Ah, the White Sox. Considered by many to be the Royals’ top rival, we have a lot of history with this team. So much so that they… became the Royals?
Southside Royals
Let’s address the elephant in the room: there are a LOT of former Royals on the White Sox right now, both on the team and in the front office. Jay Cuda, a known White Sox enjoyer who often brings many weird sports patterns to light, perfectly puts it into perspective:
Does this mean anything? I have no clue. Some would say yes because the Royals are bad, but that would mean JJ Picollo—you know what, I don’t even want to get into this. Let’s just say “maybe” and move on to the roster projection.
A Transactional Off-season
Notable subtractions (with their 2023 bWAR): RP Aaron Bummer (-1.0), SS Tim Anderson (-2.0), SP Mike Clevinger (3.3), C Yasmani Grandal (-0.7), 2B/SS Elvis Andrus (0.6), RP Gregory Santos (1.3), SP Dylan Cease (2.4)
Additions: 2B/SS Nicky Lopez (1.8), SP Mike Soroka (-0.4), SS Paul DeJong (-0.5), SP Erick Fedde (–), RP Tim Hill (-1.2), C Martin Maldonado (0.2), OF Dominic Fletcher (0.7)
That doesn’t even include the Minor League signings of many other former Royals like Mike Moustakas, guys who sort of played for the Royals technically like Joe Barlow, or guys that seem like guys the Royals would want to sign, like Kevin Pillar.
Yeah, the list of transactions speaks for itself. The White Sox are transforming. …Into what, I’m not really sure, but they’re up to something, I guess. It’s worth mentioning that despite all of these transactions, the Sox have committed less than $30 million total across all of their contracts penned over the off-season. Their payroll has gone down as much as $25 million this season thanks to all of the arbitration or greater salaries they shed.
So… the White Sox aren’t spending in a way that makes them seem serious about contending… But they do intend to compete, or at least went into this season thinking so. Just the day before posting this (and a day after writing), their top pitcher, Dylan Cease, was traded. The trajectory of this team changes drastically with his departure, but the extremely late timing of the trade is, I think, an indication of how Chicago’s front office views the team. Star center fielder Luis Robert still seems likely to stay while a true vision of rebuilding would immediately hit the eject button on him. This certainly seems like a team run by a former Royals exec. After losing 101 games, the White Sox signed a few underwhelming relievers and infielders, declared themselves a good team, and will remain steadfastly obedient to whatever talent they have left.
A Possible Addition by Subtraction
I’ll give Southside some credit here: the biggest problems on the team might have just left. This team has been known to be full of personality. From Tim Anderson pimping a home run off Brad Keller in 2019 to getting punched out by José Ramírez in 2023, plus the Tony La Russa drama that came in between, the White Sox have been known to stir up trouble in both fun and cringe ways. The White Sox’s clubhouse seemed to be a real disaster last season.
There’s no telling what a change of personality will bring to a team; these things are called “intangibles” for a reason. But as a Royals fan, I’ll at least vouch for Nicky Lopez. He always seemed like a cool guy who bettered the people around him. If Moose makes the roster, he could be a valuable leader to this team. Martin Maldonado is also a storied, well-respected player in the league. Adding the fact that some of these guys seem to have a good working relationship with manager Pedro Grifol, the White Sox could gain some wins simply on behalf of better morale.
How deep is this hole?
Contemplating a more fun roster is nice, but here are some fun facts about the White Sox: they’re bad! Their hitters posted the lowest wRC+ in the American League. They had the lowest walk percentage in baseball. They didn’t steal a lot of bases. The only team that scored more runs than was the A’s. On defense, they saved the second-most negative runs… or the second-fewest runs, depending on how you look at it. That didn’t help their pitchers a whole lot. They walked the second-most hitters in baseball and posted the fifth-worst ERA in the sport.
This team didn’t need patchwork, it needed a baptism. It needed a full deep-cleaning and spit shine, but instead, the team will press on with the same core of Moncada, Jiménez, and Robert and with the additions of Nicky Lopez and Erick Fedde. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think those are bad additions. Nicky is a scrappy player and Fedde has a very good chance of being the next Merril Kelly. They could get some bounce-backs from Mike Soroka and Paul DeJong. A few WAR off the bench and a couple of solid but not amazing starting pitchers won’t be enough. With how bad the White Sox have already been, and with projections calculating them to be even worse than the Athletics, I’m going to put a 90+ losses stamp on them. It would be shocking if they were anything but the worst team in the American League Central, or even the AL entirely.
Not unless the Royals have something to say about it, at least! Last but not least, the Kansas City Royals are next up in the AL Central Projection Project.
