The White Sox are have reunited with outfielder Kevin Pillar just days after the veteran was released by the club, as first reported by Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun Times. The club has since announced the deal, which is a major league contract. Right-hander Touki Toussaint was designated for assignment in order to make room for Pillar on the 40-man roster. Van Schouwen also reports that right-hander Jordan Leasure is set to make the club’s Opening Day roster as a member of the bullpen. Leasure is not yet on the 40-man roster, meaning the club will need to select his contract prior to Opening Day.
Pillar, 35, is a veteran of 11 MLB seasons who spent the 2023 campaign as a member of the Braves. He appeared in 81 games as a reserve outfielder and pinch hitter for the club, though he struggled at the plate en route to a .228/.248/.416 slash line across 206 trips to the plate. Once one of the game’s best defenders in center field, the shine has worn off of Pillar’s glovework in recent years, relegating him to corner outfield work in more recent seasons. That being said, the veteran is a career .278/.308/.461 hitter against left-handed pitching and makes plenty of sense as a righty complement to the lefty-hitting corner outfield duo of Andrew Benintendi and Dominic Fletcher in Chicago.
Pillar’s return to the organization comes at the expense of Toussaint, who the club acquired off waivers from the Guardians back in June. He made 19 appearances down the stretch with Chicago, 15 of them starts, and posted a 4.97 ERA with a 4.95 FIP in 83 1/3 innings of work. Toussaint struck out a decent 22.7% of batters faced during his time with the club, but walked opponents at a concerning 14.2% clip. The mediocre results and concerning peripherals didn’t stop the White Sox from retaining the righty this winter, but the club now appears ready to move on from Toussaint after a disastrous Spring Training that saw him post a 17.47 ERA in 5 2/3 innings of work that saw him walk a whopping 11 batters while striking out just two. The White Sox will have one week to either trade, release, or pass Toussaint through waivers.
Set to make the club’s Opening Day roster alongside Pillar is Leasure, a 25-year-old right-hander who came to the White Sox as part of the return in the deal that sent Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly to the Dodgers back in July. A 14th-round pick by the Dodgers in the 2021 draft, Leasure enjoyed a strong 2022 season with L.A. as he pitched to a 3.38 ERA in 58 2/3 innings of work between the High-A and Double-A levels, striking out an impressive 34.9% of batters faced during that time. Leasure returned to Double-A to begin the 2023 season and continued to dominate with a 3.09 ERA and a 39.7% strikeout rate in 35 innings, but began to struggle upon being traded to Chicago, with whom he was promoted to Triple-A.
Leasure struggled to a 6.08 ERA in his 15 appearances at Triple-A Charlotte last year, though his strikeout rate remained above 35% even as he struggled. Despite those difficulties, Leasure went on to dominate in the Arizona Fall League back in October as he punched out 44.8% of batters faced and posted a sparkling 1.08 ERA. The right-hander’s bounceback continued this spring as he’s posted 8 1/3 scoreless innings across nine appearances with the White Sox during camp. Those strong results since the end of last season appear to have earned Leasure his first taste of big league action, where he’ll factor into the club’s bullpen mix as another right-handed option alongside Steven Wilson, John Brebbia, Deivi Garcia, and Michael Kopech.
Even Superman can’t save the sox.
Superman has been long dead
How does this signing ‘make plenty of sense’?
They are going nowhere – and would be better off taking a flyer on a younger option player, who has some upside.
Even going after a guy like Dom Smith who might now be healthy – and even though he’s another LH bat, would be a better signing.
It’s like the Chisox are playing for 4th place in the division.
I think an argument could be made that adding Pillar’s defense to assist and hopefully aid in the development of the young pitching staff is more valuable to the organization long-term than adding someone like Dominic Smith who has no defensive value and is extremely inconsistent with the bat.
This
RH bench bat for lefty hitting outfielders. Rather a vet than some rookie lingering on the bench when he can get AAA at bats full time.
So what do they have to lose ?
9 years 72 days of service time. Needs 100 more days on ML roster for a vested pension. He’s betting on that moribund roster and typical White Sox injuries to give him an opportunity to limp to the 10 year service time finish line.
In this case I’m glad they resigned him; he’s always been a good soldier, & you can do more harm forcing someone who isn’t ready onto the roster to face real major leaguers – it’s not like they get to face White Sox pitchers in real games. Colas was evidence enough.
They’re also trying to overhaul their clubhouse culture. I’ve only heard good things about Pillar as a clubhouse guy. Seems to go about the game the right way.
MLB pensions are not all-or-nothing. If he retired today he’d get around 95% of the maximum annual pension. For someone who has made $23M+ in his career it’s a pretty minimal difference between 95% of a pension ($210k per year at age 62) and 100% ($220k per year at age 62).
He’s also made ~$23 million in his career. don’t think he needs it.
He might have been paid a total of $23 million, but I doubt he has $23 million in his bank account when takes into account taxes, agent fees and misspending.
If he invested most of his after-tax earnings in boring old index funds he has more more than $23M to his name at this point. Not at all unlikely.
Taxes and life expense such as kids a wife and a house. So no way he has $23 mil. That’s like asking someone who makes $50,000 a year for 10 years to have $500,000 in the bank. While he’s better or should be better off than 99% if the population you never know and having extra security with a MLB pension couldn’t hurt.
Hopefully he hired a good financial advisor. Professional athletes, unfortunately, do not have a good financial track record.
I think this is a wasted spot. Give some kid a shot. I rather it be Remillard.
This moves the needle for the Pale Hosers from 65 wins to 65.5 wins.
So they really just need 69 more such signings to be a 100-win team. Come on, Getz, get to work!
Just waiting for the Ohtani sentenced to prison article
Drinks on me the day that occurs.
Sox should have signed Dom Smith or CJ Edwards
Both have non existent defense.
Do you even know who Carl Edwards Jr is?
His name is Wheeler. Of course he knows who he is. His daddy is a retired NASCAR driver.
The Chicago White Sox;
“Rebuilding Since 1919”
Ahahaha!
Since 2005
Glad to see Pillar signed to a big league contract. A serious player with real glove skills, always willing to sacrifice his body for the catch. A good example to teammates as someone with perpetual hustle.
If you’re not a WS contender, give your prospects time to mature in AAA and have solid oldsters play on the big-league diamonds.
Kevin was always a pro for the Blue Jays and was taken by Atlanta, run by former Jays GM Alex Anthopoulous who knew that. Chicago has got a good OF.
Good point! In recent years the Sox don’t hustle for crap. Just a terrible, terrible culture. Pillar is a guy who commands respect and can help set that standard.
This
I think you right . Certainly the best right fielder and bench and clubhouse addition
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team cut a guy after ST and then sign him again to a Major League deal. If you were going to do that why cut him in the first place? It might make sense to the guy who wrote it but cutting him made no sense to me in the first place. But then we are talking about the White Sox. If they saved 20 bucks doing it this way I wouldn’t be shocked.
Anyone that can take a fastball off the face and walk off the field without help can play on my team.
I’ll do it for Major League minimum$$.
Ahh yes, apparently seeing the Getz ‘hokey-pokey’ style of General management…This bodes well. Im sure players and their agents love that as well.
You put your left foot in, you put your left foot out….That’s what it’s all about!
Sell the team j.r. terrible top to bottom organization including Chicago Bulls. Nashville is calling.
He’s gotta die soon!
That’s just an awful thing to say.
It’s maybe an awful thing to say out loud but a very natural thing to think.
It is but he is holding us hostage. He doesn’t want to go past the 75 million threshold of 1996.
If Nashville is calling, let it ring… not worth answering.
Was surprised he was not making the team. This is not a surprise. He fits very well in the platoon as a corner OF. The real question here is if Grifol uses him properly. Absolutely the worst manager of the 30 MLB teams. Tom is 100 right about lack of hustle last season. Blame that on Grifol. Middleton was on point too about his comments after being traded. Remilard belongs only if to show the other players the right way to play the game. The other sad thing is that 85 wins takes the division. If JR actually opened up his wallet it was obtainable.
The allure of the White Sox is just too intoxicating for some… welcome back!
How much is he making? Less than the previous agreed upon $3M if he made the roster?