White Sox Roster Moves Needed Now: Why the Churn Should Start Immediately

Patience is a virtue or some shit, but the current White Sox roster is filled with such replaceable parts that I see no reason to be patient. I did not have a problem with Chris Getz going out and getting guys like Austin Slater and Mike Tauchman to fill in this team. Getz has to learn to do that and it’s good to make young players force their way onto the roster. But that ain’t what’s happening. Both of them are hurt and the guys getting plate appearances would make the construction workers in Major League lose their got dammed minds!

So what I want to do is walk through a few moves that will bring up some different guys that we might actually be interested in without much downside, in my humble opinion.

Tim Elko for Nick Maton

This is not really an original thought. We’ve discussed Tim Elko at length on the podcast and I think everyone can agree they’ve had their fill of Maton.

Elko is no sure thing and we know he’s gonna strike out. But I’d rather see him at first base than Vaughn and would it be the worst thing in the world if the White Sox occasionally hit a home run or two?! Maton is slashing .154/.283/.333 which isn’t much worse than his career line of .201/.301/.355. The White Sox should be willing to take a chance to replace that production.

Colson Montgomery for Jacob Amaya

I know what you’re saying already: but Colson has not hit at Charlotte! This is made worse by the fact that EVERYONE hits at Charlotte. Yes, I am aware. I’m also aware that Amaya is a better shortstop. But Amaya being a better defender is a moot point here. The White Sox are trying to put anyone there instead of him and it ain’t happening so far. But Amaya’s glove does not make up for his -30 OPS+. Yes, it’s negative. I have to assume Colson can do much better than that on the offensive side. I also don’t want to see Chase Meidroth forced into play SS as he’s trying to find his way in the big leagues. I honestly do not see the harm here unless Colson is still injured, in which case, put him on the IL. Let’s find out what Colson can do against MLB pitching and see if he sticks at short.

For transparency, I should note that I did declare that I am buying low on Colson in our last podcast and I may have even thrown a few bucks on him to win ROY. So I am SLIGHTLY biased.

Owen White and the AAA Starters

I saw them play at the Empty Bottle.

I was surprised to see Jared Shuster come up when Martin Perez went on the IL as Shuster is a pretty known commodity and him making a spot start would be underwhelming. But the White Sox showed yesterday that he was an addition to the bullpen until they need to bring up a starter. I think Owen White should be that guy. He’s a former prospect from the Rangers system with 7 pitches. With low velocity and a wide range of pitches, this guy is a starter or he prolly ain’t anything. The White Sox should use these games to find out what he’s got. Having an up and down guy for the rest of the season would be great. Especially because the Sox need to make a decision on Nick Nastrini and Jairo Iriarte at some point this year as to if they truly believe they can start. If not, the move to the bullpen should come soon in hopes they can strengthen that part of the team moving forward.

Kyle Teel

I very badly want to suggest bringing up Teel in place of Joshua Palacios and letting him play some outfield. But I will restrain myself for now. With Teel cooling off, Edgar Quero already up, and Matt Thaiss performing just fine behind the plate and at the plate, the wait will be a bit longer. Wait! F that! Matt Thaiss is quite capable of playing 1b as is Elko. Send Andrew Vaughn to Charlotte and bring up Kyle Teel. With an open DH spot and two young catchers, a 3 catcher roster is fine with me. And yeah, I know at some point Korey Lee will be back. He has a minor league option.

-Chorizy-E