1. Jose Abreu & Nate Jones: These are the two players I was referring to above as trade chips. Rick Hahn & Co. were so effective at cashing in major leaguers for future pieces that they scorched all the way down to shuffling Dan Jennings and World Series Champion Tyler Clippard off the roster. One imagines Jones might have fetched a significant return if he had been healthy, and it seems unlikely that he would be dealt over the winter before he could demonstrate he is healthy again.

Abreu is even harder to evaluate. Not in terms of who he is on the field (or off it, for that matter) as his superlative 2017 corrected data points which had previously been trending downward, and he grabbed hold of the role of clubhouse leader with both hands and a big smile as all other veterans were purged. Abreu is under team control through 2019, which may mean he is around for the first good White Sox season in almost a decade, and departing as the window truly opens in earnest. Maybe he sticks around and is dealt at the deadline in 2019 if they’re not in it. Maybe he and the organization agree to buy out his arb years and tack on a few more. As it stands now, anyway, my sense is that the White Sox would have to be absolutely blown away to part with him this winter, as he means more than just the excellent offense he provides. It also strikes me as unusual that someone would want to “overpay” in talent for Abreu when there are good corner bats on the market for only money.

2. The “Jon Lester” Deal: This is a label that I have given this kind of signing, and I’ve mentioned it on a few podcasts and articles. The Cubs signed Lester to a huge deal before it was necessarily clear that the new crop of talent was ready to contend for the playoffs. Obviously that 2015 team did contend, but even if they hadn’t, the organization identified Lester as someone they wanted to have around through the next competitive window, and he would be a free agent before 2015 and not after.

Another thing to consider here, however, is that as a class, most free agents are reaching the market either in the middle of their peak or, as is often the case, on their downside away from it. Most free agent contracts are intended to provide most of their value up front, with the back end of the contract being less pleasant. In that sense, it may not be very helpful to line what should be the best year of a contract up with a season where you’re not trying to contend yet. Still, it’s worth remembering that it is nearly impossible to graduate a whole playoff team at once, and the free agent market may not always have what you want when you want it.

Still another general principle influencing the process here is that one of the biggest benefits of being a team that “plans” on losing a lot is having a surplus of playing time to distribute among players who may or may not be good for the purposes of evaluation. Sure, the Astros got Correa as a direct result of being the worst team in the league in a given year, but they also still have Marwin Gonzalez and Dallas Keuchel because who else was going to get those at bats and those innings on those teams? And hey, they turned out to be crazy valuable. Signing mid-level free agents in a rebuilding year may only serve to block an audition for a player who turns out to be much better than you anticipated.

There may not be a Lester-esque fit in this class. But, it might make sense to scoop up Lorenzo Cain if it looks like he’s going to sign for less than he should. He’s older than one might think, but as a plus defender with good on-base skills, Cain may age more gracefully than some.

3. Buying A Potential Mirage: In the 2015 playoffs, Daniel Murphy morphed from a slightly above average hitter with a below average glove to a juggernaut and then hit free agency. Clearly, given that he was only able to command a 3-year, $37.5 million contract, teams didn’t buy that those playoffs were for real. Turns out it was! Murphy has gone on to slaughter baseballs for the next two seasons and the Nationals found an absolute steal.

Logan Morrison and Yonder Alonso, 30 and 31 years old respectively, are both free agents coming off of very good years at the plate after drowning a good amount of prospect shine with thousands of plate appearances of mediocrity. If pressed, I would certainly predict them both to fall back toward their previous performance levels. But at a certain point, if the price tag is low enough, the risk that they do may be offset by the possibility that 2017 represents their new normal and you wind up with a good bat on the cheap.

This is only scratching the surface of the possibilities out there, but we hope you join us for another White Sox offseason, and thank you for spending the 2017 season here at BP South Side.

Lead Photo Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports

1. Matt Albers is not in the midst of his best stretch, but had started the top of the 11th trying to hold a 4-4 tie, by winning a difficult war against Jose Altuve, and got to 0-2 on George Springer, before splitting the plate and getting taken back up the middle for a single. Even with that setback, Albers got niche preseason MVP pick Carlos Correa to go down on strikes, but saw Springer advance into scoring position when he stole second on the swing, and the Sox arguments that Springer interfered with Alex Avila‘s throw fell on deaf ears. That type of bad break lends a sense of doom to an inning, but one that did not really take hold until Albers was once again 0-2, this time to Evan Gattis, before splitting the plate again and allowing the decisive two-run bomb to left. Albers has now given up runs in his last three times out.

2. Somehow on a night they scored five runs in a game started by the reigning AL Cy Young, the White Sox defined their evening with missed scoring opportunities. A furious 11th inning rally capped by an RBI double into the right-center gap by Adam Eaton put the tying run on second, but with Dioner Navarro already spent, the Sox were stuck with an awful matchup with Avila facing three-quarter lefty Tony Sipp, who struck him out with a full count slider to end it.

That came after the White Sox tied it in the ninth, when Austin Jackson led off with a hustle double to right-center and scored on an Eaton sacrifice fly, but Carlos Sanchez was stranded at third when an over-aggressive Jose Abreu couldn’t lay off outside sliders from Luke Gregerson and grounded out weakly.

Abreu also ended the seventh whiffing at a Ken Giles slider, capping a blown opportunity to jump out ahead after Dallas Keuchel walked the bases loaded in his final inning of work. After Keuchel walked the first two hitters of the inning on eight pitches, Robin Ventura had Tyler Saladino bunt–ineffectively–only for Keuchel to continue to show he had no concept of the strike zone and load the bases after Saladino’s sacrifice only got Jackson gunned down at third. At that point Giles swooped in just in time to whiff Jimmy Rollins and Abreu to extinguish the threat.

3. Despite getting perfect game’d for 11 outs, the White Sox rallied against Keuchel, with Abreu breaking up the no-no by launching his sixth home run of the season out to dead center in the fourth. Navarro and Saladino launched back-to-back two-out doubles in the fifth to tie the game at 2-2, and Eaton gave the Sox their only lead of the night when he sprayed an RBI single to right to cap the two-out rally. Sanchez, who entered the game as a pinch-runner in the seventh, contributed the only other multi-hit game.

His entry into the game had a sour note, however, as his pinch-running for Navarro went unused when both Rollins and Abreu struck out in the seventh. Sanchez also forced Avila into the game, who could not be rescued from the game-ending matchup with Sipp in the 11th, unless Ventura wanted to be extremely reckless with an under-the-weather Todd Frazier, who did not play due to illness

4. A Carlos Rodon start was certainly had Tuesday night. Committed to unleashing more velocity to work his way out of his funk, Rodon touched high-90s with regularity, struck out seven while flashing some of his best sliders, and somehow managed to limit himself to just one walk on the night (an intentional one) despite throwing less than 60 percent of his pitches for strikes. Given how much Rodon relies on hitters chasing his insane slider, he lived out of the zone even more than that figure implies.

Despite avoiding those typical pratfalls, Rodon had to settle for the least satisfying quality start with three earned over six innings, due to two wall-scraping solo shots to left from Tyler White; the first on a center-cut 96 mph fastball, the second on an outside changeup that White still managed to pull just enough to tie the game up at 3-3. At least Rodon left the game cursing to himself rather than shaking his head in defeat.

White would go on to add a leadoff double in the eighth that would lead to the Astros taking a 4-3 lead when his pinch-runner came around to score.

5. Nate Jones got the first two outs of the seventh, but the second one hurt quite a bit. He took a liner off the bat of Correa on a comebacker to the mound and left the game with a bruised left foot. His X-Rays were reportedly negative and he is said to be day-to-day. They can not easily cover his absence.

Team Record: 24-15

Next game is Wednesday at 7:10pm CT vs. Houston on CSN

Lead Image Credit: David Banks // USA Today Sports Images

The White Sox starting rotation after Chris Sale and Jose Quintana hasn’t been doing a great deal to instill much confidence of late. Carlos Rodon has looked lost, and is not looking to be in a hurry to step into the front-end starter ceiling that many expect him to attain. Control is the root of his issues; he hasn’t pitched game without issuing a walk since July of last season. In his most recent start, an odd one in Texas that saw him wait out a long rain delay to ultimately pitch into the seventh inning, he only allowed two walks but he also gave up 12 hits. It led to a situation in which the bullpen lost its aura of invincibility, but the starter giving up six runs in a start is not typically a recipe for victory, regardless of your bullpen strength.

Dallas Keuchel emerged in 2015 in a way that enabled the Astros to power  into the playoffs as a Wild Card team. Understandably, they expected the heavily bearded ace to lead them back to the postseason again in 2016, and for years to come. It’ll be, well, years before we can judge the ‘years to come’ part, but thus far in this season, Keuchel is not doing much leading. His ERA has more than doubled, his 2015 strikeout rate has dropped off from 23.7 percent to an even 19 percent, and that difference has been placed almost entirely into his walk rate – he’s walking 10 percent of batters faced, not nearly as effective as the 5.6 percent he managed in his Cy Young campaign. To sum up: he’s not been good. Neither have the Astros. Only the Minnesota Twins have a worse record than Houston in the American League.

A day off for Todd Frazier requires a tweak to the lineup. Assuming the role of the team’s clean up hitter is the recently successful Avisail Garcia. Carlos Gomez was placed on the disabled today, so the Astros will be without–or liberated from–his services for the series.

White Sox Lineup:

1. Adam Eaton – RF
2. Jimmy Rollins – SS
3. Jose Abreu – 1B
4. Avisail Garcia – DH
5. Melky Cabrera – LF
6. Brett Lawrie – 2B
7. Austin Jackson – CF
8. Dioner Navarro – C
9. Tyler Saladino – 3B

Astros Lineup:

1. Jose Altuve – 2B
2. George Springer – RF
3. Carlos Correa – SS
4. Evan Gattis – DH
5. Colby Rasmus – LF
6. Marwin Gonzalez – 3B
7. Tyler White – 1B
8. Jason Castro – C
9. Jake Marisnick – CF

Lead Photo Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn – USA Today Sports Images