As the Nashville Winter Meetings get underway, new general manager Chris Getz has made it apparent that the team’s top objective for the upcoming offseason will be starting pitching. To fill a chronically deficient starting rotation, the White Sox signed righthander Erick Fedde to a two-year, $15 million contract.

This is Getz’s second attempt to mend his broken rotation after dealing Aaron Bummer to the Atlanta Braves for RHP Michael Soroka just a few weeks ago. The task is made even more pressing by the possibility that Dylan Cease is on the move, as rumors and interest from across the league are mounting.

Fedde played 102 games over six years with the Washington Nationals organization, recording a lackluster 5.41 ERA. He bounced about the major leagues before signing with the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO)’s NC Dinos, where he went on to win the KBO’s Cy Young Award, the Choi-Dong Award, in 2023.

Fedde concluded the season with a 0.954 WHIP, a 20-6 record (perhaps the most important number to judge a pitcher in 2023!), and 209 strikeouts, which is 45 more than the next best pitcher in the league, after sporting an incredible 2.00 ERA over 180 1⁄3 innings.

The signing is unlikely to excite many fans, but it will be interesting to watch what happens to the South Siders at the Winter Meetings, as rumors have it. Even though it might only be a test run, Fedde’s recent success in the KBO could give White Sox fans more faith that he can be a reliable closer in the back half of the rotation for a team that is obviously rebuilding, without really calling it that.