The White Sox are 1-0 since losing Nick Madrigal for months, if not the rest of the 2021 season, to a torn hamstring. The timetable isn't firm because the involved parties are going to spend the next week determining if surgery is necessary.
Certain roster moves and lineup adjustments were already made, and greater ones could be coming, although Rick Hahn tried to soften expectations for immediate action.
“It’s June 10,” Hahn said. “This is still a little bit early for things to be getting done, but the talks will become a little more focused here. We could well have an interesting next [several weeks] leading up to the trade deadline.”
The White Sox can exercise some patience because they have a 4½-game lead. Were they trailing Cleveland or another Central foe by the same gap, they might have to act quicker to maximize the time remaining. The Sox still need to be cognizant of their margins, but there's no point in building a little bit of a cushion if you can't use it to explore all options, internal and external.
Here's how all the moving parts look to me at the moment:
Brian Goodwin
The impact on him is already obvious, because he's in Chicago when he wasn't before, and not because his performance demanded it. He can provide left-handed help to Adam Engel in center and Andrew Vaughn in left without asking too much outfield play from Jake Lamb.
Then again, with Engel taking a righty deep on Thursday night, Tony La Russa may very well play Engel as much as his body allows early on to assess the state of his game. Either way, Goodwin's presence is more about freeing up ...
Leury García
... to handle second base duties. It's how the White Sox managed the position during Madrigal absences forced (service-time manipulation) and involuntary (separated shoulder). García split time with ...
Danny Mendick
... but while they stand on both sides of the plate between them, there isn't a natural platoon to be found. Mendick showed no particular platoon edge in the minors, and his splits have been backwards in the majors:
- vs. RHP: .276/.331/.426 over 150 PA
- vs. LHP: .182/.222/.286 over 81 PA
While you should probably look askance at such a small strange small sample and expect it to work itself out, it's been fairly prevalent throughout his career. I can't remember Mendick pulling much left-handed stuff with authority, and Statcast says he struggles to cover the outer half, so maybe lefties can throw him stuff that never approaches the inner half of the plate, and Mendick can't damage it the way a right-handed fastball might stay inside.
This still can work for the short term because García is stronger against lefties. You just have to believe what your eyes (and Statcast) are telling you and give Mendick some run against righties, no matter how counterintuitive it may seem. At least he can play defense.
Yermín Mercedes
When Adam Eaton's legs didn't inspired the confidence, La Russa relocated Madrigal from the ninth spot to second in the order against lefties. Madrigal hit .340/.377/.480 from the second spot, which included improvements against righties. Maybe you'd still rather see Yoán Moncada come to the plate under certain circumstances depending on the power needed, but Madrigal was seldom a bad matchup.
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Mercedes went 2-for-4 against Hyun-Jin Ryu and Toronto during Thursday's victory, giving him consecutive games with hits for the first time since mid-May. The catch is that Mercedes' two hits came on an 80 mph changeup and an 88 mph cutter, both with his shortened two-strike approach after extended battles. He can handle softer stuff -- especially from lefties -- so the start of the game isn't the problem. The complications come later in the games, when it seems like any manager can bring in any hard-throwing righty out of the pen and neutralize the guy getting the second highest amount of chances in the game.
Mercedes batting second could work if La Russa is prepared to go to Lamb or Eaton or anybody else who stands a better chance of meeting right-handed fastballs, but Mercedes has never been pinch-hit for. He's only been replaced with a pinch runner or a defensive upgrade.
Yoán Moncada
With Jake Burger being one of the few true success stories in the minors, Madrigal's absence led some fans to wonder whether Moncada could return to his old position of second base in order for Burger to play third.
Moncada isn't really a second baseman, at least in the way that we know he's a third baseman. Yet I don't really like to see the idea reflexively swatted down, because there are advantages with keeping positions fluid. We just saw Marcus Semien pass through town having a successful season at second base with Toronto, while Mike Moustakas became a second baseman on the fly to meet Milwaukee's needs a couple years ago. Max Muncy became a second baseman out of necessity for the Dodgers, and shifts there whenever the need arises. It'd help the White Sox considerably if everybody were comfortable with Moncada occasionally pitching in at the position.
The argument against Moncada moving is more about Burger, whose successful start at Charlotte (.266/.316/.514) is threatened by a strikeout rate that's been rising over the course of the season (36 percent in June). It's not that big of a problem for Burger overall, because he should be allowed to figure out the game as it comes to him after three years away. It just doesn't seem wise to place MLB expectations on him at this point. Marco Hernández is probably a better short-term option, even if his line (.325/.333/.439) is a Charlotte-aided mirage (.288/.302/.308 on the road).
Others outside the organization
From his overall production (.329/.391/.471) to his minuscule strikeout rate (10.5 percent) to his left-handedness to his ability cover second base and a corner outfield spot, Frazier is such a natural fit for this roster that a trade almost seems preordained.
But Frazier might be having too good of a season, especially for a guy who has his third arb year coming up afterward. He's more than a rental, so the Pirates may be inclined to generate a real bidding war for his services.
Josh hosted a Twitter Spaces before Thursday's game where he and Jordan Lazowski batted around some ideas, and Cabrera was one of them. He's not as exciting as Frazier, but the 35-year-old switch-hitting infielder is batting .275/.378/.450 for the Diamondbacks, and he's no stranger to being dealt to a contender and serving the purpose needed (he has a World Series ring with the Nationals as proof).
Sánchez still hasn't played an MLB game for another team besides the White Sox, even though he's been a part of three other organizations over the last two years (Giants, Orioles, Braves). I saw him pass through Nashville when the Sounds played the Gwinett Braves, with whom Sánchez is currently hitting .164/.307/.233. That doesn't sound appealing, but Sánchez came from a similarly humbling situation last year with San Francisco and hit .313/.476/.688 over 21 plate appearances. Until Sánchez surfaces with another team, I'm not convinced you can ever count him out when there's a vacancy.
(Photo by Laura Wolff / Charlotte Knights)
