February 12: The Sox officially announced their signing of Taylor today. Right-hander Jesse Scholtens was transferred to the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move. He underwent Tommy John surgery in March of last year. Based on this transfer, it seems the Sox aren’t expecting him back in the first two months of the season.
February 11: The White Sox and outfielder Michael A. Taylor are in agreement on a deal, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The ALIGND Sports Agency client gets a $1.95MM guarantee on a one-year deal with performance bonuses, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. The Sox have a full 40-man roster and will need to open a spot.
Taylor, 34 in March, has long been one of the best defensive center fielders in the game. From 2015 to 2024, he has 78 Defensive Runs Saved in center. That tally puts him third in the majors for that stretch, though the two guys ahead of him are now retired: Kevin Kiermaier and Lorenzo Cain. His 62 Outs Above Average at the position put him sixth in the league.
Offensively, he’s been more mercurial. He strikes out a lot and doesn’t take many walks. He does have enough pop in his bat to occasionally overcome those deficiencies somewhat, with four seasons of double-digit homer tallies, though he also remains vulnerable to deep troughs in his production.
The last two seasons highlight the up-and-down nature of his work at the plate. With the Twins in 2023, he struck out 33.5% of the time and only walked at a 6.7% clip but did park the ball over the fence 21 times. That led to a .220/.278/.442 batting line and 95 wRC+. That means he was still 5% below league average on the whole, but thanks to his defense and 13 stolen bases, FanGraphs considered him to be worth two wins above replacement.
He signed a one-year, $4MM deal with the Pirates in 2024 and things went downhill. His strikeout and walk rates held fairly steady at 35% and 7.7% respectively, but he hit only five home runs and produced a dismal line of .193/.253/.290.
After last year’s historically poor season, the White Sox have been giving deals to various veteran players to pad out their inexperienced roster. That includes adding Mike Tauchman and Austin Slater to an outfield that already included Luis Robert Jr. and Andrew Benintendi. Elsewhere on the roster, they’ve signed Josh Rojas, Martin Perez and Bryse Wilson.
Going into the season, Robert will be the everyday center fielder, at least until a trade comes together. He had an excellent season in 2023 but scuffled through an injury-marred 2024. All reporting from this winter has indicated the Sox have set a high price on Robert. As opposed to selling low, they would rather let him prove his health and effectiveness in the early parts of 2025 before hopefully striking a deal at the right time.
They would also surely love to flip Benintendi and the three years left on his deal, though he’s coming off two rough seasons. He did have a strong second half in 2024, so perhaps there’s some hope of him getting back on track. Like Robert, the club should run him out there for regular playing time in the hopes that he plays well and builds some trade value.
Tauchman and Slater could perhaps form a platoon in another corner. Slater hits right-handed and has been better against lefties in his career. Tauchman has fairly neutral splits but does hit left-handed.
Taylor seems likely to be on the bench in a fourth outfielder role, though he does give the club a bit of insurance in the event Robert gets bitten by the injury bug again. Or if some club meets their lofty asking price and gets a trade over the line. Until that happens, he can serve as a defensive replacement or pinch runner from time to time. The club could also put Robert in the designated hitter slot from time to time as a way of easing his workload, putting Taylor in center.
Oscar Colás and Dominic Fletcher are also on the roster but they have options and could be in Triple-A until they either earn their way into bigger roles or injuries opening up opportunities. Players like Corey Julks and Zach DeLoach have been bumped off the roster this winter but are still around in non-roster roles.
Good for him. Glad he’s at least getting another year
Taylor suits them.
He’s awful but this tells me they may be pressing the peddle on a Robert trade.
1.9 mil for a 5th OF seems lofty for a rock bottom team
Seems like a good price for a glove gazelle who’s holding on to his speed and was worth 0.9 bWAR in 300 PA.
If he just repeats 2024 he’d be an improvement in the 5th OFer slot on some contenders. Probably the threat that a team is buying his last year and at the cost of a roster spot. If he had options or was able to sign a deal that guaranteed a team could use him as a major league / minor league yo-yo (wouldn’t a split contract accomplish that? I know players can’t sign away rights agreed to in the MLBPA any more than a working man can sign a deal with the company that undercuts wages agreed to in collective bargaining) he could probably squeeze another half a million from such a club.
He’ll be gone at the deadline. Slightly below average hitting CFers are always useful if they can field the position well.
Good teammate, however referring to him a a slightly below average hitting CF, is very generous.
If he’s hitting for power there’s value there, is that a “big if”..not if you’re the white socks ha
“Is very generous”…You’re correct, but hey, I’m a “generous” guy ask any of my friends.
slightly below? haha
He has no value.
Hopefully he has a decent first half so he can flipped at the deadline which is what he’s probably hoping for.
I think he can get a 35 FV back.
Across: That’s the only reason these fringe major Leaguers are signing with the Sox. The team is so bad and so far away from being competitive, they’re the only ones that will give these guys a chance to show other teams that they can still play. What Getz is hoping to get for them is another sad situation.
It’s easy to poo-poo on the White Sox but, at the end of the day, it’s still a prestigious major league job some kids (and adults) dream about and helps in accruing service time towards a very healthy retirement pension.
The biggest problem with a prestigious and historical team like the White Sox is the owner.
Might be able to get a good ball boy in return.
17 years/$1.275B should be appropriate.
Yeah, but how much of that is deferred?
I guess this makes sense. Luis Robert Jr is their only proper center fielder, and he is likely to be traded (if he performs well) or be injured/struggling (like he has on and off for years). If this keeps the Sox from running Dom Fletcher or Brooks Baldwin out of position in CF on a daily basis when Robert is hurt/traded, maybe it is a good thing.
Austin Slater plays an okay backup center field….
Is there another Michael Taylor that I’m not familiar with, does he really need the “A”? I think not. Ahahahahahaha!
Funny you should comment that…
fangraphs.com/players/michael-taylor/2591/stats?po…
Michael Taylor’s last season was with the White Sox in 2014, the same year Michael A. Taylor made his big league debut. Now, A. Taylor is playing what might be his final season with… the Chicago White Sox!
@Makelymyday1 That’s a good point. He’s been worth +1 in CF since the start of 2022 in 780 innings (albeit just 60 innings in 2024, where he was -1. That’s too small a sample size to take any inference from, though. We can hope the CWS FO looked at all his plays in center and figured he was still roughly average there.)
My guess is that Slater’s collapse at the plate in 2024 along with his turning 32 makes them reluctant not to go into 2025 with an alternatve—and a cheap alternative at that they may well be able to flip to a contender in the dog days of late July.
Wsox don’t have CF prospects as well.
Dom Fletcher is out of position in ANY of the 3 outfield positions. He is either a weak defender in CF, or he is a singles-hitting corner OF. Either way, yuck.
I would much rather still have Christian Mena.
Not to be confused with Michael Taylor.
Lol it looks like there was another Michael Taylor in this guy’s first year in the league. I guess he never bothered to drop the A.
Samuel L. Jackson never got the L out of there either.
Like those Taylor’s with Duran Duran, hard to figure out which ones were actually brothers
Signing your leadoff hitter in February, eh?
Better late than…. ugh. .285 OBP 2022-2024, .253 in 2024.
Even platoon splits can’t save him if he can’t turn the clock back to the thrilling days of 2023.
Perfect spot for Taylor, like when he was with the Twins; signed to back up Buxton and wind up playing everyday, signe with the White Sox to back up Robert and will probably end up playing everyday
Fine. Help the younger pitchers not be afraid to pitch to contact. They should invite a fluke power bat-it’s about as low pressure as it gets to add an all-or-nothing slugger with so little pop on the roster.
Never mind. Dalbec fits the bill for that.
I guess this is fine since the Wsox want to keep LRJ healthy enough to perform til the deadline. They don’t really have CF prospects.
It’s a good move similar to the Twins signing of Harrison Bader to rest/DH Buxton. Taylor is cheaper. A healthy LRJ season should boost his trade value if the Sox should choose to go that route.
They did sign Slater and Tauchaam, but those two mainly play RF unlike Taylor who’s strictly CF. They aren’t blocking any prospects since the Wsox lack OF prospects.
You’ve said that like 5 times already
Twice, I checked btw
Colas should be getting the majority of time, they paid him dearly and they are playing for nothing other than I guess a top 10 draft pick again.
Colas should be out there every day or just get rid of him.
Getz and Co aren’t really high on him unlike Hahn/Williams. Though they want to try him as a 1B.
Watch Colas play and you’ll know why they have signed three outfielders to major league contracts this off-season. They must have had Colas working with the same hitting instructors that “fixed” most of their now former players and a few that are still there.
38 PA, .368 OBP, 1 run scored, 273/368/273 slash line.
And it was a signal improvement on Colas’ 2023.
Ive watched him play and to me the past doesn’t matter, and whether they are playing him at 1st or OF does not matter ( though Im guessing he would be more of a fit defensively at 1st).
Bottom line is they are paying him a lot for a guy to stay in the minors This team is now ‘officially’ playing for nothing this season (much like last where they did not want to admit it to themselves). You play him for the season or at least half as season, if he does not get better then you simply drop him off of the roster. Its really academic, and its not like any of the guys they have are an overall improvement over Colas at this point. The Sox always have this issue, leaving guys in a limbo of are they good or not, do we promote them or not. When they were playing for something, sure he should be in the minors. But they are playing for nothing this season, he should be up and given a final chance, if he fails, gone. Its really that simple.
Can’t be easy to be a White Sox fan
Taylor gets double the salary of what Heyward got. And last year he got a contract in March for far beyond what he was worth. Nice work by his agent
Taylor comes to play. Heyward isn’t as good of a comparison to Taylor as is Bader. Bader got much more. This is also comparable to the Rendon with the team needing a second starter to cover for when gets injured. Naturally the insurance player can’t be a big contract guy. Not a bad move getting Taylor.
Lots of times, bad teams need to overpay.
In the context of baseball’s funny money, $1m is startling for a guy with a league average bat as a platoon artist on the strong side and a glove that still clocks in as average or a little above.
That looks like overt incompetent from his agent,
Have you seen the cf free agent list. Taylor could have been the best one. Bader probably better bet but more expensive.
Surprised the Dodgers didn’t pick him up.
White Sox uniforms should be fantastic for the 2025 season.
The team signed a TAYLOR !!
Unless it’s Opie, then a lot of marmalade stains
Among players with at least 300 plate appearances, only the newly signed Brandon Drury and Eddie Rosario owned a lower wRC+ mark in 2024 than Taylor.
So Sox have signed 2 of the worst 3 wRC+ players from 2024 on their team for 2025.
Not much to dislike here. Always wanted them to add a Kiermaier type as the 4th, was exciting to see some Billy Hamilton magic there. The airplane Brett Phillips never made it up from AAA so hopefully Taylor sticks as depth and aids in the development of a promising but green rotation
Good off season for White sox. Taylor Perez Tauchman all sneaky good budget adds. Better teams should have been looking at them.
Anyone know why the Sox haven’t had a successful hitting coach since Charlie Lau?
Martin Perez (33), Matt Thaiss (29), Mike Tauchman (34), Michael A. Taylor (33), Cam Booser (32), Tyler Gilbert (31), Penn Murphy (30), Josh Rojas (30), Austin Slater (32). Strangest youth movement I’ve ever seen.
Taylor is garbage. 1/2 tool player at best. Better suited for softball leagues
This guy has spent his entire career being fools gold. Best of luck once again Michael. See you in free agency next time again. Next.
Another power move by the sox. The league better take note, in about 8 years we will be adding guys that are under thirty.
The White Sox had most losses ever…but then found out that technically the ’62 Mets were three tenths of a percent worse than them (true story)…
So ownership cleaned out the house and gave the mandate: “We’re tired of this. We want to set records around here. This 2nd place thing has got to stop!”
And thus began the offseason of trading away the only thing positive about the 121 loss season and signing players who rate worse than replacement level.
They’ll get that #1 spot, dammit
It was sad to see Crochet get traded, but the offense was so bad that Crochet had to be traded for bats.
It will be great to have a late game defensive replacement for those 12 times this year we take a one-run lead into the 9th.