Would you believe that the White Sox got decent production from DH as recently as 2018? That seems crazy to me, since I don't recall a good player getting regular at-bats there since Jim Thome. But maybe that’s just recency bias from watching a motley combination of players led by Yonder Alonso stumble to this ugly line in 2019:
Just like right field, the Sox need a new DH. That’s why it’s next on our offseason shopping list.
IN-HOUSE OPTIONS
Zack Collins, Yermin Mercedes, Daniel Palka, Gavin Sheets? Andrew Vaughn??
For a position that was such a mystery spotlast year, Ricky Renteria could have some surprisingly intriguing options evenif the front office doesn’t add enough bats this offseason.
Collins had a .972 OPS over his last 10 games in 2019, whichpartially contributed to a .900 OPS in 55 plate appearances at DH on the season(compared to a .367 OPS in 40 PA at catcher). He still has a lot more to prove,but looked much more playable in September.
Many things would have to go wrong for Mercedes or Palka to get regular at-bats in April, but either would be intriguing – albeit for different reasons. Mercedes did nothing but crush in Charlotte and Birmingham last year, and he plays a fun, fiery brand of baseball packed that’s heightened by his Warren Newson-ish physique. Palka getting the job, meanwhile, would be the same kind of intriguing as a movie that purposefully alienates the audience to see how much they’ll endure before they walk out of the theater.
Sheets or Vaughn will both will need to rip the cover off the ball to get any real MLB playing time next year, but it’d be nice if they made a strong case and forced Rick Hahn into more tough service time decisions.
FREE AGENTS
There’s some overlap with right field here; at the risk of repeating myself, I’ve included a few players mentioned in that post here as well. The tiers work the same way they did there: I’ve broken the options in to categories based only on their 2019 performances. I also limited the pool to guys I could somewhat realistically see getting into at least 80ish games at DH (i.e. Didi Gregorious is probably signing to play shortstop somewhere, while Mark Trumbo is probably not healthy/productive enough to play that much).
Elite (6+ wins): None
All Stars (4-6 wins): None
Above-Average (2.5-4 wins): Nicholas Castellanos (2.8 fWAR), Edwin Encarnacion (2.5 - team option), Howie Kendrick (2.9), J.D. Martinez (3.2 - player option), Mike Moustakas (2.8)
Obviously Martinez is the cream of the crop here and I wouldn’t hesitate to give him $25 million per season. As a high-average hitter who’s managed to cut his K rate and raise his BB rate over the last few seasons, it seems unlikely that he’ll fall victim to the Yonder Alonso/Adam LaRoche/Adam Dunn curse that typically befalls new White Sox DH’s. A .300/.380/.550 line would look mighty pretty in the heart of the Sox order.
Encarnacion was quietly quite good between Seattle and New York last season, putting up a 129 wRC+ that would have been manna from heaven for the Sox lineup. His $20 million option seems a bit rich for that kind of production on a Yankees team with plenty of power elsewhere, but he’d be a great get for the Sox on a Nelson Cruz-type deal.
I hope for Moustakas’s sake that the market is kinder to him this offseason; I hope for the Sox’s sake it’s not. His bat isn’t as good as Encarnacion or Martinez, but his experience at 2B and 3B would be useful for an organization without much depth at either position. The same goes for Kendrick, though I wouldn’t count on him matching his career-high wRC+ in 2020.
Average (1.5-2.4 wins): Brian Dozier (1.7), Todd Frazier (1.9), Hunter Pence (1.8), Eric Thames (1.9 - team option)
Dozier and Frazier fit into the same bucket as Moustakas: not elite hitters, but good enough to take a chunk of DH at-bats while providing insurance at multiple other positions. I’m not sure that Frazier would love coming back to the South Side, but his skillset and age foretell a potentially slow market, so he might not have many choices.
Pence had a bounceback year as the Rangers’ DH but injuriesended his year at 83 games, and he hasn’t been both healthy and productivesince 2014. If Thames hits the market, I like him here for the same reason Ilike him in right field: the dude takes walks and crushes baseballs.
Below Average (under 1.5 wins): Matt Adams (-0.1), Scooter Gennett (-0.5), Jedd Gyorko (-0.7), Corey Dickerson (1.0), Mitch Moreland (0.7), Justin Smoak (0.2), Stephen Vogt (0.9), Ryan Zimmerman (0.1 - team option)
Aside from Dickerson, all these guys require a lot of squinting to see them fixing the Sox’s DH problem. Adams hits dingers, but doesn’t do anything else well and really shouldn’t face lefties. Gennett and Gyorko are still cheaper versions of Moustakas/Dozier/Frazier; both are coming off miserable seasons, but were solid in 2017-2018.
Signing Moreland or Smoak would show the Sox learned nothing from Yonder Alonso, which would actually be reassuring in a “time is just a slow march towards death” sort of way. Zimmerman seems likely to finish his career in Washington one way or another, which is fine because he’s bad now anyway. Vogt is actually a low-key very fun player, but he also provides exactly what the Sox will likely hope to get from Zack Collins in 2020.
THE TRADING BLOCK
Shin-Soo Choo (1.7), Clint Frazier (0.1), Yuli Gurriel (3.2), Trey Mancini (3.6), Domingo Santana (0.0), Kyle Schwarber (2.6), Dominic Smith (0.8), Jorge Soler (3.6)
Pairing the raw power of Soler and Eloy Jimenez would be a hell of a lot of fun, though I’m skeptical the Royals move him even with only two years of team control remaining. I also doubt the Cubs trade Schwarber despite the artificial payroll constraints that ownership seems intent on imposing.
Mancini and Smith probably offer the best combination of offensive upside, age, and team control among trade market options. Given his poor defense and the Orioles’ weak farm system, Mancini might be acquirable without touching the Sox’s top prospects. However, I’d be wary of buying too high after a career-best season. Smith was a top-100 prospect in 2016-17, but didn't establish himself in the majors until last year, during which he posted a 133 wRC+ in 197 plate appearances. He can't really play any position except first base where he's stuck behind Pete Alonso, so his market would be an interesting one if the Mets decide to move him for help elsewhere.
I’m not sure what the Astros will due with Gurriel. He’s coming off a great year, but his career norms would make him the worst hitter in an Astros lineup that needs to make room for Kyle Tucker somewhere. He also has a weird contract that pays him $8.5 million in 2020, then sends him to arbitration for his age-37 season in 2021.
Choo has one year left on his contract at a hefty $21million. However, that means it wouldn’t cost much talent to get him, and heremains an above-average hitter who would inject some much needed OBP into theSox lineup. Santana pairs big power with lots of strikeouts and a meat cleaverfor a glove; Frazier remains an enigma.
A WILD CARD
Yoshitomo Tsutsugo
The Yokohama DeNA BayStars posting Tsutsugo adds an interesting wrinkle to the OF/DH market. Tsutsugo is only 27 and has certainly done all he can in the JPL:
It’s hard to guess what the market will be for an older, non-elite Japanese prospect, and the complicated new posting fee rules make projecting things even muddier. I've seen the unsubstantiated scuttlebutt about Tsutsugo taking a minor league deal, but that would be extremely shocking. Yusei Kikuchi was sort of a pitching version of Tsutsugo in terms of age and JPL performance, and got 4 years/$56 million guaranteed last offseason. Corner bats are worth obviously less valuable than starting pitchers, but I’d imagine he at least exceeds the 4 years/$16 million that Pittsburgh paid for Jung Ho Kang in 2015. That probably makes him a medium-risk bet for a team that’s smarter and/or has more room for error than the White Sox.
