5-for-1 trade now just a 2-for-1

Did you know that newly acquired White Sox pitcher Tyler Gilbert tossed a no-hitter in his first career start as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2021? Sure, he's a journeyman, but he had his 15 minutes of fame.

The 31-year-old left-hander spent most of 2024 with Lehigh Valley, the Triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. The Sox acquired Gilbert from Philadelphia last week in exchange for minor league relief pitcher Aaron Combs.

To make room for Gilbert on the 40-man roster, the Sox designated infielder Braden Shewmake for assignment. This Sox offseason has been -- and will continue to be -- characterized by minor moves such as this. Most of them aren't worth an in-depth breakdown, but Shewmake's departure got me thinking about a trade Sox GM Chris Getz made last offseason.

Remember when Getz traded left-handed reliever Aaron Bummer to the Atlanta Braves for five players? As fans, many of us thought, "Wow, how did he manage to get that type of quantity for an underachiever like Bummer?" 

Well, it turns out there wasn't a lot of quality in that quantity. More than a year later, let's take a look at the guys the Sox acquired in that deal:

1. Shewmake. We'll start with the aforementioned Shewmake, who made the Opening Day roster in 2024. Unfortunately, he was one of the culprits in the team's miserable start. He batted .125/.134/.203 with one homer and four RBIs in 29 games with the Sox. He got sent to Triple-A Charlotte, where he got injured. He appeared in only 10 games at that level and batted .152/.152/.182. You may never see him in the majors again.

2. Nicky Lopez. Have you heard that Lopez is from Naperville? OK, enough with that joke. The infielder played 124 games with the Sox in 2024 and batted .241/.312/.294 with one homer and 21 RBIs. He made $4.3 million last season, and as an arbitration-eligible player, he was in line to get about $5 million in 2025. Thus, the Sox wisely non-tendered him. It would be dumb to give that kind of money to a utility infielder.

3. Michael Soroka. The right-hander went 0-10 with a 4.74 ERA in 25 games, including nine starts, with the 2024 Sox. The nine starts were terrible. Soroka lost five of them and posted a 6.39 ERA. After an injury, he found new life in the bullpen late in the season. He was 0-5 as a reliever, too, but his ERA was a much more respectable 2.75 in those 16 appearances. The Washington Nationals apparently think he can still be a starter. They gave him a one-year contract this offseason.

4. Jared Shuster. The Sox converted this left-hander to mostly relief work. He made 39 appearances in 2024, 35 of which were out of the bullpen. He provided 73.1 innings, going 2-5 with a 4.30 ERA. And hey, the 25-year-old is still on the 40-man roster! If he pitches well in spring, he might actually stick with the Sox for a second season.

5. Riley Gowens. The former University of Illinois pitcher and Libertyville native split his time between High-A Winston Salem and Double-A Birmingham last season. He made 25 starts between the two levels, going 7-6 with a 3.84 ERA. Not bad, but Gowens is now 25 years old, and you won't find  him near the top of any of the prospect lists. Most likely, he's an organizational pitcher. But hey, at least he's still in the organization!

So, basically, that 5-for-1 trade is now a 2-for-1. The Sox still have Shuster and Gowens, but ultimately, this trade did not make a meaningful impact.

Garrett Crochet delivers first White Sox victory of 2024

Previously on this blog, in January, I offered the unpopular view that the White Sox should try Garrett Crochet as a starting pitcher. 

I acknowledged all the risks and red flags. I understood the skepticism and even shared in it. But I also figured, why the hell not? Give it a shot. This isn't a contention season. Crochet is a former first-round pick who has battled injuries and hasn't gotten an opportunity. He has the desire to be a starting pitcher. This is the time to find out what you have, no? If it fails, so what?

The Sox agreed, and in fact, they made Crochet their Opening Day starter. So far, the move is a bright spot in a lackluster start to the season.

Crochet delivered the South Siders' first victory of 2024 Tuesday night, holding the Atlanta Braves to just one run in a 3-2 win.

Frankly, Crochet should have won his first start. He threw six innings of one-run ball against the Detroit Tigers, while striking out eight and walking nobody. The Sox, of course, lost that game 1-0.

Against Atlanta, a team that won 104 games last season, Crochet pitched seven innings. He allowed five hits and one walk, and once again struck out eight. Marcell Ozuna's solo home run in the seventh inning was the only blemish on his line.

For those wondering, "Who is the closer?" On this night, it was Michael Kopech, who got five outs for his first career save.

Kopech escaped a bases-loaded jam by getting a double-play ball off the bat of Austin Riley in the eighth. Ozuna also homered off Kopech in the ninth to cut a 3-1 Sox lead in half. The Braves put two more men on base before Kopech shut the door.

The Sox are 1-4 and have one more game to play against the Braves, weather permitting, on Wednesday afternoon.

Mike Clevinger coming back to White Sox on 1-year deal

The White Sox and right-handed pitcher Mike Clevinger agreed to terms on a one-year contract Monday, sources told MLB.com.

The team has yet to confirm the signing of Clevinger, 33, who went 9-9 with a 3.77 ERA over 24 starts with the Sox in 2023.

There are significant question marks in the starting rotation for the Sox, who fell to 0-4 with a 9-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Monday afternoon.

Chris Flexen started this latest loss, allowing four earned runs on six hits over only 4.1 innings pitched. Flexen walked three, struck out one and threw just 45 of his 85 pitches for strikes.

Among the first four starting pitchers used by the Sox this season -- Garrett Crochet, Michael Soroka, Erick Fedde and Flexen -- only the converted reliever Crochet recorded an out in the sixth inning.

Enter Clevinger, because there are 158 games to go and about 1,400 more innings to pitch this season. I'm guessing Sox GM Chris Getz does not have a high level of confidence that he can get through the year with the arms that are available.

So, he's adding a veteran on a short-term contract. Not that we expect Clevinger to cause the team's win total to increase in a significant way.

The Sox have perhaps the worst MLB roster I've ever seen. It's loaded with mediocre and bad veterans who are just trying to hang on to their professional careers. Most have no future with the Sox, or with any other team.

Clevinger is another such mediocre veteran.

Lucas Giolito, Chris Sale joining new teams

Lucas Giolito

Erase the idea of Lucas Giolito coming back to the White Sox on a one-year prove-it deal. The 29-year-old right-hander did better than that on the open market, securing a two-year contract worth $38.5 million from the Boston Red Sox.

Giolito will earn $18 million in 2024, with an option to get out of the deal next winter. He will receive a $1 million buyout if he opts out. His 2025 salary will be $19 million if he opts in.

If he opts in, that activates a conditional option covering 2026. If Giolito throws fewer than 140 innings in 2025, the Red Sox have a $14 million team option for 2026. If Giolito tops 140 innings, there's a $19 million mutual option. Buyouts in either case would total $1.5 million.

Giolito had a bizarre 2023 campaign. The White Sox traded him to the Los Angeles Angels in late July. Eventually, the Angels placed him on waivers, where he was claimed by Cleveland. He finished his season with the Guardians. Here's how he fared with each of the three teams:

• White Sox: 6-6 with a 3.79 ERA over 20 starts; 134 Ks in 121 IP.
• Angels: 1-5 with a 6.89 ERA over 6 starts; 34 Ks in 32.2 IP.
• Guardians: 1-4 with a 7.04 ERA over 6 starts; 39 Ks in 30.2 IP.

Would you believe it if I told you Giolito allowed 41 home runs over 184.1 innings last season? Forty-one!

But here's the funny thing: He allowed 20 of those homers over his 21 starts with Chicago. That home run rate is certainly higher than one might like, but that's nothing until you consider that Giolito allowed 21(!) homers in his combined 12 starts with the Angels and Guardians.

Indeed, this is the rare player who got WORSE when he left the White Sox. He couldn't keep the ball in the yard with the Angels or Guardians. What does that mean for him pitching with Boston and the short porch in left field at Fenway Park? We shall see.

What we do know is Giolito will not be teammates with former Sox ace Chris Sale, who was traded from Boston to Atlanta for infielder Vaughn Grissom. Sale waived his no-trade clause, and Boston included $17 million in the deal to help the Braves cope with Sale's $27.5 million salary for this upcoming season.

Around here, we're not too interested in the composition of the Atlanta rotation, but I do think this move means the Braves are OUT on any potential deal for Sox right-hander Dylan Cease. Atlanta just wasn't going to give up multiple prospects to fortify its pitching staff, and it didn't have to do that in order to acquire Sale.

If you're still thinking Cease will be on the move this offseason, potential suitors might include the Red Sox, as well as the Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees or Cincinnati Reds.

Reynaldo Lopez, Lance Lynn headed to new teams

Lance Lynn is going back where he started.

Two former White Sox pitchers agreed to terms on new contracts with new teams Monday.

Reynaldo Lopez is headed to the Atlanta Braves on a three-year, $30 million contract. Meanwhile, Lance Lynn is going to the St. Louis Cardinals. He's got a one-year deal worth $11 million, with incentives that could earn him as much as $14 million. The contract also includes an option for 2025 that could increase the value to $25 million.

Lopez, who turns 30 in January, bounced from the White Sox to the Los Angeles Angels to the Cleveland Guardians last season. After a rough start with the Sox, his final season numbers don't look too bad -- 3-7 with a 3.27 ERA in 68 games, with six saves. Lopez fanned 83 batters in 66 innings.

Feel free to insert the joke here about the Braves wishing to re-create the Sox bullpen. Lopez rejoins his former teammate Aaron Bummer, whom the Sox traded to Atlanta late last week.

But in a different twist, it appears the Braves are interested in possibly making Lopez a starter. According to a tweet sent Monday by Ken Rosenthal, Lopez will prepare this offseason as if he will be a member of the rotation, and Atlanta will explore the option in spring training.

Lopez hasn't been a full-time starting pitcher since 2019. That didn't work out for him in Chicago, but if he makes it work in Atlanta, that would justify the investment the Braves have made here. If Lopez is just going to be a seventh-inning reliever or something similar, you can find guys to do that role for less than $10 million AAV.

Lynn, 36, made 32 starts last season -- 21 with the Sox and 11 with the Los Angeles Dodgers -- but that's one of the few positives he can take from his 2023 campaign. He went 13-11, but had an unsightly 5.73 ERA. He had a -0.8 WAR and gave up a league-high 44(!) homers over 183.2 innings. 

The Cardinals know Lynn well. He pitched in St. Louis from 2011-17 and won a World Series there in 2011. No doubt, the club is hoping the veteran has at least one decent year left in his arm.

In other starting pitching news, a major name agreed to a contract over the weekend. Aaron Nola is staying with the Philadelphia Phillies for seven years and $172 million.

What might this mean for White Sox right-hander Dylan Cease, whose name has been mentioned in trade rumors? 

There are still some good free agent pitchers out there, including NL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, World Series champion Jordan Montgomery and Japanese import Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Nola has set the market for those guys by agreeing on a contract worth $24.5 million AAV.

Meanwhile, Cease is not a free agent. He's arbitration eligible with a suggested salary of $8.8 million. He has two years of team control remaining.

If Lynn can pull in $11 million in free agency coming of a rough year, then Cease is a tremendous value in this marketplace. Sox general manager Chris Getz should keep that in mind, if he is indeed entertaining trade offers for Cease.

White Sox trade Aaron Bummer to Atlanta Braves for 5 players

It doesn't qualify as a "haul," but it was still surprising to see the White Sox acquire five players in exchange for Aaron Bummer.

The Sox on Thursday sent the left-hander reliever to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for pitchers Michael Soroka, Jared Shuster and Riley Gowens, and infielders Nicky Lopez and Braden Shewmake.

Why is it not a haul? Well, all five of these players the Sox acquired have some significant flaw in their games. That doesn't mean these guys couldn't help on the South Side. They might.

But let's just all understand that these players were excess on the Atlanta 40-man roster. Soroka and Lopez were non-tender candidates, in fact, so I don't think the Braves look at any of these guys as big losses.

That said, Bummer's usefulness had come to an end with the Sox. With 2024 projected as a retooling season, if not a rebuilding season, what's the wisdom in paying a relief pitcher a $5.5 million salary to protect leads that don't exist?

Here are a few more thoughts about each of the six players in the trade:

Bummer: Most Sox fans are happy to be done with the 30-year-old after he went 5-5 with an ugly 6.79 ERA in 61 appearances in 2023. Bummer issued an absurdly high 5.6 walks per nine innings, and his 1.526 WHIP isn't what you want from a late-inning reliever. 

Still, the statheads point to his 3.58 FIP as a sign that Bummer pitched in hard luck. In their tweet announcing the trade, the Braves said, "His barrel percentage of just 2.7% ranked in the 99th percentile among pitchers in baseball, while his ground ball rate of 60.1% was in the 97th."

Fair enough. It's not hard to envision Bummer performing better in 2024 with a better infield defense behind him. However, Atlanta fans should know that Bummer is a terrible fielding pitcher, so he does himself no favors when he's fumbling around some of that weak contact he induces. And his walks will drive you crazy. 

Soroka: Injuries, injuries and more injuries. Soroka finished second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting in 2019, when he went 13-4 with a 2.68 ERA in 29 starts with the Braves. However, he's only pitched 46 innings combined in the four years since. Soroka has torn his Achilles' tendon twice, which caused him to not throw a pitch at any level in both 2021 and 2022. He was 2-2 with a 6.40 ERA in seven games (6 starts) with the Braves in 2023. This is a talented pitcher, but who knows whether he'll be on the mound? 

Shuster: The 25-year-old began the 2023 season as the top prospect in the Atlanta system. But the left-hander fell on hard times last season. He went 5-6 with a 5.01 ERA at Triple-A Gwinnett, and 4-3 with a 5.81 ERA in 11 starts with the Braves. The strikeout-to-walk ratio in the majors was not good -- 30 strikeouts against 26 walks in 52.2 innings. At this point, Shuster is a reclamation project.

Lopez: Sox fans rolled their eyes at the acquisition of the former Kansas City infielder. As most everyone knows, Lopez is a local guy. He graduated from Naperville Central High School. He also played for manager Pedro Grifol with the Royals, and everyone is sick of more Kansas City people coming to Chicago. Lopez is a lousy hitter, as his career .249/.312/.319 slash line in five MLB seasons shows. However, he is a plus defender, especially at second base. He can also play shortstop or third base in a pinch, and do it competently. Unlike a lot of players on the Sox roster, Lopez has at least one high-end skill that can help a team: his glove. From that perspective, he's probably getting more crap than he deserves.

Shewmake: The left-handed-hitting shortstop was Atlanta's first-round pick in the 2019 draft. But other than a brief two-game stint in 2023, he hasn't cracked the majors. Much like Lopez, he can field his position. He's got sure hands at shortstop, but he just isn't a very good hitter. His slash line at Triple-A Gwinnett last season was .234/.299/.407. If you're a glass-half-full person, that .407 slugging percentage isn't half bad for a glove-first player. Shewmake totaled 16 homers and 69 RBIs last season. Most likely, he's a depth player. And if he helps prevent the Sox from prematurely rushing top prospect Colson Montgomery to the majors, then he'll have done his job.

Gowens: Another local product here. Gowens is a Libertyville native who pitched at the University of Illinois. The right-hander worked exclusively as a starter in college, going 9-12 with a 5.69 ERA in 37 starts over three seasons. The Braves selected him in the ninth round of the 2023 draft. He appeared in five games, three of them starts, in the Atlanta system last year. He threw the ball well -- a 1.15 ERA over 15.2 innings. Gowens is likely destined for A ball in 2024. He'll be old for the level at age 24.

What's the best-case outcome for the Sox here? It would be nice if they can get at least one back-end starter out of this deal -- either Soroka gets healthy or Shuster improves. And it would be nice if at least one of Lopez or Shewmake helps solidify the Sox's leaky middle infield defense. 

Really, if two of the five players help the Sox, call the trade a win.

Sean Murphy heads to Atlanta Braves in three-team, nine-player deal

The trade market hasn't been particularly "fruitful" so far this offseason, but Monday brought what I would call the first major swap of the winter, with the Atlanta Braves acquiring catcher Sean Murphy in a three-team, nine-player deal.

Here's the breakdown:

Atlanta gets: Murphy

The Oakland A's get: LHP Kyle Muller, OF Esteury Ruiz, RHP Freddy Tarnok, RHP Royber Salinas, C Manny Piña

The Milwaukee Brewers get: C William Contreras, RHP Justin Yeager, RHP Joel Payamps

Murphy batted .250/.332/.426 with 18 home runs and 66 RBIs in 148 games with Oakland last season. He's considered an elite defender, having won a Gold Glove during the 2021 season.

The Braves gave up a 24-year-old catcher in Contreras as part of this swap. Contreras hit .278 with 20 homers last season, so no doubt the Brewers are looking at him to be an upgrade over Omar Narvaez, who is a free agent this offseason.

Murphy simply gives the Braves more consistent defense behind the plate, which is what they are looking for in the middle of their contention window.

From Oakland's perspective, this deal is about acquiring futures, although Muller and Tarnok pitched some for the Braves last season and could be ready for a longer look at the MLB level.

My main reaction: Hey, at least Cleveland didn't acquire Murphy. We know catching is a hole for the Guardians, and Murphy would be a great fit there. He's a great fit in most places, in fact.

There was one move in the AL Central on Monday, as the Minnesota Twins signed catcher Christian Vazquez to a three-year, $30 million deal.

The move makes sense for the Twins, since their catchers combined to post a .630 OPS last season. Neither Gary Sanchez nor Ryan Jeffers were getting it done.

Enter the 32-year-old Vazquez, who won a World Series ring in 2022 with the Houston Astros, after being traded midseason from the Boston Red Sox.

Vazquez batted .274/.315/.399 last season with nine homers and 52 RBIs. He's respectable, and that's an upgrade for the Twins at that position.

Will we hear from the White Sox GM this week?

Anyone else find it odd that White Sox general manager Rick Hahn hasn't yet given his end-of-season address to the media? 

The season ended Oct. 12, and today is Oct. 25. Thirteen days, and we've not heard a word from the front office on what they thought of the ALDS loss to the Houston Astros.

By way of comparison, last year, Hahn addressed the media 10 days after the Sox lost to the Oakland Athletics in the wild card round. And what an address it was, as former manager Rick Renteria and former pitching coach Don Cooper got fired.

Given that major changes were announced, that delay was understandable. But this year, there's little reason to believe any firings are forthcoming. Maybe I'm wrong, but I guess you never know.

Now, to be fair to Hahn, the league office often frowns upon teams that are no longer playing making news while the playoffs are going on. Maybe league etiquette is the cause of the silence to this point.

However, the World Series matchup is set now. Houston is going to play the Atlanta Braves, starting Tuesday night. Monday will be a slow news day for MLB. Will we hear from Hahn? 

Dodgers back in the World Series for 3rd time in 4 years

Cody Bellinger

The Los Angeles Dodgers lost the 2017 World Series to the Houston Astros, and they lost the 2018 World Series to the Boston Red Sox. 

Will the third time be the charm?

The Dodgers are National League pennant winners for the third time in four years, after they beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-3, on Sunday in Game 7 of the NL Championship Series.

Los Angeles was down 3-2 after five innings, but it tied the game in the sixth on Enrique Hernandez's pinch-hit solo home run off A.J. Minter. The Dodgers went ahead to stay in the bottom of the seventh, when center fielder Cody Bellinger homered off Chris Martin.

Both Hernandez and Bellinger homered on 2-2 pitches to cap off eight-pitch battles.

The big defensive play, not surprisingly, came from right fielder Mookie Betts, who robbed Atlanta's Freddie Freeman of a solo home run in the top of the fifth inning. If that ball gets out, the Braves go ahead 4-2, and who knows how that changes the game and the strategy moving forward?

Interestingly, the Dodgers won this game without using longtime ace Clayton Kershaw, or longtime closer Kenley Jansen. Los Angeles used five pitchers, none of whom worked more than three innings: Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, Blake Treinen, Brusdar Graterol and Julio Urias.

There aren't any household names among those five pitchers, but that list shows the depth of the Dodgers, and it's shows the diverse way in which Los Angeles built its team.

May and Gonsolin were drafted and developed by the Dodgers; both are products of the 2016 draft class. Treinen was a free-agent acquisition. He was coming off a down year with Oakland in 2019, but he found new life with the Dodgers. Graterol was acquired from the Minnesota Twins in a three-team blockbuster last offseason -- the same deal that brought Betts to Los Angeles and had the Dodgers sending pitcher Kenta Maeda to Minnesota.

And Urias was signed as an international free agent out of Mexico at age 16. Now 24 years old, the left-hander finished the game Sunday with three perfect innings. Frankly, it would have been foolish for Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to go to Jansen, although the veteran right-hander was warming up in the bullpen when the game ended.

Urias was cruising, and there was absolutely no reason to believe he couldn't protect that one-run lead. Protect it he did, and now we'll see how the Dodgers fare against the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series.

The Rays are making their first World Series appearance since 2008, when they lost to the Philadelphia Phillies. The Dodgers are attempting to win the World Series for the first time since 1988, a remarkable drought when you consider the overall success of the organization.

Los Angeles will turn to Kershaw in Game 1 on Tuesday night. Tampa Bay will counter with right-hander Tyler Glasnow.

White Sox swing and miss on Zack Wheeler, Cole Hamels

Zack Wheeler

White Sox general manager Rick Hahn has said the team intends to sign two free agent starting pitchers this offseason. However, two pitchers the Sox were linked with signed elsewhere Wednesday.

Zack Wheeler agreed to a five-year, $118 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies, while Cole Hamels joined the Atlanta Braves on a one-year, $18 million deal.

According to a tweet from MLB Network's Jon Heyman, Wheeler was the Sox's top target in terms of starting pitchers. Apparently, the Sox front office doesn't believe it can land either Gerrit Cole or Stephen Strasburg, the two elite aces on the market, so the Sox set their sights on the best pitcher in the "second tier" of available starters.

That would be Wheeler, but as per usual, the Sox are the bridesmaid and not the bride. The Phillies beat out the Sox, the Minnesota Twins, the Cincinnati Reds and the Texas Rangers in this pursuit.

According to a tweet from MLB Network's Ken Rosenthal, the Sox's offer to Wheeler was for *more* than $118 million, but Wheeler's wife is from New Jersey and proximity was important.

OK, not sure if I buy that. It's all speculation, but for me as a Sox fan, the bottom line is the Hahn regime continues to come up short far more times than not, and the team still has much to prove in terms of its commitment to winning.

As for Hamels, just days ago he was on the White Sox Talk podcast with NBC Sports Chicago's Chuck Garfien to express his interest in possibly coming to the South Side.

Instead, Hamels will be headed to Atlanta. This loss isn't as big of a deal for the Sox, but let's be honest, Hamels would have been a nice fit as a veteran left-hander in the middle or the back of the rotation.

If the Sox are not in on Cole or Strasburg, and we have to assume they are not until proven otherwise, where does the team go from here? Do they pursue Madison Bumgarner? Dallas Keuchel? Someone else?

The Sox front office continues to earn skepticism from me. I'm not convinced they are going to land the two starting pitchers they need. C'mon, guys, prove me wrong.

Two Game 5s coming in the National League on Wednesday

Jack Flaherty

Both National League Division Series will conclude Wednesday, with the Atlanta Braves hosting the St. Louis Cardinals and the Los Angeles Dodgers hosting the Washington Nationals in a pair of winner-take-all Game 5s.

Who do you have winning?

Before the playoffs started, I picked the Cardinals and the Dodgers to win these series, so I guess there's no reason to backtrack now.

The series between Atlanta and St. Louis has been incredible. I really had no idea which team was going to win coming into the series, and I still don't have much of a clue.

Both clubs have one significant weakness. For the Cardinals, they have the weakest lineup of any team in the playoffs. Strong pitching staff, yes, but the offense is suspect. And that lack of offensive punch has hurt them in a 3-0 loss in Game 2 and a 3-1 loss in Game 3.

For the Braves, the significant weakness is in the bullpen, and that weakness has hurt them twice in this series. In Game 1, Atlanta led 3-1 after seven innings. The Braves lost, 7-6. In Game 4, Atlanta led 4-3 after seven innings. The Braves lost, 5-4, in 10 innings.

Game 5 will feature a matchup of perhaps the two best pitchers in the National League since the All-Star break. For St. Louis, Jack Flaherty went 7-2 with a 0.91 ERA in 14 second-half starts. His mound opponent, Atlanta's Mike Foltynewicz, went 6-1 with a 2.65 ERA in 10 second-half starts.

This is also a rematch of Game 2, which was won by Atlanta and Foltynewicz, as cited above. Should be a great one.

Meanwhile, the Nationals will try to do the unthinkable and slay the heavily favored Dodgers, who have won the NL pennant in each of the past two seasons.

Los Angeles won 106 games this season and was an absurd +273 in run differential. The second-best team in the NL in that area was, well, the Nationals at +149.

When you think about it, Washington probably is the second-best team in the NL right at this moment. Sure, the Braves won the NL East fair and square, but when you look at the Nationals, they lost the division because of their pathetic 19-31 start. However, Washington went 74-38 over the last 112 games of the regular season -- that's not a small sample size, and perhaps we should have known they were the biggest threat to the Dodgers.

And, the Nationals will send Stephen Strasburg to the mound. So far in these playoffs, Strasburg has worked nine innings, allowing only one run on five hits. He has struck out 14 and walked nobody. He was the winning pitcher in Game 2 of this series against the Dodgers. Could he win this game Wednesday and help Washington shock the baseball world? You bet.

But he'll have to beat Walker Buehler, who is the Dodgers' ace, with all due respect to Clayton Kershaw. Buehler was the Game 1 winner in this series, when he tossed six innings of no-run, one-hit ball with eight strikeouts and three walks. It should be a great pitching matchup.

These days, they say fans love the long ball, and there are plenty of those in the modern game. Me personally, I like to see the top pitchers go head to head. I'm hoping to see that kind of baseball Wednesday.

Slow start to the offseason, huh?

Josh Donaldson

It's only Nov. 29. The winter meetings haven't happened yet, but still, I'd say the free agent market is off to a slow start this year.

I was looking at the recent transactions on mlb.com, and there are only three of them that I would say are significant or even somewhat notable:

• Josh Donaldson signed a one-year, $23 million contract with the Atlanta Braves.
• Brian McCann signed a one-year, $2 million contract with the Braves.
• Lonnie Chisenhall signed a one-year, $2.75 million contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Yeah, that's about it. Two of these three are not even that interesting.

McCann is 34 years old and coming off an injury-plagued season in which he batted .212. He lost his starting job with the Houston Astros, and as far as I can tell, he's going back to the place where he had his best seasons -- Atlanta -- to finish up what has been a respectable career.

Chisenhall is a platoon corner outfielder who likely will have some utility for the Pirates as a left-handed bat off the bench. He's not a bad role player, but not a huge difference-maker, either.

Donaldson's signing easily is the most interesting of the three. He's three years removed from his MVP season of 2015, and he had a three-year stretch of brilliance from 2015-17 in which he hit 33 or more home runs in each season and posted an OPS of .939, .953 and .944, respectively.

However, injuries hit hard for Donaldson in 2018. He was limited to 52 games, and the Toronto Blue Jays traded his expiring contract midseason to the Cleveland Indians. Finally healthy down the stretch, Donaldson appeared in 16 games for Cleveland, posting a .280/.400/.520 slash line with three home runs and seven RBIs.

Donaldson will turn 33 years old in about a week, so that combined with his injury history depressed his market to where he was willing to take a one-year deal. It's a very lucrative one-year deal with the defending NL East champion Braves, mind you, but a one-year deal nonetheless.

The Braves are getting a great hitter if Donaldson is healthy, but there's an increased risk of injury with this player going to the National League. The DH is not an option in Atlanta, so Donaldson will need to play third base every day.

I have no doubt the guy still can play. It's just a question of whether he can stay on the field.

Oakland's Bob Melvin, Atlanta's Brian Snitker win Manager of the Year awards

Bob Melvin

Oakland's Bob Melvin and Atlanta's Brian Snitker were named Managers of the Year in their respective leagues Tuesday.

For me, one of these winners was a surprise and one was not.

The 57-year-old Melvin is one of the best managers in the American League, and this is his third time winning the award. In fact, 2018 might have been his best managerial job, as he took an Athletics team with the lowest Opening Day payroll in baseball ($68 million) and molded it into a 97-win club that earned an AL wild-card spot.

Oakland improved by 22 wins in 2018, the most improvement by any team in baseball. Here's the thing that stood out to me about the A's: They used 34 pitchers to get through the season and not a single one of them threw enough innings to qualify for the ERA title.

It truly was a mix-and-match situation in Oakland, as injuries forced Melvin to give starts to journeyman pitchers such as Edwin Jackson, Brett Anderson and Trevor Cahill.

I found it remarkable that the A's finished second in the AL West, which might have been the deepest division in baseball. Full credit goes Melvin, his staff and his players for the year that they had.

Melvin got 18 of a possible 30 first-place votes. Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora got seven first-place votes and finished second. The other five first-place votes when to the third-place finisher, Tampa Bay's Kevin Cash.

I'm a little surprised that Snitker won the award in the National League, not that he isn't deserving. The Braves had an 18-game turnaround under his direction and were surprise champions in the NL East.

Coming into the season, everyone picked the Washington Nationals to win that division. Instead, Atlanta spent 115 days in first place and never lost more than four in a row. That's the sign of a good manager -- the absence of a long losing streak. Most "experts" had the Braves finishing third at the start of the season, but their rebuilding plan came together a year ahead of schedule and quieted skeptics.

Snitker has to be enjoying this success. He's been with the Atlanta organization for 40 years, and often, a longtime organization man doesn't get the opportunity to manage. However, he had a big year in only his second season at the helm.

That said, I thought Milwaukee's Craig Counsell would win the NL award. Counsell guided the Brewers to a league-best 96 wins and the championship of the NL Central. Despite having significant deficiencies in the starting rotation, Milwaukee reached Game 7 of the NLCS before losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Everyone, and I mean everyone, had the Cubs winning the NL Central this season. And given what the Cubs and Dodgers have accomplished in recent years, who had the Brewers emerging as the team with the most regular-season wins in the NL? Certainly not me.

But, the majority of voters gave the nod to Snitker. He got 17 of the 30 first-place votes. Counsell got 11 first-place votes and finished second. Colorado's Bud Black got one first-place vote and took third.

Former White Sox catchers are suddenly good hitters

Alex Avila

The Detroit Tigers have been on local TV a lot the past two weeks. The White Sox have played seven games against them since May 26, and Detroit's game against the Los Angeles Angels is the MLB Network feature today on "Thursday Afternoon Baseball."

When I watch the Tigers, I cringe every time Alex Avila steps to the plate. Of course, now that the veteran catcher doesn't play for the Sox anymore, he's rediscovered his batting stroke. Check out his numbers this year in Detroit, when compared with his numbers last year with the Sox:

2017 with Detroit: .324./440/.640, 9 HRs, 24 RBIs, 8 2Bs in 39 games
2016 with Sox: .213/.359/.373, 7 HRs, 11 RBIs, 8 2Bs in 57 games

Avila was nothing but injured and bad for the Sox in 2016. Now that he's back with Detroit, he's healthy and raking. He's already surpassed his run production totals from last year, and it's only June 8.

Doesn't that figure. And he's not alone in the category of former Sox catchers who suddenly know how to hit.

Would you believe it if I told you Tyler Flowers is hitting .350/.459/.455 with three homers and 16 RBIs in 41 games for the Atlanta Braves? Well, it's true.

Flowers has reinvented himself as a high-average, contact hitter:

2016-17 with Atlanta: .295/.389/.431
2009-15 with Sox: .223/.289/.376

This season, Flowers has struck out 27 times in 148 plate appearances, or once every 5.5 times he steps to the plate. During his time in Chicago, he struck out 464 times in 1,395 plate appearances, or once every 3.0 times he stepped to the plate.

Makes you wonder why he couldn't make these adjustments while he was with the Sox, doesn't it? If he had, he'd probably still be in Chicago.

By way of comparison, Sox catchers in 2017 are hitting .240/.316/.333 with three home runs and 18 RBIs. All three home runs and nine of those RBIs are on the disabled list (Geovany Soto). The Sox don't get much offense out of their catchers, and that remains a position of need moving forward.

Nick Swisher released by Braves

Nick Swisher

The Atlanta Braves released veteran outfielder and first baseman Nick Swisher on Monday.

The 35-year-old former White Sox knucklehead hit just .195 with four home runs and 17 RBIs in 46 games for Atlanta last season. Here's the funniest line from the AP story:

"There was no room for [Swisher] on the roster after the Braves signed Kelly Johnson, Jeff Francoeur, Gordon Beckham and Emilio Bonifacio to contend for spots on the bench."

Yes, it's true, Swisher's career has bottomed out to the point that Beckham and Bonifacio are considered better uses for roster spots on a rebuilding Atlanta team than he is.

Swisher is set to make $15 million this year, but the Cleveland Indians are paying most of that bill after trading Swisher and outfielder Michael Bourn to the Braves last season in exchange for third baseman Chris Johnson. Any team can now sign Swisher for the pro-rated portion of the league minimum.

I was horrified this morning to see the Sox listed as one of six possible landing spots for Swisher, according to an article on cbssports.com. Other teams listed are the Los Angeles Angels, Kansas City Royals, San Diego Padres, Philadelphia Phillies and Cleveland.

Swisher has hit just .224/.315/.373 in the three years since he signed a four-year, $56 million contract with the Indians. He has stunk for a long time. He's coming off surgeries on both his knees. He's 35 years old. I'd say he's done.

I hope the Sox stay far, far away from this guy. When Swisher was with the Sox in 2008, his nickname was "Dirty 30," as he wore uniform No. 30. I called him "Dirty .230" because that's about all he could hit.

At this point, a .230 average from Swisher would qualify as wishful thinking for any team that signs him.

Weird injury department: Gavin Floyd breaks his elbow

I've heard a few White Sox fans suggest the team made a mistake by parting ways with veteran right-hander Gavin Floyd this past offseason.

Floyd's supporters correctly note the Sox have had a revolving door at the back end of their starting rotation. The Felipe Paulino experiment was a colossal failure. Rookie Erik Johnson couldn't find the plate and had to be sent back to Triple-A. After a two decent starts, Scott Carroll showed himself to be better suited for a long-relief role. Andre Rienzo and waiver pickup Hector Noesi have been hit or miss in their combined 19 starts. There is no question the Sox suffer from a lack of starting pitching depth.

Is Floyd better than the guys the Sox are trotting out there? When Floyd is healthy, sure, he's better, but he had Tommy John surgery last summer. He wasn't going to be ready for the start of this season, and the Sox felt they had better things to spend their money on than signing Floyd to a one-year reclamation deal. I couldn't disagree with that line of thinking.

The Atlanta Braves took a $4 million flier on Floyd, who returned to major leagues on May 6. He was pitching well for the Braves. Coming into Thursday's start against the Washington Nationals, he was 1-2 with a 2.98 ERA in eight starts.

In fact, he picked up his second win of the year Thursday after firing six innings of two-hit ball in the Braves' 3-0 win over Washington. Unfortunately for Floyd, he broke the olecranon -- the bony tip of the ulna that sticks out behind the elbow -- on his first pitch of the seventh inning.

Ouch.

This is a rare injury for pitchers, but it is similar to the one that ended Detroit reliever Joel Zumaya's career in 2010. At minimum, Floyd's season is over. For their $4 million, the Braves got nine pretty good starts. Maybe it was worth it to them, but it wouldn't be worth it to a rebuilding team such as the Sox.

Doctors are saying this injury is unrelated to the Tommy John surgery Floyd underwent, but one of the reasons I didn't want the Sox to re-sign Floyd was my concern that he would get hurt again.

Floyd missed some time late in 2012 with an arm problem, and then the torn elbow ligament limited him to five starts in 2013. This is a pitcher whose career is probably coming toward the end.

While Rienzo and Noesi are no great shakes, at least they are healthy and eating up innings while the Sox rebuild. Innings are something the oft-injured Floyd just can't provide right now, and the Sox do not miss him.

Injury-riddled Braves sign pitcher Ervin Santana

It's been a bad week for the Atlanta Braves and their starting pitchers.

Kris Medlen, Atlanta's best pitcher and projected Opening Day starter, left a spring training start on Sunday while holding his right elbow. Preliminary tests showed ligament damage, and it's possible Medlen will be looking at his second Tommy John surgery in less than four years.

Then on Monday, Brandon Beachy could not finish his spring training outing because of continuing problems with his surgically repaired right elbow. Beachy has started just 18 games over the last two seasons and his suffered multiple setbacks in his recovery after surgery in 2012.

I haven't even mentioned Mike Minor yet. The left-hander won 13 games for Atlanta last season, but he's yet to pitch this spring because of a shoulder problem.

The Braves are staring down the possibility that 60 percent of their starting rotation will be on the disabled list when the season opens. Julio Teheran, a 14-game winner last year, and fifth starter Alex Wood are the last two men standing. Former White Sox pitcher Freddy Garcia is in camp as a nonroster invitee. Another former Sox, Gavin Floyd, is on Atlanta's roster, but he is not expected to pitch until May as he recovers from Tommy John surgery.

The situation is obviously getting a little worrisome in Atlanta, so the Braves acted Wednesday, signing Ervin Santana to a one-year contract worth $14.1 million. The right-hander, who went 9-10 with a 3.24 ERA in 32 starts with Kansas City last year, was the last major free-agent pitcher available.

It's no secret I'm not a fan of Santana. As recently as two years ago, his ERA was over 5. His 2013 performance with the Royals was a career year, and I wouldn't expect him to repeat that. It seems a lot of GMs felt the same way, and that's why the 31-year-old right-hander went unsigned halfway into March.

Also, the Braves have to give Kansas City a first-round draft pick -- in this case the No. 26 selection -- as compensations for signing Santana. Atlanta is paying a hefty price here, not just the $14.1 million but the draft pick as well.

You might go so far as to say the Braves are panicking in the wake of their recent injuries. I can understand their thinking, though. They won their division last year, and they obviously feel they are a contender again this season. But the house may crumble if they enter April with the corpse of Freddy Garcia as their No. 3 starter. That would be a scary proposition indeed.

Atlanta is counting on Santana to ride to its rescue. That's not a comfortable position to be in, but it's probably better than relying on Garcia or throwing some untested rookies into the fire.

Chris Sale's strong outing alleviates bogus 'concerns'

I had to laugh Monday when I read news stories about the White Sox naming Chris Sale their starting pitcher for Opening Day. As if there were another pitcher on the roster under consideration.

That decision might be the easiest one Sox manager Robin Ventura has to make all season. Thank you, Captain Obvious.

Sale made his third start of the spring Monday against the Milwaukee Brewers and turned in 4.1 dominant innings. He retired 13 of the 15 hitters he faced and allowed just a pair of two-out singles. He struck out three and walked none.

I was relieved to hear Sale pitched well, not because I was worried about him, but because it was obnoxious to hear the bogus "concerns" other people had when Sale got knocked around in his second outing against the San Diego Padres last week.

In that game, Sale allowed six earned runs over 2.2 innings and struggled to get command of his breaking ball. Sale hadn't thrown his slider at all in his first outing of the spring, so it stands to reason he had difficulty with that pitch the first time he threw it in game situations this year.

It was yet another example of spring training being about getting ready for the season, as opposed to being about achieving optimal results. Established guys who already know they are coming north with the team don't need to concern themselves with statistics. A pitcher can work on a specific pitch during a given outing, and if he happens to get shelled, then so be it. It's a means to an end in terms of refining that pitch so it will be effective when the results begin to matter in three weeks.

A pitcher who will not be missed

Even as pitcher Zach Stewart languished through a miserable 6-14 season last year at Triple-A Charlotte, I was always somewhat (irrationally) fearful the White Sox would recall him and and give him a few starts at the big league level at the end of the season.

That fear is gone now after the Sox on Monday traded Stewart to the Atlanta Braves for cash considerations. Thank goodness that guy is gone -- hopefully for good.

Stewart went 3-7 with a 6.14 ERA in 28 appearances (9 starts) with the Sox over a two-year period. He was last seen in a White Sox uniform on June 18, 2012, when he gave up six runs, nine hits and four home runs in a 12-3 loss to a Cubs team that would go on to lose 101 games.

Six days later, Stewart and Brent Lillibridge were traded to the Boston Red Sox for third baseman Kevin Youkilis. Naturally, Stewart did nothing to impress in Boston. He was traded to Pittsburgh in November 2012, placed on waivers and later picked up by the Sox once more in January of 2013.

Ugh. I guess somebody had to pitch at Charlotte last year. At least Stewart never got back to the bigs in Chicago. This is one pitcher I hope we never see in the Sox organization again.

Braves smartly investing in young core

A tip for frugality that gets passed around from time to time is to shop in your pantry for dinner instead of buying all new ingredients for that night's meal. Find something you can use that you've already got, and work from there.

Andrelton Simmons tells reporters
how awesome it is to be rich.

The Braves have decided to do something similar this offseason. Instead of focusing on the free agent market, they've instead worked to sign some of their young players to big contract extensions to keep them in Atlanta for years to come.

The latest in the line of extensions was the seven-year, $58 million deal for young shortstop Andrelton Simmons. The Braves decided to go all-in on the 24-year-old after only one full season in the big leagues.

This move came after locking up closer Craig Kimbrel (4 years, $42 million, plus a team option), first baseman Freddie Freeman (8 years, $135 million) and starting pitcher Julio Teheran (6 years, $32.4 million, plus a team option).

These are all big investments in players already on the Braves' roster, and looking at each one individually, each also has its risks.

Simmons is pretty light on experience and hasn't even shown he's an average hitter yet. Freeman has posted only one monster season, his most recent, yet his contract was among the biggest given to a player with his service time. Teheran and Kimbrel are both pitchers who could get hurt. Teheran, like Simmons, also only has one full year of experience, and as good as Kimbrel has been, he's still only a closer expected to throw around 70 innings a year.

Atlanta is definitely agreeing to fork out more money the next few years than it would by going year-to-year, renewing the contracts and taking these players to arbitration when they accrue enough service time for that. 

But here's the way I look at these deals, and I'm sure how the Braves do, too:

Simmons is already an amazing defender and a nonzero with the bat. If he never gets any better, the Braves will get a good value out of this contract. If he makes adjustments and becomes an average or better hitter -- which his minor league track records suggests he can -- then this contract is a massive bargain.

Freeman's huge 2013 came after two good-but-not-great years for a first baseman. But it's hard to fault Freeman for being the best first baseman in the organization as a 21- and 22-year-old. Now just 24, he's already more accomplished than Mark Teixeira was at the same age. Unless something goes wrong, the Braves will be paying much less for the very best years of Freeman's career than the Yankees paid ($180 million) for Teixeira's last great year, three decent years, and what might be four awful, useless years.

The same goes for Kimbrel, who will cost less than other closers such as Joe Nathan, Jonathan Papelbon, Francisco Cordero and ... hold your breath ... B.J. Ryan ... have cost teams on contracts signed over the last decade. Kimbrel could have even eclipsed this total by going to arbitration with his gaudy save and strikeout totals.

Having Teheran under control means not having to plug a rotation hole with an unproven or more expensive player.

And don't forget the pay scale in baseball is only going up right now.

The Braves do lose some flexibility with these deals. If any of these guys gets hurt, or just becomes awful, Atlanta can't just nontender them and walk away. But that's the case when teams choose to sign a player from outside the organization to a huge contract as a free agent. (Too keep it close to Atlanta here, don't you think the Braves wish they could flush Dan Uggla and B.J. Upton and the rest of their contracts down the memory hole?)

Even if the total dollars in these contracts seem eye-popping right now, they still pale in comparison to some of the deals given to players not under team control.

The Braves are climbing on the hook for some big paychecks here, but in return they're keeping the pantry stocked without paying free agent prices, which means they stand to put a good team on the field and save money in the long run.

Clayton Kershaw expected to make more than entire Atlanta pitching staff

I pulled this nugget out of the Jan. 27 edition of Sports Illustrated:

Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw will make an average of $30.7 million annually over the life of the seven-year contract he just signed.

By way of comparison, the Atlanta Braves' 12-man pitching staff is expected to make $27 million combined in 2014.

I know you've probably heard or read statistics like that before. People are quite fond of pointing out that Alex Rodriguez makes more than the entire Houston Astros' roster, for example.

But here's the thing: The Astros aren't even trying to win right now. They stink. They had the worst record in the league last year at  51-111. I tend to dismiss the Astros as a Triple-A team, so of course they are making Triple-A salaries.

The Braves, in contrast, won the NL East with 96 wins in 2013. Not only that, they led all of baseball with a 3.18 team ERA. Atlanta has a very good pitching staff that happens to be inexpensive as well.

It's hard to say Kershaw doesn't deserve his money. He's won two of the last three Cy Young Awards in the National League. He's the best left-handed starter in baseball.

But, the Braves example shows you don't necessarily have to throw around millions upon millions of dollars to build a successful pitching staff, or a successful team. Keep that in mind when people try to tell you the New York Yankees are a lock for the 2014 World Series after they spent almost half a billion dollars this offseason on free agents Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran and Masahiro Tanaka.

The Yankees have won the offseason for sure, but there is no special prize handed to the team that spends the most money or collects the most big-name players.