Chris Getz Is Making It Clear That The White Sox Are His Team Now
After a busy offseason, the White Sox trimmed a lot of fat off their roster. They didn’t make any significant moves, but they sure made a bunch of moves. This signaled a new era in the White Sox front office, as Chris Getz made it very clear he doesn’t like the team as constructed.
Getz is on record that he doesn’t like this team and that he struggled getting free agent pitchers to sign with the White Sox because of the poor defense they’ve had as of late. He even had 70+ players in Spring Training because he wanted to increase the competition at certain positions. My guess was he wanted to get rid of certain players, but needed an excuse for it, and getting beat out in Spring Training would be the perfect excuse.
However, most of the players he brought in for competition would either be cut or accept an assignment to AAA. This didn’t work out like Chris Getz wanted, but he does have a significantly different team from last year. If you don’t count Yoan Moncada or Luis Robert Jr., there are just nine players that were on the roster last year. Two of them, Korey Lee and Deivi Garcia, were added after the all-star break. Over half of the team is different from last year, which is very uncommon in the MLB.
On top of doing a lot of work to change up the Major League club, he has done extensive work trimming the fat in the minor leagues, which has included some shocking cuts and trades.
He released Yoelqui Cespedes, who signed just a few years ago for a two million dollar bonus. Cespedes had high expectations, as he is the half-brother of Yoenis Cespedes, but he hasn’t worked out as they would have liked. However, I’m not sure his play justified getting outright released, as he had the tools to still be a very useful player.
He traded utility infielder Jose Rodriguez away for cash considerations to the Phillies, which was also a shocking move, as he showed the potential to be a major league player. But, out of nowhere, they DFA’d and traded him before they got the chance to see what he could do at the major league level. What makes this move even more shocking is the fact that Rodriguez ranked in the top-20 of White Sox prospects.
Even more recently, he DFA’d Josimar Cousin, one of the more recent big time international free agent signings the White Sox made. He would clear waivers and be outrighted to AAA, but he risked losing a potential high-upside player, as they added him to the 40-man roster out of nowhere in the offseason, which signaled high-expectations for him. The back and forth roster moves with some of these players is baffling.
He also burned an option for Oscar Colas for just one pinch hit at-bat. This was a weird move that made zero sense. Chris Getz keeps sending players up and down, but that is no way to manage a team. He is making it very clear that this is his team, but I’m not sure he would like to take credit for a team that is on track to be the worst team of all time.
It is unclear what his motives for some of these moves are, as some truly make no sense. He needs to let players figure it out at the major league level, rather than keep sending them up and down. This is a lost year and he needs to play as many young guys as possible, yet he refuses to do so. At this rate, Chris Getz will go down in history as the GM that assembled the worst roster of all time, and I’m sure that is the last thing he wants.