Looking at what the White Sox lack (SP, RF, DH, and IF depth) free agency is going to be big. Yes they have Andrew Vaughn and Michael Kopech joining the big league team in 2021, but they need more than that. They have the reigning MVP in Jose Abreu, and a sizzling superstar in Tim Anderson. So what else do they have? Two power hitting outfielders in Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert, arguably the best catcher in baseball, Yasmani Grandal, and coming off a COVID ridden season Yoan Moncada. They still have Madrigal ready to take over 2B full time, so they are missing an everyday RF and DH. So what options are out there? Well you have the free agent market: George Springer, Marcell Ozuna, Kyle Schwarber, Adam Duvall, and Joc Pederson are the biggest names. Again, peak White Sox is not a flashy move like Springer, so I expect a short term deal with Adam Duvall granted he doesn’t re-sign in Atlanta. You also need to address the backup catcher spot with James McCann moving on most likely. So you can look to Zach Collins or Yermin Mercedes in the system or go look in free agency. Who is out there? Tyler Flowers, Wilson Ramos, Jason Castro, Robinson Chirinos, Austin Romine, or Matt Wieters. Those would be your backup catcher options. The intrigue to me would be a 1 year deal with Wilson Ramos, he can backup and play DH at times against LHP. Though peak White Sox screams Matt Wieters. So we will see what they let Rick Hahn do.

Let’s look at pitching. The recent acquisition of Ethan Katz as the new pitching coach is one to be inspired by. Something something helped Giolito. So let’s look at the rotation: Giolito, Keuchel, Cease, Lopez/Dunning, and most likely Kopech. The only big SP out there is Trevor Bauer; forget his misogyny for a moment, the White Sox can’t afford him. So the trade market is where they can explore: Yu Darvish, Lance Lynn, and Blake Snell are the available trade targets. Honestly the most White Sox move here is Lance Lynn. It’s not flashy, but it will get the job done. Kind of like the signing of Keuchel, a former Cy Young award winner and World Series champion. However, in his first year with the White Sox, he shined. Let’s hope whoever the White Sox can bring in can have the same type of impact.

Let’s look at the bullpen! With Colome moving on, you have a closer spot open that many will want Aaron Bummer or Codi Heuer to assume the role. So who else do we have? Evan Marshall, Garrett Crochet, Jimmy Cordero, Dane Dunning/Reynaldo Lopez, Bernardo Flores, Matt Foster, and Jace Fry. You have a ton of young arms that could come up and take on bullpen roles, barring injuries. I do not see the White Sox being active in the bullpen market, but as we saw in the Playoff series with Oakland, starting depth was the issue. That caused overworked bullpen arms to struggle. They may do another short term deal with a veteran bullpen arm, but don’t expect them to go after a Liam Hendriks type.