Since the trade deadline in August, the White Sox have been stripping down their pitching staff. Whether it is in the rotation or the bullpen, they have subtracted a significant amount of arms. This now leaves many holes in the bullpen, a spot many thought was going to be a strong suit for the Sox before the 2023 season. Let’s take a look at the options, and what their likely role will be. MLB limits the roster to 13 pitchers, so this leaves about eight spots for the bullpen.
There are only a few arms that you could say will 100% be in the bullpen on opening day, barring any trades. For the sake of this exercise, lets assume that Michael Kopech starts the year off in the rotation, despite the fact that at this point he may be best suited for the bullpen.
As of right now, there are only two arms that you can safely assume will be in the bullpen. Those two arms are Gregory Santos, the assumed closer, and Garrett Crochet.
Santos showed that he was a great pickup last off season, as he was by far our best reliever. He was a bit shaky when it came to closing, but preparing for it mentally all off season may help him for the 2024 season. If he can turn into a solid closer this would be a great development, but if not he will be an elite 7/8th inning setup man.
Crochet will join the team after missing most of last year with injury. I would still love for him to get the opportunity to start, but with all the injuries he has suffered, it is likely he at least starts the year in the bullpen. He will be a nice late inning or multi inning guy for the Sox, depending on how they want to use him.
These are the only two guys I can confidently say will be in the bullpen on opening day. Some of the other guys on this list will likely be on the team, it is just unsure of what their role will exactly be.
There are six spots left for the ‘pen and a lot of potential arms. At this point, I would point to a guy like Jesse Scholtens, as he will likely be back in the bullpen after getting consistent starts to end the year. I thought he pitched well enough last year to earn a spot in the bullpen, if not the rotation.
The same can be said for Touki Toussaint, as he pitched very well since the Sox picked him up mid season. He is a candidate to start in the rotation, as he is more than capable. I would imagine the Sox go a different route for the rotation, but he could start the season there and then move back to the bullpen. Regardless he is a good guy to have on your team for either long relief or some spot starts.
Jared Shuster, the newly acquired pitcher from the Braves, could find himself in the bullpen, but I would imagine the Sox see what they have in him for the rotation, as he has the potential to be a very solid 3-4 pitcher every 5 days.
These three guys will likely be on the team barring any surprising moves, their roles are just more undefined at this point.
This now leaves about 3-4 spots in the bullpen for a multitude of arms. The White Sox have acquired a lot of arms over the last few months and some of them have the potential to be very solid major league contributors.
Jordan Leasure, acquired in the Lance Lynn trade, is a hard throwing reliever that finished out the season in AAA. He is built to be a late inning guy and will have every chance to win a spot in the ‘pen in Spring Training. I would bet on him being on the roster for a majority of the year if not all of it.
Next, there are more established guys like Matt Foster, Jimmy Lambert, and Tanner Banks. Foster was hurt last year so he will be coming back healthy to start the year. He has been pretty good when he played, but it has been a while. Lambert has had a rough go of it recently but he showed potential just a year or so ago. Banks got a good amount of work but did not look amazing by any means. He is a lefty, which the Sox will desperately need in the pen, so he could make it in because of that. All three of these guys will definitely be given a shot to win a spot, but it will be a competitive Spring Training.
Then there are some guys who were able to get some run late last year after they purged the bullpen. These are: Declan Cronin, Edgar Navarro, Nicholas Padilla, Sammy Peralta, and Lane Ramsey. Of this group, Peralta looked the the best, as he was a reliable lefty out of the pen towards the end of the year. I’d say he gets the nod due to how he performed late last year and considering the fact he is a lefty.
Then there are two of my favorite dart throws that I would love to see get some time in the bullpen next year. This would be Luis Patino and Deivi Garcia. They were both former top 100 prospects that the Sox picked up late last year. They both have some outstanding stuff and I would love to see how they do with a full off season of working with the Sox. These two have some of the highest ceilings out of all the guys listed.
The Sox also acquired Alex Speas earlier in the off season from the Texas Rangers. He is an interesting pitcher who performed well in the minors with Texas. He could see himself in a camp competition for a ‘pen spot as well.
At this point, the Sox have a ton of arms that could be in the bullpen. There are countless combinations of these guys that could start in Chicago. This is all without any more free agent signings or trades. The bullpen competition will be a fun thing to watch for in Spring Training and hopefully one or a few can break out like Santos did last year.
