Chicago White Sox: 2018 offseason blueprint

Step Two: Sign a veteran starter

Rick Hahn has always been good when it comes to bargain deals.

This free agent class is full of veteran starters that perfectly fit that bill.

With the rotation spot opened up by Shields, the White Sox will need someone to fill a top-3 spot before young starters such as Dylan Cease and Dane Dunning are ready.

Here are a couple of names that the White Sox could be interested in:

• Clay Buchholz (Arizona Diamondbacks)
• Hyun-Jin Ryu (Los Angeles Dodgers)
• Mike Fiers (Oakland Athletics)

Personally, I think that Ryu is the best fit here.

For one, he’s a lefty. Other than Rodon, the White Sox lack any left-handed starting pitching as of right now.

Secondly, Ryu is awfully efficient. While he’s missed time frequently due to injury, a sub-2 ERA in limited time in 2018 isn’t something to downgrade.

Finally, if all goes well, and the White Sox do put some wins together and find themselves in contention in the second-half, Ryu has valuable experience playing in meaningful games late in the season, as Ryu has pitched in the postseason in every season of his career.

Of course, if the White Sox find themselves well out of contention, Ryu can be flipped for prospects come July. It’s a low-risk, high-reward type deal that will certainly pay dividends one way or another for the White Sox.