If you were to characterize Chris Getz's tenure as White Sox GM like a realtor lists a fixer-upper, you'd say that modest ambitions have been a signature of his career.
There's no loftiness to his agenda, either macro or micro. He had to be coaxed into stating with certainty that this White Sox team will win more than 41 games, and all the touted improvements are either out of plain sight or tucked into the margins.
Even a highly active offseason was largely limited to spreading a thin layer of joint compound over the 26-man roster. The outfield best embodied the idea, as the White Sox made three additions on MLB contracts in order to ensure that their outfield would almost always comprise actual outfielders. They built a $3.7 million platoon of Mike Tauchman and Austin Slater for right field, then signed Michael A. Taylor as a credible backup center fielder and complement in left when Luis Robert Jr. and Andrew Benintendi take days off.
And despite all that activity, it only took until the second game of the season for a White Sox infielder to be stretched into action. On Saturday against the Angels, Brooks Baldwin made his first in-season start -- first appearance, actually -- in right field since he was a member of the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers back on Sept. 9, 2022. His seeing-eye groundball single in the sixth accounted for one of two White Sox hits in a 1-0 loss, and even that burst of corner outfield offensive production was short-lived since Baldwin was doubled off first in an unfortunately timed hit-and-run.
On one hand, this figures to be but a temporary assignment since Tauchman ran the bases on Saturday and is on track to return to the roster from his tweaked hamstring by next weekend's series in Detroit. It's also a vote of confidence, or at least a vote of interest, in Baldwin's greater abilities, since Will Venable could have just as well started Travis Jankowski out there to maintain that authentic outfielder constitution.
Yet two games feels like a little early to have to go this route, especially when there are signs that Baldwin is a little rusty out there despite 18 innings worth of Cactus League action in the outfield. He made routine catches on a soft flare by Kevin Newman and a deep-ish fly by Yoán Moncada, but he and Robert almost bumped on a routine fly ball that Robert took charge of ...
... and then he overran a bloop single with one one and nobody out in the seventh.
That could've been a critical mistake in a scoreless game had Luis Rengifo read the ball better, but he ended up stopping at second, and that 90 feet worked in the White Sox's favor. Newman struck out after failing to get a bunt down, and then Miguel Vargas started a fine 5-3 double play to extinguish the threat. Instead, the fatal 90 feet were taken the following inning on a two-base wild pitch.
Here's where we acknowledge that any post trying to extract meaning out of two games figures to be an overreaction in short order. There's the idea that Venable is trying to get all his players involved in the first week of the season. Beyond that, Baldwin has genuine experience at all three outfield spots from his days at UNC Wilmington including 45 games in right in his draft year. It'll probably be a part of Baldwin's profile if he hacks it as a major leaguer, whether it's because he needs every single skill to justify a bench spot, or because he actually fulfills the label Tony La Russa put on Leury García:
"I'll say this very respectfully: I could dislike you the rest of the time I'm here if you refer to García as a utility player. He's a regular player who plays all around."
Unlike the Gavin Sheets days, this isn't the product of poor planning. Flexibility is what he's used to, and he's supportive of the plan, even by the standards of the rookie who will play anywhere to stay in the majors.
"I feel like it does give me more opportunities in the lineup, but I like being the utility guy who can use his athleticism anywhere," Baldwin told James at the end of spring. "Being the everyday shortstop in Birmingham last year was just something where we needed somebody to play short, and I just played the best I could."
It just feels a step too early to force these skills upon him. I'd pictured Baldwin expanding into the outfield once some combination of Colson Montgomery, Bryan Ramos and Chase Meidroth forced him off the dirt, and his bat had developed enough to warrant the time at less demanding positions. Instead, Baldwin's dusting off the bigger glove so the White Sox can accommodate Jake Amaya, and then moving to short once Amaya's limitations had him subbed out of the game.
It's also a larger reminder that the White Sox haven't connected with any of their other attempts to find left-handed outfield depth. If Dominic Fletcher clears waivers after his DFA, he'll join Zach DeLoach in Charlotte as players the White Sox traded for and pulled up stakes on within one year. Oscar Colás is there, too, and they're all smaller players in the White Sox's larger struggle to find anything resembling adequate production in right field since Avisaíl García made the All-Star team:
- 2017: 4.3 fWAR
- 2018: -0.9
- 2019: -0.9
- 2020: 0.7
- 2021: 0.5
- 2022: -0.6
- 2023: -3.7
- 2024: -2.4
The two years the White Sox finished in the black were also years that García started five of the White Sox's seven postseason games in an outfield corner, including the year where he was testing a surgically repaired thumb. If his career represents Baldwin's most likely future, then it's worth remembering that García's ability to cover right field was more valuable over the long season than in individual games.
Again, we're getting a little ahead of ourselves when the Plan A platoon hasn't been allowed to take shape. Slater held up his end of the bargain by taking Yusei Kikuchi deep on Opening Day, and maybe Tauchman will be able to do the same once he's back. If it were any other position, an unusual deployment probably wouldn't have registered. Because it's right field and a White Sox infielder is already standing there, it sows an automatic distrust that the latest patch is doomed to give way.
