White Sox: Will the team really be “aggressive” in free agency?
The Chicago White Sox will reportedly be aggressive in free agency, but do you believe that?
It has been a long time since the Chicago White Sox have been considered legitimate contenders for a playoff spot. Instead, most recently, efforts have been more focused on acquiring and developing young talent to build a core nucleus. The hope and expectation were that at some point, the front office could add enough veteran, and/or high profile free agents to become that contender.
Last season they had a chance at two “big fish.” However, White Sox fans saw Bryce Harper and Manny Machado sign elsewhere. The White Sox maintained their offer, at least for Machado, was better than the one he ultimately accepted from the San Diego Padres.
However, anyone who prefers guaranteed money knows that’s not true. While their deal had the ‘potential’ to be worth more, the Padres’ offer guaranteed more money.
So when reports emerge that the White Sox will be “aggressive” this offseason in free agency, it begs the question, ‘should you believe it?’
Had heard this was going to be an offseason directed for White Sox contention in 2020 and beyond since really the last couple of months of the '19 season. It takes two sides to make a deal, but White Sox will be aggressive.
— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) November 11, 2019
On one hand, it makes all the sense in the world for the Sox to open up the vault and go hard after some big-time free agents. It has a plethora of young talent in Eloy Jimenez, Dylan Cease, and Yoan Moncada. They also have guys like Tim Anderson and Lucas Giolito who had breakout seasons in 2019 to go with the return of Michael Kopech and potential callup of slugger Luis Robert.
In other words, they have a terrific mix of young players with varying levels of MLB experience (and we haven’t even mentioned guys like James McCann or free agent Jose Abreu who is a possibility to return).
It feels like the right time for them to go all-in on some top tier starting pitching, and there are plenty of options out there like Gerrit Cole, Stephen Strasburg, Zach Weeler, Hyun-Jin Ryu, and Madison Bumgarner. There is also a plethora of top reliever options like Aroldis Chapman, and Dellin Betances. If they choose to add a bat, Anthony Rendon who shined in the World Series or Nick Castellanos who dominated after the trade deadline for the Chicago Cubs both make a lot of sense.
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On the other hand, it’s Jerry Reinsdorf and the White Sox. So while the sentiment appears to be that they will be “aggressive” you’ll have to excuse me if I sit here in ‘show me’ mode for the time being.