Madison Bumgarner was one of three “tier 2” pitchers available. The other two being Hin Jin Ryu and Dallas Keuchel. Teams who need pitching should be getting pretty desperate right about now, and the White Sox are no exception. Should they decide to not make Ryu or Keuchel a priority (which would be inexcusable), they can maybe get a deal done to land Robbie Ray from Arizona.
Ray is a lefty who gets a ton of strikeouts and is only 28 years old, so he should actually bring back a great package. He is also entering his last season before becoming a free agent. If the White Sox were to hypothetically trade for Ray, they could issue him the qualifying offer after 2020. This would ensure that he either stays for another year through 2021, or the Sox would obtain a draft pick from the team he eventually sides with.
Ray is interesting because while he does have the stuff to miss a lot of bats, he also walks more batters than you would like and gives up a lot of home runs. His ERA last year wasn’t anything special at just 4.34, but he also had a WAR of 2.4. He’s a very solid number 3 today but still has tremendous upside if he harnesses better control.
Furthermore, Ray was apparently on the trading block during the season last year. Bumgarner now coming to Arizona means 2 things: he lessens the loss of trading away Ray, and it causes teams to get more desperate. Ray’s value now may never be higher for a team that needs pitching.
The White Sox should still absolutely sign one of Keuchel or Ryu, but regardless of whether they do or not, they should still at least check in on bringing Ray to the South Side.
