GLENDALE, Ariz — There are many more question marks than absolutes concerning the the White Sox pitching staff heading into the 2019 season.
Will a healthy Carlos Rodon, a second offseason removed from surgery, sustain his dominant stuff from start to finish and perform like the No. 3 overall draft pick he was projected to be?
Will Reynaldo Lopez put down stakes as a No. 3 caliber starter or fall back after a promising first full season?
Will Lucas Giolito, the former first-round draft pick with the 6.13 ERA and American League leading 90 walks and 118 earned runs allowed, figure out how to throw strikes consistently or fade away?
Who among the young cadre of bullpen arms behind the proven trio of Alex Colome, Kelvin Herrera and Nate Jones will carve a niche as important components for 2020?
Pitchers and catchers have their first official workout Wednesday at Camelback Ranch.
Starting rotation
It shapes up as Rodon, the leading candidate to start the season opener, followed by Reynaldo Lopez, Ivan Nova, Giolito and lefty Manny Banuelos. If that doesn’t look much better than the unit from last season’s 100-loss team, it’s because Nova, while potentially an upgrade, replaces the 2018 Opening Day starter (James Shields) who led the team in starts (33) and innings (204).
Nova, 32, posted a 4.19 ERA over 161 innings and will cost $9.1 million for one year. Banuelos is a 27-year-old former top prospect who spent all of 2018 with the Dodgers’ AAA club. If Banuelos doesn’t cut it, there’s always Dylan Covey. And Dylan Cease isn’t terribly far away.
Rodon and Lopez were both excellent for extended stretches, but Rodon faded in September.
Closing time
Colome and Herrera have both closed, but the Sox are talking more about Colome, who cost the Sox a good-hitting catcher in Omar Narvaez in a trade with the Mariners, as the ninth-inning choice. Colome recorded 37 and 46 saves for the Rays in 2016 and ‘17. The setup man for Mariners whiz Edwin Diaz in 2018, he owns a 2.78 ERA and strikeout/walk rates of 9.5 and 2.8 over nine innings over his last three seasons.
Herrera, signed as a free agent for two years at $18 million, might not be ready Opening Day as he recovers from a torn Lisfranc ligament in his left foot suffered in late August. But he is a proven commodity who, with Jones, figures to work primarily late-inning right-handed setup men.
“We acquired two quality, real good-looking pitchers,’’ pitching coach Don Cooper said. “If they’re throwing the same way they were when we saw them, we’ve taken care of two innings and we’re making the game shorter.’’
The addition of Colome and Herrera gave manager Rick Renteria cause to claim an 80-win season is within reach.
The young’ns
What is sorted out as the season unfolds from righties Ian Hamilton, Ryan Burr and Juan Minaya and lefties Jace Fry, Caleb Frare and Aaron Bummer will say much about the Sox’ competitiveness in 2019 and their future beyond. Fry looks like a keeper — he should be the top lefty in the pen — while the others have shown enough in flashes to have something to build on.
Waiting in the wings
Cease, the minor league pitcher of the year, won’t make the team out of spring training but appears to be a sure bet to join it this season, perhaps in August. Cease and Michael Kopech (out for 2019 after Tommy John surgery) bring high hopes for 2020 as top-of-the-rotation talents. Right-hander Dane Dunning, acquired with Lopez and Giolito in the Adam Eaton trade, is another rotation piece of the future who get a call-up. And Zack Burdi, a 2016 first-rounder due back from Tommy John surgery, will be watched closely.
