As the front office realizes this is a lost season, they have no choice but to let some players get some playing time. This includes claiming players off waivers, as they have a high priority, which can potentially help the club succeed in the future.
This was exercised earlier this year when they claimed Touki Toussaint and he has pitched very well for the Sox. You can even make the argument that he has played his way on to next year’s team, as a long reliever or a back of the rotation arm.
Since being acquired, Toussaint has pitched very well, as he has a 4.22 ERA with 45 strikeouts in only 42 innings. He has shown the strikeout stuff is there and has been doing a much better job of keeping people off base than he was in Cleveland.
While he has room to improve, he has unlocked something in Chicago and is still young enough to continue to get better. This was a perfect waiver claim, as he can be with the Sox for cheap for the foreseeable future. The White Sox have made a few more of those moves recently, picking up pitchers Luis Patino, Brett Honeywell, and Deivi Garcia, who were all top 100 prospects at one point.
Low-Risk, High-Reward
The trend of picking up former top-prospects continued today with the waiver claim of Deivi Garcia from the Yankees.
The former top prospect still has a lot of talent and is only 24 years old so he can still break out in the pros. Maybe Ethan Katz saw something he could fix and can turn him into a solid reliever, or a back of the rotation guy. It worked with Gregory Santos and Touki, so maybe they can do it again here.
Erik Kratz seems to think the coaching staff did Garcia no favors, so perhaps with a change of scenery, he can pitch like he has in the past. He will be assigned to AAA, so it will be interesting to see what role they have for him there. This costs the White Sox nothing, so all it could do is be a reward for the team. If he turns out to be a solid major leaguer, this is a great move. If not, they lost nothing and this is the year to try new players out.
Other Options
The other two moves they made were claiming Brett Honeywell and Luis Patino. They also were top 100 guys at one point and have a lot of upside and now they are with new organizations. New scenery or a different coach helping them out can potentially unlock something they didn’t have before. If you are a top 100 prospect, you clearly have a lot of talent, but might not have put it all together. This is the perfect year to try these types of players out and see if they can contribute for you in the future.
Honeywell has some very solid stuff, he just needs to put it all together. I am looking forward to see him pitch more for the Sox, as if he does well he will be under cheap control for the next few years. This is valuable, as if you have cheap controllable pitching in the ‘pen or rotation, you can allocate those resources elsewhere.
The same can be said for Patino, as he is currently in AAA, but we will see him called up in September.
If he turns into a solid bullpen piece, then this is an absolute win, as they would continue to stack cheap and controllable ‘pen pieces. We know that spending a bunch of money on relievers does not work, so perhaps this can usher in a new era. I am excited to see all of them pitch for the Sox this year and if just one works out, it is a win.
This would normally be a fair assessment of the moves they have made since trading players away.
However, since it is the same guys that have failed to get the Sox back into the World Series in 18 years making them, it means nothing.