Chicago White Sox Finally Give Jose Abreu Legitimate Lineup Protection with Brett Lawrie, Todd Frazier

After falling short of high expectations in 2015 by posting a disappointing 76-86 record, the Chicago White Sox didn’t have to do much digging to find out what their biggest weakness was.

It was their offense, which was putrid. And that’s probably putting it nicely.

First baseman Jose Abreu was as good as he could be given the situation. He now has two seasons of at least 30 home runs, 80 runs scored and 100 RBI to his name, but advanced statistics showed that his 2015 campaign was worse than his incredible rookie season (stats via FanGraphs).

Now, both sets of statistics are very impressive, but it’s hard not to see a noticeable drop from one year to the next in exactly how valuable he was to Chicago’s bottom line. Just how good was Abreu with an underperforming cast around him?

Well, the White Sox offense ranked last in baseball with a collective fWAR of 3.1. The Philadelphia Phillies, second-worst on this list, came in at 8.8. So, this race for the bottom wasn’t even close. Adam Eaton led the squad in fWAR (3.6), but it was negative seasons from Melky Cabrera, Adam LaRoche and Avisail Garcia (among others) that brought this group down.

The offseason goal was a pretty simple one for the White Sox front office because they’ve got the pieces in place to compete for a playoff spot in the competitive American League central:

• A top-10 pitching staff based on fWAR (20.5 in ’15 ranked ninth overall).
• Two solid front-of-the-rotation starters in Chris Sale and Jose Quintana, along with the upside of a young hurler like Carlos Rodon.
• A legitimate and proven closer in David Robertson.
• An elite power threat at the plate in Abreu.

With Abreu entering his third season of a very affordable six-year, $68 million contract and Sale under another very team-friendly deal, the organization knows now is the time to try and capitalize on it. As mentioned above, the pitching staff is in pretty good shape, but it was the offense that needed a fair amount of love.

http://gty.im/513579770

Bringing in players like Austin Jackson, Dioner Navarro, Alex Avila and Jimmy Rollins will help, but it was the one-week span in which Chicago acquired both Brett Lawrie and Todd Frazier via trades that took this lineup to another level.

Now, I know what you’re probably thinking: Frazier was truly the biggest catch and getting Lawrie was an “eh” kind of move. However, with the way manager Robin Ventura can construct his lineup, it could make the top of Chicago’s order as lethal as it’s been in quite some time.

According to Roster Resource, here’s what it looks like at the moment:

1. Eaton, RF
2. Lawrie, 2B
3. Abreu, 1B
4. Frazier, 3B
5. Cabrera, LF
6. Jackson, CF
7. Avila, C
8. Garcia, DH
9. Rollins, SS

After producing career-lows in walk rate (4.7 percent) and on-base percentage (.299), along with a career-high in strikeout rate (23.9 percent), Lawrie appears to be the worst possible candidate to be Chicago’s no. 2 hitter. He could actually end up being the best possible candidate given the situation he’s found himself in, though.

During his lone year with the Oakland Athletics, Lawrie certainly wasn’t a part of an offensive juggernaut, so it’s not like he had legitimate protection in the lineup. One of the biggest knocks against him during his young career is he can’t stay healthy, but that’s one of the things he did accomplish in 2015 (149 games played).

The challenge will now be staying healthy and more productive at the plate. It’ll be a lot easier to accomplish these goals with someone like Abreu hitting behind him. As noted in his player-specific profile on FanGraphs, his inability to successfully adjust to an increased amount of off-speed pitches is what did him in.

He saw fastballs just over half the time he was in the batter’s box, which was fourth lowest among qualified hitters in 2015. So, combine that with his lack of patience and it’s not shocking to see why he couldn’t get on base. But now, he’s back in a home ballpark that favors hitters with power, and if he can show some improved patience, pitchers will throw him more fastballs instead of taking a chance with Abreu.

Entering his age-26 season, he’s still young enough where his patience will develop into something more than what we’ve already seen.

Protection in the lineup to help Lawrie is great, but what about protecting their most precious asset in Abreu? Being able to slot Frazier into the cleanup spot will provide the team what LaRoche was unsuccessful in doing last year.

Abreu easily led the club with 30 homers, but there was no other legitimate power source in sight, as Eaton placed second with 14 bombs out of the leadoff spot. My guess is that’ll change since Frazier has jacked 64 long balls over the past two years by himself. The fact that he can also add 10-20 stolen bases is gravy – especially out of the no. 4 hole.

http://gty.im/517765774

The White Sox have changed their lineup from looking like a walk in the park to anything but that with just two trades. These moves aren’t putting a huge burden on the payroll, either. Lawrie ($4.125 mil in ‘16) and Frazier ($8.25 mil in ‘16) can both provide tremendous value over the next couple years before hitting free agency in 2018.

The big question now is whether these changes will bring a competitive, playoff-caliber team back to the South Side for the first time since 2008. Despite playing in a division that includes the defending world champion Kansas City Royals, a Detroit Tigers squad looking to bounce back and one of baseball’s best pitching staffs in the Cleveland Indians, it’s not an impossible task.

Of course, looking good on paper and actually being good on the field are two different things. Don’t forget that Chicago was viewed as one of the offseason’s winners before 2015 got underway, and we know how that turned out. However, the organization is fully aware that having Abreu anchoring the lineup doesn’t happen often and it won’t last forever, so they had to try and take advantage of it.

If all goes according to plan, Abreu could have a career year and throw his hat into American League MVP conversations. After seeing what he’s already done without legitimate lineup protection, the thought of what he could accomplish with some in place should be a scary one for the rest of the league.

Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter so we can celebrate the return of baseball together: @mmusico8.