In shipping out Lance Lynn, Kendall Graveman, Joe Kelly, Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López, the White Sox carved up their pitching staff, and unseated much of their existing clubhouse leadership structure.
“It’s going to be a real interesting clubhouse over the next couple months, in a good way,” said general manager Rick Hahn. “There’s going to be the room for some of these young guys to grow and blossom and take some of the leadership reins.”
When Lynn, Graveman and Kelly were acquired, their experience was cited by the Sox front office as crucial to guiding a young team to contention. With the Sox (42-63) still 21 games under .500 after a 3-0 win over the Guardians Friday night, the new leadership vacuum is billed as an opportunity.
“We have players in there with characteristics of becoming really good leaders that have to take the next step, and we have to facilitate those guys in that regard,” said manager Pedro Grifol. “You’ve got to develop leaders in the clubhouse. People have got to step up now and lead.”
In addition to asking him ahead of time for his opinion on new trade acquisition (and his old college teammate) Korey Lee, Hahn tabbed third-year first baseman Andrew Vaughn as a potential team leader going forward. Vaughn was out of the lineup Friday with a bruised left foot that has hampered him amid a difficult July (.196/.211/.214), but is one of a handful of Sox regulars that doesn’t need to sweat out the next few days before Tuesday’s trade deadline.
Other candidates, Grifol hopes, will emerge during the team’s final 57 games of the 2023 season. The Sox manager and departing veterans both described the rest of the season as a potential proving ground.
“There’s still a lot of talent in that locker room,” said Lynn. “Maybe doing some things here will kind of let guys kind of fall into places where they can become the players [they can be], or the steps to become great players.”
“A lot of us see it that way and you can already tell who wants to be in that leadership spot,” said Jake Burger, who swatted his 25th home run Friday. “Aside from leadership, it’s just building a really good culture and going from there.”
A new closer
With Graveman departed and Liam Hendriks sidelined, rookie reliever Gregory Santos got his second save of the season Friday night, striking out a pair in a scoreless ninth.
Of what save chances the stripped-down Sox can create, Santos is likely to receive a good portion.
“He’s got the makings of it, the characteristics of being a good closer,” said Grifol. “Those guys are born with characteristics you can teach and mold and give them the experience and then you find out what they’re about.”
The next Cuban mainstay?
Before making his organizational debut with Double-A Birmingham Friday, newly acquired Sox catching prospect Edgar Quero showed familiarity with the line of Cuban players he’s following with his new team.
“I know [Yoán] Moncada, [Luis Robert Jr.], [José] Abreu before, [Oscar] Colàs now, so I know that this team loves the Latin guys, the Latin players and the Cuban players especially and I feel grateful for that,” Quero said.
Sox catching coordinator Julio Mosquera was a regular presence with the big league team during the first half, but the roving instructor is expected to work extensively with Quero going forward.