The White Sox released catcher Omar Narváez from his minor league deal, according to an announcement from their Triple-A affiliate. He’d signed one month ago, his second non-roster contract of the year with the Sox.
Narváez has played in 15 games for Triple-A Charlotte, where he’d paired with top prospect Kyle Teel. The veteran hit .218/.317/.345 with a pair of homers in 63 plate appearances. Narváez had a brief stint on the big league roster immediately after Korey Lee went down with an ankle sprain. He only appeared in four games before the team pivoted to prospect Edgar Quero. Narváez was waived, elected free agency, then returned on the aforementioned second minor league deal.
Lee has been on a rehab assignment with Charlotte since May 9. Teams can keep an injured position player on a rehab stint for up to 20 days. The Sox will need to activate him by next week at the latest. They’ll need to decide whether to keep him in Charlotte on an optional assignment or carry him on the MLB roster, likely at the expense of out-of-options backup Matt Thaiss.
They could also option Quero back out, but he’s holding his head above water in his first MLB action (.267/.357/.302 in 98 plate appearances). Keeping him in the majors allows both Quero and Teel to continue developing defensively with the respective lion’s shares of playing time at catcher in MLB and Triple-A.
Narváez figures to look for a minor league opportunity elsewhere. The 33-year-old has appeared in 10 big league seasons. He developed into a solid #1 catcher for the Mariners and Brewers midway through that run, though his production has tanked over the past few seasons. He owns a .201/.278/.286 slash line since the start of 2022.
He was beyond finished last year. But I guess someone had to give him one last crack at a swan song.
Well not all’s lost. Hear there’s a coaching vacancy in Single A. Or he could return back to Annie Savoy who (checks notes) should be 77
With both Quero and Teel, they didn’t really need him
Lee and Quero combo soon. Former may be dealt at deadline if he looks good while Teel gets his reps in AAA.
He needs to go to an experienced eye institute for correction of a depth perception problem. If he does that he can hit .250/.290 and be a usable player at least as back up catcher. He can improve his throwing to stop base stealers by recalibrating his throwing to right of 2nd base bag and lower towards ground.
This club better not send Q down. But he needs to be in the lineup more than he is now.
Cubs stole 6 bases against the Sox. Against a excellent running team like the Cubs gotta throw pitch outs.
…Come back Mr. Lee.
The pitch out seems to be dying out. It should make a comeback, just like the knuckle ball.
We need another R.A. Dickey and another Tim Wakefield in the baseball world. Everyone just throws gas and has no command for the most part…
The pitchers are not good at holding runners.
Teel needs reps in the outfield, with Lee and Quero clear catching tandem in the near future. Perhaps accelerate Thaiss trade market, plenty of teams can use a journeyman backup catcher.
Or time to cancel the grindy Vaughn experiment and launch him. Decent guy, bad Juju ever since he got installed as Jose’s replacement at 1st. Consider the White Sox had a glorious 30 year run at 1b between the Big Hurt, Paulie and Jose. Should have been Sheets there from the get go but reckon it’s Teel time.
..the Getz Transactional ‘hokey pokey’ continues…. I wonder when Narvaez winds up back with the Sox minor league system
oh, and the White Sox record is now apparently two games worse than they were this time in 2024….