It isn’t any secret that the White Sox are eager to keep Jose Abreu in the fold, though another veteran may also be a candidate for a longer-term stint with the club. While expressing to the Athletic’s James Fegan (subscription link) about how much the Sox would like to continue their relationship with Abreu, GM Rick Hahn also praised James McCann’s work at catcher. “He’s been everything we had hoped for in terms of in the clubhouse and from a defensive standpoint and quite frankly more than we had even hoped for offensively,” Hahn said. “He made an adjustment with his stance in the offseason….That’s really clicked for him. He’s been a great acquisition for us. We have control of him through arbitration next year and certainly look forward to having him around for a while.”
McCann signed a one-year, $2.5MM free agent deal with Chicago after being non-tendered by the Tigers in the offseason, and has enjoyed perhaps the hottest stretch of his career at the plate. McCann is batting .366/.404/.581 through 99 plate appearances, absurd numbers for a hitter who had just a .653 OPS over 1658 career PA heading into the season. While some regression at the plate is inevitable, Fegan feels the Sox would prefer keeping McCann over Welington Castillo for 2020, since even McCann on an arbitration raise will cost less than Castillo’s $8MM club option.
Here’s more from around the AL Central…
- Jordan Zimmermann is “probably a month” or so away from returning, Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire told The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen (Twitter link) and other media. Gardenhire revealed that Zimmermann has been battling a muscle strain in addition to the UCL sprain that initially sent him to the injured list back on April 26.
- Indians manager Terry Francona provided MLB.com’s Mandy Bell (Twitter links) and other reporters with injury updates today, including the news that Adam Plutko will start for Cleveland on Saturday. Plutko has missed the entire season due to a right forearm sprain, and has only a 5.38 ERA over 80 1/3 career innings in the majors, though the Tribe is looking to fill holes in the rotation with both Corey Kluber and Mike Clevinger on the IL. Speaking of the Cleveland injury list, Francona also said Tyler Naquin will be kept out of baseball activities for two weeks due to swelling behind the outfielder’s knee.
- “The expectation both within the organization and outside is that the Twins, like so many other teams, must address their bullpen if they want to be real contenders,” The Athletic’s Dan Hayes writes in a look at Minnesota’s relief corps. The Twins are around the middle of the pack in most relief categories, with Taylor Rogers, Blake Parker, Trevor May, and Ryne Harper all delivering excellent results thus far, though there isn’t a lot of experience within that group. While Minnesota will surely explore adding a reliever before the trade deadline if the team remains in the race, GM Thad Levine notes that “I think it’s a little too early to see that market take shape,” noting that teams with bullpen assets to sell right now are putting a big asking price on that pitching.
- While Alex Gordon is posting big numbers and can be a free agent after the season, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (subscription required) feels “the safer bet is that he stays put, then re-signs with the Royals and finishes his career in Kansas City.” The long-time face of the Royals franchise can’t be traded without his permission due to 10-and-5 rights, though if he did want to be dealt, “the Royals almost certainly would try to accommodate him.” There’s also a notable financial element to any potential Gordon trade, as the $4MM buyout attached to his $23MM mutual option for the 2020 season would become a $4MM assignment bonus in the event of a trade, as the mutual option would then be voided. Plus, Gordon still has roughly $15MM remaining on his $20MM salary for the 2019 season.
Gordon absolutely will not be traded. 1) Dayton won’t trade him 2) he won’t waive his 10–and-5 rights. He has a house in Johnson County and three kids under 5 and $160m. He has talked about retiring regardless and said he’s not going to be the guy who chases opportunities to play. He’ll play for the Royals or he’ll hang it up. Ken Rosenthal is rarely right about the Royals.
Ken did not say he would be traded
Also, Gordon has been really bad for years now. Nobody is giving up real talent for Alex Gordon’s good six weeks.
Actually it’s 3 kids under 10…I believe his oldest is 8 or 9 years old
No disrespect to Gordon, but I don’t know that many GMs would look just at this year’s numbers and ignore 2016-18. Can’t see being willing to give up anything of value, especially with that contract, Why not go out a career Royal?
I think he’ll retire a Royal…possibly this year
Flanagan tweeted today that Gordo wants to play another year but that it’ll either be for the Royals or not at all.
Gordo? You talking about Bartolo Colon?
How in the world is McCann doing so much better in Chicago? No it’s not a change of scenery it’s because the White Sox coaching staff is leaps about bounds better than the Tigers. Same with Iggy and the Reds.
Unreal.
Don’t forget Suarez with the Reds.
Wow. Detroit’s coaching staff must be absolutely brutal. And this is coming from a White Sox fan…
Kelly’s staff is fine. It’s holdover McClendon.
@Priggs89
I was thinking the same thing. It’s very rare to see anyone praise the Sox coaching staff, let alone to that degree.
I can’t figure out how Steverson still has a job, and Cooper is so hit and miss (mostly miss these last few years). Ricky is very good in the clubhouse, but leaves a lot to be desired with his in-game decision making.
His in game decision making, especially around the bullpen is flat out baffling.
Coop has had his share of successes recently too. The Sox have an affinity for picking up garbage heap pitchers, and Coop usually turns 1 or 2 around a year. Was able to flip Jennings, Swarzek, Duke etc.
Lloyd McClendon is the problem
Guess I’ll be skipping the Indians game on Saturday.
You missed a good one… 😉
Zimmerman. Injured. Enough said. I mean how many different things can go wrong with a guy?
Twins need bullpen arms. Go get Givens. Go get Doolittle. Go get Kimbrel. Someone.
It’s clearl from the article referenced that the asking price from selling teams is way to high. You don’t want to give up a top 10 prospect for a relief pitcher. Relief pitchers are flaky!
Which is why he mentioned Kimbrel who only has a QO draft pick attached to him. There are TONS of options out there who could potentially help the Twins which wouldn’t cost a lot in prospects.
Kimbrel won’t sign until the QO isn’t tied to him. That’s too close. It’s kind of worrisome to sign with no game experience this year. He’ll be fresh, but pitchers haven’t always done well coming in midway (non-injury) but that’s mostly starters I can recall. I’d be more for the twins snagging a controllable young arm. If only they snagged Diaz during the Seattle fire sale!
You’re right. Kimbrel would totally turn down a good contract just because there was still a QO attached to him.
The first team to make an offer Kimbrel considers to be good will sign him. It’s just expected no team will make him an offer until the QO is gone. Not that Kimbrel won’t sign an offer if it was made.
You’re putting the cart before the horse.
Offers have been made. He hasn’t taken them because they are worse due to the fact there is a QO. He wants money and they’re will be more if he waits. There will also be teams willing to pay because they feel they have a chance. Even with deals on the table now, he’s not going to sign knowing in a couple of weeks he could get a better deal. He’s already gone this far.
McCann is obviously going to regress, but keeping him over Castillo is a no brainer. They should be looking to cut ties with Castillo in the near future and platoon McCann with Collins pretty much all summer.
Unless Wellington Castillo starts hitting he won’t be much of a trade chip this summer even with his potential extra year of control due to his 2020 club option. Castillo did no favors for himself with his PED suspension last year either.
That being said, I do look for James McCann to be the White Sox primary starting catcher next year with Zack Collins as his backup. Collins high OBP left-handed power bat would also be a nice compliment offensively to McCann’s right-handed one. I can see defensively challenged Collins starting a couple of games a week next season while McCann assumes the lion’s share of work behind the dish. Collins can certainly learn a thing or two backing up McCann, the latter also figuring to offer his mentoring skills as a consummate clubhouse leader.
They can cut him for all I care. McCann is clearly the better option on both sides of the ball, and Collins needs to get his feet wet this year – just like Eloy should’ve last year.
Plus Collins could get his bats in at DH if he’s not catching. They are using castillo this year at DH more which is NOT the answer. Plus MM’s bro in law batting cleanup is also NOT the answer, say bye bye to him soon please
@Priggs89
@AaronSapoznik
@omahaomaha
Yes, agreed! As soon as Collins is ready, which I’m guessing July, they need to move Castillo out, whether a salary dump (though the Sox would still eat most of the salary) or just cut him.
I’d be a little more inclined to keep Alonso (though if he can be traded, I’d do it in a heartbeat), but not at the cost of keeping someone from advancing or keeping a more worthy bat in the lineup. If nothing else, it wouldn’t hurt to have another veteran presence in the clubhouse. But I definitely wouldn’t be heartbroken if they did cut him before season’s end.
No idea if or when Jay will start playing, nor do I really care at this point. I’d rather keep playing guys like Tilson, Cordell, Engel, Delmonico, Palka and see if any of them are worth keeping.
At least the Sox will have money freed up this Winter with those 3 gone (almost $20MM after factoring in the options).
Gordon doing well in a contract year!? I’m shocked! He slacked for 3 years now he cares?
Let the bum go!
Actually, he changed his stance and his posture. Part of the other issue was his injuries (broken bone in his wrist when he & moustakas collided affected him for awhile)
I agree, there is no reason to resign Gordon. Let him go….but Im sure the casual fans who just know the big names from the title run will be livid if he’s not resigned. He ain’t what he used to be….time to make a smart business choice for once and not give in to the fans who don’t have a clue and don’t take the business side of baseball in to account. Like you said, the last 3 years he’s been garbage and a liability with the bat most of the time. Of course he’s a stud in left field but they already have enough defensive first OF’s who cant hit(Dayton is infatuated with them). He acquired Phillips as the main piece for Moustakas and have you seen his stats at Omaha? 103 AB’s with 47 strikeouts…..thats so pathetic! Not a good centerpiece for a trade Mr. Moore!
If the Indians struggling bats needed a jolt there’s no better team to play than the orioles. Straily is an absolute joke and the bullpen is about on par with him. They get Bundy tomorrow for another stat padder. Get your hits in then because John means comes to town Saturday and you’re finally back to facing a major league quality starter.
That Orioles bullpen is pretty bad.
John Means huh?
Hehehehe…..you beat me to it.
Find some video of McCann in 2018. He was huge….at least 30 lbs overweight. Slow bat slow feet slow everything. He looks like a professional athlete again….but his weight gain cost him millions.
I wonder how bad it smells around Target Field these days what with the depth of the BS coming from the front office.
Thad Levine talked about being willing to spend money to boot their boot on the divisions neck only after they were projected to win it.
Now that the Twins are in that very position, suddenly Levine talks about budget… with an extra $20-30M they could access sitting in the bank right now and almost no significant contracts on the books in the future.
You’re the kind of person who complains about how messy it is halfway through surgery.
The Twins are taking the smart route with their bullpen. Coming into the season they had a bunch of guys they weren’t sure about. Rogers was for sure but no one knew what Parker, Hildy, Mejia, Reed, May, Magill, Morin, Romero, Duffey, Vazquez, Harper etc. would be like. Rather than try to guess, they used the first part of the season to see how that shakes out. May and Parker have stepped up and are solid late inning guys. Harper and Magill seem like nice low-leverage arms. Duffey, Romero, Mejia and Hildy have been more up and down. The Twins now know what they have and can go out at the deadline (or after the draft for Kimbrel) and take on reliever contracts.
Reed is a testament to why spending on free agent relievers is tough. There’s just so much variance. Yes it costs some prospects but if the Twins have the payroll to absorb contracts (which they’ve indicated they do), the cost should be manageable. They really only need one high-leverage reliever to feel good about the pen. Rogers + new guy + May + Parker is a solid four, Harper and Magill can fill lower-leverage roles, and the last few spots can be filled by whoever of Mejia, Romero, Hildy, and Vazquez steps up. They also could be in the market for a low-leverage guy who’d cost them a minor prospect.
Don’t complain about the process before its done.
I think Mejia and Romero will figure it out and be useful. Not so sure about Hildy – his velocity drop is tough to feel good about.
I wish they had a guy like Ryan Pressly
So… just wondering how much the Twins F.O. pays for internet trolls these days?
Don’t spend money because you’re not guaranteed performance? There’s a reason the Twins have the worst record in baseball for the last 8 full seasons 2011-2018.