The White Sox have requested unconditional release waivers on infielder Hanser Alberto, who was designated for assignment a couple of days ago, with James Fegan of The Athletic among those to relay the information. His transactions tracker at MLB.com lists him as having been released, indicating he cleared waivers.
Alberto, 30, was signed to a minor league deal this winter and made the club’s Opening Day roster as a reserve infielder. He played each non-shortstop position on the dirt and even took the mound a couple of times. At the plate, he hit .220/.261/.390 for a wRC+ of 75, indicating he was 25% below average. That actually wasn’t too far off of his career batting line of .269/.292/.381 and 77 wRC+ but he was squeezed out of the club’s plans nonetheless.
The Sox have been shuffling their roster and lineup for most of the year as various injuries have altered their primary plans. Some players have made the most of those new opportunities, such as Jake Burger and Romy González. González is a second baseman and Burger is at least being considered as a possibility there. González bounced back from a rough start to hit .289/.298/.644 since late April while Burger is hitting .266/.314/.594 for the whole year. With those players deserving of a longer look and Tim Anderson and Elvis Andrus now returned from their respective IL stints, it seems Alberto didn’t have much of a path to playing time.
Now that he’s been released, the Sox will remain on the hook for the remainder of his $2.3MM salary for the year. That will allow any of the 29 other clubs to sign Alberto for the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster with that amount being subtracted from what the Sox pay. Alberto could perhaps serve in the weak side of a platoon role somewhere, as he’s hit .324/.343/.455 against lefties in his career. That’s continued this year, as he’s slashed .357/.400/.714 against southpaws for the season.
Fun fact, when the MLB Transaction tracker says the player has been released, that really just means he has been put on waivers. So the White Sox official tweet is still accurate. There is still a chance someone claims him tomorrow. This happened with Jesse Chavez last year.
$2.3 mil? Really? Just wasting money.
Hanser Alberto is a hit first low range but versatile type player and miscast on the ChiSox. His best season was during the 2019 juice ball season.
Lol between him and Garcia almost 10 mill
They actually owe Leury $11 million if you count next year too…Alberto was the Leury replacement and a bargain by comparison.
The amount of money that they have squandered it astounding. Think of the garbage players that have amounted to being worth literally close to nothing: Eaton for 8M, Velazquez 3M, Garcia 15M/3 years, DIekman 3.5M, Alberto 2.3M, Harrison 5M, Kelly 17M/2 years (he isn’t terrible now but still wasn’t worth close to that). That’s 50M right there, which is 2 years of Marcus Semien, who is playing at an MVP level this year, on pace to have a WAR of like 8 or 9. Does anybody think that those collection of misfits is worth what two years of Semien would be? To call Hahn and others stupid is an insult to stupid people.
Another lost $2.3 Million this team is pathetic with wasting money
So I was shopping at goodwill in Orland Park and actually came across a Hanser jersey on one of the racks. I thought about adding it to my huge collection of Sox’s jerseys. At a price of 29.99 I decided to pass on it. By the way , I was wearing my 1979 Milt May jersey. Doesn’t fit as well from when I first bought it. Sorry no Soxs sightings in awhile
Quick! Call Scott Harris!