White Sox general manager Chris Getz spoke with reporters this morning. His implication that Dylan Cease was likely to remain on the roster into the season was the most notable development, but Getz also addressed a pair of Cease’s potential rotation mates.
The first-year GM said he still views Michael Kopech as a starting pitcher (link via James Fegan of Sox Machine). Chicago moved the hard-throwing righty to the bullpen at the tail end of a dismal 2023 campaign. Kopech posted a 5.16 ERA while walking more than 15% of opposing hitters in 26 starts through the first week of September. Manager Pedro Grifol deployed him in short stints — three relief appearances and a deliberately brief start as an opener — to close the year. Kopech was tagged for seven runs in 3 2/3 frames before undergoing a season-ending knee procedure.
That was a minor cyst removal surgery that isn’t expected to affect Kopech’s preparation for the season. The bigger question is whether he’ll be able to rebound from a performance perspective. Kopech showed some promise over 25 starts two seasons ago. He turned in a 3.54 ERA, albeit with a middling 21.3% strikeout rate and 11.5% walk percentage, in 2022. That was Kopech’s first full season working from the rotation. The hope was that he’d take a step forward with greater experience in the role. It did not happen last year.
Kopech built up to starting after working in relief in the early portion of his MLB career. Injuries, most notably a Tommy John procedure, wiped out his 2019-20 campaigns. The Sox used him out of the bullpen in ’21 to keep his workload in check. He was quite good in that capacity, turning in a 3.50 ERA with a massive 36.1% strikeout percentage and a much more manageable 8.4% walk rate over 69 1/3 innings.
That general playbook is one which Garrett Crochet is hoping to follow. The former first-round pick has come out of the bullpen for all 72 of his MLB appearances dating back to 2020. An elbow ligament replacement cost him the ’22 season and the first six weeks last year. Shoulder inflammation sent him back to the injured list a month after he returned and kept him on the shelf into September. The Tennessee product finished the year with 12 2/3 innings over 13 appearances.
Crochet has nevertheless been vocal about his desire to battle for a rotation spot. The Sox certainly aren’t going to expect him to make 30+ starts given his limited reps over the past two seasons. However, Getz left the door open for Crochet to compete for an Opening Day rotation job.
“It was very clear he was excited to get a look as a starter and when you’ve got a player that has that type of conviction, I think you’re doing the player a disservice to ignore that,” the GM told reporters. “He needs to be built up further. He hasn’t had too many starter innings under his belt. That’s even going back to college. But he’s a special arm. He’s shown three pitches in the past, so he’s got the starter kit.” Fegan writes that Getz indicated Crochet could spend some time on optional assignment to Triple-A Charlotte as the southpaw trains for a heavier workload.
Cease leads the staff, while KBO returnee Erick Fedde slots into the middle. Kopech and Crochet join Michael Soroka and Jared Shuster (acquired from Atlanta in the Aaron Bummer trade), free agent pickup Chris Flexen, and incumbent depth starters Jesse Scholtens and Touki Toussaint in competition for rotation work.
Getz deserves credit. That list of starters isn’t imposing, but for a team going nowhere, it does offer some upside. This is exactly what they should be doing as they re-evaluate their entire system.
Pitchers with potential upside from that list: Fedde. The end.
I don’t know. They’re opening the season with Dylan Cease, Eric Fedde, Michael Kopech, Michael Soroka, and Chris Flexen as starters. They have Garret Crochet as an option, as well as some high talent prospects in system like Nick Nastrini, Jake Eder, and Noah Shultz who are all going to be ready at some point this season. It’s probably the best group in the division.
“It’s probably the best group in the division.”
Cleveland disagrees… In fact, all of baseball disagree. Then I’d take Twins and Tigers starters.
Noah Schultz… What are you talking about about?
Kopech’s starter experiment is a failure. His lack of control works fine out of the ‘pen where his stuff is just too good. As a starter, it doesn’t work. He’s got 2 years of team control left, but if the White Sox want to waste them chasing fairy tales, it’s their money.
Soroka could be a decent #4, but that’s probably his ceiling at this point. He’s a long, long way removed from his lucky 2019 campaign.
Fedde was MiLB roster filler before a breakout in the KBO (AA) caliber level, I’d say. I think he’s a long shot to stick in MLB with his 89mph fastball, even if he added the now commonly seen in MLB sweeper.
Flexen was luck to get an MLB deal at all.
Nastrini is hardly what you’d want to call a dominant pitcher, routinely putting up mid 4s in FIP/xFIP through the minors due to control problems, and him being pretty hittable. Pitchers who give up lots of hits and lots of walks are rarely successful.
Crochet is a reliever, not a starter, and his stuff hasn’t even played particularly well at MLB last year.
I could keep going. The Twins could just say “Hey, Jhoan Duran could be part of the rotation this year.” considering he was developed as a starter. The Twins could always call on (insert random depth pitcher here)
Projections have the White Sox’ rotation at 8.8 fWAR. Worst in the AL Central… which is the worst division in baseball.
Twins 13.9 fWAR
Tigers 11.3 fWAR
Guardians 10.1 fWAR
Royals 10.1 fWAR
White Sox 8.8 fWAR.
Crochet is not going to start in the big leagues this year. The guy has barely pitched the last few years.
Either they throw him back in the bullpen or he reaches his innings limit starting at Charlotte.
@sportingdissent
One thing you’re absolutely right about is when you started off with “I don’t know”.
Because you don’t.
Rob, you’re probably read this one right. The Crochet situation could be similar to last year with Eloy, “We’re going to give Eloy a chance to play RF.”
It’s not that the Sox think he can start, they’re doing it to pacify him.
What he said. Thanks for all that typing.
Well maybe Katz will look up from his %^&ing clipboard to see his pitcher is in trouble this year.. nope, nevermind.
Katz looks up from clipboard, calls for a time and walks to mound. “Hey, throw strikes the hitters can’t hit well. It’s not a good idea to walk everybody, you know?”
Pitcher “Oh!!! Thanks! I needed to understand that concept better. I’ll start being good now.”
Pitcher starts dominating.
I don’t think that’s a realistic scenario @nrd1138
Hey, that’s buying low on the former Gwinnet Stripers starting rotation!
Kopech is absolutely nasty but watching him walk leadoff hitters and throw too many pitches to guys at the bottom of the order over and over again is difficult. I think Kopech and Crochet could prove to be a formidable flame throwing duo out of the pen.
The problem with Kopech is he wants to strike everyone out with a 104 mph fastball.
Hunter Greene has the same issue at times.
I don’t count the ChiSox out in the AL Central. They might not have the rotation but, if Goetz is a good manager of the pen, they are better than they look on paper.
Getz (not Goetz) is the GM. Pedro Grifol is the manager of the pen and the rest of the team.
That said, they have no chance to win the AL Central.
@Garry The Sox had one position player (Robert) with a WAR over 1 last year, and Cease is the only pitcher. They have as much chance of winning the division as the A’s or Rockies do. Their hitting and pitching are close to league worst. Vegas projects them to finish 9 or 10 behind KC, and 23 or so behind the Twins. They are a guarantee for last place, not first place.
That’s nuts. This team will lose more than 100 games for sure. They’re terrible. And, after Cease is traded they’re gonna have the worst pitching in baseball.
Yep its more lucrative for the Sox to aim for the bottom this coming season that the top. Surprising people to then get laughed out of the playoffs only means an increased chance at a worse draft pick.
I cut this too short but forget it. It’s too far gone.
Kopech is really close to putting it all together. His overall numbers are deceptive, as the final big innings in relief bumped up his E.RA. There were several early outings in May where he was simply unhittable. He carried no hitters into the 6th inning on 3 of 4 outings, finishing with 2 1 hitters and a two hitter. But as other posters noted, he hasn’t had the consistency of being able to string together consecutive starts.
With the kind of stuff Kopech has, I expected good things out of him. (I guess I am letting it slip I saw him a lot in the development stage) He is still young though, so it could still happen for him.
Isnt he 28 now?
In April yes
His problem is control. His stuff doesn’t play at the MLB level as a starter. It’s been a long experiment at this point and it doesn’t work.
I hope you are right. Like Cease, he has just two years left, and would be an ideal trade candidate to package with Cease to Baltimore for example.
I think Kopech can still be good. I just think that Katz is an awful pitching coach.
They are going to be a MUCH better defensive team than they have been in recent years. Several of their pitchers could take steps forward. A guy like Maldonado could really benefit Kopech.
Don—you, me and six other random posters are a much better defensive team than they have had.
From a team that many picked to win the World Series two years ago and flopped to .500 and picked to win the division last year and lost 100 games there is a ton of optimism over about 328 minor league caliber players Getz has acquired since November.
This team could play in the Bridgeport Little League Central and still have question marks as to where they would finish.
Exactly…. I watch 98% of the Sox games every year, and when you do that, you see this clearly.
I can’t stand when the, “it’s still the ALC, so they have a chance of getting in” position is taken. Yeah, so they can get shellacked in the first round?
They will have a much worse record than last year, then finally admit, “We are starting our rebuild.”
No guarantees.
You’re absolutely right Barold. It was about 4 years INTO the last ‘rebuild’, before the W Sox finally admitted that they were ‘going to rebuild’. Took about 9 years. ‘Go team Reinsdorf’.
Maldonado is washed. The better defense doesn’t suddenly make bad pitcher look competent.
The ERA difference from the average defense to the White Sox defense was like 0.20 last year. That’s all the difference average to worst makes.
Maldonado’s defense was awful last year. Getting old guys way past their prime is not the answer to anything.
Yep, the Sox will lose a lot of games 4-0 and 5-0 instead of 10-0….. I mean to win you have to be able to also hit the ball and drive runs in.
Stop it , This team is going Nowhere. They will be lucky to win 65 games. It’s going to be a long season
This is still the ALC. They are going to be much better team vs. the individual players from the last couple years. 1B-3B-RF will still have subpar defense but, up-the-middle will be very good. Again, it all depends on Getz’s ability to manage the pitchers. I think they have a better group than the Twins, Tigers and Guardians.
The Royals are my favored team but for some reason, they underperform. I suspect Salvador doesn’t get in tune with his pitchers or call a game accordingly. IMO.
Moncada is a good defender at 3B (bat another story except being HOF candidate vs Tigers). Fletcher they just got from Dbacks has a very good chance to win the RF job in ST simply by being able to play the position, but yes that’s been an issue for years.
Yeah, BTW what is the over under on number of games before Moncada has his ‘nagging’ injury excuse set up?
Every part of this is wrong. Subpar defense at 3B? Moncada is well above average defensively. The White Sox have a bottom five pitching staff in all of baseball. They’ll be competing with Oakland to have the worst record in MLB.
Not sure how Yoan Moncada is above average. For a guy with his speed, he is a low range defender.
The metrics and any reputable commentators disagree with you.
He’s lazy and disinterested at times. His perception tends to outweigh his better than average metrics,
The reason why metrics are important are to counteract people who rely on their own uninformed observations, like baselessly calling players “lazy and disinterested.”
Could also say the Nationals and Rockies as well.
Moncada is excellent defensively and his hitting started coming around at the end of last season. You have to remember that, after a terrific 2019 at the plate, he caught COVID in 2020. That effected his game. He had a nerve issue in his back that cost him some games last season but he played through it. He’s also been affected by not having his family, who can”t get out of Cuba, with him.
That’s true. Didn’t know about the last sentence.
2023 -6 DRS & -1 OAA.
He was playing hurt most of last year.
In 6 seasons at 3rd, he’s -5 DRS AND 7 OAA. That is an average to below average defender. Because of the injury to his back, his most recent fielding results are the most important. That isn’t something that’s going away at 29.
Unlike your ultra accurately gauged and unbiased observation.
The reason Sox fans actually believe Moncada is a good defender- is because of the constant dribble of misinformation over time from the likes of Steve Stone and Hawkeroo and Benetti. It’s kind of like the constant fox misinformation on politics.
Way to bring politics into the sports discussion Dogbone. I knew you could do it!
Perfectly said- watch him day in and day out and his image speaks louder than his play. He’s decent at 3rd, but when there’s two outs, you need a hit and Moncada comes up to bat- inning over.
I think the kopech ship has sailed in Chicago. He’s a guy that just needs a new voice in his head. Crochet I’m rooting for but I think as high as the risk is the rewards just as good if not better on his boom over bust.
Hehe, I also think Kopech could still become a half decent pitcher, , , but not until he gets out of a Chisox uniform. The Reds should have made him a target – and acquired him as a cheap reclamation project.
I remember when Paul Richards tried to convert relief pitcher standouts Goose Gossage and Terry Forster into starting pitchers. The media always referenced the ChiSox’s ultra-successful conversion of Wilbur Wood. There will NEVER be another Wilbur Wood.
Conversely, Tom Gordon converted from a successful starting pitcher to a successful closer. John Smoltz is the only pitcher I can remember converting from starter to closer then back to starter at a high level.
I disagree. His problems last year were from an inability to properly plant his leg, causing him to lose velocity and control. The surgery he had just after the season to remove the cyst from his knee will probably clear that up. Should be back to his old self.
I respect Crochet’s desire to start and the competitive spirit to take on a new challenge. That said I think trying to convert him back to a starter might be the worst idea I’ve heard this whole offseason. From a player perspective it’s fine, bet on yourself and if it works out your bank account dramatically increases once you hit free agency. But for a team that isn’t going to be a world series contender to take a lefty relief weapon on a rookie deal with 3 years of club control remaining who has already missed time with a shoulder issue and a major elbow surgery in his young career and give him a larger and more taxing workload for minimal payoff is just dumb. Let him be lights out at the back of the pen, particularly since Bummer is gone now, then flip him at the deadline for a haul to kickstart the rebuild that needs to happen.
It’s the financial incentive on the player in crochet. He knows his arb and career earnings are gonna take a boost if he performs stretched out. He can always go back to relieving. Personally if he’s not starting I think he should be closing, but for Chicago you’re much better off maintaining numbers and control. What I like about crochet is he’s actually hungry vs wanting to eat on a team fully expected not to compete. It might not pan out but if he’s healthy enough give him the look.
Let them both begin in the rotation and show what they have. After a couple of months, reassess and either keep them as SPs, put them in the pen, or send them down to work on mechanics and transitioning to the pen full time. It’s a lost season more or less for the Sox, so why not give them a shot?
You can’t just have Crochet start the season in the rotation when he hasn’t started regularly since high school and hasn’t been healthy even in limited usage as a reliever. It will be a long process to stretch him out.
Easy enough to designate a piggy back partner until he’s stretched out.
Bbgods- if you’re a contender, you need to stretch him out in Charlotte. But you’re right. It probably doesn’t matter where the Sox do it., it won’t impact their season. You schedule Touki to pitch with Crochet as long as you need to.
That being said, I’m really skeptical about Crochet starting. The last time he started was 2018 as a soph at Tenn. Even then, I think he only through 63 IP. injured his junior year and then drafted. Again, if you’re a contender, you probably don’t try this. Given the Sox situation,…why not.
I respect Getz for admitting the club isn’t any good. You don’t hear many front office people state that.
Huh? When did he say that? I think he said something like “I don’t really like the roster as constructed”, and that was before he brought in a bunch of defensive-minded players.
I suspect that he sees this the same way any logical fan does, which is that a rotation of Cease, Kopech, Crochet, Fedde, Soroka (and a cast of thousand former top prospects like Garcia, Shuster, Toussant, etc.) could be good if they all pitch to their ability… Field players like Robert, Vaughn, Eloy, Moncada, Benintendi could be a decent core with a strong defense for the pitchers… if everyone plays to their ability.
The dichotomy is that the division is winnable, yet EVERYONE won’t play to their ability. So – I think Getz is taking the right approach. Go into the season with the hope to start strong and be in the running. If not, pray that Cease, Jimenez and maybe even Robert have great starts and their trade value is risen enough to make the trades and be competitive next year.
It is not “logical” to see that rotation as a strength. Literally the only one of those guys who would even make another big league club is Cease. One of the worst groups in all of baseball.
Mattv… I never said the rotation was a strength. I said if they all pitch to their ability, they ‘could be good’. Then I mentioned near the end, that everyone WON’T pitch to their ability. So – putting those together, a logical person might assume it’s not a strength.
Having said that – Fedde was a good risk, Soroka was a stud when healthy in his rookie year, and Kopech was a top 10 prospect in baseball. Also – Crochet was a top 10 pick and throws near triple digits (as do Cease and Kopech) and pitched very well for the Sox playoff team a few years ago. No – not great, and definitely risky. But possibilities.
Soroka having had one good season five years ago is totally irrelevant to what he is now. Crochet was not even a regular starter in college and hasn’t been able to stay healthy even as a limited use reliever. But sure, lots to be excited about here. GTFO.
You seem pleasant Matt, wish we could hang sometime so you could share some of your sunshine.
Reading a skill, and you aren’t very good at it. There is literally nothing in my replies that imply excitement.
Unlike 97% of Sox fans, I’m an optimist and prefer to look for the good. I agree that the team was horrible to watch last year and hasn’t gotten substantively better, but I’ll also say that pretty much everyone had a terrible year. I don’t expect that to happen again either.
So – 75 wins isn’t out of the realm of possibility, and 80 with a few career years.
Now you’re near the top of the awful division.
If that doesn’t work – you trade and get better for 2025. And btw – if you can’t be excited about baseball in February, what are we doing?
Matt, at the very beginning of this chain you literally said that Fedde is the ONLY pitcher listed that has “upside”.
What on earth about a pitcher with a career negative WAR, 5.4 ERA, 1.5 WHIP screams upside?
Big Hurt simply said that all the guys are risky, but possibilities.
Here’s the total issue with this—if it is the start of spring training and you are hoping for ANY of these guys (and realistically needing four of them)—you are NOT good.
You’re high if you think this team is getting 75-80 wins. Reinsdorf loves blind fans like you.
Vaughn, Eloy, and Moncada should be in no one’s ‘core’. If they are, that team has major problems.
-Vaughn was one of the worst 1st basemen defensively and offensively last season (this was after getting him to his ‘natural’ position). I do not see much room for improvement with the bat and his warning track power, unless he starts juicing.
– I predict during the spring, Eloy will stub his toe while running out of the dugout, and be gone for half the season.(when he is not imitating Joe Borchard).
-I predict that Moncada will have a hamstring or back injury in the Spring and ‘not be quite right’ for the rest of the season.
How many different guys start games for the Sox in ’24? Note I said “guys” and not pitchers as surely a starting rotation as a razor thin as the Sox have combined with injuries, climate-changing postponements and rescheduling will mean that at least one position player will start a game. Kopech and Soroka wrote the book on promising young starters whose careers have been hampered by hurts. Crochet might be writing the newest edition. What’s the kimchi and ginseng quality and supply like in Chicago as Fedde might falter without generous supplies of the good stuff. Will Martin pitch this year? He really can’t be factored in until ’25.
What’s the over/ under that 20 guys will start games for the Sox this year?
Over… I predict Moncada and Eloy each miss at least 40-80 games this season.
Katz will be too busy with his stupid clicker and clipboard to watch his pitchers failing out there and running up their pitch counts then hurting something,
Grifol will be taking his hottest hitter and giving him lots of time off for whatever reason. Plus RF will likely be another rotation of a bunch of players.
The Sox ‘super sub’ infield will have at least one guy out for about 40 games with various injuries.
jesse schotens
Getz is having a horrible offseason. Holding onto Cease when you’re going nowhere is a bad move. This team is years away from contending. He has done nothing to make this team better.
Years away? The earliest they can probably contend is probably 2026.
They will not be contending until about ’28-’30, which is good. The lousier the team is the less leverage ‘the Chairman’ has to get any kind of sweet deal from the state or Chicago for his next stadium. Id like to see an ownership change now, while the team is awful, it lessens the blow from the next owner doing a fire sale of the team and rebuilding to save some dough after over paying for the franchise.
If the ALC is strong then your right. The division is still weak though.
I do want Jerry to sell. Every white sox fan does. I would hope new ownership spends on mega contracts.
That roster is an abomination. Crochet & Kopech as solid SPs in 2024, every non-white sox fan knows how this one turns out. Luke Littler is Chris Getz’s idol. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
It’s going to be a long frustrating season….
Might as well just throw a uniform on Reinsdorf and have him start.
Yeah, its going to be a joke.. a bad one.. As usual, a TON of ‘hopes’ and ‘what ifs’. Combine that with a manager who looks like he has NO clue (but still somehow kept his job) and ‘The Chairman’ trying to get others to pay for his new stadium and its going to be a painful year.
If you’re Getz would you do Cease to the O’s for your choice of any two from:
Kiefer Lord RHP
Mac Horvac ROF
Chayce McDermott RHP?
A big ask but a chance to rebuild the Sox and for Mike Elias and the O’s to go for it in 2024.
I think 2 of those would be a start. The Sox will likely get 2 top-100 ish types plus… So you’re talking something like Kjerstad, McDermott, Arias and Baumeister. I don’t know the Orioles prospects, and don’t know exactly how the Sox perceive the Orioles prospects, but based on rankings, that’s probably what the Sox get for 2 years of affordable Cease. The price will be considerably higher than you’re proposing.
I’m not the normal Sox fan who complains about everything, but I do have to say that I’m shocked that Getz mentioned today that Chris Flexen will most likely start “based on his skill set and the potential of his pitch mix and his experience, we’d love to give him a solid runway as a starter with us.” I don’t understand what ‘skill set’ that is? He is 28 and has never really been any good, except for 1 year with an ERA+ over 100 and terrible peripherals.
If you are looking for an innings eater, just say it.
Oh, and I know that no one will read this since it’s so old, I just needed to vent ;0)