What can Chris Getz do to give me confidence in him?
We here at FromThe108 were definitely critical of Rick Hahn, but I always felt we were fair. In the case of Chris Getz, it’s possible, I have been heavy handed in a negative way for years.
Regardless of that, Getz has the job, he’s now the man in charge. And I will say that while I am not excited about this hire, I am willing to give him a chance. But he’s gotta earn it. Here’s a few ways he could do that:
Turn Over Third Base
Yoan Moncada has 1 year and $29M ($24M in 2024 and $5M buy out in 2025) left on his contract. And as much as they say they love him, he just hasn’t performed. His OPS+ hasn’t eclipsed 100 since 2021 and in 2022 and 2023 combined, he likely won’t get to 200 games played. Couple that with a bad back on a fielding-first player at a power position and the outlook is bleak.
Now normally, I would think that the White Sox would let this contract run its course, hope for a career year, and then deal with 3B in 2025. But Jerry was adamant that the reason they skipped the entire process of finding a qualified GM was because Chris Getz could turn this around at the same speed that Vice President Not Sure could fix all the problems in Idiocracy.
If there is any semblance of truth to how quickly they want to turn things around, this seems to be a place you have to do it. And to turn over this position, it ain’t gonna be cheap. You have to either eat a healthy portion of Moncada’s contract OR bring back a bad contract in a trade. The White Sox have typically been reluctant to do this, unless it’s been a struggling reliever that they could bring in and then later flip for some guys that will never make the pros all to the sound of thunderous applause.
In addition, they’d have to go out into the free agent market and replace him with a Matt Chapman or Jeimer Candelario. Those guys won’t be cheap. But this is what it takes to fix this roster quickly.
Sign Top of the Rotation Pitching
Even if the White Sox convince themselves that Dylan Cease‘s 2023 season is an anomaly and he’ll be the ace next year, the drop from ace to next man up is steep. Touki Toussaint, Michael Kopech, and Jesse Scholtens are backend of the rotation guys at best. Touki and Scholtens are certainly nice surprises from an otherwise horrible 2023, but they’re not top of the rotation pitchers.
Even though they’ve said they’re out on Ohtani (what a wild thing to say in August), there are still some nice options out there with Blake Snell leading the next tier of free agent pitchers. The next tier is below Ohtani because they don’t also bash a bunch of home runs. Again, if you want success in 2024, this is the price.
Address Right Field
I understand that many of us are pulling for Oscar Colas to figure it out. We want him to take over the long-empty Right Field mantle. However, this is not something Getz should bank on for 2024. There has been no evidence that Colas is ready to be out there every day or that he will be. This is another spot where there are some reasonable free agents: Adam Duvall, Teoscar Hernandez, Cody Bellinger, and I can stomach Joey Gallo‘s billion strikeouts even if you can’t. But in this way, it’s different than 2B, where there is almost nobody to help immediately. So why not pick up a guy who can do just that? Colas can still be on the roster as a 4th outfielder and it ain’t like the Sox never have injuries.
Trade Vaughn or Jimenez
I don’t think there has been a bigger supporter of Eloy Jimenez in White Sox Twitter than me. That said, he and Andrew Vaughn have not shown the full potential we have expected and they’re filling two of the biggest power positions on the team. We just cannot have that. Getz talked about upgrading the 40 man roster, well here is a place to do it.
Will these be easy trades to make? No. Is there a chance you get burned on these? Yes.
You can’t sit still because there is risk or because this is scary. That will not cause the promised shift in “culture” or whatever word you’re using instead of “winning”.
Long story short, there are ways to improve this roster and there are ways to completely turn over the roster, but it is not for the faint of heart and it is not going to be cheap. If the White Sox actually do want to be successful in 2024, we will need to see at least a little bit of what I wrote above. Otherwise, we’ll be bringing back BeefLoaf’s “have a career year” and “stay healthy” memes with a new face to them.
-Chorizy-E
About The Author
chorizy
Section 108 Row 13, Bassist for Barren Plains, Acclaimed drunkard