2:39pm: White Sox manager Pedro Grifol confirmed to reporters (including MLB.com’s Scott Merkin) that Robinson had the ability to opt out of his contract with the club if not added to the 40-man roster.
12:08pm: The White Sox announced this afternoon that they’ve selected the contract of catcher Chuckie Robinson. Outfielder Duke Ellis was designated for assignment to make room for Robinson on the 40-man roster. Robinson was optioned to Triple-A following the selection of his contract.
Robinson, 29, signed with the White Sox on a minor league deal back in December. In 41 games at the Triple-A level this year, he’s hit just .235/.288/.386 with a 24.4% strikeout rate. That relatively lackluster slash line was nonetheless enough to earn Robinson his first time on a 40-man roster since 2022, when he appeared in 25 games for the Reds and slashed just .136/.136/.271 in 60 trips to the plate for the club. With the White Sox, Robinson as a depth catcher behind the club’s current tandem of Martin Maldonado and Korey Lee, offering the club an optionable catcher they can rely on in the event of an injury. By adding Robinson to the 40-man roster, the White Sox also bypass any hypothetical opt-outs that Robinson may have available to him in his minor league deal with the club, securing his place in the organization.
Making room for Robinson on the 40-man is Ellis, who was selected onto the club’s roster earlier this month. The 26-year-old was a 26th-round pick by the Padres back in 2017 but did not sign. Ultimately, he landed with the White Sox in 2020 as an undrafted free agent and made his pro debut for the club the following year. Ellis worked his way through the club’s minor league system over the past four years but generally struggled with the bat at each level, posting an overall slash line of just .241/.328/.333 during his four seasons in the minors.
Ellis nonetheless managed to crack the majors despite that lackluster offensive performance thanks primarily to his blazing speed. The outfielder has swiped 117 bags in 133 opportunities during his time in the minors and went 34-for-36 at the minor league level on the basepaths this year. That elite baserunning carried over to his time in Chicago, where the White Sox used him primarily as a pinch runner and saw him steal four bases in four attempts during his brief time in Chicago. The White Sox will have one week to either work out a trade or attempt to pass Ellis through waivers. If he goes unclaimed, they’ll have the opportunity to outright him to the minor leagues. Given Ellis lackluster offensive ability, it would be easy to imagine clubs passing on the youngster. With that being said, however, it’s at least possible that his skills as a speedster could catch the eye of a team with room for a pinch runner and defensive replacement in their bench mix.
Chuckle Cheese.
Chuckie gonna get you. 🙂
Murph – Chuckie gonna be calling for the high cheese a lot.
The White Sox are the blueprint on How to NEVER run a professional sports organization
They did the exact same thing as the Astros, Cubs & O’s. Tore it down to the studs, got high draft picks, flipped vets for prospects, and then had their team. They even won 90+ games. But they didn’t pick the right guys. They selected too many DH/1B type of guys. And guys that couldn’t stay healthy. Then, Jerry made them hire Tony as the manager. He was so excited to be there he could hardly stay awake in the dugout. What a train wreck.
Simple: no accountability in the org means such situations like this.
Everyone is ‘The Chairman’s’ best friend as long as you suck up to him and tow the line: Never pay for top talent FAs, always bring in guys that were 5-10 years past their prime or were injured the year prior (who are usually cheap) and hope for a good season out of them. Pay bottom dollar for, and don’t improve, the conditioning staff which has gone downhill since Herm Schneider retired. Don’t invest in the minor league system to ensure you have a pipeline of talent coming in every year (and can develop them outside of your annual fire sale for developed prospects from other orgs).
Deviate and you’re toast (or if you have to be a fall guy for his idiotic choices, like stabbing Renteria in the back for his efforts at helping rebuild the clubhouse, and replacing him with a guy who was a good manager… 10 years prior).
Its why Getz was ‘hired’ as the GM after an exhaustive search of like ,what, 3 guys, and not one of them coming to town to interview?
The real reason why it was Getz was Uncle Jerry knew who he was, he never thought outside the box or caused waves, and would be cheap. He also knew that other GMS would want autonomy to hire and fire who they wanted and ‘The Chairman’ does not like that.
As such you have an org who in 30 years lucked their way into a single WS and won it, but it was more luck than skill. Skill is consistently being in the hunt for a WS title for multiple seasons, and this org has never had that (at least in the time Reinsdorf has owned this club)
Just a joke.
I seem to remember that everyone on White Sox Twitter HATED Renteria and they were all glad to see him go.
Which brings the obvious question, “If Ricky was such a good manager, why hasn’t ANY team hired him?”
Ahh, the ‘experts’ on Twitter. One reason they ‘hated’ Renteria because he supposedly could not manage the bullpen, then came LaRussa and his utter ineptitude at managing anything. Hate on Renteria all you want, but the players played for him and he helped build a team that could get back to the playoffs. After ‘The Chairman’s’ power move it sure looked like the players (the more important opinion by the way) hated laRussa (and it showed, especially when he tried to get one of his own players hurt because of a stupid ‘unwritten rule’).
As for Renteria not being hired maybe he does not want to be a manager? Maybe getting stabbed in the back by two Chicago teams made him sour on being a manager, who knows? I can say I saw little in the way of him saying he wanted to be coaching/managing but no one wanted him.
Can you even call Pedro Grifol a “manager” anymore…
He could manage a Bed Bath and Beyond I suppose. Well maybe assistant manager of linens and things. Or just things.
Chuckie’s in love.
Tonight is kinda special…
McHales navy
He’s a good guy
Cuckie for Chuckie
Getz just can’t sit still very long. It’s good to be active but does anyone else think he’s too busy of a GM? I can’t recall this many players being shuffled through the roster by mid June. I know they suck, but damn. And somehow among all this movement, Maldonado is still there.
I mean, Getz has to fill in roster spots with as many bodies as possible. Until the young talent he has acquired makes the jump to the big league level, such as Thorpe did recently, he’s going to be shuffling players in and out of the roster. It’s just the nature of a complete rebuild.
Playing for the White Sox will be Child’s Play for Chuckie.
Too bad the archaic 40 man roster limit and the now (finally revised by ONE) 26 man roster are woefully inadequate for the way the game is played today. If both were to be expanded to reasonable upper limits, perhaps organizations would be able to roster players: like: a third catcher, a player whose best position is “batter”, a player whose best position is “runner”, a player whose best position is “fielder”, a player whose best position is “defensive replacement”, a pitcher whose best position is “get a strikeout”, a pitcher whose best position is “get a double play”, a pitcher whose best position is “get an out”, etc..
I hate to sound like Grandpa Amos McCoy, but dangnabbit, I remember when teams carried two catchers and usually had a utility infielder who could catch when needed. They let pitchers pinch-run and even pinch-hit. They platooned and would put the pitcher in the outfield for an out or two. You made do with 25 men. Of course, this was back when starting pitchers could be counted on to pitch at least 10 complete games a season. The sport has really gotten soft.
Amos! Amos! Please post here more often. Your fan club awaits
Here’s to you, Mr. Robinson…
How can he not be a good baseball pitcher with the name Chuckie Robinson? Such a missed opportunity.
*baseball player
Can’t wait for the inevitable Chuckie doll giveaway. Creepy! But as long as he decent w the ops all good
If a speed-only Duke Ellis needed to be sacrificed to get another catching option onto the 40-man, then so be it. Perhaps we can get Robinson up here within a month or two, install him as the backup, give the starter’s job to Korey Lee for the rest of the season, and make Martin Maldonado go away.
“Given Ellis lackluster offensive ability, it would be easy to imagine clubs passing on the youngster.”
How do you miss this apostrophe?