Last week the White Sox actually did something right for once and DFA’d Ervin Santana after about as bad a start to the season as you could imagine. After a couple solid starts by Ivan Nova, he has plummeted as of late due in large part to his 6 home runs allowed in 31.1 innings. Yes he throws strikes, but it doesn’t help when a lot of those strikes are being hit for extra bases.
Meanwhile, Dylan Cease has had a wonderful star to the year in Triple-A. Through 5 starts at Charlotte, Cease is 2-1 with a 3.33 ERA in 24.1 innings. He routinely sits at 97-98 almost effortlessly. When he pairs it with his 12-6 hammer curve, it’s easy to see why he’s one of the best pitching prospects in baseball.
The White Sox front office can’t honestly tell their fans that Nova is the better option. He’s not. If this were last year, they would have an easier time keeping him in the minors and letting him develop. That was because the Sox playoff hopes were all but gone by June.
Now though? The Sox are currently just 5.5 games out (subject to change based on what happens in the 2nd game of the double header with Baltimore). The offense has actually been putting up a ton of runs, and that’s even with Abreu’s slow start and Eloy’s IL stint. Really it’s just the starting pitching (and shaky bullpen) that’s keeping the team below .500. Calling up Cease would exponentially help with that. Sure he’d go through lapses, but I think we’re all in agreement that we’d rather see him go through them sooner rather than later.
What really makes me think Chicago should call up Cease is the fact that Corey Kluber just fractured his pitching arm after taking a 108 mph line drive off the elbow, sidelining him indefinitely. This coming after they already lost starter Mike Clevinger and super star short stop Francisco Lindor for extended periods of time.
Rodon/Lopez/Giolito/Cease is a top 4 that the team should be able to depend on each night. At the very least it stops fans from penciling in a loss 2/5 times through the rotation. The division is still right there for the White Sox as of May 1st. If they decide to sit on their hands any longer, it could slip through their fingers and another season will be lost.
