In an attempt to grind out the final months of a frigid offseason by perusing FanGraphs, it’s hard to miss that there are only two remaining unsigned free-agent starting pitchers (Dallas Keuchel and Hyun-Jin Ryu) who are projected to produce more than two wins above replacement — essentially the cutoff for above-average performance in this newfangled, stat-crazy world.



They’re both over 30 years old and their average fastballs were both under 91 mph in 2019. I had a bit in here about how the third-most highly projected starter (Wade Miley) is also over 30 without big stuff, but then he went and got signed.



For a White Sox club that targeted monstrous raw stuff and a low career innings load in its most serious free-agent pitching pursuit thus far (Zack Wheeler), and characterized two years of control as the minimum for making a significant move in trades, it doesn’t feel like an environment where they’re poised to outbid the field...