One of the hottest topics for the White Sox in the off-season has been the starting rotation. They have added a few arms like Eric Fedde, Chris Flexen, and Chad Kuhl who is on a minor league deal, but those have all been overshadowed by the Dylan Cease rumors.
With the moves that have been made thus far by the White Sox, many assume that Dylan Cease will be moved, as they have added about three to four starting pitchers, which people assume is depth for when they move Dylan Cease. But, today Chris Getz dropped some major hints that give clarity of who will be in the rotation, but it makes the last few spots in the rotation even more confusing.
Chris Getz dropped two nuggets of information. First he said some interesting things about Chris Flexen. According to Vinnie Duber, Getz said that he expects Chirs Flexen to be part of the rotation, not just in the mix in Spring Training, or in the bullpen. Scott Merkin adds that Chris Getz expects Flexen to give the team starter’s innings.
Next, Duber reports that Getz said that Garrett Crochet is preparing to be a starting pitcher this season. He said “It’s going to take a little bit of time to appropriately stretch him out, but we’re going in with the intention of him to be a starter in 2024.”
These two pieces of information can allow us to project the rotation with a little more clarity. At this point, we can assume that Mike Soroka, Chris Flexen, Eric Fedde, and now Garrett Crochet will make up the rotation. While Crochet might not start right away, that is 4/5ths of the rotation. This leaves one spot for a bunch of guys, and if they keep Cease, the rotation is filled.
I have been saying that Crochet should start for a while, but this might be the worst season to do it. The White Sox have one of the weakest bullpens in the MLB, now you take Crochet out of it and it is even worse. The White Sox have plenty of depth in the rotation, so they could have worked Crochet into the rotation in 2025 when some of the contracts like Flexen and Sororka are off the books. Now, you force others with starting experience to the bullpen, where nobody knows how they will do.
With the Flexen news, it is now unlikely that a younger pitcher like Nick Nastrini, Davis Martin, Jared Shuster or Shane Drohan get any meaningful starts at the beginning of the year. While they are likely starting Flexen to try and flip him at the deadline, they are wasting valuable time for the younger pitchers to get some major league work.
Knowing if either of these will work out will take time, but regardless, it seems that Chris Getz already has his ideas on who he wants in the rotation. This also says a lot about how they feel about Michael Kopech, as he could be the odd man out. They could throw him back in the bullpen or trade him, but potentially subbing Chris Flexen over you in the rotation is not a good look, especially for a younger pitcher.
The White Sox have plenty of arms that can start games at the major league level. The rest will either be in the bullpen or in AAA. I am very curious to see how this works out, but I would like to see the younger pitchers get more work, rather than trying to squeeze value out of one-year veterans.
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The White Sox have plenty of arms that can start games at the major league level. The rest will either be in the bullpen or in AAA. I am very curious to see how this works out, but I would like to see the younger pitchers get more work, rather than trying to squeeze value out of one-year veterans.