Here at Sports Mockery, we’re new at this whole mailbag thing. The White Sox team had a few false starts with these types of calls for questions, but our coverage is beefing and up we know things. So, we’ll entertain the two questions we received this time around and hope for more as we continue gaining your trust.
Looking ahead the next few years, any chance the Sox try and trade some of the arms for Trout?
— Andrew Kruszewski (@Drewk35) August 28, 2018
ANSWER: I love this question. I really do. But there is no way the White Sox grab Mike Trout.
I’ve beaten the drum on the Pinwheels and Ivy podcast about the fantasy of acquiring Trout considering the disappointing injuries Anaheim has faced and the closing window of opportunity to build a winner around the best player in baseball. And frankly, the White Sox have the prospect currency to make a deal. I’m just not sure the price is worth the product.
Trout is undeniably the best player in Major League Baseball, he might even be the best player in history when it’s all said and done. But Trout is under contract for two more seasons and after the Angels signed Shohei Ohtani in the offseason and extended Justin Upton, I expect the Angels to go all-in on the final two seasons with Trout.
Anything is possible once he hits free agency, but with a flourish of outfield prospects coming into their own in the minors, the White Sox are in a good position to expose an enormous value ratio.
So, if this answer induces anger towards Jerry Reinsdorf and other White Sox brass whom typically avoid leviathan roster moves, just remember these two names: Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert.
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Who do you expect to get a September call up?
— Greg Mazurkiewicz (@GregMazurkiewi1) August 27, 2018
I mean, I expected a little more tone in some of these questions. Like, “when does Eloy get the call-up?” Or, “give me three reasons why Eloy is still in the minors.” But I’ll assume this is a smart way (wink, wink) of asking where Eloy will be on Saturday.
My answer on Eloy: He won’t be in the majors this season. His placement on the 40-man roster makes him eligible for a Sept.-callup, but there are more than a few factors at play here.
Things the White Sox may be considering:
- Service time. As Jason Benetti told me a few weeks ago: Don’t hate the player; hate the game. Service time is important; more important than giving Jimenez major league at-bats in a losing season.
- If White Sox brass believe that Jimenez is big-league ready — which I believe they do — they won’t bring him up this season. Instead, they’ll give him a break in the fall, bring him to camp early in the spring and give him an early promotion from Triple-A in April. Remember, any time he spends in the bigs this season will be added onto his minor-league time next season.
- If the Sox still want Jimenez to get more time in Triple-A next season, Jimenez could get a Sept.-callup. This is not uncommon. Yoan Moncada took a similar trajectory with the Red Sox, but he had far fewer at-bats in Triple-A before a cup of coffee in the majors.
I for one, don’t think the White Sox promote Jimenez this season and I don’t think the organization wants to keep him down much longer. As Rick Hahn has said before, the good ones have a way of forcing the issue. Jimenez has clearly done so.
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Other roster moves likely to happen by Saturday:
- Welington Castillo — He is rehabbing in Triple-A after serving his 80-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s banned substance policy.
- Carson Fulmer — I know. He is a massive disappointment and the next month might be his last chance to reingratiate himself to the organization. All those calls to put him in the bullpen will have their opinions tested over the next few weeks.
- Aaron Bummer — The left-hander spent a decent amount of time in the bigs this season and adds left-handed help to the reliever corps.
- Ryan Cordell & Charlie Tilson — Cordell would have broken camp with the Sox had he not suffered an injury that derailed his season and Tilson is still in the process of building himself into a prospect again. Both would enter an already crowded outfield rotation, but with the roster spots available it doesn’t hurt to have the backup. Yet, I wouldn’t be surprised if these two were sent home in September.
- Tyler Danish — September call-ups don’t always fill out available roster spots, but pitching tends to get more consideration when making decisions than position players. Danish could easily be left off the roster, but it doesn’t hurt to have deep bullpen entering the fall.
Other considerations:
Nate Jones, Jose Abreu and Leury Garcia should be reinstated soon. Abreu and Garcia are likely to join the club in the next week while Jones has been throwing and could get some innings in Sept.
This leaves the roster at approximately 33-34 players. With the recent additions of Jose Rondon and Ryan LaMarre holding their spots, playing time is going to be hard to come by in September.
