Chicago White Sox Trade Deadline Overview

Option #1: Hope for a turnaround

The first option the White Sox have is to stand pat and hope things turn around. A veteran lineup, with the exception of rookie shortstop Tim Anderson, and a pitching staff anchored by one of the best starters in the game should be able to at least stay in the hunt for a wild card spot, right?

Abreu has performed much better after a horrid start to the season, posting an OPS over .900 in the month of June, giving hope that he will be back to terrorizing AL pitching for the remainder of the summer. Anderson has equipped himself well both at the plate and with the glove in his first exposure to the big leagues, Brett Lawrie has been just slightly better than replacement level, which means he’s underperforming relative to his career averages, and Frazier has delivered the middle of the order power despite his abysmal batting average and on-base percentage.

In the outfield, Adam Eaton continues to rank among the top ten position players in all of Major League Baseball in bWAR, and Melky Cabrera is his usual solid self. The Jackson injury hurts despite the fact that he wasn’t exactly lighting up the league, as J.B. Shuck is clearly not the answer. A shifting of Eaton back to center field may be in order.

On the mound, one imagines that Sale will continue to pitch like an ace every fifth day, Quintana will remain solid, Rondon will progress in his development as a big league starter, and Gonzalez can at least be serviceable as a fifth starter. The hope is that Shields can salvage his season. He can’t possibly have become this bad overnight, could he?

David Robertson and Nate Jones have been good at the back end of the bullpen all season, so there’s little reason to think they can’t keep that going. Injuries to Jake Petricka and Zach Putnam have thinned out the depth in the rest of the pen, though, so guys like Zach Duke and Dan Jennings will need to continue to provide consistency in shutting down opponents.

Next: Mortgage the future?