The White Sox have added some pitching depth, signing right hander Mike Morin to a minor league deal, per his MLB transaction page.
Morin, 31, hasn’t appeared in the big leagues since a 2020 stint with the Marlins, having spent the past season in independent ball. For Kane County, Morin tossed 13 2/3 innings of 5.27 ERA ball.
Originally drafted by the Angels in the 13th round of the 2012 draft, Morin rose through LA’s system and made his debut in 2014. He looked like a quality reliever that year, tossing 59 innings of 2.90 ERA ball with strong peripherals.
He put up even better peripherals the following year, boosting his strikeout rate and lowering his walk rate, but wound up with a 6.37 ERA over 35 1/3 innings. The Angels would continue to use him in their bullpen until 2017, when he started bouncing round the league a bit on the waiver wire, appearing in games for the Royals, Mariners, Twins, Phillies and Marlins over the next few years.
All told, Morin’s compiled a 4.57 ERA over 228 2/3 big league innings. He throws a low-90s fastball and mixes in a slider and changeup.
He can throw it. Yep.
Depth is always good, but right now I’m more concerned about who will play second base for the Sox.
Padres have an excess of infielder,see one Ha Song Kim, but lack back end starters…
The White Sox have little rotation depth to help the Padres as we post. They can ill afford to lose any starting pitcher in 2023 like they did in 2022. The only real depth the White Sox have on their MLB roster is in the bullpen and that took a hit with the recent cancer diagnosis of closer Liam Hendriks.
And so sad to hear about Hendriks. I feel for Sox fans and wish him the best in his treatment!
Bullpen depth…? I mean, they have guys that wear uniforms, but other than Graveman, Bummer and Lopez, who can get hitters out?
I disagree. They have Jimmy Lambert who they could extend to a swing role, Jonathan Stiever, who has MLB experience and could be a back end rotation pitcher, and Davis Martin who played quite well last year. That won’t make up for losing Gio, Cease or Lynn for extended time, but it’s not like they don’t have anyone.
You just listed 3 guys that wear uniforms. Just because they wear a uniform doesn’t mean they can get guys out at the MLB level. None if those guys were particularly good in the minors. Martin had a 4.86 ERA for the Sox in ’22. Only decent starts were against teams like Oakland, Detroit, KC. That isn’t playing “quite well”. Striever…seriously? His AAA ERA is 5.84. he didn’t even pitch for the Sox last year because his previous attempts were horrible. Lambert doesn’t have any plus pitches, so he was never dominant in the minors. Criticize me because I find it highly unlikely that he’s going to become a guy the Sox can rely on. These guys a great compared to you and me, but they are fringe MLB pitchers and certainly not guys that make a contenders bullpen let alone starting rotation.
Young Garrett Crochet is a stud when healthy. He resembles a young Chris Sale when the ‘Condor’ began his White Sox career in their pen.
Joe Kelley and Jake Diekman are White Sox veterans who have had success as MLB relievers.
28-year old Jose Ruiz has been less consistent thus far but possesses a high octane arm that generates a lot of swing and miss when he is on his game.
“Garrett Crochet is a stud when healthy”
That ain’t this coming season. Scratch him off the list.
Joe Kelly and Diekman “veterans who have had success” the key word there is “had”. Kelly’s Era was over 6.00 and Diekman ERA was 6.52 and allow 72% of inherited runners to score. When they’re brought in, do you seriously have confidence?
Ruiz had 1 good year in his career. That’s an outlier. Last year’s ERA of 4.60 is who he is. Over his career he’s allowed 45% of inherited runners to score. That isn’t a good number.
Sox starters can’t go much beyond 5 IP/ start. And they don’t have any rotation depth. Latest report on Kopech, unlikely to be ready for the start of the season. That means you need 3-4 bullpen arms per game. That means you need 8 quality arms over 162 games. Crochet is not one of those guys. Ruiz is not and Diekman is done. Kelly may straighten himself out, but he’s had more bad season’s over his career than good. So he’s not on the list. Those guys can eat innings in lopsided games.
So I have Graveman, Lopez and Bummer that can get MLB hitters out. Sox need 5 more bullpen arms.
Joe Kelly was coming off an injury when the White Sox signed him following the lockout last offseason. There was no way to monitor or contribute to his rehab during the lockout. They knew he would not be ready to pitch early in the season and he struggled when he finally returned. He did finish the last 4 weeks of the season impressively with a just one run allowed in 7.1 IP’s with 15 SO’s and just 2 BB’s.
Before last season, Kelly was a huge part of the Dodgers bullpen success in 2020 and 2021. He’s also been impressive in 3 World Series, earning one ring apiece with the 2018 Red Sox and 2020 Dodgers. In 8 WS appearances, Kelly has a 2.03 ERA over 13.1 IP’s with 19 SO’s and just 3 BB’s.
As for Jake Diekman, he’s also been better in recent seasons up until last year. Similar to Kelly, Diekman was solid withe the A’s in 2020 and 2021. He wasn’t awful with the Red Sox last season but struggled mightily after his trade to the White Sox. Diekman is a big strike out guy with 11.6 SO/9 but also has had command issues with his 5.2 BB/9. His 3.87 ERA and 3.64 FIP suggests he’s been a pretty solid MLB reliever in his 11-year career.
I think you harvested the few bright spots from Kelly’s career. First, ’20 was 12 innings, that isn’t a huge contribution. Going back to ’14, other than ’21, 2017 was his only strong season 2.79 over 54 IP. The rest of his ERAs, 4.82, 5.15, 4.39, 4.56, and 6.08. His efforts in WS are meaningless when he’s dealing a 6.08 ERA.
I’m not going to spend time pulling Diekman’s numbers, everyone knows where to get them. But like Kelly, most people saw went he offered last season. Based on that disaster, I’m certainly not counting on either one in ’23. Nothing wrong with being overly optimistic.
Kopech? Don’t count on him. His career so far doesn’t begin to support all of the hype about his stuff. Injury prone, inconsistent, and unreliable—anything the team gets from him will be an unexpected bonus. They need to find another starter.
The quote was Colas has every opportunity to win the job.
By that logic, Giolito was the worst pitcher in baseball in 2018 and coming off a bad year, so scratch him, Clevinger is coming of a serious injury, Lynn wasn’t healthy last year, Kopech has been injured a few times. So the Sox have Cease, but will be his 2022 self or be Mediocre like in 2021. God I hate this fan bases’ pessimism. Seriously the worst.
Lambert was legit in a relief role last year, Stiever was recovering from TJ, which historically, the next year is more often than not brutal, and Davis Martin showed enough to be a 5th or spot starter in a pinch. You aren’t going to have 8 aces to pitch when ever you feel like it. You are going to need bottom of rotation pitchers, and they could do far far worse than those three.
Need speed badly. Colas and Hamilton play RF. Second well love to see Sox get Berti from Marlins.
Isn’t Berti just Josh Harrison? Sox have so few quality prospects, they can’t afford to deal any of them. The only answer at 2nd is a free agent.maybe the Sox are holding out to see if no one signs Harrison and picks him up for $1M. I certainly don’t like any of the options in the minors. If you’re going for the bargain, I would have kept Mendick.
I think they plan to begin the season with Sheets in right unless Colas has a great Spring.
If I were trying to bring Colas along slowly, and force Sheet’s bat into the lineup, I’d DH him. Marisnick or Hamilton in RF. I would then burn Sheet’s outfield glove. No matter how many times Benetti babbles on about how much he’s improved defensively, he ain’t.
According to the latest interview with new manager Pedro Grifol, it appears that the opening day RF job is Oscar Colas’ to lose: audacy.com/670thescore/sports/chicago-white-sox/os…
The upside of his bat is worth throwing him in the deep end. Defensively he’s an upgrade to what the Sox rolled out last year. Starting out in the right foot. LaRussa would have grabbed Justin Upton off the wire and started him in RF for his veteran experience.
The White Sox will significantly reduce their team speed issue by getting Eloy Jimenez, Andrew Vaughn and Gavin Sheets off the grass as regulars in 2023. Gold Glove winner Andrew Benintendi replaces Jimenez and Vaughn in LF while Oscar Colas will do the some with Sheets and Vaughn in RF. Luis Robert, aka ‘La Pantera’, also has a GG on his CF resume in his brief career.
The White Sox also boast above average speed on the left side of their infield with SS Tim Anderson and 3B Yoan Moncada. The 3 internal candidates for 2B also have decent speed. The White Sox only figure to be slow footed at 1B, C and DH which is pretty much par for the course in MLB.
Looks like ‘another’ shrewd, steal, under the radar signing by our White Sox. Stunning!!
I know. If only they’d go big and sign a major difference maker like Eric Hosmer.
I thought Hahn hit rock bottom when he signed other team’s DFA’s and minor league garbage. Now he’s reaching into the independent league for a guy with a career 4.57 ERA who pitched well nine years ago. I might as well reserve my luxury box right now and bring people I hate to watch the demise of one of the AL’s original teams.
His ability to mentally block all the dumpster diving the Cubs have done recently is truly something to behold.
You just listed Striever and Martin as options for the starting rotation…. Colas or Billy Hamilton in RF. Sosa at 2nd? Think about that. Are the Sox a contender or starting a rebuild?
Nearly early team takes fliers on guys like this. In fact, he’s likely more of a depth guy for AAA than he is guy the Sox see as an arm that can work his way onto the MLB roster.
@avenger
Don’t worry venger, cause once the season starts Old Stoney and young boy in wonderment, Benetti will spin every word they say. They’ll make you believe your watching the 27 Yankees.
Not sure what you are reading, but I said they have some depth at starting rotation. You, know, guys that have pitched at the major league level to a varying degree of success in case one of your 5 starters gets hurt. You understand depth right? Colas has a legitimate chance to break camp with the team, but that is because they refuse to address RF in any meaningful way for the past decade. And I am fairly certain no one wants to see any of their options at 2B. Sosa, Gonzalez, Garcia are all below replacement players, and no one is trying to sell you otherwise.
Not a bad add at all. Morin has always struck me as a decent guy to have in your bullpen as depth.
Talk about a lotto pick…
I still want to know who will play second.
How about Andrea?
How about Andrus?
Awesome dude. Years ago in Angels Spring Training he bent down on his knees and gave my then 5 year old son a signed baseball. My son looked at him like a Greek God. Wish Mike all the best.
Mike Minor on a Morin League Deal, nice.
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I am hearing that Nick Madrigal is available.
Unfortunately, the cubs still think they can make something of Madrigal. He’ll forever be remembered as the last legitimate 2b in WS history. Three years and counting.
Buy low, and better than the other options. I wouldn’t deal any prospects though. System is too thin as is. Can’t deal anything of value. Cubs aren’t going to give him away and they’d get a better offer from someone else.
Either Gonzalez, Sanchez or Sosa take control of the 2B job or you’ll have to make a deal at the end of spring training.
I don’t think Yolbert has a chance, truthfully. For some reason, they really enjoy mediocrity with their 2B position. As in, once they see you are a n average player, they stick with you for a predetermined amount of time, and you will be very hard to replace.
Hey Reinsdorf, are these minor league contracts supposed to give us hope for the 2023 season? Dumpster divng is not going to get it done.
At this rate, the White Sox will probably finish last in the AL Central division.
Whatever happened to your promise to spend some of your $$$billions when the young players are ready.
Please do the fans a big favor and sell this damned team.