The MLB hot stove has been anything but in recent weeks. Aside from the two major dominoes in Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers, we haven’t seen a ton of activity. This has been more the rule than the exception in recent years, as player movement doesn’t really pick up in earnest until after the New Year.
First-year general manager Chris Getz has vowed to improve the Chicago White Sox by making them more athletic and more sound defensively. To this point, his moves have met those objectives. The additions of Paul DeJong, Nicky Lopez, Max Stassi, and recently acquired Martin Maldonado will help a team that has been abysmal in the field for the last two seasons.
But are these moves foreshadowing what promises to be the main event of the White Sox offseason? We all know Dylan Cease isn’t long for a White Sox uniform, though the timing of this trade is still in question. Is there anything to read from these smaller moves on the potential return the White Sox will look to obtain for their most attractive trade piece?
Support System
The 2023 White Sox were undoubtedly flawed in every aspect of the game. The fact is, not everything can be fixed in one offseason, even if you know who wasn’t a penny-pinching weasel. Getz, in many of his initial public comments, has gone out of his way to talk about the need to improve the White Sox defensively, and with just cause. The low-level veteran acquisitions will go a long way toward this stated goal, but those pieces shouldn’t be around the next time the Sox are reasonably expected to be contenders again in the AL Central (which the White Sox are very fortunate to reside in, if you haven’t heard).
With all of that being said, who benefits the most from having sound defensive-minded veterans on a roster? Young starting pitchers would be the answer, my friends. The Sox have a very shallow farm system currently, but of the players that can reasonably be expected to make contributions at the corner of 35th/Shields in 2024, many are pitchers (outside of Colson Montgomery).
The likes of Jonathan Cannon, Jake Eder, Christian Mena, Nick Nastrini, and maybe even Ky Bush could all see innings for a dreadful White Sox team this upcoming season. All of these pitchers have various warts on them and are by no means looked at as sure commodities going into the future.
One of the quickest ways to ruin a young pitcher’s psyche while he is learning at the MLB level is to have a defense behind him that gives opposing hitters extra outs. I think this is a big reason why Getz has placed such an emphasis on defense in his first offseason as the club’s lead decision-maker. It makes sense when you think about it, and while these moves could never be described as flashy, they are, in my opinion, being done with an intent that can be justified.
Stockpiling Arms?
This brings us back to Dylan Cease. With recent acquisitions of the aforementioned Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow, the Dodgers may not be as heavily invested in acquiring Cease as many of us hoped when the winter began. The Baltimore Orioles, in desperate need of pitching reinforcements after their embarrassing 2023 playoff exit, have been unwilling to part with their hoard of positional prospects to this point.
One team that has been linked to Cease all winter is his hometown Atlanta Braves. The Braves had the best record in the sport last year after putting 104 in the left-hand column, but for the second straight October saw their season end at the hands of their powerful division rivals from Philadelphia. Is reinforcing their rotation the thing the Braves need to reclaim the October glory they experienced just two years ago?
Many White Sox fans have scoffed at the idea of trading with the Braves because they no longer possess an elite farm system due to just about all of their impactful talent playing…in Atlanta. Chris Getz’s first move this winter was to send Aaron Bummer to the Braves for a collection of five players comprised of reclamation projects and veteran castoffs. With this in mind, there’s an obvious familiarity with the Braves system at this point that should help accelerate discussions.
Another issue fans see with consummating a second deal with the Bravos, is that seven of their top 10 prospects are pitchers, including all of their top six, according to MLB.com. But does Getz see this as a stumbling block? If run prevention is going to be his core tenant as GM, amassing as many high-end arms as possible would seem like a place to start. I’ll go on record as saying I believe that fixing the offense should be the focus for this club, and I would rather have a foundational everyday player to pair with the likes of Luis Robert Jr., but I’m not the one making that call.
Is building a team with a strong defensive mindset a precursor to another deal with the NL juggernaut? If so, the two names I assume Getz would be holding out for are the Braves’ top two prospects, AJ Smith-Shawver and Hurston Waldrep. Both are young flamethrowers with high levels of upside, but each has question marks about their control/command to this point.
The Potential Return
Smith-Shawver, who recently turned 21, reached the bigs last season pitching 25.1 innings for the NL East Champs after beginning the season in High-A. He sported a 4.26 ERA during that time with a 7.11 K/9 rate and 3.91 BB/9.
The issue the youngster had was his 2.49 HR/9 in his admittedly small sample size. Smith-Shawver has posted elevated walk rates across his time in the minor leagues, and scouting reports have highlighted inconsistencies in his delivery that have hindered his ability to have a better command of the strike zone.
Is this the type of project that the White Sox’ new pitching czar, Brian Bannister, wants to undertake given the premium upside?
Atlanta’s No. 2 prospect, Hurston Waldrep, was the 24th overall selection in the 2023 MLB Draft. The University of Florida product pitched across four levels with the Braves in his draft season and finished the year at Triple-A Gwinnett. Like Smith-Shawver, the 21-year-old Waldrep possesses a premium fastball reaching the upper 90s. But he also showcased issues with his control and command in pro ball — something that was prevalent during his junior season with the Gators. In 29.1 innings of pro ball, Waldrep issued 16 free passes to accompany 41 strikeouts.
I’ve talked ad nauseam going back to the beginning of last season about how White Sox pitchers have to cut down the free passes they are issuing to opposing hitters. Given Bannister’s success in San Francisco in this very area, my hope is that he will make this a primary area of focus not only for pitchers in the organization but for any who could be joining. Smith-Shawver and Waldrep both possess immense upside despite the control/command issues they’ve displayed to this point in pro ball. Are these two the types of players Chris Getz would look for as centerpieces in a deal for Dylan Cease?
If so, both of these pitchers could reasonably be expected to be on the mound at the corner of 35th/Shields in 2024. By bringing in as many quality defenders as he has to this point, is Getz indirectly showing us who he may be targeting when Cease’s time with the Sox comes to an end in the coming weeks? Pitchers like Smith-Shawver and Waldrep will have to continue their development and work through their control/command issues at the big-league level to some extent, so having competent glove men behind them not further taxing the young hurlers may be just what Getz has in mind.
I don’t pretend to have a crystal ball and know where Dylan Cease is going by any means. But I’m reading some of the tea leaves and I’m starting to wonder if pitching will be the focus of a return for the former Cy Young runner-up. Young pitchers having struggles initially isn’t something new, it’s a tale as old as time. One way to lessen that blow is by making sure they aren’t taxed more than they need to be. A quality defense can be a young pitcher’s best friend, and maybe the recent acquisitions are showing us that more young arms are coming to the South Side soon.
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