How active will the Chicago White Sox be at the trade deadline? 3 questions facing the team in the 2nd half.
· Yahoo Sports
TORONTO — Chicago White Sox manager Will Venable enjoyed the time away during the All-Star break.
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“But I was thinking about today, and just the excitement to be back playing games today, because these guys work so hard and play so hard and give you something entertaining every day in the game,” Venable said before Friday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. “Just excited to be back and watching them play.”
The Sox entered Friday sharing a piece of first place in the American League Central with the Cleveland Guardians. It’s the 13th time in franchise history the Sox started the “second half” in first place and the first time since they held an eight-game division lead in 2021.
This year’s team created plenty of buzz throughout the first 95 games, from the home run trio of Munetaka Murakami, Miguel Vargas and Colson Montgomery to the steady play of the likes of outfielders Sam Antonacci and Tristan Peters.
And the players are looking forward to resuming action.
“We’re all excited for the second half,” the All-Star third baseman Vargas told the Tribune on Friday. “We’ve got goals set and we want to reach them.”
Here are three postbreak questions facing the Sox.
1. What are some keys to carrying over the momentum following the break?Leading up to the All-Star break, the Sox emphasized remaining focused on the now. The team bounced back from being swept by the Boston Red Sox by sweeping the Athletics.
The message beginning the second half, Venable said, is “just reminders about the things they’ve committed to and have created a standard around. I think that’s really important.”
Venable knows distractions are always around the corner.
“The distraction of the All-Star break was what we had to deal with then,” he said. “And now, guarantee it’s going to be trade-deadline stuff, and everyone talking about what we should do or where we’re at when really all we need to do is do everything we can to win today. That’s all that’s important.
“Those distractions will always be there, but we’ll just find ways to keep the guys focused on the task at hand.”
2. How active will the Sox be at the trade deadline?Speaking of making deals, the Aug. 3 trade deadline is approaching. And for the first time in several years, the Sox could be a buyer.
“We feel really good about where we’re at, and candidly it’s one series at a time,” general manager Chris Getz said last week. “We’ll prepare for all different scenarios and we’re going to look for opportunities to help this future now and for the future, whether that be now or further along.”
Pitching tends to be in demand for contenders.
Trades might not be the only avenue for help. The Sox have dipped into their farm system on multiple occasions this season, and pitchers such as Tanner McDougal are taking steps to be ready if called on. The hard-throwing right-hander recently began working out of the bullpen for Triple-A Charlotte.
“For the purpose of impact on the major-league team, Tanner is going to be in a situation where he’ll pitch out of the pen with the abilities to go multiples and pitch two out of three days,” director of player development Paul Janish said on July 9. “Those are things he hasn’t done before so we want to make sure we get him exposed to those things before he comes up and does them.”
3. What will it take to return to the postseason?The 2021 team that held a lead at the break went on to win the division and stands as the most recent Sox club to make the playoffs.
For this year’s team to remain in contention, Venable said: “We have things on the field that we’re going to need to clean up. We’re continuing to evaluate our processes and systems for everything that we’re doing and really just want to make sure that we don’t forget the things that got us here. Just committing to the things on the field and in our preparation.”
The Sox know there’s plenty of baseball remaining. Venable credits the group for not looking too far ahead.
“For us, it’s about just doing those things that we can control and making sure that’s top of mind,” Venable said. “And these players have just done a great job of really flushing yesterday’s results and having a great attitude and coming to the ballpark ready to play.”