White Sox starting pitching depth already eroding

When I listed my 10 preseason candidates for the White Sox starting rotation, I ranked Ky Bush as No. 7.

Cross him off. 

Sox general manager Chris Getz announced on Tuesday that Bush will miss the 2025 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

Bush, a 25-year-old lefty, made his big league debut last season. He went 0-3 with a 5.60 ERA in four starts. Bush's ceiling is likely a No. 4 starter, so you may not see this is a big loss.

It's really not, but it is one less pitcher the Sox can use to make starts in a season where they are looking for people to eat innings. Realistically, I thought Bush would start somewhere between five and 10 games this season. Now, someone else needs to take those starts.

Innings are a concern for the Sox because four of their top-five guys in innings pitched from 2024 are no longer with the team. Here are their innings leaders from last year:

1. Chris Flexen, 160 innings
2. Garrett Crochet, 146 innings
3. Jonathan Cannon, 124.1 innings
4. Erick Fedde, 121.2 innings
5. Michael Soroka, 79.2 innings 

Only Cannon remains with the team. Fedde was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals midseason last year. Crochet was traded to the Boston Red Sox this offseason. Soroka left via free agency and is now a member of the Washington Nationals. Flexen remains a free agent.

That's 507 innings walking out the door. Martin Perez and Bryse Wilson were the only two veteran pitchers brought in this offseason. They will not combine for 300 innings, let alone 500.

Maybe it's time to get Flexen on the phone?

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.

When 'just play the kids' doesn't work ...

White Sox fans have been screaming into the void on social media, calling for the team to discard veterans and "just play the kids."

It's understandable, because the team is 20 games below .500 on May 22. The Sox are going nowhere fast in 2024, and it's time to look ahead to 2025 and beyond.

Nobody wants to watch dead-end veterans such as Mike Clevinger, Chris Flexen and the recently DFA'd Brad Keller start games for the Sox. Hell, I don't want to watch these guys, either.

Those types of pitchers are short-timers. They won't be in the majors much longer, and they are just here to eat innings and cross days off the calendar.

Those players are here because "the kids" aren't ready. Fans who wanted to see rookie right-hander Nick Nastrini pitch got their wish Wednesday night, and boy, that did not go well.

Nastrini gave up seven runs in the second inning, plus two more in the fourth, in a 9-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.

His final line was brutal: 3.1 IP, 7 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 6 BB, 0 K, 1 HR. 

Six walks and no strikeouts? My goodness, it was like the Blue Jays knew what was coming. This is the type of performance that can kill a young pitcher's confidence. 

It sounds as though Nastrini will get another start next Monday, against Toronto once again. Let's keep in mind, the Blue Jays are in last place in the AL East. It's not *that* difficult of an assignment. If Nastrini gets bombed again, I'm not going to be able to make a case for him to stay in the bigs.

If he has to go back to Triple-A, get ready for more Michael Soroka in the rotation, like it or not. That's what happens when you don't have any "kids" who are ready to pitch in Chicago. 

Yoan Moncada injured in White Sox win at Cleveland

Yoan Moncada (right)

During spring training, White Sox designated hitter Eloy Jimenez said his goal was to play 150 games during the 2024 season, alongside teammates Yoan Moncada and Luis Robert Jr.

That's not looking possible right now. Only 11 games into the season, Jimenez and Robert are already on the injured list, and Moncada is almost certainly heading there after suffering an adductor strain during Tuesday's 7-5 victory over the Cleveland Guardians.

Moncada was ... wait for it ... running to first base in the second inning after hitting a grounder to the left side of the infield. He went down as if he were shot about halfway down the line and rolled around in agony.

After the game, manager Pedro Grifol described Moncada as being in "severe pain" on the field. He added that more would be known tomorrow after the injury is evaluated.

Reports indicate the Sox will call up outfielder Oscar Colas to take Moncada's spot on the roster ahead of Wednesday's series finale in Cleveland.

Two of the top prospects in the Sox farm system are infielders -- shortstop Colson Montgomery and third baseman Bryan Ramos. However, neither is ready for the majors, and the Sox are wisely resisting the temptation to call them up prematurely.

Montgomery, who is at Triple-A Charlotte, and Ramos, who is at Double-A Birmingham, should be allowed to continue their development in the minor leagues. They should be called up when they are ready for the big leagues. They should NOT be called up to solve a crisis in Chicago.

As for the game, the Sox scored five runs in the top of the first inning, but starting pitcher Michael Soroka couldn't hold it. The Guardians tied the score at 5 in the bottom of the fourth inning.

That's where the score stayed until the top of the eighth, when Dominic Fletcher delivered a two-run double to put the Sox ahead 7-5.

Michael Kopech took it from there, firing two scoreless innings of relief for his second save of the season. The right-hander retired all six men he faced, four by strikeout, and threw 15 pitches that were 100 mph or faster. It was the kind of performance you'd like to see more often from Kopech.

The Sox are 2-9.

Only 12 runs in 6 games: That's not going to cut it

The Kansas City Royals scored eight runs in the bottom of the seventh inning Thursday night, throttling the White Sox, 10-1, in the first game of a four-game series.

But hey, at least the Sox scored one run! Moral victories, I guess, but they should have scored more. The South Siders grounded into double plays in each of the first three innings, had a runner thrown out at home plate on a shallow fly ball in the sixth and finished 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position.

If my math is correct, the Sox are now 4 for 32 with runners in scoring position through the first six games of the season. They have scored only 12 runs total, and six of those came in one game.

Michael Soroka (0-1) took the loss Thursday night, even though it wasn't his fault. He posted a quality start -- six innings pitched, with two runs allowed on six hits. He struck out two and walked nobody. You'll take that.

The problem was the seventh inning, when Deivi Garcia and Dominic Leone imploded. They combined to issue three walks and allow four hits. Andrew Vaughn dropped a pop fly in foul territory, and shortstop Braden Shewmake booted a routine grounder. The wildness by the pitchers and the poor defense fueled the Kansas City rally.

But the offense continues to be the biggest sore point. Eloy Jimenez was out of the lineup for the third straight game with abductor strain, but we can't blame the DH spot for Thursday's woes. Gavin Sheets went 2 for 2 with a double, a single and two walks.

Alas, Luis Robert Jr. was 0 for 4, and Dominic Fletcher is off to a 1-for-15 start to the season after another 0-for-4.

Something else to keep an eye on as this weekend series progresses: Andrew Benintendi in the leadoff spot. The veteran is batting .125 to start the season, and the four years left on his contract are starting to look really bad. What exactly does Benintendi do for this team? It's time start asking.

The Sox are 1-5. They are 156 more games of this crap.

I'll blog next after this series is over, and we'll see if it's gotten any better.

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.

What does the White Sox starting pitching staff look like entering 2024?

Dylan Cease

Please hold your nose as we delve into the state of the White Sox starting pitching staff as the calendar turns to a new year.

The most recent Sox pitching addition? That would be 29-year-old right-hander Chris Flexen, who recently agreed to a one-year contract worth $1.75 million, with an extra $1 million available if he hits certain performance bonuses.

Once upon a time, two years ago, Flexen was a productive pitcher for the Seattle Mariners. He went 14-6 with a 3.61 ERA over 31 starts in 179.2 innings in 2021. He backed that up by going 8-9 with a 3.73 ERA over 33 games (22 starts) in 137.2 innings in 2022.

We'd take either of those two years from him right now, wouldn't we, Sox fans?

Well, don't count on it because Flexen had a disastrous 2023. He pitched in 17 games with the Mariners and got DFA'd in late June after going 0-4 with a 7.71 ERA. He bounced from the New York Mets to the Colorado Rockies, and while in Denver, he started 12 games and went 2-4 with 6.37 ERA.

The only blessing? Flexen once again was durable enough to clear 100 innings -- he pitched 102.1 innings between the Mariners and the Rockies -- and that's not nothing.

However, he allowed more earned runs (78) than he had strikeouts (74), and opponents slugged .740 against his four-seam fastball. Flexen surrendered 25 home runs in 2023.

There's a reason he's available for cheap on a one-year deal, friends. Maybe Sox pitching guru Brian Bannister and pitching coach Ethan Katz have a recipe for Flexen to regain his 2021-22 form, but this signing is nothing but a huge question mark.

So, here's how the five-man rotation sets up, as we sit here on the evening of Jan. 2:

1. Dylan Cease
2. Erick Fedde
   
3. Michael Soroka
4. Flexen
5. Touki Toussaint or Michael Kopech
   

There's still a real possibility Cease gets traded, perhaps sooner rather than later, but he's here for now. After finishing second in the Cy Young voting in 2022, Cease's ERA spiked from 2.20 to 4.58 in 2023. The underlying metrics suggest Cease isn't as good as he was in 2022, but he isn't as bad as he was in 2023, either. 

If you look at Cease's 2021 numbers -- 13-7 with a 3.91 ERA in 165.2 innings, with a 1.249 WHIP and a 12.3 K/9 -- that seems like a reasonable expectation. Maybe with a slightly lower K rate, but you get the point.

Fedde might be the "big free agent acquisition" for the offseason. As we noted earlier on this blog, he had a big season in the Korean League last year.

Soroka, of course, came over from the Atlanta Braves in the Aaron Bummer deal. He was great in 2019, but injuries have limited him every year since. Will he be healthy? And if he is, what are the Sox getting? Who knows?

Kopech is both wild and an injury risk, and he's probably down to his last chance to stick in the starting rotation after a disastrous 2023 that saw him go 5-12 with a 5.43 ERA. Toussaint and Flexen are reclamation projects at this stage of their careers. The Sox were lucky to coax 83.1 innings out of Toussaint last season.

As in any baseball season, a team needs more than five or six starters to get through 162 games. Here are some other guys the Sox might use in 2024:

• Jared Shuster
• Jesse Scholtens
• Nick Nastrini
• Jake Eder
• Cristian Mena
• Davis Martin

Shuster is a change-of-scenery lefty who came over from the Braves with Soroka in the Bummer deal. Scholtens got 85 innings with the Sox last year, and there were diminishing returns as the season moved along. Nastrini is a prospect acquired from the Dodgers midseason last year. Eder is a lefty prospect who came from the Marlins in the Jake Burger trade. 

Mena is a 21-year-old righty who pitched as high as Triple-A Charlotte in 2023. Some have forgotten about Martin, who made nine starts in 2022. He missed 2023 with elbow surgery, but could contribute to the Sox late in 2024.

Add all this up, and two things are true: 1) The Sox have options, but many of them are suspect, and 2) This type of rotation projection gets you picked to finish last, even in the sad-sack American League Central.

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.