LAS VEGAS — Rick Hahn said the White Sox weren't done adding to their bullpen. Does that include one of the best relievers on the free-agent market?
According to a report from WEEI's Rob Bradford, the White Sox are one the most aggressive teams pursuing relief pitcher Joe Kelly, along with the Boston Red Sox (Kelly's team of the last five seasons), the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets.
The White Sox first addition of this Hot Stove season was a reliever and a potential new closer in Alex Colome, acquired at the end of last month in a trade with the Seattle Mariners. Colome saved 84 games in 2016 and 2017 with the Tampa Bay Rays, making the AL All-Star team in 2016 and leading baseball in saves in 2017. His save numbers dropped after getting dealt to the M's in May, where he worked as a setup man for 2018's saves leader, Edwin Diaz.
But Hahn made sure to say that he wasn't done adding to the South Side bullpen.
"We don’t think we are finished in terms of addressing the bullpen," Hahn said on Nov. 30. "Not quite sure on timing of that, but between now and the time we break camp, I suspect there will be further additions to the 'pen as well."
Could Kelly be another high-profile addition?
Kelly starred for the world-champion Red Sox during the postseason, allowing just one run in his nine appearances for a 0.79 ERA over 11.1 innings. Though he had a 4.39 ERA during the 2018 regular season, he put up stellar numbers in 2017: a 2.79 ERA in 54 games. Since coming to the Red Sox in a 2014 trade with the St. Louis Cardinals, Kelly posted an 8.0 K/9, a number that was even better in recent seasons, 9.2 since the beginning of the 2016 campaign.
MLB
Kelly would be an obvious upgrade to a White Sox bullpen that ranked 23rd out of 30 major league teams with a 4.49 ERA in 2018. That relief corps is stocked with intriguing young arms who could be a part of the rebuilding franchise's long-term future, guys like Ian Hamilton, Caleb Frare, Jace Fry, Ryan Burr, Jose Ruiz and Thyago Vieira. But those guys got off to rocky starts at the end of the 2018 season, and adding more veteran presence could help them in their development.
In fact, that's been a stated goal of Hahn's in describing his approach to retooling the bullpen this winter.
"We do like how the bullpen projects out both in '19 and certainly '20 and '21, but at the same time we don't want — especially early on — a lot of these young guys to feel like they have to carry all the water," Hahn said. "We'd rather have some guys who have been through this before, whether it's a guy like Colome or Nate Jones or other guys we might add in the coming months to help relieve some of the burden.
"There's going to be development at the big league level, and we certainly feel we have some high-caliber, high-end arms that are going to pitch important high-leverage innings in the future. But there's going to be a maturation process that's part of getting them there. Having, for lack of a better term, a veteran presence in the bullpen to help show them the way and relieve some of the burden on them early on, it's part of the benefit of this deal and what we're trying to do with the bullpen."
While Kelly is only 30 and could command a longer-term deal, an interesting question is why the White Sox would potentially spend sizable dollars on relief pitching in a season in which they're not expected to contend for a playoff spot. Even in acquiring Colome, Hahn was not exactly trumpeting long-term value.
"Obviously he fits in well for the short term over the course of the next two seasons. How he'll fit in '21 and beyond, it's way premature to make that assessment," Hahn said. "Obviously we can extend him at some point during his stay here or revisit it once he hits free agency. On relievers, it's tough to project out on any of them, even the best, quite how they're going to perform three or four years out into the future. We're very optimistic about what he's going to bring the for at least next two seasons. If it makes sense at that point to extend him and have him continue to be part of this growing core into '21 and beyond, we'll certainly remain open-minded to that."
But in looking for upgrades and ways to help the development of the young guys, you could do a lot worse than Colome and Kelly.
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