Who should return from the 2023 Chicago White Sox 40-man roster
By Todd Welter
Bullpen
Keep on the 26-man roster: Gregory Santos, Garrett Crochet, Tanner Banks
Keep on the 40-man roster: Sammy Peralta, Lane Ramsey, Luis Patiño, Deivi García, Jimmy Lambert, Sammy Peralta, Declan Cronin, Edgar Navarro, Nicholas Padilla, Alex Speas
Non-Tender: Michael Kopech, Matt Foster, Luis Patiño, Yohan Ramirez
Try to trade: Aaron Bummer
Decline option (but shouldn’t): Liam Hendriks
Let walk in free agency: Bryan Shaw
26-man roster spots to fill: Five
Crochet might be moved to the starting rotation. He can also light up the radar gun to be a closer. Santos should also be in the mix for the closer role. Tanner Banks is still not arbitration-eligible and can be a cheap long-man rotation option.
Bummer is still under team control and can fill the lefty spot out of the pen. The problem is he needs a really good defense behind him and the Sox do not provide it. That is one reason his numbers have been not the best.
It would be worth exploring to see what a team like the Chicago Cubs would be willing to give up.
It is time to pull the plug on Michael Kopech’s tenure. He is just lost out there on the mound. Kopech has dynamite stuff, but he cannot put it together. He is now at that point where he is beyond saving. Let him walk and see if another team can salvage something out of him.
Shaw closed some games out at the end of the season, but he is 35. The Chicago White Sox can find another veteran to replace him.
Hendriks was the best story of a bad season for a brief moment when he returned this year after spending the offseason battling cancer. His storybook return was cut short when Liam needed Tommy John surgery.
Hendriks has a club option, but it is a big number to pay someone to spend the season rehabbing. If any player has earned it, it is Hendriks. The problem is every dollar counts for this club and it cannot be wasted on a player who might not play in 2024.
Catchers
Keep on 26-man roster: Korey Lee, Carlos Perez
Let walk in free agency: Yasmani Grandal
26-man roster to spots to fill: None
Yasmani Grandal signed the franchise’s largest free-agent contract at the time with the Chicago White Sox. The Sox got a slash line of .226/.343/.375 for four years and $73 million. That was not exactly money well spent for a catcher who struggled to catch the ball.
Korey Lee and Carlos Perez are good enough to be placeholders until the club’s No. 3 prospect Edgar Quero is ready to reach the big leagues.