The White Sox announced Thursday that they’ve designated veteran catcher Omar Narvaez for assignment. His spot on the 40-man and active rosters will go to top catching prospect Edgar Quero, whose previously reported promotion to the majors is now official; his contract has been formally selected. Chicago also reinstated outfielder Andrew Benintendi from the injured list and optioned fellow outfielder Greg Jones to Triple-A Charlotte in a corresponding move.
Narvaez returned to the White Sox — the team with which he made his major league debut — when he signed a minor league contract back in January. He was selected to the 40-man roster earlier this month when Korey Lee suffered an injury, but with the presence of top catching prospects Quero and Kyle Teel in Triple-A, the potential for the reunion to be short-lived was always present. The 33-year-old Narvaez wound up appearing in only four games, during which he went 2-for-7 with a pair of singles and a couple of walks.
Narvaez’s days as a regular behind the plate look to be in the past. He was a solid option behind the dish from 2017-21, batting a combined .266/.351/.403 in 1670 plate appearances. That was effectively league-average offense (101 wRC+), but catchers tend to be well below-average hitters. Relative to his position, Narvaez was a comfortably better-than-average hitter. Though he posted below-average defensive grades early in his career, his glovework — framing in particular — has improved considerably over the years.
Since a nice showing with the 2021 Brewers, however, Narvaez’s production has tanked. He struggled with Milwaukee in 2022, signed a two-year contract with the Mets the following offseason, and wasn’t able to right the ship. Overall, he’s posted a .201/.278/.286 line in his past 521 plate appearances (including his brief look with the ChiSox this year).
The White Sox can place Narvaez on waivers or trade him at any point in the next five days. Waivers themselves are another 48-hour process, meaning the max length of his stay in DFA limbo will be one week. While he’s struggled quite a bit in recent seasons, Narvaez could still hold appeal to clubs seeking catching depth in the wake of injuries. The Red Sox (who currently roster his cousin, fellow catcher Carlos Narvaez) are without Connor Wong for the foreseeable future due to a broken finger. The Tigers (Jake Rogers), Reds (Tyler Stephenson) and Marlins (Nick Fortes) have all seen their starting catchers go down with an oblique strain — quite recently in the case of Detroit and Miami.
The Sox won’t get a prospect back for Narvaez, but he could be flipped for cash or claimed off waivers. If he clears waivers, he has enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency.
Quero will be the first of Chicago’s touted catching prospects to get a look in the big leagues. He’s out to a terrific start in Charlotte, having slashed .333/.444/.412 through his first 63 trips to the plate. That performance follows up last year’s stout .286/.366/.463 batting line in a combined 402 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A. The switch-hitting Quero isn’t considered a plus defender, but he has the chance to be a bat-first regular behind the plate. He and Teel have big enough offensive ceilings to envision a scenario where both are on the same roster and splitting time between catcher and designated hitter.
Benintendi’s stay on the injured list due to an adductor strain proved minimal. That’s good news for the Sox, as the former All-Star has gotten back on track in a major way dating back to the midpoint of last season. Benitendi caught fire last summer and closed out the year with a .251/.325/.473 slash over his final 317 trips to the plate. Coupled with an even stronger start to his 2025 season, he’s now hitting .255/.326/.475 with 18 homers, a 9.4% walk rate and a 19.1% strikeout rate over his past 350 plate appearances.
Benintendi’s contract once looked immovable, but if he continues to produce along these lines for another couple months, he could emerge as a viable summer trade candidate. He’s being paid $16.5MM in 2025 and is owed a total of $31MM in 2026-27 as part of his five-year, $75MM contract.
Okay I’m the first to say it ….. Red Sox dump Sabol and unite the Narvaez cousins.
At least Omar can hit for a catcher.
Would the Red Sox dare replace Carlos with Omar? Talk about an awkward scenario.
There’s no scenario in which Narváez isn’t an upgrade over Sabol given that he is, in fact, actually a catcher. No reason not to do it!
Regardless, the Sox need to consider trading for someone better. Not sure who but I’d even go back in time and get Sandy Leon just for his defense assuming getting older hasn’t hurt him too much.
dewey – I’ve got a soft spot for Sandy, but the problem is he hasn’t played in the majors since 2023 and has got into an MLB game just 54 times in 2022/2023 with an OPS of .465 and an OPS+ of 35 (those are not typos).
No way the Red Sox can carry a non-existent bat when they’ve already got three other starters with an OPS between .328-.520
I was being literal as well speaking figuratively Fever. I doubt the time will be able to get a two way upgrade so I’m willing to look for a lock down defender behind the plate. If others don’t start hitting, the team is not going to win.
dewey – I’d much rather give Grandal a fair opportunity to stick. He was Top 20 in DRS and DEF last year (min 550 innings), 9th in Blocking and 8th in Framing.
The only problem with Grandal is his throwing, which is horrific. But as long as the Sox pitchers don’t allow any baserunners, that wouldn’t be a problem.
Not allow base runners? If there are no home runs either, the team will never lose. Lol. Ow wait, the team leads the world in errors so there will always be runners on base.
dewey – I was being semi-facetious ;O)
He needs to improve his throwing, but if the Sox pitch like they did yesterday or Sunday then Grandal allowing some stolen bases is not as big a deal.
Probably not a terrible idea. Sabol has been brutal to watch
Who needs a catcher? Anyone need a Catcher? Have a great deal for you a catcher! Was MLB quality but at this price you can’t go wrong.
harry – Just please not Vazquez.
Fever, as with Leon, if Vasquez can still be valuable with the glove, I’d take him. Minnesota would have to pay down most of the salary though.
dewey – Agreed, but so far Vaz has been bad with the glove this year. He’s 7th-worst in MLB for DRS (min 70 innings). while Carlos Narvaez is 3rd-best.
And my God his hitting is beyond comprehension ….. .365 OPS and 5 OPS+ (again, not typos there!!!). He has a -0.4 WAR already.
Please, please, please let’s stay away from Vaz …. especially knowing how fond Cora is of his fellow Puerto Rican.
I like it – let’s keep the youth movement going. At least us White Sox fans would have something to watch.
Their pitching hasn’t been too bad but it seems the offense is only showing up once a week.
If he can actually catch he can would make sense for the pirates. But I think GMBC blew his monthly allowance yesterday
Come on Red Sox, let’s form the Cousins Narváez catching tandem!
Anyone sign Mo Berg yet??? With the scandals of past and all… good to have a intel guy..
The Red Sox are short on catchers, since wong broke his pinky finger. Wouldn’t be interesting if the sox signed omar to a contract?and the two catches for the red sox were brothers.
By cutting him loose, the White Sox risk exposing their rotation to mismanagement