Chicago White Sox (-10)
The White Sox are probably still licking their wounds after failing to reel in Manny Machado via free agency. However, Chicago tried to make some subtle improvements to a young roster this past winter that desperately needs to take a step forward. General manager Rick Hahn has attempted to bolster his bullpen by bringing in Kelvin Herrera and Alex Colome, but Chicago’s lack of a top-tier reliever seems to be torpedoing their projected ranking.
Colome’s 2016 breakout (1.91 ERA 31.4% strikeout rate, 6.6% walk rate) appears it could be more of an anomaly more than anything else. That hasn’t stopped him from continuing to be an effective reliever, though. He’ll look to ride a dominant second half into 2019 with his new club, which will be his third stop in less than a calendar year.
After posting a 4.12 ERA and .306 wOBA prior to the All-Star break in 2018, those numbers dropped to 1.57 and .244, respectively, following the midsummer classic. We’ll see exactly how sustainable it is, especially upon seeing that his strand rate (70.9% to 92.4%) and BABIP (.310 to .258) took major jumps. He’s at least got an improved soft-hit rate (11.1% to 17.4%) and line-drive rate (26.5% to 20.3%) to point to while holding out hope.
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