It’s a question for a second straight offseason.
When the White Sox take the field on Opening Day, who will be playing second base?
Second base was one of the White Sox’ most pressing needs last winter, when they brought in Josh Harrison on a one-year deal.
Harrison, a good veteran presence in the clubhouse who hit .256/.317/.370 in 119 games this past season, had a club option for 2023 the White Sox declined this week, leaving a hole on the infield.
“Josh was absolutely tremendous in the clubhouse. And he was the player we basically expected him to be,” general manager Rick Hahn said Tuesday at the GM Meetings. “A solid contributor offensively and defensively at the position and good in the clubhouse.
“Ultimately, it comes down to resource allocation. We do have some internal options, and perhaps there's a way to balance the lineup a little bit better by an addition at that spot. We'll see.”
Indeed. Not only does second again look like one of the White Sox’ top offseason needs, but it’s one position they have current flexibility to make an addition, on a roster with a lot of players under club control for the foreseeable future.
MLB
The White Sox had a revolving door at second in 2022 even with Harrison in the fold, with seven players seeing time there. They posted a combined .238/.278/.351 slash line, ranking 23rd in MLB in OPS.
Hahn, when speaking of the overall roster, said the trade route is more likely than free agency to improve the roster.
But as far as free agents go, second basemen available include Brandon Drury, Adam Frazier and Jean Segura. Current internal options include Leury García, Danny Mendick, Romy Gonzalez and Lenyn Sosa.
For what it's worth, shortstop Elvis Andrus expressed an openness to move to second base last season and return in 2023.
Mendick is recovering from a torn right ACL, García likely is best served in a utility role, and Gonzalez and Sosa have played less than 100 career big-league games combined.
“We obviously have the internal options right now: Romy and Leury, Mendick, Sosa,” Hahn said.
“But it is an area we feel we’ll spend some time this offseason seeing if there’s a way to get better.”
Contributing: Gordon Wittenmyer