The 2022 Chicago White Sox had one among baseball’s prime starters in Dylan Cease and one of many sport’s finest relievers in Liam Hendriks.
But inconsistency and accidents affected the rotation and bullpen as an entire.
Catcher Yasmani Grandal will look to rebound after profession lows in hitting (.202), on-base proportion (.301) and slugging (.269).
What’s subsequent for the Sox behind the plate and on the mound? Here are three questions to watch this offseason.
1. How will the Sox fill their rotation opening?
The Sox might have one of many higher rotations within the American League.
The group is led by Cease, who positioned second in AL Cy Young Award voting, however the Sox have to get extra out of Lance Lynn, Lucas Giolito and Michael Kopech.
Lynn, who was out till June due to proper knee surgical procedure to restore a torn tendon, battled again to go 8-7 with a 3.99 ERA in 21 begins. Giolito’s ERA hovered round 5.00 for a lot of the ultimate two months earlier than ending at 4.90.
Kopech confirmed promise returning to a beginning position after spending a lot of 2021 as a reliever, however his season was lower brief by harm. He underwent surgical procedure in late September to deal with what the group known as an “issue with (his right) meniscus” and is anticipated to be “ready for spring full go,” in keeping with pitching coach Ethan Katz.
There is a gap within the rotation with Johnny Cueto a free agent.
“Obviously we need another starter,” Katz stated throughout a video convention name Nov. 17. “That right now is our biggest need from the pitching standpoint. We’re having dialogue. We’ll see how things play out, but we do need another starter.”
One risk is somebody very accustomed to the AL Central: free agent Mike Clevinger. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported late Friday the Sox are “showing strong interest” within the right-hander.
Clevinger, who turns 32 on Dec. 21, spent elements of 5 seasons in Cleveland earlier than being traded to San Diego in 2020.
He went 7-7 with a 4.33 ERA and 91 strikeouts in 23 appearances (22 begins) for the Padres in 2022 after lacking all of 2021 recovering from Tommy John surgical procedure.
Clevinger has a 51-30 document with a 3.39 ERA and 694 strikeouts in 128 outings (114 begins) with Cleveland (2016-20) and San Diego (2020, ’22).
Internal pitching assist might embody Davis Martin, who was 3-6 with a 4.83 ERA largely as a spot starter (14 video games, 9 begins).
“Davis is great,” Sox normal supervisor Rick Hahn stated in the course of the GM conferences earlier this month in Las Vegas. “Davis provided real value last year and we expect he’ll continue to do it next year. In the end, Cueto gave us some good chunk innings (158⅓) and pitched well in them. That’s a void right now. Finding a way to fill that would be good.”
2. How is the bullpen shaping up by way of well being and tasks?
The Sox added to their bullpen main as much as 2022 with Kendall Graveman and Joe Kelly and earlier than the commerce deadline with Jake Diekman.
Graveman was regular (3.18 ERA in 65 appearances), however Kelly (6.08 ERA in 43 appearances) and Diekman (6.52 ERA in 26 outings) weren’t as efficient.
Hendriks had one other sturdy season, ending third within the majors with 37 saves. Reynaldo López and Jimmy Lambert made strong contributions, whereas accidents slowed Aaron Bummer and sidelined Garrett Crochet.
Overall, Hahn thought the bullpen was “a positive” in 2022.
“Certainly Liam performed at his traditional excellent All-Star level,” Hahn stated. “Graveman served the role that he was brought in to serve. And Reynaldo López made a nice step forward. Jimmy Lambert acquainted himself well to the big leagues in a reliever role, which was new to him.”
Hahn stated Kelly’s “underlying metrics” had been “awfully positive.”
“Given that he was coming off the (right biceps nerve injury),” Hahn stated, “(it) wasn’t shocking that it took him a little while to get his legs under him.”
Hahn stated if Crochet and Bummer had been wholesome the Sox bullpen would have gone from “very good” to “excellent.” He anticipates López, who has expertise beginning, to stay in his bullpen position. Same with Lambert.
As for what’s forward for Crochet, who missed all of 2022 after present process Tommy John surgical procedure, Katz stated: “Realistically, I don’t think starting is in the cards next year.”
“This is just me speaking, because if he’s starting — say he is ready maybe a month after the season (and) he starts — his innings are going to be done with his rehab process,” Katz stated. “You additionally need to consider how’s he feeling, how’s it going. And it’s fairly robust to go on the market saying, ‘You’ve acquired two innings, you’ve acquired three innings.’ That kills a bullpen. So you’re perhaps a piggyback scenario.
“Thinking creatively, I don’t know if that’s realistic in the beginning of the season with him coming back. It’s just a matter of getting him on the field, see how he’s feeling, going from there. In the bullpen you have a better opportunity to manage him a little bit more, to take care of him, and he can get multiple ups so he’s still getting a workload under him. But it’s a little bit more controlled, whereas starting you have to take care of the other guys on the team as well.”
3. What’s the important thing to extra manufacturing at catcher?
Not that Hahn wanted a reminder, however he has heard from followers in regards to the Sox’s lack of manufacturing at catcher.
“Do we need to add a catcher to accomplish what we want to do next year? No,” Hahn stated. “Do we’ve to get higher at varied positions? Yes. And that was one space the place we underperformed final 12 months. Doesn’t imply we really feel we essentially need to exit and tackle that.
“Once at O’Hare and once even at the airport (in Las Vegas) when I was getting my bag, I had various fans tell me that catcher was an area we need to improve at. Word is out on that. I get that’s out there. Certainly an area where we can stand improvement.”
That begins with getting Grandal again to his finest. He went from 23 homers in 93 video games in 2021 to 5 homers in 99 video games in ‘22.
Grandal, 34, had offseason proper knee surgical procedure in October 2021, missed greater than a month after struggling decrease again spasms in mid-June and had a 10-day IL stint in late August with a left knee pressure.
“(Grandal) obviously struggled, had his physical issues in ‘22, and it’s important not to lose sight of how productive he was the year before,” Hahn stated. “And having Yasmani proper — the 2021 model of Yasmani Grandal, a lot much less the man he was a number of years main as much as that — is a big asset to the ‘23 White Sox. Fortunately we’ll have a full offseason to get him wholesome, get all issues aligned correctly there.
“His work with (manager) Pedro (Grifol) we think will be beneficial. And, knock on wood, we’ll get him back to the level he was at in ‘21, which would be a huge shot in the arm.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com