The White Sox may finally have wrapped up an interesting offseason with today’s announcement of the signing of outfielder Austin Jackson to a one-year, $5MM contract. He’ll join a series of other new faces on the MLB roster in Chicago, none of whom — including the trade acquisitions — are guaranteed or controlled for more than two years. The overall financial commitment is quite minimal, and the South Siders still look to have plenty of long-term flexibility.
Here’s the latest on a few of those additions, and one notable departure:
- Jackson will indeed be Chicago’s primary center fielder, GM Rick Hahn told reporters including MLB.com’s Scott Merkin (Twitter link). That means that Adam Eaton, fresh off of a quality campaign in the first year of his extension, will line up primarily in the corner outfield. Clearly, the team’s overall glovework on the grass should be much improved, as the team’s preexisting alignment likely would’ve featured Melky Cabrera and Avisail Garcia on both corners.
- As something of an added bonus, the Sox kept Jackson from the division-rival Indians, per Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer (Twitter links). Cleveland felt it would have needed to go north of $5MM to add Jackson, who seemed to prefer to play in Chicago.
- Padres shortstop Alexei Ramirez asked to go on a road trip to play the White Sox, his longtime club, as Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com reports. Ramirez called it “really emotional” to suit up for the only MLB organization he’d ever played for previously, saying that he put in “eight years of defending, 100 percent energy, eight years of being the first to show up and work hard every day” in Chicago. Ramirez added that San Diego’s $4MM contract was the sole firm offer he received this winter.
- Newly-signed White Sox righty Mat Latos says that he’s eager not just to show his form on the mound, but also to rebuild his image, as Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com reports. “Maybe I needed a wake-up call,” said the 28-year-old. “I’m very direct, and I’ve just got to pick and choose my battles and learn to just hold onto some things. If I had some issues with things that went on with Cincinnati, I needed to keep them to myself. That was just a slip-up on my part. That was me dummying up. Just a bad lapse of judgment.” In an email, GM Rick Hahn suggested that the organization wasn’t scared off by a player’s reputation, preferring instead to sit down with each individual and make an assessment. In the case of Latos, it isn’t hard to see how the organization might’ve believed he would be motivated to make good on a $3MM investment.
Indeed Latos, shut up. Not outright lying about things would help as well.
It’s not like the Reds were the first organization with which you had personality issues.
Sometimes guys just don’t fit. Sometimes guys are great but a clubhouse is bad. Or different. Or whatever.
He probably shouldn’t have said anything. But at the same time it isn’t like the Reds clubhouse was one with a sterling reputation. My guess is there’s probably more than a little bit of truth to Latos’ take.
I could have sworn Latos said the same thing when he first came to LA.
He’s had “personality issues” with every organization he has been with. At some point, you need to self reflect rather than cast blame.
Isn’t that… what he’s doing?
How I read his statement was, “I’m not wrong, but I need to be smart enough to not get myself in trouble.” Given his history, I’d say he’s been wrong quite a bit. We’ll see what happens. In a way this kind of reads like him not being able to keep his “I need to rebuild my image” to himself. The guy is 28 with a mature brain…living in a world of stunted adult growth…he’s had people kissing his rear forever…not easy turning that cart
You guys linked to the wrong Adam Eaton.
Thanks, fixed. (Auto linker)
It’s nice to have a minimal financial cost and still have long term financial flexibility, but it would have been even nicer if Chicago had gotten more quality players, instead of replacement level.
I would rather save that money for a Sale or Rodon extension than spend $24mm/year on Jason Heyward who is the same thing as Austin Jackson but 1/5 the price
Haha. That’s cute
Where to start with your ludicrous comment?
First off, Sale is already under team control with team options through 2019.
Secondly, Carlos Rodon won’t be arbitration eligible until 2018 and a free agent until 2022. He is also a Scott Boras client, meaning any contract extension to buy out his arb-eligibility and FA is highly unlikely.
Thirdly, your comment comparing Austin Jackson to Jason Heyward is ridiculous on so many levels. On top of that, the White Sox were players for many free agent outfielders this offseason but not Heyward. Btw-Your math sucks, especially in regards to Heyward’s total contract value. (lol)
You really are a troll around here…Chris Sale remains on the roster, correct?
You realize Cincinnati traded him over a year ago, right? They didn’t just “let him go”
Oh, and there’s the fact that at best, Latos is the Sox 4th best starter. Don’t know if you’ve ever heard of this guy named Chris Sale.
Wow. Wins? Take your elementary level trolling self out of here. No one takes you seriously.
The wealth of your knowledge is amazing……ly LOW
you have to be kidding me with this. Are you actually serious right now? wins? You’re going to bring wins into this as your argument?
Chris Sale:
era-2.91; fip-2.99; so-1011; k/9-10.3; bb/9-2.2; era+ 140
Mat Latos:
era-3.51; fip-3.44; so-959; k/9-8.1; bb/9-2.7;era+ 108
Chris Sale has done that with 1 season less in the majors and 1 additional year less in the rotation. I can’t believe you’re even trying to argue that Latos is better than Chris Sale.
I don’t even know why teams bother signing position players since it is impossible for them to get Wins!!
You may have just found a new strategy to building a baseball team, dude!
You are correct when it comes to a TEAM not a player….wins and losses are what matters when referring to TEAMS not player independent stats….
You realize Latos was released last year. Like, he cleared waivers and no team claimed him so he was flat out released.
You would think you’d be employed by a team since you can see he is one of the best pitchers in baseball while every other talent evaluator didn’t want to touch him.
Greg Maddux has over 300 wins. Please make the claim that he is a better option today than Latos or Sale?
You’re a little late the the sabremetric/old school brawl fairy tale. What, did you just get your very first library card and check out “Moneyball”?
Only the completely shallow of the state community hasn’t embraced the art in the baseball science.
My last response to you…even though it’s fun. Turn your TV on and yell at the announcers…they’ll care just as much…but watch your language or you’ll be in trouble with your mom.
I really hope you are not being serious. However, in the case that you are, well, may God have mercy on your soul.
Just go away, guy. Nobody here likes you.
When you believe Latos is better than Sale due to wins then yes, @rest, you will be labeled a troll.
If wins are the defining factor for a pitcher then John Danks must be head and shoulders above Sale and Latos with his absolutely astounding numbers of 79 wins, an era at 4.33, and a win percentage of .433 for his career right?
See Jackson wasn’t holding out for more money….it was more playing time…the Angels weren’t going to commit more playing time and wanted him to earn it over the other schlubes battling for LF….
Bartolo Colón is the best pitcher Baseball he has 218 wins ; to the 64 of Latos and 57 of sale. Wins is a true baseball stat just like batting average.
It might be a stretch to infer from GM Rick Hahn’s comments that Austin Jackson WILL indeed be Chicago’s primary center fielder, “Most of, if not all of, Austin’s time will come in center,” Hahn said. “We also view Adam as a very fine defensive center fielder. Adam’s expressed a willingness to do whatever we need that day. We’ll let the lineups take care of themselves.”
“Nothing has been promised to anybody,” Hahn said about playing time. “When it comes to making out the lineup, Robin’s mission is to put the best lineup in position to win that ballgame.
“We still believe Avi is going to blossom into being the player many people believe he can become.”
Sounds to me like Jackson is either the White Sox regular CF and Eaton moves to a corner (or DH if his shoulder is slow to recover) OR he is the backup CF/4th OF, like he probably should be on a playoff team these days. There’s no natural platoon for the right-handed hitting Jackson in the corners with Avisail Garcia or Melky Cabrera.
What Hahn said today after officially acquiring Jackson certainly does not rule out another significant corner OF upgrade. As I said before, any trade for Carlos Gonzalez or Jay Bruce would likely involve Garcia going back in return. Hahn’s last comment about Garcia in particular sounds like pre-trade rhetoric. He “believes” in him but didn’t complete the thought by saying he might actually “blossom” with the White Sox.