Can't Catch a Break; The White Sox Simply Can Not Win

The Chicago White Sox have had it as hard as anyone over the last few seasons. They were obviously going nowhere after the 2016 season, so they made a couple of blockbuster trades to try to build for the future. They traded their two best players, Chris Sale and Adam Eaton, for three of the top prospects in baseball, including two who spent a good amount of time at number 1 on the top 100 list. It felt like they were going to have a dangerous team in the future. So far, though, that could not have been more wrong.

The first trade that was worth talking about is the Adam Eaton trade. They shipped him to the Washington Nationals for the number one pitching prospect in baseball, Lucas Giolito. This admittedly seemed like a gamble at the time, as Giolito had been unimpressive in his brief time at the MLB level. He still had obvious talent, though, so it seemed like the least they could get would be an above average starter, even if he never developed into the ace they hoped for. Even that hasn't been the case so far though, as his career stats are almost as bad as anyone could have ever imagined. His career ERA sits at 5.22, while his WHIP is an absurd 1.370. To be fair, he pitched a very solid 45.1 innings in 2017, where he had a 2.38 ERA and a 180 ERA+. There were cracks in the foundation, though, as he stranded a completely unsustainable 92.0% of his runners and had a 4.94 FIP. This made it doubtful that his success would last long, and 2018 has only confirmed those fears. His ERA has jumped to 5.85 and his WHIP to 1.483. He still has not had any real success in the majors, and he Is running out of time to get back on track. While Eaton hasn't been great in D.C., it still seems unlikely that Chicago will not wind up regretting this trade.

The other huge trade was to the Boston Red Sox, The Chi-Sox traded their ace Chris Sale, who has been one of the top pitchers in the American League(here's proof) for a couple of top of the line prospects in Michael Kopech, who threw a ball 110 MPH in an unofficial practice, and number one prospect Yoan Moncada, who looked like a superstar. Moncada reached The Bigs full time this  season, and instead of being an all-star level player, he leads the league in strike out and has a meager .223/.302/.393 batting line. He isn't a negative player by bWAR, but he also isn't on par with an average starter as he has currently added around 1.2 wins. It isn't terrible, but it's also nowhere near what they paid for as Sale is having his best year and may even finally win his first Cy Young. Michael Kopech may be even sadder. First, his rise was delayed because he punched a teammate and broke his hand in the beginning of last season. Then, when he was having a good second half in Triple-A, so the Sox promoted him to the Majors a few weeks ago. He pitched 14.1 innings, and not particularly well. HIs lack of immediate effectiveness isn't his concern, though. It's that earlier this week he tore his UCL and will have to miss the next year or so with Tommy John surgery. They thought they might finally have had a player who could come through, and instead they lost a top prospect for what could be all of next season.

There is hope, though. After failing to move him in the 2017 offseason, the Sox waited until the trade deadline to unload their then-ace Jose Quintana,. The best offer came from their in-city companions, the Chicago Cubs. They felt that they needed another top pitcher to repeat as champions(it didn't work), so they gave up their top prospect in Eloy Jimenez to get him. He has since dominated in the White Sox system, and in 2018 he put up a monster .355/.399/.597 batting line and a crazy 179 OPS+. He will make the team next year, and while he won't make them contenders by himself, he may serve as a symbol to Sox fans that they aren't completely hopeless. He can renew their faith in baseball by finally being what they were expecting. Nobody needs a win more than the White Sox, and they might have found just that in Jimenez.