2024 Rotation Questions...

[Lip Man 1]

Fegan takes a look (cover your eyes):

https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2023/7/30/23813492/pitchers-audition-spot-sox-2024-rotation-season-final-two-months-kopech-cease-clevinger-toussaint

[Timmy U]

I love James Fegan.

[reiks12]

34 minutes ago, Timmy U said:

I love James Fegan.

So happy he was able to get a job after getting canned by the athletic. I was so mad at them i cancelled my sub

[Lillian]

Assuming Clevinger does not return, do you think that next year's rotation will be Cease, Kopech, Toussant, Eder and Nastrini, with Bush being the 6TH man?  Eder and Nastrini are currently ranked as the Sox' # 4 and 5 prospects, respectively and are projected to be in the Majors next year, so it would seem that they will likely join the rotation. No other Sox starters look ready to be promoted. Perhaps Davis Martin, once he fully recovers from his TJS.

I wonder where Grant Taylor will be ranked, once the new draft class is included. In any case he will probably not be projected to be in the Majors until 2025, at the earliest. 

Edited August 2, 2023 by Lillian

[Chicago White Sox]

3 hours ago, Lillian said:

Assuming Clevinger does not return, do you think that next year's rotation will be Cease, Kopech, Toussant, Eder and Nastrini, with Bush being the 6TH man?  Eder and Nastrini are currently ranked as the Sox' # 4 and 5 prospects, respectively and are projected to be in the Majors next year, so it would seem that they will likely join the rotation. No other Sox starters look ready to be promoted. Perhaps Davis Martin, once he fully recovers from his TJS.

I wonder where Grant Taylor will be ranked, once the new draft class is included. In any case he will probably not be projected to be in the Majors until 2025, at the earliest. 

 Zero chance that will the the rotation.  They will almost certainly sign two starters.

[South Side Hit Men]

3 hours ago, Lillian said:

Assuming Clevinger does not return, do you think that next year's rotation will be Cease, Kopech, Toussant, Eder and Nastrini, with Bush being the 6TH man?  Eder and Nastrini are currently ranked as the Sox' # 4 and 5 prospects, respectively and are projected to be in the Majors next year, so it would seem that they will likely join the rotation. No other Sox starters look ready to be promoted. Perhaps Davis Martin, once he fully recovers from his TJS.

I wonder where Grant Taylor will be ranked, once the new draft class is included. In any case he will probably not be projected to be in the Majors until 2025, at the earliest. 

I fear the complete lack of interest for Clevinger and the desperate straights of filling the White Sox rotation give at least a possibility Clevenger returns on the $12M mutual option ($4M sunk coast, $8M for Clevinger vs. other FA options).

Would say Cease is the only lock, plus whatever innings they can coax out of Kopech. Touki could be a good possibility if he likes it here. Would say Scholtens and Banks are the likely other current roster possibilities. Davis Martin could get a few September starts preparing for 2025. Can see them also picking up a couple under $10M/year FAs to try to eat innings and perhaps trade at the deadline if one or both outperform contract expectations.

That's not to say some of their previous prospects plus acquisitions could get call ups for injury or to reward solid 2024 minor league campaigns. That said, Sean Burke (7.61 ERA), Luis Patino (6.75 ERA) Jordan Leasure (27.00 ERA at AAA) are the only three pitching in Charlotte. So it's likely that you won't see SP prospects set to emerge for Opening Day roster spots until the 2025 season.

[Lillian]

I just thought that, given the ages, prospect rankings and ETA;s of the pitchers the Sox just acquired, that they might be expected to contribute next season. Those factors, coupled with the lack of any other Minor League arms that are ready, and ownership's unwillingness to hand out long term contracts to pitchers, suggested to me that they might go ahead and use these guys to fill out the rotation. However, your responses have dissuaded me of the notion. Thanks.

[SouthSideGeorgia]

The new arms are mostly in AA and none of them stand out as accelerated in performance to make it as Opening Day starter in 2024. Just one of them doing that is remote… and would be very aggressive by the White Sox. 
 

I agree with the above. Cease and Kopech for sure are 1& 2. No doubt, Kopech’s starting performance deserves further criticism, but he will get every opportunity to start on the Southside. Mostly due to the dearth of talent at starter (see early Reynaldo Lopez). We have Touki and Scholtens under contract, so they will get opportunities or could be long relievers in bullpen, and starters in reserve. Behind them also is Tanner Banks in a similar role. 

Sox will (or should) pick up another 2 starters on reclamation 1-yr deals, back from injury, or down years in an attempt to strike lightning in a bottle (like Cueto in 22). Less likely to compete in the Central as Hahn will suggest and more as 24 trade deadline fodder for more farm tickets. 
 

 

Edited August 2, 2023 by SouthSideGeorgia

[CWSpalehoseCWS]

Severino seems like a good buy-low guy they could target. There’s no chance this team competes next year, so add a couple guys on 1 year deals with the expectation that you can flip them at the deadline as Eder and Nastrini force their way into the rotation in the 2nd half (assuming everything goes right).

[nrockway]

On 7/30/2023 at 8:20 PM, reiks12 said:

So happy he was able to get a job after getting canned by the athletic. I was so mad at them i cancelled my sub

Me too actually. Fraudulent publication, they got everyone hooked by hiring good journalists with the promise of a return to "old school" sports journalism, ie letting them take time to do research so they actually have something interesting to report on. Then they realized it's far more profitable to have a couple "famous" "reporters" who break the news on player acquisitions (aka PR people for sports agencies) and provide some mediocre analysis (this trade is a B) than it is to actually do journalism. 99% of being a journalist in 2023 is being on twitter. Too bad.  

 

Anyway, I hope Crochet starts next year. Why not? 

[Vote4Pedro]

4 minutes ago, nrockway said:

Anyway, I hope Crochet starts next year. Why not? 

How can anyone honestly expect this? He can’t even reach 70 innings let alone a full workload. Not to mention all that would be required to stretch his arm out since he hasn’t thrown much at all over the past 2 seasons. 

His innings pitched throughout his career is 

MLB

2023 - 10

2022- 0

2021 - 54.1

2020 - 6

 

College

2020- 3.1

2019- 65

2018- 63.2

[nrockway]

3 minutes ago, Vote4Pedro said:

How can anyone honestly expect this? He can’t even reach 70 innings let alone a full workload. Not to mention all that would be required to stretch his arm out since he hasn’t thrown much at all over the past 2 seasons. 

His innings pitched throughout his career is 

MLB

2023 - 10

2022- 0

2021 - 54.1

2020 - 6

 

College

2020- 3.1

2019- 65

2018- 63.2

He's oft-injured but he was drafted to be a starter. People thought he could have stretched out in the Minors this season but was shortsightedly put in the bullpen for a "playoff" run. He still seems to think he can start and hasn't been told otherwise by the team. Maybe he physically can't do it, how should I know?

[Vote4Pedro]

13 minutes ago, nrockway said:

He's oft-injured but he was drafted to be a starter. People thought he could have stretched out in the Minors this season but was shortsightedly put in the bullpen for a "playoff" run. He still seems to think he can start and hasn't been told otherwise by the team. Maybe he physically can't do it, how should I know?

Every competitor thinks they can start. Doesn’t mean it’s realistic to do so. I wish I had the time to look it up but I would be interested to see what the biggest innings jump from one season to the next is.

 

However for him to even be an opener and go 3 innings each start it would only take 23 starts to get to a number of 70 innings pitched which he has never done before. He would be at that number of starts at this time next year. That is 7x the amount he’s thrown over the last 2 years. Tough to ask of a guy to do at the MLB level in my opinion. 

Edited August 2, 2023 by Vote4Pedro

[Eminor3rd]

18 hours ago, Lillian said:

Assuming Clevinger does not return, do you think that next year's rotation will be Cease, Kopech, Toussant, Eder and Nastrini, with Bush being the 6TH man?  Eder and Nastrini are currently ranked as the Sox' # 4 and 5 prospects, respectively and are projected to be in the Majors next year, so it would seem that they will likely join the rotation. No other Sox starters look ready to be promoted. Perhaps Davis Martin, once he fully recovers from his TJS.

I wonder where Grant Taylor will be ranked, once the new draft class is included. In any case he will probably not be projected to be in the Majors until 2025, at the earliest. 

I think they’ll sign at least one 4th starter for $10-15M, and then add one or two low cost flyers on veterans that used to be good. And then those prospects will compete with the vets in ST.