Just weeks before the beginning of the 2016 MLB season, the Chicago White Sox will need to find a new DH. Veteran Adam LaRoche seems likely to hang up his spikes after 12 years in the majors.
Adam LaRoche has told White Sox he plans to step away from baseball. Teammates asked him to sleep on it, but he's confident in decision.
— Colleen Kane (@ChiTribKane) March 15, 2016
Adam LaRoche said it's a personal issue. Out of respect for team, he will consider request before talking on subject in a couple of days.
— Colleen Kane (@ChiTribKane) March 15, 2016
The 36-year old LaRoche hit a paltry .207/.293/.340 with 12 home runs in 2015 with the White Sox, his first with the team. He was due $13 million in 2016, the second year of a two-year, $25 million contract he signed with the team in November of 2014. Over his career, which started with the Braves in 2004, LaRoche hit .260/.336/.462 with 255 home runs. He also played with the Nationals, Pirates, Diamondbacks, and, for one glorious week, Red Sox.
LaRoche’s retirement would arguably put the White Sox in a better position for the 2016 season, as unbelievable as that sounds. The team signed outfielder Austin Jackson last week, and with the DH spot in the lineup now open, Chicago can start Jackson every day in the outfield and shift the lead-gloved Avisail Garcia to DH. Garcia hit 13 homers with a .257/.309/.365 line last year, but was among the worst defensive outfielders in all of baseball despite 17 assists.
For now, it looks like the White Sox will have Garcia at DH and an outfield consisting of Jackson, Adam Eaton, and Melky Cabrera. Jackson will likely play center field, with Cabrera flanking him in left and Eaton in right, but all three men have experience in center (though Cabrera hasn’t regularly played there since 2011, and was never too good defensively at the position).
The $13 million saved by the White Sox is also a big deal, knocking their commitments down to under $110 million for the 2016 season and allowing them some extra flexibility to improve their team around the trade deadline if they’re in playoff contention.
In short, the White Sox don’t need to “do” anything following LaRcohe’s retirement – they’ll be fine with the players have in-house, and could end up having a better team without LaRoche.
