2020 vision: White Sox getting closer to playing meaningful baseball
Since the rebuild began nearly two years ago, I've been riding the 2020 train as the season the White Sox emerge as a contending team
Michael Kopech's arrival this August - and the 22-year-old starting pitcher's instant impact - made me rethink that timeline.
"Since I've been here, we've been a winning team," Kopech said two weeks after joining the Sox from Class AAA Charlotte.
He was right, the White Sox were 7-4 after Kopech joined the roster. And the thought of adding Eloy Jimenez to the roster early next year and mixing more promising prospects in throughout the season definitely opened the door to the White Sox contending in 2019.
Injuries are always an X-factor, and the Sox were staggered by the news Kopech needed Tommy John surgery after he struggled in a Sept. 5 start against the Tigers. The right-hander is out until 2020 after having the reconstructive elbow surgery on Sept. 19.
"He was doing great," rotation mate Reynaldo Lopez said. "It was tough news."
Real tough.
So we're back to 2020 as the year the White Sox make a playoff push, even though having Jimenez in the lineup for most of next season should make the South Siders more competitive.
Why 2020?
Kopech returns, and so does the 98-100 mph fastball. Jimenez will have close to a full season under his belt. Dylan Cease should be in the rotation and Zack Collins should be ready to catch (and hit).
The 2020 season is also the target time for a huge wave of more White Sox prospects.
"We've got a lot of guys with high ceilings," Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. "Some guys who are starting to push into Double-A and are obviously a hop skip and a jump from the big leagues. How exactly it's going to line up on the next White Sox championship club is still to be determined. That's a good problem to have.
"At some point, I've mentioned we will not only have to make choices about who is going to be a White Sox but also who are the trade assets within that group and deal from a position of strength to a position of needs."
When Kopech is ready to get back on the mound in 2020, starting pitching could be a strength with Carlos Rodon, Reynaldo Lopez, Cease, Dane Dunning, Lucas Giolito and Alec Hansen likely in the mix.
And don't forget the Sox are positioned to have the No. 3 overall draft pick next year. The early guess here is they take a pitcher.
Outfield looks like another position of strength on the future radar.
Jimenez has superstar written all over him, and Baseball America rated Class A Winston-Salem's Luis Robert and Micker Adolfo as two of the Top 10 prospects in The Carolina League this season.
Add in Blake Rutherford, Luis Alexander Basabe, Steele Walker and Luis Gonzalez and you can see the White Sox are stacked with outfielders that should all be major-league ready at some point in 2020.
The bad news? The Sox are more likely than not to have a losing record for the seventh straight season.
The good news? Starting in 2020, they should be set to embark on a sustained run of success.
"The way things are going, the fans definitely should see something good that's going to happen," shortstop Tim Anderson said. "With some of the pitching that we have and some of the hitters we have down there (minor leagues), I say expectations definitely are going to rise. But at the end of the day we're all human and no one knows what's going to happen. We'll see."
Looking ahead
Scot Gregor projects the White Sox's 2020 batting order and starting rotation
<h3 class="breakHead">Lineup</h3>
Nick Madrigal, 2B
Yoan Moncada, 3B
Jose Abreu, 1B
Eloy Jimenez, LF
Micker Adolfo/Daniel Palka, DH
Tim Anderson, SS
Zack Collins, C
Blake Rutherford, RF
Luis Robert, CF
<h3 class="breakHead">Rotation</h3>
Reynaldo Lopez, RHP
Carlos Rodon, LHP
Michael Kopech, RHP
Dylan Cease, RHP
Dane Dunning, RHP