Should I Stay or Should I Go: Jake Burger

fWAR: 0.3
bWAR: -0.1
WARP: 0.1

He should stay Andrew Vaughn led the 2022 White Sox with a pathetic 17 home runs, and as the team needs more power Burger provides it aplenty, with a .458 slugging percentage being third on the team in 2022, behind only Elvis Andrus and Eloy Jiménez. Entering his age-27 season, Burger still has plenty of potential moving forward, and with one option remaining the front office will have some flexibility with how they employ him.

He should go Of all the many needs this team has, defensively-limited right-handed hitters who strike out 30% of the time is absolutely not one of them. Burger is an atrocious third base defender who was struggling with injuries before everybody on the White Sox got in on the fad. He has shown enough to be intriguing to the right trade partner, and could be a useful piece to help reshape the 40-man roster.

The verdict While there’s no need to move on from Burger, especially given the amount of time and resources invested in the former No. 11 overall pick, a trade probably should be explored. The 40-man roster needs better defenders, and Burger is decidedly not that. While his bat is a plus, it’s a bit of a redundancy in Chicago’s righty-heavy lineup, and his injury struggles are another issue the White Sox don’t need to be doubling down on. If he can help bring in a plus defender and/or a left-handed hitter who’s getting squeezed off of another roster, it’s worth looking into. The White Sox should be combing all of baseball for Triple-A players and young bench guys who could use a change of scenery, competent backups with the slightest chance of being something more.