9:17pm: A tweet from Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports reveals that Cedeno’s contract comes with a spring training invite, as one may have expected. He stands to earn $1.05MM if he breaks camp with the big league club.
8:21pm: The White Sox have agreed to terms on a minor-league pact with left-hander Xavier Cedeno, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation reports via a tweet.
The 31-year-old Cedeno has pitched at the major-league level in each of the past seven seasons. After he missed nearly all of 2017 due to a forearm injury suffered in April, the Rays elected to non-tender Cedeno rather than pay him a 2018 arbitration salary (he made $1.3MM in 2017). That’s hardly surprising considering Tampa Bay’s interest in trimming payroll this winter.
For his career, the southpaw owns a 3.98 ERA out of the bullpens of the Astros, Nationals and Rays. While he’s been a below average major-leaguer in terms of WPA (-0.85), his career 8.85 K/9 and 3.39 BB/9 suggest he could be a viable bullpen piece for his new club. That outlook only gets brighter when considering he’s a respectable lefty specialist; Cedeno has faced a left-handed hitter 320 times over the course of his MLB tenure, and they’ve batted a paltry .220/.286/.299 against him.
[Related: Updated Chicago White Sox Depth Chart]
It seems likely that the Puerto Rican native can earn himself a role in the White Sox bullpen. Outside of the recently-acquired Luis Avilan, the Southsiders don’t have much in the way of viable left-handed options for their relief corps.
Cedeno was originally a 31st-round selection of the Rockies back in 2004. He pitched exclusively as a starter up through the end of the 2008 season, when he reached the Double-A level for the first time. However, following a demotion to the Rockies’ High-A affiliate, Cedeno transitioned to a relief role. Though the Astros tried giving him another chance to start in 2011, his performance at the Double-A level that season wasn’t good enough to warrant a permanent shift back to the rotation. He’s pitched exclusively as a reliever since his MLB debut with Houston later that year.
ehhh. need spare parts. it did well last off season.
The White Sox do have a few other “viable ” southpaw options for their 2018 bullpen. That would include 3 prospects who have been in their top-30 recently, Aaron Bummer, Jace Fry and Brian Clark. The first two saw time in the White Sox bullpen last season.
The White Sox also recently signed veteran T.J. House to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training. House will likely be given an opportunity to win a job in the rotation during spring training but he could also become a valuable man in the pen as a long reliever or swing-man.
Bummer, Fry and Clark could all use time in AAA. Avilan and Cedeno will hopefully do well and be traded for prospects in July.
Sure. As long as the veterans stay healthy and perform during spring training the plan would be to flip them during the summer and then replace them with the younger relievers I mentioned. It doesn’t mean any of those younger pitchers aren’t “viable” options in 2018, no?
In addition, Bummer and Fry are already on the White Sox 40-man roster while Clark spent the entirety of the 2017 season at AAA Charlotte. Both Cedeno and House were signed to minor league contracts and would be have to be added to the active and reserve rosters should they make the club out of spring training…at somebody else’s expense.
Seems to me they’re adding more relief pitching to give some of their prospects more time in view at MLB level without depleting arsenal in the minors. Interesting that Hahn and Ricky are reporting on patience of development and yet they know, whether stated or not, the proper way is to give guys some MLB experience too. I think we’re going to see a lot of bullpen guys called up and down this year. Not in a tryout per se, but perhaps progressively like giving prospects the situational chance to have successful showings.