Ah, the American League Central, the division of Cobb and Carew, Thomas and Thome, Perez and Mauer. It’s home to celebrated histories, iconic arms—both behind and in front of the dish, steel mill cities, Midwestern crowds, and age-old marvels atop multi-million-dollar screens—from Rate Fields pinwheels, Kaufman Stadium’s crown, and Commerica’s ever-prowling cat.
But enough of names, faces, and places of years past. Let’s instead focus on the present. More specifically, let’s look at where the AL Central is headed, if it’s as boring as people proclaim it to be, and what we might expect from it as we barrel toward the 2025 season.
We know who the Cleveland Guardians are.
The Guardians are scrappy. They’re underrated, underappreciated, and under budget. Most of all, though, the Guardians are gamers who know how to win in the margins. They know who to take chances on, who to give a longer leash, when to cut bait, and how to develop. Their 92-69 and ALCS season wasn’t an aberration. It can’t be when they’ve made the playoffs five times in the last eight years and finished first or second in the Central seven times during that span. The Guardians are constants, like a fixture in a somehow still-standing diner from the 1950s.
Yet, something still feels missing. Something unshakable. And it’s this: Despite making the playoffs almost religiously, the Guardians haven’t made it to the World Series since 2016. Last season’s trip to the ALCS was as close as they’ve gotten, and we know how that ended, with the Yankees winning four of five. The Guardians are a good, rarely great team who’s always on the doorstep rather than inside the house. They’re runner-ups whose failure to win anything of consequence almost overshadows everything they do right.
But what about the 2025 Guardians? Who are they and what hope is there for them to transcend the franchise’s humble station?
The 2025 roster presents more of the same. There are no surprises here. There rarely ever will be. José Ramírez, Steven Kwan, Shane Bieber, Tanner Bibee, they’re all here. The ancillary pieces come and go, while the club’s heart is beating strong. And that’s a good thing. Ramirez will almost assuredly take another run at the AL MVP, Kwan refound his bat-to-ball skills while adding power, and the pitchers boast high ceilings even if Bieber’s health stands in the way. It’s a nice, relatively safe, dependable core. But, they, like the franchise aren’t enough. For the Guardians to do what they haven’t in 75 years, they need their secondary options to step up.
One name in particular needing an upgrade is Kyle Manzardo. Last season, Manzardo hit .235/.282/.421 with only five home runs, 12 doubles, 15 RBIs, and a .703 OPS in 53 games. He was, by all metrics, fine. Not good—far from great—but fine. Fine, however, won’t be good enough in 2025. Part of that stems from the fact that Manzardo will play more in 2025 than in 2024. Another part of it is many expect Manzardo to open the season as Cleveland’s designated hitter. So if he won’t be on the field, he better be putting up numbers in the batting box. Fine also won’t be good enough when Manzardo is replacing Josh Naylor.
Unlike others in Cleveland’s lineup, Naylor isn’t just another name or second fiddle. Naylor’s 2024 slash line might indicate otherwise, hitting .243/.320/.456. What that slash line misses, though, are Naylor’s 27 doubles, 31 home runs, 108 RBI, and 258 total bases. He was a machine. And yet, 2024 was a down season compared to Naylor’s 2023. That year, Naylor hit .308/.354/.489 with a .842 OPS and a 127 wRC+. He’d finish 22nd in AL MVP voting thanks to his effort.
That’s the type of shoes Manzardo has to fill in his first full MLB season. It’s no small feat. Luckily for Cleveland, Manzardo wears large loafers. While in the minors last season, Manzardo hit .267/.398/.548 with 20 homers, 20 doubles, 49 RBIs, and a .946 OPS in 83 games. That .943 OPS would’ve led the entire International League if Manzardo had enough at-bats to qualify. In other words, Manzardo can replace Naylor, we only need to see it happen. So far we have this spring. In 13 games, Manzardo’s hitting .412/.460/.735 with three home runs, seven RBIs, and a 1.195 OPS. He seems ready.
But even if he’s not, replacing Naylor won’t solely sit on Manzardo’s shoulders. The never-aging Carlos Santana is back in Cleveland to help shoulder the load, and if 2024 is any indication, he’s more than able. Together, they need to make up for Naylor in the aggregate for the Guardians to get back to where they were last season, let alone go further.
It’s not just Manzardo and Santana, though. Gabriel Arias, Bo Naylor, Brayan Rocchio, and Tyler Freeman each finished 2024 with a sub.700 OPS. Naylor and Rocchio collected a .614 OPS, which would’ve tied Maikel Garcia for the worst OPS in baseball among all qualified hitters. Arias was even worse at .608, and Freeman was slightly better than all three at .626. Numbers like that aren’t sustainable. Not when Naylor, Arias, and Rocchio expect to be everyday players for the club.
It’s also worth mentioning that Cleveland’s offense wasn’t ever elite. In 2024, the Guardians were 14th in runs, 17th in team OPS, and 17th in wRC+. And that’s with Naylor and Ramirez. Combined, the two accounted for 28% of the team’s runs scored and 28% of their total bases. Now, Naylor is gone while the weak links remain.
Cleveland’s pitching staff is the silver lining to all of this. Bibee leads the charge, followed by an out-of-nowhere Ben Lively, Gavin Williams, newcomer Luis Ortiz, and Triston McKenzie. It’s a strong staff, anchored by Bibee, balanced by Lively, and bolstered by Ortiz. The latter is coming off a career year with the Pirates, sporting a 3.32 ERA on the season and an even more impressive 3.22 ERA when starting. Cleveland hopes Ortiz can build on that and excel past it under its supervision.
Williams and McKenzie are question marks but come with caveats. Williams, for example, began the 2024 season with right elbow inflammation, an injury that sidelined him until June 30. It should come as no surprise that he struggled upon his return, carrying a 4.86 ERA in 16 starts. A healthy, normal offseason will hopefully steer Williams back toward his 2023 self.
The same goes for McKenzie, somewhat. The lanky lefty faced more injuries in 2023 than in 2024, but the effect carried over across seasons. By June 28, McKenzie touted a 5.11 ERA and a 6.46 FIP. That last number was the worst among all pitchers with at least 70 innings pitched. Cleveland optioned McKenzie to Triple-A two days later, and he’d spend the rest of the season with Columbus. The move didn’t shake McKenzie free, however. He’d continue to struggle, posting a 5.23 ERA and a 5.74 FIP with an almost impossible 1.631 WHIP. It was a shocking decline for a pitcher who rocked a 2.96 ERA in 31 starts just two seasons ago.
While a reclamation or two in the rotation would be nice, Cleveland can find comfort in knowing its bullpen remains elite. Emmanuel Clase, Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis, Tim Herrin, they’re all back. The only departures are Nick Sandlin, who headed to Toronto, and Eli Morgan. Otherwise, this is the same bullpen that led baseball in ERA, WHIP, FIP, and fWAR. It’s a gnarly unit and perhaps the only chord Cleveland knows will ring true.
Therein lies the catch with Cleveland. There’s every reason to believe in this organization. They defy expectations like it’s their job and do on a shoestring budget what teams with twice as much can’t. We should believe in their offense, bet on their starters, and trust their bullpen. Yet, to what end? Moreover, when do these potential problems become too obvious to paper over? It’s fine for this team to look like this on a Tuesday afternoon against the White Sox. But what about when they’re against the best the AL offers in October?
We know who the Cleveland Guardians are: They’re a good team with a capped ceiling. 2025 is just their latest chance to prove conventional wisdom.
What stands out about the Royals is not their star power—they have it in spades—but the total package. Having Bobby Witt Jr., Vinnie Pasquantino, and Salvador Perez makes for a wonderful top three. Witt Jr. is the do-it-all superstar from a film, Pasquantino is the big power-bat, and Perez continues to be an anchoring type of presence.
Past that, though, we run into issues. For instance, Hunter Renfroe, Kyle Isbel, and MJ Melendez project as the club’s three primary outfielders. That’s a problem. Renfroe is coming off a .689 OPS in 2024, Isbel a .654, and Melendez a .674. And it’s not as if these are youngsters working through growing pains, either. Renfroe is 33, Isbel 28, and Melendez 26. This is who they are.
Their personality isn’t all bad, admittedly. Renfroe has a honing missle attached to his arm, Isbel has rockets attached to his feet, and what Melendez lacks in contact, he makes up for in power. They all have worth. And if they were the worst part of a great lineup, they wouldn’t stand out as much as they do. But they’re not. The Royals lineup also features Maikel Garcia, who had the worst OPS among all qualified hitters in 2024, and Michael Massey, who still has a career .691 OPS despite breaking out last season. The only new face on the offense is Jonathan India, who, while good, hasn’t reached the heights of his award-winning 2021 rookie season.
Exacerbating things is the fact that Kansas City doesn’t have a lot of wiggle room. Nelson Velázquez, Dairon Blanco, and Nick Loftin comprise the team’s bench options, and only Blanco has a career OPS above .700. The situation isn’t much better down on the farm, where few position players seem ready to jump to the MLB this season, and even fewer offer what this team needs. One of the exceptions to the latter is 2024 first-rounder Jac Caglianone. The pitcher-hitter turned, well, just hitter is demonstrating his ceiling this spring, hitting .529/.636/1.235 with three home runs, seven RBIs, and an astounding 1.872 OPS. He seems every bit a prince. The only problem is that Caglianone’s only played 29 minor league games. He’s not ready for the Show yet.
Gavin Cross, a 2022 first-rounder, could be. He, unlike Caglianone, has three years under his belt in the minors and plays the outfield. Like Caglianone, Cross is also impressing this spring, touting a 1.056 OPS through nine games. If the Royals need a replacement for one of Renfroe, Isbel, or Melendez, Cross could be a fit. Yet, it’s fair to question if he’s decidedly better than the players he could replace. Cross has only one year with an OPS above .700, which was last season as a 23-year-old in Double-A.
In short, it’s an odd offense frontloading responsibility on its best while hoping its worst can do its part.
The same cannot be said for the Royals’ pitching staff. Between Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo, and Michael Wacha, it’s a nasty bunch. Even Michael Lorenzen brings the pain, sporting a 3.78 ERA across his last two seasons. Kris Bubic, the rotation’s fifth starter, is the only question mark, but he doesn’t lack skill, either. The southpaw returned to the bump in 2024 following Tommy John surgery in 2023 and looked excellent, recording a 2.67 ERA, 1.95 FIP, and 1.022 WHIP while touting a career-best 32.2 K%. The only problem? Bubic did so as a reliever instead of a starter.
Shifting Bubic back to the rotation makes sense for him and the team. That’s especially true considering their lack of alternatives past Daniel Lynch IV and Alec Marsh. Yet Bubic’s splits are damning. In 60 starts, he has a 4.99 ERA and a 4.92 FIP. Results like that have already surfaced this spring, with Bubic posting a 4.15 ERA through five appearances—four of those as a starter. So, while Bubic will open the season as a starter, don’t be shocked if the Royals move him back to the pen should he struggle.
If that happens, Bubic will join a group that needs his best. Last season, the Royals’ 4.13 bullpen ERA was 20th in baseball, and their 1.33 WHIP was 23rd. It was far from a strength, and the Royals haven’t done much to add muscle. Their only addition to the unit is closer Carlos Estévez. He’ll certainly help matters, but he alone can’t fix them. For that to happen, the Royals need bounce-back years from pitchers like Chris Stratton and Hunter Harvey. If Stratton and Harvey can iron out the kinks while John Schrieber, Angel Zerba, and Sam Long pitch as they have, it’ll work wonders for Kansas City’s plan.
That plan, by the way, doesn’t have to be perfect. Not yet. After spending six years in the cellar, the Royals are only now back to respectability. No one is asking or expecting them to win a World Series this season. This will take time, something that’s on their side. Witt Jr. is only 24 and can’t opt out of his contract until 2031. This isn’t the best team he’ll play with as a Royal. At least, it shouldn’t be. Above all else, the Royals need to prove they belong. That last season wasn’t some fluke. They have the stars to do it. It’s just a question of whether that’s all they have.
2024 was a year of many firsts for the Detroit Tigers—their first winning season since 2016, first playoff appearance since 2014, and first playoff win since 2013. The Tigers seemed to change their stripes and did so in shocking fashion, closing out the season 34-19 following the trade deadline.
Half a year later, the Tigers find themselves somewhere new. They have expectations, new faces, and aspirations, and more importantly, the Tigers have hope. This team and fanbase, who’ve only seen a factory of sadness almost daily for the last decade, finally have a team worthy of their passion. But past all the optimism and yesterday’s cheers is a question burning in the heart of the Motor City: Is this the start of something or a new, more painful letdown than the last?
Let’s start here: The Tigers have a good roster. Their starting lineup is well-rounded, their bench is diverse, their pitching staff is strong, and the bullpen that carried them down the stretch in 2024 is back. The only pieces missing from it last season are Mason Englert, Alex Faedo, Devin Sweet, Ryan Vilade, and Bryan Sammons. Those players accounted for -0.5 fWAR. In other words, that plucky Tigers team everyone fell for, the group that stunned the Houston Astros and was one win away from the ALCS? Yeah, they’re all back.
Even better, they’re not alone. Jack Flaherty, Gleyber Torres, Tommy Kahnle, Alex Cobb, John Brebbia, and Jose Urquidy joined the squad to shore up last year’s weaknesses. Flaherty adds a much-needed arm and a second fiddle to reigning Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, Torres slots in as an impact, experienced bat, and the rest will round things out where they can. Kahnle, Brebbia, and a brought-back on a minor league deal Andrew Chafin deepened a bullpen with the fourth-best ERA in the second half of last season, while Cobb will do the same for the rotation once he recovers from right hip inflammation.
All told, it’s a well-composed, coherently-organized Tigers team. It almost feels too good to be true. There’s some underlying weakness, right—something could be a thorn in their paw. Is there?
If one thing will stop the Tigers this year, it’s themselves. To be more specific, it’s their offense. While a nice mish-mash of talent, age, and ability, the truth is that the Tigers need everyone to be the best version of themselves to reach their ceiling. They need to keep posting numbers, and more than that, they need to stay healthy. It’s a no-duh statement, but it’s especially true for this team whose best players are often their most mercurial.
Few players on the Tigers embody half of that sentiment and sneakily mean half as much as Colt Keith.
Like many core pieces on this Tigers team, Keith is a homegrown talent—drafted, developed, and now donning the Major League colors. The Tigers viewed Keith differently from the rest of the pride and signed him last off-season to a six-year contract before even taking an MLB at-bat. Doing so more or less guaranteed Keith a spot on the 2024 Tigers and from there, it didn’t take long for him to become a fixture in the lineup.
While Keith became a familiar face, he didn’t immediately gain favor. Through the first three months of 2024, Keith hit just .232/.278/.317 with only four home runs, 24 RBIs, nine doubles, a 69 wRC+, and a .595 OPS. Despite the numbers, there were still flashes, a .343 average in May chief among them, but one good month didn’t outweigh the two between it. In short, Keith was up-and-down. His performance resembled the Tigers, who entered July 38-46 and eight games back of a wildcard spot—a far cry from where they’d hoped to be.
July was, without reservation, a put-up-or-shut-up month—one that determined what the front office would do come the deadline and how fans would remember the 2024 Tigers. It was now or never. Keith cast his vote in favor of the former. Over the final 75 games of the season, Keith hit .285/.338/.437 with nine home runs, 37 RBI, six doubles, a 121 wRC+, and a .775 OPS. He was leading the charge, and in turn, the Tigers followed, ushering in one of the better comebacks of the last decade.
The Tigers don’t hope to need another miracle this season. What they do need, however, is another season like that from Keith. Part of that stems from how dynamic he is at the dish. Another comes from the fact that Keith represents the dividing line in Detroit’s lineup.
The expectation from the Tigers is a lineup like this: Perez hitting leadoff, followed by Greene, Torres, Carpenter, and Keith. It’s a sturdy one through five, even if it involves a bigger bet on Perez than most teams would like. Past it, though, comes the question marks: Spencer Torkelson, Trey Sweeney, Jace Jung, and Jake Rogers. Sweeney has just 36 MLB games under his belt, Torkelson has a .693 career OPS, Jung a .665 OPS, and Rogers a .663 OPS. It’s concerning. And that’s why Keith is so important. He is the bridge. A good Keith solidifies the lineup and provides a stable one through five. A bad Keith, however, leaves the back half exposed. Vulnerable.
Keith has plenty on his plate, the least of which is a position change, with the Tigers moving him to first base from second. It’s a lot to shoulder. But the Tigers need him too and for their stars to do the same. Otherwise, 2025 could bring a new, though much-familiar, first for the Tigers fanbase after 2024’s success: Playoff-less baseball.
Murphy’s Law applied to the 2024 Minnesota Twins. Plantar fasciitis limited Carlos Correa to 86 games, a myriad of maladies shortened Byron Buxton’s season, as they did Royce Lewis’s season, and a shoulder injury shut down Joe Ryan just when Minnesota needed him most. Despite it all, the Twins entered September with something to believe in. They were 74-62 and just three-and-a-half games back of the Guardians for first place. All Minnesota had to do was tread water. They’d squeak into the playoffs as the sixth seed if they could. From there, anything was theoretically possible.
And that’s when Murphy’s Law came back into play. The Twins didn’t tread water in September as much as they fell to the bottom of one of their 10,000 lakes. The team went 9-18 in September, including series losses to teams like the 77-85 Cincinnati Reds, the 81-81 Boston Red Sox, and worst of all, the 62-100 Miami Marlins. The Baltimore Orioles put Minnesota out of its misery with a season-ending series sweep, and that was it. The Twins missed the playoffs by four games and greeted October with an 82-80 record. It was an inexcusable collapse.
So, pray tell, what have the Twins done in the winter to avoid such a fate in 2025? How have they torturously worked to better themselves? Well, they’ve signed Danny Coulombe, Harrison Bader, and Ty France and traded for Diego Cartaya and Mickey Gasper.
Keep in mind: That’s not the start of their additions. That’s the entire list.
On the one hand, it’s not entirely shocking. The Twins have never been big spenders. They’re far more comfortable in that middle-of-the-road, pay-when-we-can type of path. They pick and choose their spots more than they splurge. On the other hand, this feels like a new low. The Seattle Mariners, a team whose offseason Justin Turner called a “headscratcher,” spent more money this winter than the Twins. The Reds and Rays, two teams who’d rather tear themselves down than pay their stars, spent more than the Twins. Even the Nationals, who’ve finished fourth or fifth in the NL East every year since 2019, shelled out more money than the Twins.
It’s as stunning as it is sad. But it’s not without reason. Over the offseason, word came out that the Twins might be for sale, with The Athletic’s Dan Hayes reporting there was enough interest that a sale could come before Opening Day. While that hasn’t come to pass, it does explain things. Prospective buyers don’t want excess baggage, so it’s no surprise the Twins’ only additions came on one-year contracts. It makes sense. What it speaks to more, however, is Twins ownership caring more about the money they could get for the team than what they could build.
That is perhaps the most frustrating thing about all of this. The Twins aren’t a bad team. They were one competent September away from October baseball.
Thankfully, the pieces that had them so close are still here. A healthy Correa, Buxton, and Lewis could be box office. Each has All-Star-type ceilings, and Lewis might trend beyond that based on the first month of his 2024. Jose Miranda is a fine complementary piece to go with the trio; Edouard Julien could rebound and become another. Brooks Lee, a former top prospect, could also help elevate this offense to where it needs to be. There’s enough here to justify some level of excitement. The same goes for the pitching staff. Pablo López’s career indicates 2024 is an outlier, Joe Ryan is coming off the best season of his career. The bullpen, too, has its studs in Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, and Cole Sands.
Their farm system could even band-aid their lack of free-agent spending. Walker Jenkins is the third-best prospect per MLB.com, Emmanuel Rodriguez is 37th, and Luke Keaschall is 60th. Each is in their 20s, is roughly on track in their development, and could reach the Majors this season if called upon. Couple the three of them with Minnesota’s sure-handed approach to developing prospects, and there’s a possibility their internal options could bridge what they didn’t bring externally. Even without them, this Twins team can compete in a weak AL. There’s no question about that.
The question, though, is whether or not the Twins can change. It’s whether or not Correa, Buxton, and Lewis can stay on the field—something we already know the answer to with Lewis exiting a spring training game with a hamstring injury—it’s whether or not a bad bullpen a year ago can be better when Coulombe is their only addition, and whether or not a rotation whose back-third consists of Bailey Ober, Simeon Woods Richardson, and Chris Paddack is worth taking seriously. There is so much the Twins have to answer, yet so little margin for error.
Murphy’s Law isn’t some mystical curse cast upon someone or something. It’s sometimes, as is the case of the Twins, a result of mismanagement and human failure. Whether or not that’s changed is the biggest question of them all.
The good news—if there is any after a historically awful season—for the Chicago White Sox is this: It can’t get much worse, right?
For some teams in this situation, that’s an oxymoron. They heed lessons from yesteryear, add enough to change the equation, and come into the next campaign with hearts and minds recentered. The problem is that the White Sox aren’t just some team. They’ve never learned anything from past mistakes—instead, they often choose to repeat them. Nor do they ever add significant pieces to try and fix things. For example, Chicago’s biggest additions this offseason were Martín Pérez and Josh Rojas. Perez signed for one year and five million, while Rojas for one year and three-and-a-half million. All told, the White Sox spent $13.5 million in free agency this winter, a number impossibly higher than seven other franchises.
As a result of the two, hearts and minds aren’t recentered in Chicago. Instead, no one seems to care. And frankly, why should they? Owner Jerry Reinsdorf has never cared about this team half as much as their fans have, and he’s never tried to convince them otherwise. Even when the White Sox won the 2005 World Series, they were 13th in payroll. Since then, they’ve either hovered at or been well below that number and success hasn’t followed outside of a few seasons to the surprise of no one.
All the White Sox do is tear a team down, build it back up, open a short window, and then slam it down on themselves before throwing out everything good. Chris Sale? Gone before the team could make the playoffs? José Abreu? Thank you for your service. Enjoy our 637-718 record while you’re with us. In exchange for Frank Thomas’s 16 years of service to the South Side and contributions toward their 2005 World Series win, he was released that offseason without even a call goodbye.
The White Sox are not a serious franchise. Not now, perhaps not ever with Reinsdorf at the helm. They’ll take the field, nonetheless, and fans will come. Fans who are passionate, loyal, and want to win—attributes they shamefully don’t share with the team’s owner. That said, if there’s anything to watch the White Sox for in 2025, it’s their youngsters, both in the Majors and the minors, with Miguel Vargas and Colson Montgomery as the headliners.
Vargas, who came to the White Sox in the deal that sent Michael Kopech to the Dodgers, is perhaps the biggest name to watch. Throughout his time in the Dodgers system, Vargas was a monster, hitting /308/.396/.493 with a .889 OPS across six seasons. He hit .290/.440/.566, most recently with eight home runs, 38 RBIs, 14 doubles, and a 1.005 OPS in 41 games at Triple-A. Vargas’s OPS would’ve led all hitters in Triple-A’s Pacific Coast League had he qualified. That’s how good he’s been.
Unfortunately, that talent has yet to translate to the Majors. Through 171 MLB games—a full season’s worth—Vargas is hitting .175/.273/.312 with a .586 OPS, a 65 wRC+, and -1.4 fWAR. Among 420 hitters with 500 plate appearances since 2022, Vargas ranks 408th in OPS and 418th in batting average. Vargas started making strides with the Dodgers last season but regressed to his usual performance with the White Sox. In his 42 games in the black-and-white, Vargas hit .104/.217/.170 with a .387 OPS.
While it’s easy to blame Vargas, the 2024 White Sox wasn’t a nurturing environment. Their coaches knew they’d be canned, and his teammates lacked a certain je ne sais quoi, let’s call it. That unnamed magic probably won’t surface in 2025, but Vargas might find offensive support in Montgomery.
Unlike Vargas, Montgomery’s yet to prove he can’t hack it in the Bigs. Like Vargas, he’s shown an aptitude in the minors. In 2022, Montgomery’s first full season in the pros, he hit .274/.381/.429 with an .810 OPS. By the end of the season, he was in Double-A, with plans to at least start there in 2023. Thanks to a pair of injuries, that plan didn’t come to fruition until later in the season. Once it did, Montgomery settled in nicely, hitting .244/.400/.328 with four home runs, eight doubles, 21 RBIs, and a .828 OPS. His numbers vaulted him to Triple-A and the top 15 of almost every prospect list entering 2024—MLB.com viewed Montgomery the highest, ranking him ninth.
2024, however, was a missed opportunity. In 130 games that season, Montgomery hit .214/.329/.381 with 18 homers, 21 doubles, 63 RBI, and a .710 OPS. That OPS ranked 70th out of 85 qualified hitters in the International League, as did his 87 wRC+. The only reason the White Sox added Montgomery to their 40-man that season was to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft. That’s it. On the bright side, Montgomery took to the Arizona Fall League well. He’d hit .313 in his 11 games and boast a 1.167 OPS. Before Montgomery could build on those numbers further, the White Sox pulled the plug on his time in Arizona and capped his season there.
If his spring training numbers are any indication, Montgomery might’ve benefited from some more time in Arizona. Montgomery hit .111/.111/.444 in four games with a .556 OPS. He was, rather unsurprisingly, optioned to Triple-A last week and will open the season there.
While Vargas and Montgomery are the standouts, the White Sox have several other top talents worth monitoring. They include catcher Kyle Teel and outfielder Braden Montgomery—both of whom came to Chicago for Garrett Crochet—pitcher Noah Schultz, who arrived from San Diego for Dylan Cease, pitcher Hagen Smith, and another catcher, Edgar Quero. If that feels like lots of names, that’s because it is. The White Sox, for all their faults, have Baseball America’s fourth-best farm system and The Athletic’s 12th-best.
Overall, Chicago has a nice mix of young talent. If they play their cards right, they could be back competing for the AL Central in a few years. The problem is that the Central is no longer what it used to be. Being good isn’t enough in a division with a consistent club like Cleveland and risers like Kansas City and Detroit. Chicago has to be better. To do that, they must be who they’ve rarely been this century: A competent organization.