whom are now ranked among their top 16 prospects.
The White Sox continued to prioritize pitching with their two blockbuster trades last December that kicked off their rebuild. All three prospects received from the Nationals for OF Adam Eaton were pitchers as were 2 of the 4 from the Red Sox for P Chris Sale. Of course, one of the key figures the organization received for their former ace was 2B Yoan Moncada who is currently ranked as MLB.com’s #1 prospect. The recent signing of the top 2016-2017 international FA, CF Luis Robert, also adds a significant piece to a system still shy of elite positional players who can hit.
I would anticipate the White Sox to continue their recent trend of improving their farm system with advanced bats. I expect they will draft another college bat with the #11 overall pick in next week’s amateur draft and also concentrate on offensive players in trades as the non-waiver deadline approaches next month.
Agreed. I think they end up taking a college bat with the #11 pick on Monday, target a top hitter in a Q deal (I don’t think he gets dealt this season anymore unless he starts pitching normal up until 7/31), and they should be drafting top 5 next year so hopefully they take the best bat available at that time as well.
I don’t think a team goes into the draft “prioritizing” a specific type of player (hitter or pitcher). The draft is more about taking the best available player on the board, and only if it’s a close call do you pick whatever you think best suits the team’s future needs. Trades, on the other hand, are where teams choose to prioritize hitters over pitchers, or vice versa.
“The draft is more about taking the best available player on the board, and only if it’s a close call do you pick whatever you think best suits the team’s future needs.”
You just perfectly described “prioritizing” specific types of players in the draft… It doesn’t mean taking whichever option you choose no matter what. Obviously teams aren’t going to take a hitter over a significantly better pitcher (or vice versa), but when multiple players are close on their board (which normally happens outside of the top 3-5 or so), many of them will absolutely prioritize one aspect over the other…
In regards to this draft for the White Sox, there are quite a few options that I’d be happy with, and they are mostly hitters unless a top pitcher drops.
A lot of guys can change positions given enough time, so position is not necessarily prioritized, save for perhaps pitchers vs fielders. It’s the tools that really matter, and I think some teams absolutely prioritize different things when they look at prospects. For years, the Royals went with speed and good contact hitting over power; they won a WS with that combination. The Rockies seem to value good hitting and power over pitching. It’s about what kind of team you want to be. That said, if there’s a clear best player available, most teams would abandon their prioritization to take that player.
I hope so. The last advanced bat they developed was…Magglio Ordonez? It’s been a long time since they’ve drafted and developed a good hitter. Hoping Collins works out, though I don’t really see him sticking at C. I’ve heard he’s put in a lot of work there, but he seems more like a DH / 1B type, maybe LF if Abreu is locked in at 1B.
Dump Cruth, Just get something for him !,
imagine if the Astros took Bryant or Gray instead of Appel
Imagine if any of the 24 earlier picks had been used on Mike Trout in 2011. Every team has their huge misses in the draft. Astros are no different.
I’m a bit skeptical of the arms in particular. It’s nice the Giolito sits low to mid 90s with a good curve but his results are worrysome (mainly K-BB%). Lopez has a pretty violent delivery and Kopech still is walking like 12% of hitters he faces. All of them are very much high risk prospects. I think Anderson will be fine but hard to see him even get to Russell level with the plate discipline/doesn’t have same raw power as Russell. Definitely have a good farm tho and maybe to get a Faedo or Adell in the draft
This is where I’m at. It’s too early to compare the two teams when so much of the value of the Sox system is in pitching prospects.
It’s still a worthy discussion at this point in time, especially among fans in Chicago. The comparisons will only intensify as the seasons progress, hopefully culminating in a second perennial contender on the South Side and perhaps a World Series championship or two decided between the city rivals in October.
Lots of guys have high walk rates as they work stuff out in the minors, so Kopech doesn’t really bother me. As for Lopez and his delivery, Sale has a funky delivery, too. It makes Lopez more injury prone, but really, anyone can have a TJ surgery. Giolito is a little concerning because he’s been at a top prospect level for longer and has yet to figure it out, but he’s still very young and the Sox can afford to be patient. As for Anderson, maybe he’s not Russell, but I don’t see Russell as a superstar anyway. If Moncada and Robert live up to their potential and these other guys develop as expected, the Sox may be only a few years from legitimate title contenders.