It's June 16, 2021, and so many things are going right for the Chicago White Sox.
After an 8-7, 10-inning win over the quite stout Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Tony La Russa and the boys boast the best record in baseball (43-25), own a 4 1/2-game lead against AL Central division rival Cleveland…and generally look unstoppable.
The ChiSox are 8-2 in their last 10 games, own the second-best team on-base percentage (.340) and fourth-best team batting average (.254) in the majors, the third-best team ERA in baseball (3.14 going into Wednesday night), and haven't exhibited a great deal of weakness. Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada, Jose Abreu and Yermin Mercedes keep raking. Somehow, Yasmani Grandal has turned his feast-or-famine approach (.152 BA, .387 OBP, 10 HR) into awesome arithmetic. And the pitching? Even better. Lance Lynn has turned back the clock (1.51 ERA, third in MLB), while a 28-year-old Carlos Rodon isn't far behind with a 1.89 ERA, a 6-2 record and a wicked 13.9 SO/9 innings in 11 starts.
In fact, the only thing that's stopped the Windy City stripes is the injury bug and some ballooned ERAs (smell the sarcasm here). Young sensations Eloy Jiminez (torn pectoral in the preseason, but returning), Luis Robert (strained hip flexor, but returning) and Nick Madrigal (right hamstring tendon tear, out for the year) have all been sidelined at some point in 2021, while speedy outfielder Billy Hamilton is hobbled. Stalwart arms in Dallas Keuchel (3.78 ERA) and Lucas Giolito (3.86 ERA) are still top-40 in earned runs allowed among pitchers with 14 or more starts, but look bloated up against the rest of the Sox rotation.
With 94 games remaining, the Chicago owns a 99% chance of making the playoffs and a 14% chance to win the 2021 World Series, per baseball-reference.com, and don't have much reason to tinker with team chemistry.
But could they be buyers before the July 30 trade deadline? The next six weeks will be telling, and White Sox GM Rick Hahn is watching close.
From Chicago Sun Times columnist Steve Greenburg:
“We’ve talked about it all along: making sure the juice is worth the squeeze,” Hahn told the Sun Times. “The juice this year may be a team that’s capable of winning it all, so that’s pretty big juice. Is the squeeze going to be worth it to increase those chances?”
There are three World Series trophies in the case for the White Sox: 1906 (4-2, over the crosstown Cubs), 1917 (4-2, over the then New York Giants) and 2005 (4-0, over the Houston Astros). Can they add another with what's in the clubhouse? Or do they need help?
Lynn, a more-than-reliable veteran starter who cost Hahn and the White Sox their No. 5 prospect (Dane Dunning) and a minor league reliever (Avery Weems) in an off-season deal with the Texas Rangers, hits free agency this fall. His age (34 years old, second oldest on the team behind Abreu) and arbitration power (2021 salary: $9.3 million) would make him a prime trade piece in any other year — especially with his numbers — but not now.
Abreu seems immovable, too. He hit his 12th home run of the season in Wednesday's win over Tampa Bay, and is among the league leaders with 51 RBIs. He is the oldest player on the team, has the third-highest team salary this year ($17.6 million) and owns a 10-team no-trade clause for 2021 and a five-team no-trade clause for 2022. That's limiting.
White Sox Trade Scenario No. 1: Address Nick Madrigal's injury, and trade for Baltimore's Freddy Galvis
Trey Mancini's return to the majors after a bout with cancer is an absolute feel-good, hell-yeah story coming out of Baltimore, but the club hasn't seen much success in 2021. It's possible the Orioles could be in sell mode after starting out 22-45 and losing their 18th straight road game on Wednesday night, courtesy of Aaron Civale and the Cleveland Indians.
And while they are desperately seeking some help at second base themselves, Baltimore brass hasn't played off-season acquisition Freddy Galvis at the spot…despite the fact he's logged more than 1,000 innings worth of live reps at the position. He's naturally a shortstop and is starting there for the Orioles, but most recently played in the other gap for the Cincinnati Reds during the 2020 season (99.2 innings, zero errors), and he's hitting a solid .256 with a .315 on-base percentage.
Purdue Northwest University student and Sox Fansided contributor Joseph Bermudez posited Galvis as an option four days ago, and makes a great point:
“Through Galvis’s first 27 games, he smacked 25 hits and had a slash of .281/.340/483. Although he does not get on base as nearly as much as Madrigal, Galvis has been putting up better numbers than [Danny] Mendick across the board.”
An ever better argument: Galvis is only 31, and is on a one-year, $1.5 million deal. The White Sox wouldn't have to surrender an incredible amount of cash/assets to acquire him, and if he didn't re-sign in the offseason, it wouldn't look like some risky deal gone wrong. He's cheap, reasonable, and still effective.
White Sox Trade Scenario No. 2: Address the bullpen, and trade for Washington's Daniel Hudson
Coming into the 2021 season, MLB.com ranked the White Sox bullpen No. 1 in the majors — thanks to the presence of Liam Hendricks, Jose Ruiz, Evan Marshall, Aaron Bummer, Codi Heuer and the club's No. 2 prospect in Michael Kopech. And, so far, they've mostly delivered.
The White Sox are currently tied for eighth in the league in team saves (20), second in shutouts (eight) and fourth in opposing batting average (.219). Hendricks has 18 of the team's saves and owns a 2.15 ERA with a 14.1 SO/9 innings mark. Ruiz, meanwhile, has been the most effective setup man for Chicago, with a 2.77 ERA in 26.0 innings — mostly in the 6th-8th frames.
Marshall (5.47 ERA), Bummer (3.96 ERA, 15 BB) and Heuer (5.61 ERA), however, haven't been electric just yet, and Kopech (2-0, 1.72 ERA, 14 appearances) has been on the 10-day DL since May 31 because of a Grade 1 strain to his left hamstring. None of that quartet has pitched more than 31 innings, which means there's still plenty of time to get things right, but another arm in the pen might bring some comfort to both the fans — and upper management. Kopech doesn't have to get rushed back from his injury, and it might settle down the younger arms.
Here's a thought: phone the Washington Nationals, and see what it would take to land 34-year-old Daniel Hudson.
Traded from the Toronto Blue Jays to the Nats in 2019, Hudson famously notched the final out against the Houston Astros in the 2019 World Series. He brings a very recent, but thorough, postseason pedigree to a ring-seeking club, and he's on the backend of a two-year, $11 million deal that's paying him $6 million in 2021.
Following a rough COVID-19 campaign (6.10 ERA, 20 2/3 IP) in 2020, the former Old Dominion star is back to his old tricks: posting a 2.59 ERA with 35 strikeouts and just seven walks in 24 1/3 innings. He's doing his job quite well, and totes a five-pitch repertoire with reliance a four-seam fastball that sits in the low-to-mid 90s.
Washington, though, is 30-35 after 65 games, and is 7 1/2 games behind the New York Mets, two games behind the Philadelphia Phillies, and a half-game back of the Atlanta Braves — in what's proving to be a difficult NL East race to the finish. If the Nationals are in sell mode come July 30, it could be a storybook trade for Hudson…who began his career with the White Sox after being taken by the organization in the fifth round of the 2008 MLB Draft.
He made his major league debut in a White Sox uniform on Sept. 4, 2009, pitching two innings of scoreless relief, and was later traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2010. Hudson would probably jump at the chance of another deep postseason run, especially with a club that gave him his first opportunity, and the Nats' front office probably loves the idea of some return on a potential free agent.
Make the call.
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