The White Sox are playing great baseball right now and have won 4 in a row heading into their series finale with Detroit this afternoon. The offense has been clicking and the bullpen has been nothing short of spectacular all year.
But if the team really wants to show they're serious about winning, they will need more than Lucas Giolito and Dallas Keuchel. Dylan Cease has been much better this year, but his high FIP of 6.14 is still reason enough to worry. He's also only striking out 15.4% of batters this year, down from 24.9% last year.
Then you have Reynaldo Lopez and Carlos Rodon. Both are inconsistent and have already suffered injuries this year. Gio Gonzalez is more of a swing man than a starter these days too. Finally, they have Dane Dunning, who looked awesome last night in his MLB debut, but lacks the experience you would want, and is still building up his arm strength.
Luckily there are 2 teams out there who are struggling that both have top-of-the-rotation arms. Either one would be a perfect fit for the White Sox, who are rumored to be looking for pitching already.
Which leads us to our first potential target...
Lance Lynn
Lynn is a veteran right-handed pitcher for the Texas Rangers, who are currently 10-13 and are outside of the playoff picture looking in. He is currently enjoying a Cy Young caliber season so far with a 1.37 ERA, 3.25 FIP, and a 42-12 K/BB ratio. Lynn has only had 1 year where his ERA was over 4 (2018). He is a workhorse who knows how to pitch, and he is under control through 2021, so he wouldn't be just a rental. If the Sox can put an attractive package together for Texas, Lynn would help stabilize the rotation immensely.
The 2nd option the Sox could look into is...
Dylan Bundy
The Angels are off to their worst 25-game start in franchise history at 8-17. When you have arguably the best player of all time in Mike Trout, along with Anthony Rendon and Shohei Ohtani, that's not good. Dylan Bundy has also become a freak. After being the definition of mediocre with Baltimore, Bundy has become one of the best pitchers in baseball in Los Angeles. He supports a 2.48 ERA, 3.33 FIP, and a 38/7 K/BB ratio. Like Lynn, he'll be sure to be in the Cy Young conversation. Also like Lynn, he wouldn't be a rental. In fact, Bundy is under control through the 2022 season, so he could be even more expensive in a trade.
In a 5-game playoff series, I'd feel extremely confident going with Giolito-Keuchel-Lynn/Bundy.
As far as what I'd give up, it's tricky. There will always be a chance of a big COVID oubreak cancelling the remainder of the season, so teams may be skeptical to give up too much. But with cost controlled pitchers like Lynn and Bundy, teams may not have a choice. Robert is obviously untouchable and I'd imagine the same goes for Andrew Vaughn. But don't be surprised if any other prospect is available for the right player. I think the deadline will either be complete chaos or unnaturally quiet.
With the trade deadline looming (August 31st, 4pm EST), time is short to make a deal. Soon we'll see just how far Rick Hahn is willing to go.
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