The White Sox came into the offseason looking to upgrade their starting rotation. And boy, have they done that.
According to multiple reports, the White Sox have made a trade with the Texas Rangers for veteran righty Lance Lynn, adding a top-flight arm to Lucas Giolito and Dallas Keuchel at the front of their starting rotation.
The lack of a third option after Giolito and Keuchel helped bring an end to the White Sox 2020 season, as the decisive Game 3 of their AL Wild Card Series went the way of the Oakland Athletics after Dane Dunning — who is reportedly heading the other way in the Lynn trade — was pulled after recording just two outs.
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RELATED: Sox make splash with reported trade for Lance Lynn
That problem is indeed solved with the trade for Lynn, who has been mighty effective over the past two seasons, posting a 3.57 ERA and striking out 335 opposing hitters in 46 starts for the Rangers. Lynn has been a workhorse, with no American League pitcher facing more batters in 2019 or 2020. He pitched a career-high 208.1 innings in 2019 and led baseball with 84 innings pitched in 2020.
So what does the White Sox rotation look like with Lynn in the mix?
The South Side starting staff now boasts three of the game's best pitchers from the 2020 season. Keuchel, Lynn and Giolito finished fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively, in this year's AL Cy Young vote. Pending another huge pitching splash this winter, the White Sox would head to Glendale, Arizona, for spring training with a top three of Giolito, Keuchel and Lynn inked in for 2021.
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Those three would also figure to be the first three arms out of the gate for the White Sox in a playoff series. With the White Sox owning championship expectations heading into next season — solidified even further by the trade for Lynn, who has just one year remaining on his contract — how the pitchers stack up in a postseason series is of the utmost importance, especially after the White Sox were left scrambling following Keuchel's start in Game 2 of their playoff series in October.
As for who fills in those final two spots, there's a tad more mystery, though it's expected Dylan Cease will claim one of them. The White Sox still have sky-high hopes for Cease, whose stuff is frequently lauded as "nasty." His statistical output in 2020 wasn't too bad, with a 4.01 ERA that was way down from where it was during his rookie season in 2019. But though Cease was able to escape too much damage, he struggled all season with jams, home runs and walks. New pitching coach Ethan Katz's main task might be getting Cease to fulfill his potential — and to do it fast, considering the White Sox expect to need him if they're going to realize their expectations in this win-now season.
Michael Kopech would be a logical pick for the fifth spot in the rotation, though he hasn't thrown in anything more than one inning of Cactus League action since requiring Tommy John surgery shortly after his major league debut in 2018. Kopech logged just 14.1 innings in four starts before getting injured, and he missed the entirety of the 2019 season while in recovery mode. He elected not to play in 2020 due to personal reasons, meaning even if he makes the Opening Day roster, he'll have gone 31 months between big league appearances. Before the COVID-19 pandemic altered everything about the 2020 campaign, the White Sox seemed likely to start Kopech in the minor leagues, and despite his electric stuff, perhaps that will be a consideration again in 2021.
That strategy could leave a spot up for grabs. Might Reynaldo López be called on again to make some starts? He's got a lot more experience than Cease and Kopech combined, though that experience is not all good. Following a strong 2018 campaign, López struggled mightily in 2019 and dealt with injury and that same inconsistency in 2020. That's not exactly the kind of dependability the White Sox are searching for.
There will likely be some fan interest in what Garrett Crochet can offer as a starter after the 21-year-old dropped jaws by debuting as a flamethrowing bullpen arm just a few months after the White Sox took him in the first round of this year's draft. Crochet dazzled with a 101 mile an hour fastball, and the White Sox indeed see him as a starter, long term. But whether they'd feel comfortable enough to trot him out there as part of the Opening Day rotation could be different than how they felt about putting him on a major league mound one or two innings at a time in 2020.
Keep in mind, too, that the offseason is far from over. And while teams figure to behave differently than in years past following a season with no paying customers in the stands, there will still be pitchers looking for jobs. Considering how the White Sox have made an unfortunate habit of burning through their starting-pitching options in each of the last two years, continuing to add depth wouldn't be a bad idea, and it's possible some veterans join the mix before the team heads to Arizona in February.
But here's the bottom line: Lynn makes this White Sox staff much better, adding a dependability that Cease, Kopech, Dunning or any of the other young arms cannot claim to bring to the table. Apart from the steadiness, of course, is Lynn's terrific production in recent seasons, and that is an obvious boon to the South Siders.
The White Sox have taken a big step in crafting a championship-caliber rotation. And while eyes will continue to be on Cease and Kopech to see if they can begin to reach their potential as two more front-of-the-rotation types, Lynn takes the pressure off in a big way — and allows the White Sox, along with their fans, to start plotting out a playoff rotation.