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Omar Narvaez Elects Free Agency

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Veteran catcher Omar Narvaez, who was designated for assignment by the White Sox last week, passed through waivers unclaimed. He was assigned outright to Triple-A Charlotte but has rejected that assignment in favor of free agency, per the transaction log at MiLB.com.

The 33-year-old Narvaez appeared in four games in his return to the White Sox — with whom he originally made his MLB debut — going 2-for-7 with a pair of walks in 10 plate appearances. It was a tiny sample as the Sox looked for a short-term stopgap to pair with Matt Thaiss in the wake of an injury to catcher Korey Lee. Chicago quickly pivoted, turning Narvaez’s roster spot over to top prospect Edgar Quero, who’d had a big start in Charlotte and has been excellent through his first four MLB games.

Narvaez was a solid regular behind the plate from 2017-21, when he tallied 1670 plate appearances and batted .266/.351/.403 between the White Sox, Mariners and Brewers. He improved his defensive reputation, particularly his framing grades, along the way and even earned an All-Star nod with the 2021 Brewers.

His output since that terrific 2021 season has faded, however. He’s taken 521 plate appearances between the Brewers, Mets and this brief ChiSox return, posting a collective .201/.278/.286 line that checks in nearly 40% below average at the plate, by measure of wRC+.

Narvaez could simply return to the organization on a new minor league contract, but although the White Sox have the second-worst winning percentage in MLB, catcher is an area of depth for them. In Quero, Lee, Thais and top prospect Kyle Teel — the headliner from the Garrett Crochet trade with Boston — the Sox have a quartet of younger catchers who’d land ahead of Narvaez on the depth chart. Quero and Teel, in particular, are viewed as potential building blocks for the organization and should get prominent opportunities this season. The veteran Narvaez could likely find a less-crowded path back to big league playing time with another organization.

White Sox Transfer Martin Perez To 60-Day IL, Select Bobby Dalbec

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The White Sox selected the contract of infielder Bobby Dalbec from Triple-A Charlotte, per a team announcement. Fellow infielder Chase Meidroth heads to the 10-day injured list due to inflammation in his right thumb, while veteran lefty Martin Perez is moving from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL. Perez exited his most recent start due to forearm soreness and was placed on the 15-day injured list over the weekend due to inflammation in his left elbow.

The Sox haven’t provided further word on Perez’s injury, but the move to the 60-day IL was not expected based on the information that’s been made publicly available. A move to the 60-day IL takes him out until at least late June. That’s a tough blow for the ChiSox, both because Perez has had a nice start to the season and because it clouds his potential outlook as a trade candidate prior to July’s deadline.

Perez, 34, signed a one-year deal worth $5MM over the winter. Through his first three starts with the South Siders, he posted a 1.59 ERA with a 26.9% strikeout rate and 13.4% walk rate in 17 frames. History tells us that Perez is highly unlikely to keep inducing strikeouts at that level but also that his walk rate should be expected to drop substantially; over the past four seasons, Perez fanned just 18.4% of his opponents but also limited his walk rate to a solid 8% mark.

However, Perez was roughed up for four runs in three innings against the Red Sox his last time out. He yielded five hits, including a homer, walked two batters and didn’t record a strikeout. There was no major velocity drop, but Statcast did measure Perez’s cutter at a season-low 84.9 mph on average, down from his 85.5 mph average in his first start. His sinker had a similar dip. That’s not stark enough to prompt major concern, but it’s of some mild note in the wake of his 60-day placement. Presumably, White Sox skipper Will Venable will have more information on Perez’s status prior to today’s series finale at Fenway Park.

Fenway was long the home park for Dalbec, 29. The former Red Sox fourth-rounder (2016) ranked among the team’s best prospects for much of his minor league tenure and posted a solid .243/.308/.511 batting line with 33 home runs through his first 545 major league plate appearances from 2020-21. It’s been a sharp decline ever since. Dating back to the 2022 season, Dalbec has appeared in 175 big league games and tallied 499 plate appearances, but he has just a .198/.269/.330 slash to show for it. He’s fanned in 38% of his plate appearances along the way and nearly 37% of his overall plate appearances in the majors.

Through his first 12 games in Triple-A this season, Dalbec has been on a tear. He’s hitting .326/.354/.696 with four homers, three doubles, a triple and a stolen base in only 48 trips to the plate. He’s still punched out in exactly one-third of those turns at the dish, but he’s stinging the ball when he makes contact.

It seems likely to be a short-term stint on the 40-man roster for Dalbec. He’s out of minor league options, so he can’t be sent back down without first being designated for assignment and passed through waivers.

Meidroth tells MLB.com’s Scott Merkin that x-rays on his thumb were negative. He first felt the issue in Charlotte, prior to his original promotion to the majors. He rested a few days and returned to the Triple-A lineup pain-free. It’s resurfaced recently, and after trying to play through it for the past week or so, he’ll now sit down for a longer spell to try to get the issue cleared up once and for all.

Acquired from the Red Sox in the Garrett Crochet trade, the 23-year-old Meidroth was Boston’s 2022 fourth-round pick. He opened the year with a .267/.450/.600 slash through 40 Triple-A plate appearances before being summoned for his MLB debut, and he’s batted .269/.387/.269 in his first 31 trips to the plate as a big leaguer.

AL Central Notes: Carpenter, Erceg, Meidroth

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With four outfielders already on the injured list, the Tigers might’ve lost another key contributor when Kerry Carpenter left today’s 4-3 loss to the Royals with what manager A.J. Hinch described as right hamstring soreness.  As Hinch told the Detroit News’ Chris McCosky and other reporters, Carpenter suffered the injury while running out an infield single in the seventh inning.  Nothing appeared to be amiss until Carpenter was replaced in left field in the top of the ninth inning.

More will be known about Carpenter’s status tomorrow, but if he has to miss time, he’ll join Parker Meadows, Matt Vierling, Wenceel Perez, and Manuel Margot (who was signed in late March to help address the outfield depth issue) on the increasingly crowded Detroit injured list.  Carpenter likely would’ve been a part-time outfielder and part-time DH in the world where everyone was healthy, but he has played only twice at the DH position this season.  Beyond the outfield crunch, Carpenter’s absence would also remove a big bat from the Tigers’ lineup, as the slugger is hitting .315/.338/.562 with five homers in his first 77 plate appearances of 2025.

More from around the AL Central…

  • Returning to that same Royals/Tigers game, Carlos Estevez tossed two innings of relief work, as setup man Lucas Erceg is still recovering from a contusion on his left foot.  Erceg left Friday’s game in obvious discomfort after being hit in the foot by a Riley Greene comebacker, though the good news is that tests came back negative for any structural damage.  Erceg told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters on Friday that he was day-to-day and didn’t think he would require an IL trip.  The hope is that with now two days of rest and an off-day on Monday, Erceg might ready to pitch for Tuesday’s game with the Rockies.  The Estevez/Erceg combination has been a shutdown late-inning duo for K.C. thus far, with Erceg contributing a 1.23 ERA over nine appearances and 7 1/3 innings.
  • Chase Meidroth was a late scratch from today’s White Sox lineup, though he did play the last two innings of the 8-4 win over the Red Sox as a defensive sub at shortstop. Pale Hose manager Will Venable told reporters (including MLB.com’s Scott Merkin) that Meidroth is dealing with right thumb inflammation, and was limited to fielding only due to the thumb discomfort.  The rookie will receive some imaging on his thumb before a decision is made about a possible IL stint.  Meidroth is a well-regarded infield prospect who has hit .269/.387/.269 in his first 31 PA and nine games of his big league career, and it would be a tough break to see him sidelined so soon after appearing in the Show.

White Sox Place Martin Perez On 15-Day IL

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TODAY: The White Sox placed Perez on the 15-day injured list due to what was described as inflammation in his throwing elbow.  Jared Shuster was called up from Triple-A to take Perez’s spot on the active roster.

APRIL 18: Martín Pérez departed tonight’s loss in Boston after three innings. The White Sox announced that the lefty experienced forearm soreness that prompted his departure. Pérez said postgame that he’ll go for imaging on Saturday (link via LaMond Pope of The Chicago Tribune).

“I feel sore. I was just trying to be smart and tell them to get me out of the game and see what I got. We have to wait for the MRI tomorrow,” he told reporters. “In the third inning, I started feeling kind of fatigued a little bit. But I feel bad because I don’t want to be in this situation. I want to keep pitching and competing but it is what it is. Wait and see what it’s going to be and the decision and move on.”

Pérez signed a one-year, $5MM free agent deal to serve as a veteran presence in an otherwise young rotation. Tonight’s start was his worst of the season, as he gave up four runs on five hits and a couple walks without recording a strikeout. Pérez had managed quality starts in two of his first three outings. He carries a 3.15 ERA across 20 innings. His 21.7% strikeout percentage is around league average, but he has walked more than 13% of batters faced.

Davis Martin, Jonathan Cannon and rookies Sean Burke and Shane Smith have joined Pérez in the season-opening rotation. That quintet has made all 19 starts. Pérez and Smith, a Rule 5 pick out of the Milwaukee system, are the only two who have managed decent results. Owen White, Nick Nastrini, Jairo Iriarte, Justin Dunn and Chris Rodriguez make up the rotation at Triple-A Charlotte.

All five have some major league experience. White, Nastrini and Iriarte are on the 40-man roster (as is lefty Jared Shuster, who has moved to multi-inning relief in the minors). Dunn easily leads the Charlotte rotation with 27 strikeouts, but he has also given up a team-high four home runs and has allowed nearly five earned runs per nine. Someone from that group would probably get the call to step into the rotation if Pérez requires an injured list stint. The Sox could also consider building Rule 5 pick Mike Vasil, who is working 2-3 inning stints in mop-up relief, for rotation work.

Mike Clevinger also seems set to join the Charlotte rotation. The Sox outrighted the veteran righty off their 40-man roster this afternoon. Clevinger has the service time to decline the assignment in favor of free agency. Bruce Levine of 670 The Score reports that the Sox intend for Clevinger to build back up as a starter in Triple-A, so it appears he’ll accept the outright and remain in the system. The 34-year-old moved to the bullpen to begin this year. He gave up five runs with eight walks and three strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings before being designated for assignment.

White Sox Outright Mike Clevinger

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April 18: Clevinger cleared waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A Charlotte, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com. He has enough major league service to reject the assignment in favor of free agency.

April 16: The White Sox announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Steven Wilson. In a corresponding move, fellow righty Mike Clevinger has been designated for assignment. The Sox also announced that righty Justin Anderson, who was designated for assignment last week, has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Charlotte.

Clevinger, 34, had some good years as a starter but never seemed to get back on track after Tommy John surgery. From 2017 through 2020, he posted a 2.96 earned run average and 28% strikeout rate across 489 1/3 innings in the majors. But he missed 2021 while recovering from TJS and hasn’t been able to get the punchouts back. From 2022 to 2024, he had a 4.20 ERA and 19.4% strikeout rate.

In 2024, he lingered unsigned into April before signing a $3MM deal with the White Sox. After a ramp-up period, he joined the club in May, making four starts before landing on the injured list with elbow inflammation. In July, he underwent season-ending disc replacement surgery in his neck.

Going into 2025, the Sox re-signed him via a minor league deal with the plan of trying him out in the bullpen. He tossed six scoreless innings in the spring and cracked the Opening Day roster but the regular season hasn’t been kind to him. So far, he has made eight appearances but logged just 5 2/3 innings. He has struck out three opponents but issued eight walks and allowed five earned runs.

It seems the Sox have decided to quickly pull the ripcord on the experiment. Given his poor results and $1.5MM salary this year, it’s unlikely there will be much interest from other clubs around the league. As a player with at least five years of service time, Clevinger has the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency while keeping his salary in place. Unless he wants to report to Triple-A Charlotte and continue the relief experiment, he seems likely to be a free agent at some point in the next week.

Wilson, 30, was outrighted off the club’s roster in February. That left him to start the season in Triple-A, which has gone well so far. He has thrown 5 1/3 innings with one earned run, ten strikeouts and one walk. His big league track record consists of 140 2/3 innings between the Padres and White Sox with a 4.03 ERA, 24.2% strikeout rate and 12.2% walk rate. He still has a full slate of options, so he’ll give the Sox an extra bullpen arm with some roster flexibility.

Anderson has hit the three-year mark in terms of service time, which gives him the right to reject his outright assignment. However, since he has less than five years, he would have to forfeit his remaining salary to elect free agency. He and the Sox avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $900K salary this year. Presumably, he’ll want to keep that coming and will report to Triple-A Charlotte. He’ll give the Sox some non-roster depth and try to work his way back to the big leagues.

Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images

White Sox, Keone Kela Agree To Minor League Contract

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The White Sox are in agreement with reliever Keone Kela on a minor league deal, as reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. He’s been assigned to the team’s Arizona complex for the time being as he builds into game shape.

Kela is trying to return to the big league level for the first time in four seasons. He hasn’t pitched in the affiliated ranks since 2022. Kela’s most recent affiliated opportunity came on a minor league deal with the Dodgers late that year. He signed on with the Yakult Swallows in Japan in 2023, though his time there was limited to 14 innings for their minor league club. Kela had a better run in the Mexican League last season, firing 40 innings of 2.70 ERA ball while striking out a quarter of opposing hitters. He added 16 innings of five-run ball in the Mexican winter league.

The White Sox are intrigued enough by his form to give him a minor league chance. The 32-year-old Kela has pitched parts of seven seasons at the big league level. He had his best run early in his career with the Rangers, for whom he tossed 169 innings with a 3.45 earned run average. He worked to an even better 2.49 mark over parts of three seasons with the Pirates, though that came in a total of 47 innings. Kela’s most recent big league experience came when he allowed eight runs in 10 2/3 innings for the ’21 Padres.

At his best, Kela had a fastball that sat in the 96 MPH range and a swing-and-miss curveball. He has fanned nearly 30% of batters faced against a manageable 9.2% walk rate as a big leaguer. The rebuilding White Sox have very little in the way of established bullpen arms. It’s a decent landing spot as Kela tries to get back to the highest level. He’ll presumably spend a couple weeks at the complex before heading to Triple-A Charlotte.

White Sox Designate Omar Narvaez For Assignment

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The White Sox announced Thursday that they’ve designated veteran catcher Omar Narvaez for assignment. His spot on the 40-man and active rosters will go to top catching prospect Edgar Quero, whose previously reported promotion to the majors is now official; his contract has been formally selected. Chicago also reinstated outfielder Andrew Benintendi from the injured list and optioned fellow outfielder Greg Jones to Triple-A Charlotte in a corresponding move.

Narvaez returned to the White Sox — the team with which he made his major league debut — when he signed a minor league contract back in January. He was selected to the 40-man roster earlier this month when Korey Lee suffered an injury, but with the presence of top catching prospects Quero and Kyle Teel in Triple-A, the potential for the reunion to be short-lived was always present. The 33-year-old Narvaez wound up appearing in only four games, during which he went 2-for-7 with a pair of singles and a couple of walks.

Narvaez’s days as a regular behind the plate look to be in the past. He was a solid option behind the dish from 2017-21, batting a combined .266/.351/.403 in 1670 plate appearances. That was effectively league-average offense (101 wRC+), but catchers tend to be well below-average hitters. Relative to his position, Narvaez was a comfortably better-than-average hitter. Though he posted below-average defensive grades early in his career, his glovework — framing in particular — has improved considerably over the years.

Since a nice showing with the 2021 Brewers, however, Narvaez’s production has tanked. He struggled with Milwaukee in 2022, signed a two-year contract with the Mets the following offseason, and wasn’t able to right the ship. Overall, he’s posted a .201/.278/.286 line in his past 521 plate appearances (including his brief look with the ChiSox this year).

The White Sox can place Narvaez on waivers or trade him at any point in the next five days. Waivers themselves are another 48-hour process, meaning the max length of his stay in DFA limbo will be one week. While he’s struggled quite a bit in recent seasons, Narvaez could still hold appeal to clubs seeking catching depth in the wake of injuries. The Red Sox (who currently roster his cousin, fellow catcher Carlos Narvaez) are without Connor Wong for the foreseeable future due to a broken finger. The Tigers (Jake Rogers), Reds (Tyler Stephenson) and Marlins (Nick Fortes) have all seen their starting catchers go down with an oblique strain — quite recently in the case of Detroit and Miami.

The Sox won’t get a prospect back for Narvaez, but he could be flipped for cash or claimed off waivers. If he clears waivers, he has enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency.

Quero will be the first of Chicago’s touted catching prospects to get a look in the big leagues. He’s out to a terrific start in Charlotte, having slashed .333/.444/.412 through his first 63 trips to the plate. That performance follows up last year’s stout .286/.366/.463 batting line in a combined 402 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A. The switch-hitting Quero isn’t considered a plus defender, but he has the chance to be a bat-first regular behind the plate. He and Teel have big enough offensive ceilings to envision a scenario where both are on the same roster and splitting time between catcher and designated hitter.

Benintendi’s stay on the injured list due to an adductor strain proved minimal. That’s good news for the Sox, as the former All-Star has gotten back on track in a major way dating back to the midpoint of last season. Benitendi caught fire last summer and closed out the year with a .251/.325/.473 slash over his final 317 trips to the plate. Coupled with an even stronger start to his 2025 season, he’s now hitting .255/.326/.475 with 18 homers, a 9.4% walk rate and a 19.1% strikeout rate over his past 350 plate appearances.

Benintendi’s contract once looked immovable, but if he continues to produce along these lines for another couple months, he could emerge as a viable summer trade candidate. He’s being paid $16.5MM in 2025 and is owed a total of $31MM in 2026-27 as part of his five-year, $75MM contract.

Luis Robert’s Slow Start

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April tends to be relatively quiet on the transaction front. The early part of the month saw a handful of extensions as talks that had begun in Spring Training carried into the regular season. There probably won't be much more significant hot stove activity for the next couple months. That's largely because all but three teams -- the White Sox, Marlins and Rockies -- went into the season with some measure of hope about competing. The trio of clearly noncompetitive clubs had already moved most of their realistic trade candidates who'd bring back prospect talent.

Luis Robert Jr. is an exception. The White Sox held onto their former All-Star center fielder over the offseason. Robert was coming off the worst season of his career. He lost nearly two months early in the season with a hip flexor strain and was unproductive when healthy. He hit .224/.278/.379 with 14 homers in 100 games. Robert looked nothing like the player who'd finished 12th in AL MVP balloting one year earlier.

It made for a difficult evaluation. Robert has shown star upside -- not only in the aforementioned 2023 campaign but in an injury-shortened '21 season when he hit .338/.378/.567 over 68 games. Last year's White Sox were en route to the worst season in the modern era. Maybe Robert's .216/.253/.302 showing in the second half reflected some amount of mental fatigue. At 27 years old, he should remain in his prime.

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Austin Slater Undergoes Meniscus Surgery

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White Sox outfielder Austin Slater underwent surgery to address a meniscus tear in his right knee yesterday, the team informed reporters (including Scott Merkin of MLB.com). He’ll be sidelined for 4-6 weeks.

Slater went on the injured list over the weekend. The right-handed hitter has appeared in eight games this season. He’s started 5-20 with a home run and a couple doubles. The Sox have given him 10 plate appearances against right-handed and left-handed opponents alike. He’s mostly been a short-side platoon bat throughout his career. Slater is a .270/.362/.431 hitter against southpaws. He has fanned in 33% of plate appearances against righty pitching, putting up a .230/.316/.334 slash.

The White Sox made a handful of modest one-year free agent pickups over the offseason. Slater was the first of those additions. He signed for a $1.75MM guarantee with another $500K in performance bonuses. The incentives range from 50 to 100 games and 100 to 300 plate appearances, so he could unlock most or all of those bonuses as long as his rehab process goes as expected.

Slater is one of three outfielders on Chicago’s injured list. They’re also without Andrew Benintendi and Mike Tauchman for the moment. Michael A. Taylor is playing every day in left field. Lefty-swinging Joshua Palacios and switch-hitter Brooks Baldwin have been operating as a right field platoon.

White Sox To Promote Edgar Quero

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The White Sox intend to promote catching prospect Edgar Quero, reports Francys Romero. He’s expected to join the team for tomorrow afternoon’s series finale against the A’s. It’ll be the first major league call for the 22-year-old. Quero is not on the 40-man roster, so there’ll be a forthcoming move in that regard.

Quero, a native of Cuba, signed with the Angels in February 2021. He quickly impressed prospect evaluators as an advanced switch-hitting catcher. He’d gotten to Double-A at age 20 before the Halos sent him to the White Sox alongside lefty Ky Bush for Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López at the 2023 deadline. The Angels regretted that push very quickly, as they fell firmly out of contention and wound up waiving Giolito and López a month later to shed their salaries.

It was a nice return for the White Sox. Quero has ranked in the latter half of Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects for each of the past three years. BA placed him sixth in the Chicago farm system this winter. That came on the heels of a strong .280/.366/.463 slash line with 16 home runs between the top two minor league levels. He kept his strikeout rate around 17% while drawing walks at a solid 9.7% clip.

Evaluators credit Quero with solid grades across the board (aside from the below-average speed expected of a catcher). He’s more of a bat-first player, drawing particular praise for his hit tool. BA writes that he has an average arm and has continued to improve his receiving skills, though, so there’s not much doubt that he can stay behind the plate.

At the time of the Giolito trade, Quero looked to be Chicago’s catcher of the future. That’s no longer a given, albeit for reasons beyond his control. The White Sox built the Garrett Crochet deal around former first-round pick Kyle Teel. Teel is generally viewed as the superior prospect, though it’s Quero who earns the major league call first.

The two highly-regarded young catchers have split the playing time at Triple-A Charlotte. Quero has had the much better start to the season. He’s hitting .333/.444/.412 with 11 walks and 14 strikeouts over 63 plate appearances. Teel has fanned 19 times and is batting .192 in a similar amount of playing time.

Matt Thaiss and Korey Lee began the season as Will Venable’s catching tandem. The Sox lost Lee to an ankle sprain last week. They initially brought up veteran Omar Narváez from Double-A rather than promote Quero or Teel. They’ll reverse course now with Quero, who should play fairly regularly.

It’s no longer possible for a player to accrue the 172 days on an MLB roster necessary to get a full year of service. Quero was a preseason top 100 prospect at each of Baseball America, ESPN and MLB Pipeline, so he would qualify for the Prospect Promotion Incentive. That means he could earn a full service year if he finished in the top two in AL Rookie of the Year balloting. The White Sox would not receive a bonus draft choice if that happens because they didn’t promote Quero early enough to spend 172 days in the majors.

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