The White Sox have acquired outfielder Jason Bourgeois from the Diamondbacks, Steve Gilbert of MLB.com was among those to report on Twitter. Cash considerations will go back to Arizona in the swap.
Bourgeois, 34, has seen MLB action in each of the last eight campaigns, twice topping 200 plate appearances in a single season. He did that last year for the Reds, slashing just .240/.294/.332 with three home runs and three stolen bases.
With the move, Chicago adds another depth option in the outfield. Bourgeois has spent most of his big league time in center, but has also played both corner positions. While the Sox are off to a nice start, the club has received underwhelming contributions from regular center fielder Austin Jackson and several bench players.
The speedy Bourgeois was off to a sturdy .356/.385/.442 start in his first 109 plate appearances at Triple-A after joining the D-Backs as a minor league free agent. But he was passed over for a promotion when the team recently brought up Michael Bourn.
Wasn’t he drafted by the White Sox?I know he played for them.
Drafted by the Rangers but made his mlb debut with the Sox.
kind of a dumb comment to call austin jackson “underwhelming”. just because his slash line isnt good he has been key to our defense. watch the games, slash lines.
Per fangraphs he’s been below average. I will add he’s better than Eaton at center and Eaton is now an above average corner outfielder
thats what im saying. hes a fine CF w/zone coverage. As someone who watches the sox jackson gives eaton and melky room to cheat by the line. not everyone in a lineup has to have a 330 obp
Eaton above average in right? I’m sorry but have you been watching him play this year, if at all?.. he’s graded out as the no.1 RFer this season to the quarter mark and has been stellar in RF
“Above average.” Haha
Hey Williams, is this guy your neighbor?
I know how much you love the White Sox and everything they do, but if you think that Eaton is just an “above average” corner OF’er, you either don’t watch any baseball, don’t look at any stats, or are a complete idiot. You choose.
Fun fact – Jason Heyward, the highest paid free agent OF’er last year, just got paid an average of 3 times more PER YEAR to be a worse RF’er than Adam Eaton offensively AND defensively. But hey, what do I know?
If you want to use Fangraphs, we should look at more than just his slash line on offense as well then. His slash line has been bad, but he’s not hitting the ball anywhere near that poorly. He’s top 30 among all outfielders in Hard and Medium contact % (top 10 in Soft%). He’s also seeing a lot of pitches – top 20 in pitches per plate appearance for all outfielders. That is something the White Sox have been god awful at for quite a while now, so it’s a huge addition to this lineup.
Like I admitted, his slash line is definitely bad right now. That being said, he’s having a lot of good at bats and hitting the ball hard. Would I like an upgrade in CF? Sure. Has A-Jax been as bad as his slash line looks? Absolutely not.
Jackson has made up for his bat and then some with the impact he has made in the OF. Never mind his glove, but making Eaton much better (tops in the AL for OFs now if I am not mistaken) and while his line may look this way or that way, he still gets timely hits. He is not a lead off guy, and has not been used as that so that ‘underwhelming’ comment is a poor attempt at humor I guess. Never mind one could argue that Eaton being more comfortable in the OF in right is helping him focus more on his hitting.
I do believe so, yes. I mean, why even bother, Rick Hahn/Kenny Williams?
No thank you.
yeah let’s bring back jordan danks too you know that will help
its a depth move. jerry sands off the bench really sucks
Not bad depth piece.. Also not a good piece at the show.. Triple AAA numbers are good, let’s see if u can sustain…
It’s amazing how quickly Jackson has turned into a complete cipher offensively. Bill James, in one of his very earliest Abstracts, in the early ’80s, opined that speed-first guys with little ancillary skills tended to decline rapidly as soon as they lost a step. We see it over and over again – Michael Bourn, Vince Coleman, Willy Taveras, now Jackson. Jackson’s defense isn’t even that stellar anymore, and he lacks the underlying skills to become a different kind of player.
Matt Davidson is raking right now. Tim Anderson is rolling.
Alternate Avi
No position player in the sox organization will be an above average player. They have the worst player development in baseball. And their hitting coach isn’t helping anyone in the majors. It’s the “good ole boys” for Williams and Jer. If Hahn didn’t get so lucky in acquiring Lawrie and Frazier, the fans would have been warming the tar for Ventura and Williams. And I sure don’t see Cooper helping Rodon at all. Mr. Ego’s fortunate to have two excellent starters in Sale and Quintana. And no folks, I’m not buying the fact that he made them good.
Can you give the front office credit for anything? Or would that make you explode or something?
Yes, the front office makes many bad decisions. Yes, they have been awful at developing position players for the most part. But Hahn was smart enough to turn those bad position players into Frazier and Lawrie this offseason. I’d hardly call that “luck.” Give credit when it’s due.
No friggin way! They blow.