White Sox Decline Option On Max Stassi

The White Sox announced Friday that they’ve declined their $7.5MM club option on catcher Max Stassi. He’ll receive a $500K buyout and become a free agent. Chicago also formally announced that infielder Yoan Moncada’s $25MM club option was declined in favor of a $5MM buyout, as was reported yesterday. Both decisions were obvious long before the season ended.

Stassi, 33, never played a game for the White Sox and hasn’t appeared in the majors since 2022. He was acquired last offseason as part of a convoluted series of trades made by the Braves in their pursuit of effectively purchasing Jarred Kelenic from the Mariners. Atlanta acquired Kelenic, Evan White and Marco Gonzales from the Mariners, then flipped White’s contract to the Angels in exchange for Stassi and David Fletcher. Gonzales was traded to Pittsburgh, with the Braves footing most of the bill. Stassi was subsequently traded to Chicago for cash or a player to be named later, with Atlanta taking on nearly all of Stassi’s salary as well.

The ChiSox hoped Stassi would come to camp and pair with free-agent pickup Martin Maldonado, but he landed on the injured list during spring training due to inflammation in his hip. It was the second season in which Stassi had dealt with an injury in his left hip, and this time around it required season-ending surgery.

Stassi last appeared in a big league game in October 2022 with the Angels. He missed all of the 2023 season due to that hip injury and, far more importantly, to tend to a dire family matter. Stassi was absent from the Angels due to what was at the time an unknown personal matter and later shared that his son, Jackson, had been born more than three months premature. He understandably took the entire season to be with his wife and son, spending the bulk of the time in the NICU with his wife, Gaby. The couple opened up about their harrowing experience earlier this year in an interview with The Athletic’s Sam Blum. Thankfully, Jackson defied the odds and was eventually able to head home with his family after more than six months in the hospital.

Stassi’s story is one that puts any baseball angle into proper perspective. The game is a distant second to such a traumatizing family ordeal, but Stassi did speak optimistically to Blum about the possibility of his son someday seeing him take the field at a big league game. He reported to spring training with the White Sox this past season intent on playing before his hip injury intervened. There’s no indication he’s planning anything other than a return to his playing career, though any such opportunity will likely come on a minor league deal.

Such a pact should be there for Stassi, health permitting. He’s still just 33 years old, and from 2020-21 he gave the Halos 118 games and 424 plate appearances with a .250/.333/.452 batting line. Stassi ripped 20 homers in that time and provided standout defense behind the plate, as has long been his calling card. Teams in need of a veteran backup or a depth option to push a younger, inexperienced backstop could give him a look this winter.