Let’s take a look at the season that was for the 2024 Chicago White Sox, the questions the team must address this winter and the early outlook for 2025.
Read more: 2024 MLB offseason previews: Rockies & Marlins
Things that went right
Oh, boy, this is a tough one. Even the most optimistic fans would have trouble finding things that went right for a team that might finish with the worst winning percentage in the past century. But amid the rubble, Garrett Crochet stood out as a bright spot. The lanky lefty was terrific on Opening Day and arrived at the All-Star Game as the MLB leader in strikeouts. Unfortunately, an innings-management strategy made the 25-year-old much more mortal in the second half, as was evidenced by the 6.75 ERA he logged in his six post-break starts.
Things that went wrong
Aside from Crochet, pretty much everything. Crochet is the only pitcher on Chicago’s active roster who has thrown at least 50 innings with an ERA under 4.00 this year. On the offensive side, Andrew Vaughn took a step backward, while Luis Robert Jr. and Eloy Jiménez continued career-long patterns of struggling with injuries. Both players underperformed when in the lineup, with Jiménez eventually being shipped to Baltimore and Robert striking out at an alarming rate. Yoán Moncada, who will be a free agent this winter, has not returned from a left adductor strain suffered in April.
Overall, the White Sox were supposed to be bad, but they wound up being much worse than anyone expected. The low point might have been the moment manager Pedro Grifol was fired, shortly after the club ended a 21-game losing streak. That or when the team lost its 100th game well before the end of August.
Offseason plans
For a team coming off such a dismal season, everything should be on the table. This is an organization that should make every player available in trade talks, with the acknowledgement that the White Sox will not be contenders in the next couple of years.
Crochet’s name was popular in the trade deadline rumor mill during the summer, and talks will surely resurface this winter. He’s under team control for two more seasons and should be able to throw a full complement of innings from now on. Trading the southpaw would be the fastest way for Chicago to beef up an improving farm system.
Robert is Chicago’s other…