Best of five: Shuster, Lopez topped the lot in Getz' first trade
BOSTON -- Quick. Name the five players Chris Getz acquired from the Braves for Aaron Bummer on Nov. 17.
You may have forgotten but it’s one Getz will always remember because it was his first trade as White Sox general manager.
At the time, it appeared Getz did fine with a ‘strength in numbers’ haul for a lefty with exceptional stuff who has posted a 3.54 ERA with 59 strikeouts and 15 walks in 47 games for the Braves. Getz got infielders Nicky Lopez and Braden Shewmake, right-hander Michael Soroka, lefty Jared Schuster and minor league righty Riley Gowens in return.
The best of the lot? Per Baseball Reference War, it’s Shuster, who at 0.6 wins above replacement ranks sixth among Sox players (and pitchers). That's not saying much on a 109-loss team, but the 2020 first-round draft pick by the Braves who owned a 5.61 ERA in 11 starts last season has been an effective multi-inning reliever with a 4.57 ERA in 34 appearances and 63 innings.
“I’m comfortable with [the role],” Shuster said.
But it’s not out of the realm of possibility, pitching coach Ethan Katz said, that Shuster gets consideration for the 2025 starting rotation. It depends on what shakes out during the offseason as Getz pieces together a plan, but if given the opportunity, Shuster’s all-in.
“There are improvements that need to be made to get through a lineup three times, but if the option was there I’d be happy to try to be a starter again,” Shuster said.
“The goal right now is get to the end of the year healthy and keep improving. Eventually? You never know.”
Shuster has started two games for the Sox, and he started 11 for the Braves last season. His slider-changeup-sinker has played fine, with an uptick in velocity to 93. Katz helped Shuster bring it up by smoothing things out in his lower half.
Soroka (5.23 ERA in 22 games including nine starts), meanwhile, is on a rehab assignment at Triple-A Charlotte working his way back from a shoulder strain. The former All-Star was already making a comeback from a ruptured Achilles.
Shewmake, who made the Opening Day roster but was sent down after batting .125 in 29 games, hit .152 in 10 games at Charlotte before getting shut down with an ankle injury.
Lopez, led off Wednesday's 8-1 win in Baltimore that halted a 12-game losing streak with his first home run of the year, is batting .241/.313/.2299 in 112 games. Lopez and Shuster have been the most useful pieces of the trade, with Gowins owning a 3.67 ERA in 10 starts, including one run allowed in his last 10 innings, since a promotion to Double-A Birmingham.
The Sox don’t figure to spend big in free agency this offseason, so how they supplement a rotation that could include Jonathan Cannon, Drew Thorpe, Davis Martin and others from a group of possibilities including lefty Ky Bush, Nick Nastrini and Jairo Ariarte, to name a few, will be watched.
Lefty Garrett Crochet will be the Opening Day starter if he’s not traded, but he figures to go, creating need for a lefty. The Sox also have two of highest rated left-handed pitching prospects in Noah Schultz and Chris Hagen at Double-A Birmingham and Advanced-A Winston Salem, respectively, who could see major league time next season.
And there's always Shuster.
“You look at where we are right now [two 100-loss seasons in a row]," assistant general manager Josh Barfield, said, "part of that is giving young guys opportunities to come up here and grow and hopefully when everybody is starting to come into their own, that’s when that window starts to open up."
NOTES: Right-hander Touki Toussaint, who was designated for assignment, cleared waivers and was outrighted to Charlotte.
*Right-hander Jordan Leasure is starting a rehab assignment Friday with Charlotte.
SOX AT RED SOX
Friday: Davis Martin (0-3, 3.62 ERA) vs. Nick Pivetta (5-10, 4.53), 6:10 p.m, NBCSCH, 1000-AM
Saturday: Garrett Crochet (6-10, 3.61) vs. Cooper Criswell (5-4, 4.14), FOX, 6:15 p.m., 1000-AM
Sunday: Chris Flexen (2-14, 5.36) vs. Brayan Bello (12-7, 4.75) 12:35 p.m., NBCSCH, 1000-AM