GLENDALE, Ariz. — Lance Lynn didn’t like pitching in front of a shaky defensive team. The All-Star right-hander’s body language spoke volumes when plays weren’t made behind him.
The White Sox’ fielding woes were notorious last season: errors, double plays not being turned, fly balls dropping at outfielder’s feet or tailing in the gap to the wall, wild pitches that could have been blocked. You name it, the Sox found ways to make their pitchers get four outs and raise pitch counts in way too many innings.
A pitchers’ unwritten rule is not to suggest better defense would have helped, so it is seldom voiced publicly. But the defensive shortcomings were obvious, even to pitchers from other teams contemplating signing with the Sox for this upcoming season.
“There was hesitancy to come to the White Sox because of the defense,” general manager Chris Getz said Monday, two days before the start of spring training. “So that led me to really be proactive in improving that.”
To that end, while the Sox rebuild, retool, reshape, reestablish — chose your ‘re-’ word for a club coming off 101 losses and cutting payroll — Getz made sure he’s putting competent gloves around a pitching staff that is full of question marks and, frankly, is the biggest reason why projections are so poor.
The Sox might not be good, but as a starting point for Getz’s vision, they’re going to play a cleaner, more watchable brand of ball. He says they will, anyway.
“I want it to be an attractive place for pitchers to want to pitch here,” Getz said.
Paul DeJong at shortstop, Nicky Lopez at second base, Dominic Fletcher in right field and Martin Maldonado and Max Stassi at catcher figure to clean things up, especially up the middle in front of the team’s only star, center fielder Luis Robert.
“Fundamentally, players up the middle on a team are vital,” Getz said. “I look for players that have high baseball IQ, can direct traffic in the middle of the diamond. On the catching position, they build a solid rapport with our pitching staff and they educate our pitchers and they can make adjustments within a game, postgame, pregame. We’ve got a lot of pitchers that are still developing in their careers or once again have something to prove.
“But bare minimum, we’re going to catch the baseball, they’re going to be in the right position and make sound decisions. So that in itself I think is going to position us much better.”
One pitcher who doesn’t rely on defense quite as much, strikeout artist Dylan Cease, has been on the trade block all winter. But Getz said he expects Cease to be the Sox’ Opening Day starter, meaning his attention turns to dealing Cease before the July 31 trade deadline.
“He’s had an awesome offseason,” Getz said. “I’ve been in contact with him regularly and I know his name has been out there publicly with potential trades and unsurprisingly it hasn’t affected him.”
— While it seems unlikely because of his limited workloads to date and his injury history, Getz wouldn’t rule out lefty Garrett Crochet starting the season in the rotation, which is what he has prepared for in the offseason. A gradual, guarded innings buildup seems most likely.
“It will be one inning and two innings and three innings, and we’ll kind of go from there,” Getz said.
— The Sox should open camp “in a pretty good place from a health standpoint,” Getz said. “Obviously as things pick up, you start challenging the body a little bit, I anticipate some changes to that. But as it stands today, we’re in a very healthy position.”
— The goal for Michael Kopech (5-12, 5.43 ERA last season) “is for him to be a starter,” Getz said.
“He’s very comfortable doing that. The beauty of Michael is that he’s got the ability to pitch in multiple roles. Not everyone has that floor, so to speak. But right now, he’s had a very smooth offseason, smoother than he’s had in the past.”
— Getz said top shortstop prospect Colson Montgomery’s arrow is pointing high, and while a midseason debut seems most likely, “all possibilities are on the table. It’s unhealthy to cap any player.”
