The White Sox approached the 2024/25 offseason knowing that the team was going to be at the bottom of the league, as they traded away their best pitcher in Garrett Crochet. On top of that, they didn’t sign any high or mid-level free agents, as the most they gave out this offseason was 3.5 million, both to Martin Perez and Josh Rojas.
Despite not giving out much money, they made a ton of changes to the roster, as the Opening Day roster included 10+ players that weren’t on the major league team last season. However, despite the roster turnover, Chris Getz missed a golden opportunity to capitalize at the trade deadline.
One of the of most sought-after players during the trade deadline is a reliable bullpen arm, as playoff bound teams are always looking to add a piece or two to help with a playoff run. Despite knowing this, Chris Getz did not allocate many resources there.
While there was bullpen turnover in the offseason, it came in the form of a trade for Tyler Gilbert and Cam Booser, while picking up Penn Murfee and Brandon Eisert. However, none of these arms were expected to be a stud reliever or even a closer. There were some decent expectations for Booser, as he had a nice season last year, but he has had some tough outings that have inflated his stats.
If Chris Getz had signed a bona fide closer or reliever, he could have made a deal at the deadline to get some prospects back, perhaps even a top-100 prospect if the reliever was having a good season. However, Getz did not do that and opted to try to go bargain bin shopping.
This hasn’t worked out as the White Sox have the 7th worst bullpen ERA in the major leagues. While this is an upgrade from last year, there haven’t been many standouts that would fetch anything of note at the trade deadline.
The best relievers currently on the team were already on the roster, as Steven Wilson and Jordan Leasure have been the best relievers so far. If Wilson keeps it up, he could get a decent prospect in return. On the other hand, I’m not sure the White Sox want to trade Leasure.
Cam Booser has shown some elite stuff but he has been very prone to giving up the longball, which has done some damage on his ERA. If he settles down, he could get a decent prospect but he will need to put together a string of scoreless outings.
Chris Getz can fix this issue, as there are some solid relievers on the market still, most notably David Robertson. While there is likely a reason that Robertson has not been signed, the White Sox have nothing to lose by giving him a chance, as he could pitch well and get the White Sox a solid prospect at the deadline.
Despite being 39 years old, Robertson had a 3.00 ERA over 72 innings last year for the Texas Rangers. If he replicated anything similar to those numbers with the White Sox, he could fetch the White Sox a decent prospect at the deadline, especially to a desperate team.
While there is plenty of baseball to be played, the White Sox missed a golden opportunity in the off-season to acquire higher profile relievers to flip them at the deadline. However, there are still options out there to sign, or the White Sox better hope that the current arms in the ‘pen begin to pitch better.
