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Chicago White Sox 2024 offseason preview: After one of the worst seasons in MLB history, how do the Sox begin to get better?

It starts with deciding what to do about Garrett Crochet and Luis Robert Jr.

fred zinkie
Yahoo Fantasy Contributor
·7 min read
Will slugger Luis Robert Jr. be playing in Chicago next summer? That's one of the questions the White Sox must address this winter. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Will slugger Luis Robert Jr. be playing in Chicago next summer? That's one of the questions the White Sox must address this winter. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Let's take a look at the season that was for the 2024 Chicago White Sox, the questions the team must address this winter and the early outlook for 2025.

Read more: 2024 MLB offseason previews: Rockies & Marlins

Oh, boy, this is a tough one. Even the most optimistic fans would have trouble finding things that went right for a team that might finish with the worst winning percentage in the past century. But amid the rubble, Garrett Crochet stood out as a bright spot. The lanky lefty was terrific on Opening Day and arrived at the All-Star Game as the MLB leader in strikeouts. Unfortunately, an innings-management strategy made the 25-year-old much more mortal in the second half, as was evidenced by the 6.75 ERA he logged in his six post-break starts.

Aside from Crochet, pretty much everything. Crochet is the only pitcher on Chicago’s active roster who has thrown at least 50 innings with an ERA under 4.00 this year. On the offensive side, Andrew Vaughn took a step backward, while Luis Robert Jr. and Eloy Jiménez continued career-long patterns of struggling with injuries. Both players underperformed when in the lineup, with Jiménez eventually being shipped to Baltimore and Robert striking out at an alarming rate. Yoán Moncada, who will be a free agent this winter, has not returned from a left adductor strain suffered in April.

Overall, the White Sox were supposed to be bad, but they wound up being much worse than anyone expected. The low point might have been the moment manager Pedro Grifol was fired, shortly after the club ended a 21-game losing streak. That or when the team lost its 100th game well before the end of August.

For a team coming off such a dismal season, everything should be on the table. This is an organization that should make every player available in trade talks, with the acknowledgement that the White Sox will not be contenders in the next couple of years.

Crochet’s name was popular in the trade deadline rumor mill during the summer, and talks will surely resurface this winter. He’s under team control for two more seasons and should be able to throw a full complement of innings from now on. Trading the southpaw would be the fastest way for Chicago to beef up an improving farm system.

Robert is Chicago’s other significant trade chip. With club options, he’s under team control until 2027. The problem is that Robert’s disappointing season could inhibit his trade value. Still, there aren’t many center fielders in baseball who are in their prime and have already enjoyed a season like the one Robert produced in 2023 (38 HR, 20 SB, .857 OPS).

The organization has a few other hitters with potential at the major-league level. After struggling in April, Vaughn has mostly been a respectable hitter. Miguel Vargas has yet to excite White Sox fans but is a career .308 hitter in the minors who could still become an impact player. Alternately, the White Sox will need to eat plenty of salary in order to jettison Andrew Benintendi, who is signed for three more seasons and has steadily trended downward through his two years in Chicago.

On the pitching side, the goal should be to add another underrated veteran in the mold of Erick Fedde, who became a valuable trade chip after signing a two-year deal last offseason and producing a 3.11 ERA across 21 starts for the Sox. Although pitchers of this ilk don’t typically create headlines, they can form a necessary part of the rotation and allow the team to involve youngsters such as Jonathan Cannon and Drew Thorpe without forcing them to throw too many innings.

Signing notable free agents is always exciting, but that isn’t where this organization is right now. The focus should be on enhancing the farm system and giving young players a chance to progress.

Finally, some good news. MLB Pipeline ranked the White Sox’s farm system 20th in baseball prior to the start of this season but moved them up to 11th by August. Even better news is that all of the team’s top prospects have a chance to appear in the majors next season.

Noah Schultz, a 2022 first-round draft pick, is arguably the most exciting prospect in the system. The 6-foot-9 southpaw has progressed to Double-A and features a mid-90s fastball and an outstanding slider. He will throw roughly 100 minor-league innings this year, which sets him up for a significant workload in 2025.

Another lefty, 2024 first-rounder Hagen Smith, could also debut next year. Smith has eye-popping swing-and-miss skills, having set the NCAA Division I record with a 17.3 K/9.

Colson Montgomery is also nearing his MLB debut after spending the entirety of 2023 in Triple-A. The 2021 first-round pick is a sizable (6-foot-3) shortstop who struggled offensively this season after flashing strong plate skills the previous three campaigns. Montgomery will likely open 2025 in Triple-A but can hope for a summer promotion.

Edgar Quero is another prospect worthy of immediate attention. The 21-year-old Cuban has flashed solid plate skills across four minor-league seasons, with his ability to both get on base and hit for power. He could form a solid tandem of young catchers with Korey Lee, who has shown offensive and defensive flashes but is still very much a work in progress.

The White Sox might be the only team in baseball that should be satisfied with finishing last overall next season. This is an organization that needs to follow the lead of teams such as the Orioles and Astros, who fell to the cellar for multiple years before using their draft picks to build a sustainable contender. Still, there are other ways for Chicago to measure success.

Even though the team will have a losing record, it should strive to be much more competitive in 2025. It’s time to put an end to memorable losing streaks, and for the sake of the younger players, this team needs to develop a competitive mindset next year.

Beyond the scoreboard, 2025 success in Chicago will be measured by the improvement of the organization’s younger players. Position players such as Vargas, Robert and Vaughn need to take a step forward or bounce back. Crochet, assuming he stays with the organization, must continue to establish himself as a workhorse. Young pitchers such as Cannon, Thorpe and Ky Bush need to make progress toward being trusted rotation members. And hopefully, some of the minor leaguers mentioned above can give White Sox fans a glimpse of a brighter future.

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Despite Chicago’s poor record, the White Sox might provide fantasy managers with two early-round draft picks next year.

Crochet is sure to be drafted as a top-30 starter, and he could sneak into the top 15 if managers are confident that he will be allowed to throw at least 160 innings. And although Robert was a massive disappointment in fantasy circles this year, there will be no shortage of managers willing to pin their hopes on a bounceback season. After all, in 2023, only Ronald Acuña Jr. and Shohei Ohtani matched Robert in homers and steals.

After Crochet and Robert, we won’t see any White Sox drafted until the late rounds. At that point, players such as Vaughn, Vargas, Cannon and Thorpe will be worth minimal investments.