Remember last offseason when White Sox fans hung on every rumor for baseball free agency only to come up empty-handed on both Bryce Harper and Manny Machado?
Who’s ready to do that again?
There’s no Harper or Machado caliber free agent this winter, but there are quality players on the market and the White Sox still have plenty of payroll flexibility. They’re also, in theory, about to enter the early part of the contending window for the rebuild. At the very least, the team will enter 2020 thinking about winning that season as opposed to making decisions mostly for the future.
The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal was on the On The Mark with Mark Carman podcast and said the White Sox should be players in free agency again.
“They were in on the big names last offseason so I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t be on the bigger players this offseason,” Rosenthal said. “The difference is there isn’t a Harper or Machado, a 26-year-old, that’s coming on the market. There are interesting players, no doubt. Gerrit Cole being the most interesting. I’m not expecting them necessarily to be involved in that, but I think they’ll be busy.”
The White Sox showed some improvement this season in the win column. They entered Thursday one win away from 70 wins, which would be the first time the White Sox reach that mark since 2016. More importantly, a number of key young players took major strides this season. Lucas Giolito was an all-star pitcher. Tim Anderson is on the verge of winning the AL batting title. Yoan Moncada has turned into one of the best young all-around hitters in the league. Eloy Jimenez showed plenty of promise in his rookie season and has been on fire in September.
With that in mind, the White Sox may not truly need a superstar. They need good, reliable MLB players to fill out a competitive roster. Rosenthal made that point.
MLB
“It doesn’t have to be a superstar,” Rosenthal said. “Two or three complementary parts to what they have, the right veterans, that could really have a significant impact on where they’re going.”
Buckle up, White Sox fans, rumor season is about to start all over again. Just maybe on a slightly smaller scale.
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