Chicago White Sox: Team makes fantastic signing in Steve Cishek

Steve Cishek spent the previous two seasons on the north side of town and now he’ll join an upbeat Chicago White Sox, who look ready to compete in 2020.

The Chicago White Sox are having themselves quite the offseason. General Manager Rick Hahn has been a busy man and got the party started when he signed Yasmani Grandal to the franchise’s largest contract in history. We recently published a piece on the fantastic offseason that the team has had and identified what was left to do. Oddly enough, Steve Cishek was a name pegged as being a good fit in a bullpen that could use another arm.

Cishek, 34, agreed to a one-year, $6 million deal on Tuesday, and the club has an option for 2021 as well. The submarine pitcher had been linked to the Boston Red Sox last week, but contract negotiations broke down as the 2018 World Series Champions are aiming to shed payroll while remaining competitive. Cishek spent the previous two seasons playing for the Cubs and posted a 2.55 ERA during his brief time there. Joe Maddon heavily relied on him, tossing more innings in a two-year span than he ever had in his career.

Cishek was up for the challenge, striking out 135 batters in 134.1 innings while allowing batters to hit .179 and .208 in 2018 and 2019, respectively. As noted, the White Sox shored up their offense, adding Grandal, Edwin Encarnacion, re-signing Jose Abreu, and extending top prospect, Luis Robert. They also made two additions to their rotation in both Gio Gonzalez and Dallas Keuchel.

On paper, the White Sox look like an outstanding team heading into the 2020 chapter, and now have a legitimate 7th, 8th, and 9th inning combination in Cishek, Kelvin Herrera, and Alex Colome. Add Aaron Bummer to the mix – 2.13 ERA in 58 appearances last year – and it’s going to be challenging to score runs off the White Sox late in games. As alluded to, Rick Hahn’s club is arguably the most improved team this offseason and should compete for the American League Central Division.

The Minnesota Twins would appear to be the only legitimate threat as the Cleveland Indians have already parted with former Cy Young pitcher, Corey Kluber, and are in discussions to potentially part with Francisco Lindor. It’s a changing of the guards, and the White Sox are ready to take the American League by storm.