The White Sox have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran left-hander Ross Detwiler, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). He’ll return to the ChiSox after appearing in 18 games for them during the 2019 campaign.
Detwiler, 33, was once the No. 6 overall pick in the draft and, earlier in his career, was a fine back-end starter for some competitive Nationals clubs. His 2012 season included 164 1/3 innings of 3.40 ERA ball, and his overall body of work between the rotation and bullpen from 2010-14 was sound: 394 1/3 innings with a 3.61 ERA, 4.14 FIP, 5.5 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9.
Things have gone south for Detwiler since, however. He’s floundered through brief stints with Texas, Cleveland, Atlanta, Seattle and the White Sox, pitching to a combined 6.60 ERA in 182 2/3 innings of work since being traded away from the Nationals prior to the 2015 campaign. Detwiler did pitch well in eight Triple-A starts for the White Sox in 2019 and has had successful indie ball stints in 2018-19, but it’s been a half decade since his last solid run in the Majors. He’ll give the Sox some depth in both the rotation and in the bullpen for the upcoming season, but the Chicago front office surely remains in pursuit of more impactful additions.
And the stove is officially out of gas.
Damn. I have actually heard of Ross Detwielers name and I am a lifelong Braves fan. I still never even knew he pitched for the Braves. When did this happen? He must have been barely used due to his tendencies to suck.
This could get a press conference the size of Cole….
Veteran presence. Good control and Coop saw something he thinks he can fix. On top of that he wanted to come back. So there you have it.
Cobb, if ‘Coop’ thought he saw something that he could fix – – why didn’t he do that, in the first place?
Dogbone- it’s a process. You know that. Sometimes it takes longer than it might take others. Rest assured Detwiler in good hands and on track. Coop gonna get him to stop throwing so many strikes and then he won’t give up so many hits. Everyone will see a new pitcher starting this spring. Book it, Dano
As fixed as Covey…
Yeah… That’s a big problem. He throws too many strikes. Why is it that other much more successful pitchers throw more strikes? Are you sure it’s not because the pitches he throws in the strike zone are just easy to hit? Throwing less strikes will only result in him walking more batters so the hits he gives up will be for more rbi’s.
he’s gonna compete with carson fulmer, dylan covey, gordon beckham, and probably hector santiago for that #2 role behind giolito.
Beckham lol
I saw that lol.
Don’t forget about Courtney Hawkins and Keon Barnum.
Keenyn Walker & Jared Mitchell too.
But at least they’ll be throwing to Yasmani Grandal…..
Could be a diamond in the rough. And monkeys might fly out of my butt.
Chya!!!!!
How does this guy keep getting a job
He’s left-handed and he has a pulse. 🙂
He gave up half the home runs Verlander did. That makes him twice as good. You all will see.
He lost three less games than deGrom. That makes him even better.
Idiot.
That joke went way over your head iamhector 24
Dumpster divin Theo
Wut?
I’m sure those two Cubs troll morons can spin it that way somehow
Issajoke
Aren’t jokes meant to be funny?
Good depth signing
Now sign NOVA!
Even if he is right handed, which he is.
Right handed? Coop will fix that!
Lord have mercy….i refreshed the MLB Trade Rumors page for this choice bit of information. Being a White Sox fan is like dying by a thousand little cuts.
Being a Chicago sports fan is hard liv’in. The people who own these franchises are sadist.
Why on earth is this guy still in the league? He’s never pitched well at all.
See above post. He’s left-handed with a pulse.
The White Sox pitching needs are almost complete! Where is Nate Jones??
So glad you’re kidding.
There is absolutely no reason to sign guys like this. You can get just as ineffective pitching from basically anyone already in the minors. It’s a waste of a spot.
Hey, acquisitions like these serve a purpose. How else can you miss the playoffs 10 years straight? The Yankees add the best pitcher in the game, and the Sox follow up with a 33 year old reliever who’s seen better days. Thhhhhuuhhh Yankees win.
Yea! Any other team would get ineffective pitching through the minors, but not the White Sox! We trade Fernando Tatis Jr. and Erik Johnson to the Padres for James Shields who at the time was burned out, and carrying a 4+ ERA. He came to the Sox and was eating up innings with a 6+ Era. That’s got to go down as one of the worst trades in MLB history!
That’s the kind of stupid trade KW used to do all the time, before J.R. stuffed him behind a desk. Any quality organization would have canned his sorry #%&.
Cubs sending Lou Brock to Cards for a washed up Ernie Broglio is still the worst deal of all time.
Dumpster divin’
I remember Steve Trachsel being the slowest working pitcher in baseball. We used to go to the games he started just to scream at him to hurry up and pitch the ball. Good times Funny stuff. I think the more we yelled at him the longer he took. Classic
I guess it’s better than refreshing the page only to see “Trade rumors persist, but the Price doesn’t seem right?” I mean am I right? Ok I got nuthin.
PHA
They need to sign Dallas Keuchel & re sign Ivan Nova.
$@&%# Ivan Nova.
I bet Mark Buehrle can still pitch.
Bring him back.
He can break Minnie Minoso # of decades of MLB baseball record.
Good depth piece. Good addition to the core. Good low risk/high ceiling signing. I absolutely love this move. Sox print money.
K.
Way to fortify the bullpen.
Detwiler’s ceiling is the first floor above the basement. At best, he can be a bad No. 5 starter.
Ross Detwiler definitely falls in the category of “guys I have seen enough of.”
See also: Nicky Delmonico.
Best name in professional sports.
Runner up: Dick Trickle
Rusty Kuntz
For once we agree. Konerko playing first, Chris Getz on base and Rusty was the 1b coach and their backs were towards the fans…Konerko Getz Kuntz. Look it up, there’s tons of pics.
Yeah, hopefully Keuchel will take their money and not get used for leverage again.
The Sox could use Keuchel, but he doesn’t make them significantly better. Giolito, Kopech and Cease will have to be ace-like for the Sox to win the division in 2020. Not a realistic expectation.
Keuchel would make the team a lot better than fill in the blank scrub to join Giolito while Cease/Lopez could either be extremely good or command way off on a given night. Also morale boost to offense that they have a seasoned pro that is used to winning. 2020 more about getting used to winning and with a lot of luck outside shot at wildcard. Kopech will be babied, Dunning 2021 hopefully ready and Rodon will be his usual inconsistent self whenever he returns in the summer. No QO for Keuchel and saving prospects from foolish trade a bonus.
You’re right. Dallas Keuchel isn’t a significant improvement over Ervin Santana, Ross Detwiler, Dylan Covey, or Omar Despagne.
He doesn’t turn them into a championship-caliber team, but to act like he’s not a significant improvement is ridiculous.
Keuchel would make the team better just for the fact that he’s no Ross Detweiler.
Dallas Keuchel won an AL Cy Young Award in 2015 pitching in a hitter/HR friendly venue in Houston. He has never relied on velocity for his success and is the type of ground ball/command pitcher who could continue to pitch effectively as he ages. Keuchel will turn 32 on New Years Day, has been an effective inning eater most of his career and has not had a serious arm injury despite a few stints on the IL related mostly to neck and back issues. He’s a warrior when healthy and very much resembles former White Sox fan favorite Mark Buehrle as a pitcher and multiple Gold Glove winning fielder. Like Buehrle, Keuchel also has a World Series ring on his resume and would be an ideal fit in a young White Sox rotation that is chock full of young right-handed power arms.
Of course, baseball sites like this are also chock full of moaning, impatient White Sox fans who can’t wait one more day for the White Sox to complete their 3 year rebuild. There are also far too many of them that wouldn’t know a good pitcher or players without an advanced analytic handbook nearby telling them who is capable of helping a team going forward. When Rick Hahn and owner Jerry Reinsdorf finally complete their task of making the White Sox perennial championship contenders this decade I don’t want to hear one word from this sect of alleged die hard fans who cry more than a colicky infant.
Aaron Sapoznik- hook line and sinker. Perennial contenders? Wake up
I didn’t say Keuchel wouldn’t make the Sox better. I said they wouldn’t be significantly better with just him. The Sox need another Ace to end the rebuild and contend. Keuchel is not an Ace. No team should ever aspire to win a wild card in December. You either go for it, or you do what the White Sox have ALWAYS done. What’s sad is, if this current core young talent doesn’t develop into stars, the Sox have no chance of contending because of their offseason failures. I can already picture Giolito in a Red Sox or Dodger uniform years from now when the Sox decide to rebuild again. This is major league baseball in 2019; three teams feasting off everyone to ensure playoff baseball in those markets. It makes me sick.
They are counting on any combination of the young in-house starters to make up 4/5 of the rotation by 2021 to truly contend…..and 1-2 of those to be the legit TOR guys the fans want for several years. Keuchel can simply be the other reliable veteran guy (and lefty) to be a solid/not spectacular contributor.
When you march out Ross detwiler and Dylan covey one year, and replace them with keuchel, your team has significantly improved.
Typical Chicago sports fan… thinking small. If the Sox don’t contend during their “window”, it doesn’t matter that Keuchel being better than some 5th starter doesn’t matter. It’s really about results. The rebuild ends when the team is good enough to contend. They can’t contend against the best teams in the league with a mediocre rotation.
“What’s sad is, if this current core young talent doesn’t develop into stars, the Sox have no chance of contending because of their offseason failures.”
They could’ve signed any one of Machado/Harper/Cole over the last two years and that sentence still would’ve been true. This rebuild begins and ends with their great prospects turning into great players. As it stands today, they are NOT one player away from a championship. Next year is still about player development, no matter how they finish up this offseason. 2021 is the year they SHOULD be an addition or two away from making a real run.
How is Keuchel small?
No, he isn’t a No. 1,, but he is a steady, consistent pitcher who can probably serve as no worse than a very solid 4 for several years, with the potential of being a No. 2.
He’s about as close to a Mark Buerhle-type of pitcher as you have today.
Buerhle was never an ace, and had some mediocre seasons, but he was a professional who you knew was going tot take the ball every fifth start and get you solid innings. That is what the team lacks. They don’t have any innings-eaters with solid health records. They really don’t even have a proven starter since Gio has done it one year.
I can’t see why anyone would complain about snagging Keuchel . He’s a good pitcher with a solid track record, and he will likely age well because he’s not a K guys has much as a pitch-to-contact guy.
I wouldn’t read too much into his struggles last season, considering he had no Spring Training. He still would have been the No. 2 on the WS staff.
I said “thinking small”…
The Sox don’t operate in a vacuum. They’re trying to win (allegedly) a championship. Well, to do that you need to beat the best teams in the A.L. to win the pennant. Then you need to mop up the N.L. champion to win the WS. Keuchel doesn’t make them good enough to do any of that. They’re a young club with potential, but not enough proven veteran talent to reasonably expect them to contend for two or three years. Cole/Stras/Wheeler/Ryu puts them in the conversation for a division championship at least. Add Keuchel, and they’re probably a good bet to win the whole damn thing. That’s what a deep roster does.
The Sox needed to add an Ace this offseason to pair with Giolito. That was the plan and they didn’t get it done.
Yesterday Delmonico, today Detwiler. Hahn appears to be paging through his discard Rolodex alphabetically. Thank goodness Despaigne has apparently been bypassed.
Boooooooooooooooooo
With two rookies being added, Roberts and Madrigal, it’s becoming obvious Hahn has 2021 circled. Not 2020. And he might not be wrong either. Lopez, Cease, and Kopech all truly need another year of seasoning. So write off October 2020. Hahn probably has.
Baby steps. 86 wins. And then….
if they didnt want to compete in 2020, then why didn’t they flip colome at the deadline when trash like mark melancon had a market?
They can still flip him next at the next deadline.
Because they probably like(d) having a backend of the bullpen that was able to close out games more than they liked anything they were offered?
They just want the team to be competitive somewhat to advance the talent, development. But not worried about winning more beyond that. Yet.
They have officially declared they aren’t competing this season
I missed the press release on this minor league signing. Did they announce it in that?
They are announcing it through their utter lack of interest in brining in other players.
I have no doubt at this point if they don’t add anyone else, you will see both Robert and Madrigal in the minors for much of the first half, and an attempt to flip more low-level players, because that strategy has done wonders for the prospect health.
Hahn will have no issue tanking this season.
Just the man I wanted to see after Nicky!……
Delmonico, Detwiler ?? Is this Hahn’s idea of a Christmas joke? If the Sox don’t sign a pitcher or two, the Sox will lose as many games as they did last year. And to those who say be patient, you go spend your hard earned money on watching them get blown out year after year because they are re-building. B.S.
The White Sox signed Detwiller to a minor league contract to fill in one spot in the rotation for the first few months until Kopech is ready to become a starting pitcher.
You mean Rodon? Kopech should be active when ST starts. He’ll probably be on an innings limit, be he’ll be in the rotation.
Dumpster Diving!