The White Sox announced that they have selected the contract of catcher Kyle Teel, a move that was reported yesterday. In a corresponding active roster move, fellow catcher Korey Lee has been optioned to Triple-A Charlotte. To open a 40-man spot, right-hander Ryan Cusick has been designated for assignment.
Cusick, 25, was just claimed off waivers two days ago. While it may seem odd to grab a player and then cut him so quickly, it’s possible the Sox are hoping he will clear waivers this time, which is a possibility. Cusick started this season with the A’s but was put on waivers by that club a little over a week ago. He was claimed by the Tigers, the team with the best record in baseball and therefore the last waiver priority. That means the 28 other teams, apart from the A’s and Tigers, passed.
The Tigers then put him back on waivers but the White Sox, with a roster spot just opened by Miguel Castro’s season-ending knee injury, claimed him this time. Now that Cusick is going back on the wire yet again, it’s possible he goes through unclaimed. The Tigers nudged Cusick off by reinstating Parker Meadows from the 60-day IL and they have also since reinstated Sawyer Gipson-Long, tightening up their roster and perhaps giving them less ability to claim Cusick again.
If he does indeed pass through waivers unclaimed, the Sox would be retaining a former first-round pick. Atlanta grabbed Cusick 24th overall in 2021 and then flipped him to the A’s as part of the Matt Olson deal a few months later. The A’s tried to develop Cusick as a starter without success. He tossed 143 innings over the 2022 and 2023 minor league seasons, missing time due to injury and posting a 5.60 earned run average in that span.
He was moved to a relief role halfway through the 2024 season and showed some flashes of intrigue there. His final 26 innings of the year resulted in a 1.73 ERA. Walking 11.8% of opponents in that span was less than ideal but he recorded strikeouts at a 28.2% clip. That was enough that the A’s thought he could get snapped up in the Rule 5 draft, so they gave him a 40-man spot in November.
He couldn’t carry that strong performance in 2025, or at least hasn’t yet. He had a 6.75 ERA in 14 2/3 Triple-A innings to start the season, giving out 13 walks to just 11 strikeouts. That kicked off his trip through the waiver wire in recent weeks. The next few days will reveal whether he will stick in the White Sox’ system or perhaps get claimed yet again.
Lee’s optional assignment is also notable, as it sheds more light on Chicago’s catching plans. They have had Lee and Edgar Quero as their primary catching duo for most of the season. With Teel’s promotion, it wasn’t clear how they would distribute the playing time.
It was possible to envision a three-catcher setup, as the club doesn’t have an everyday designated hitter. Teel has also been doing some work at first base. With Andrew Vaughn having been recently optioned, it would have been possible for Lee, Quero and Teel to all get regular playing time by sharing the catching duties as well as DHing and maybe Teel playing some first base.
Instead, it seems the Sox will go with a more straightforward two-catcher setup, though it will be a very inexperienced duo. Teel has yet to make his debut while Quero has just 38 games under his belt.
Lee isn’t exactly a veteran but he has been around a bit longer than those two. He’s still only 26 years old but got some brief big league time in 2022 and 2023 before becoming a regular in 2024. All told, he has 175 major league contests on his track record. That’s not a ton, relatively speaking, but it does make him the most experienced of the three catchers and the one most familiar with the Chicago pitching staff.
He also has the least upside of the three. He was a notable prospect, getting selected 32nd overall by the Astros in 2019, but his production has stalled out at the upper levels. He has a .192/.231/.315 batting line and 51 wRC+ in the majors. Dating back to the start of 2023, he has a .281/.331/.395 line and 85 wRC+ at the Triple-A level. Outlets such as Baseball Prospectus and Statcast aren’t thrilled with his work behind the plate either.
Quero and Teel, on the other hand, have each hit well at the Triple-A level recently. Quero’s major league offense hasn’t produced much power yet but he’s drawing walks and avoiding strikeouts, leading to a passable .256/.343/.306 line and 91 wRC+. Rolling with the Quero/Teel duo gives the Sox a fairly inexperienced catching corps in the short term but it seems that doesn’t bother them. They surely aren’t expecting to compete anytime soon, so they will let their best catchers get the big league playing time and gain that experience during the rebuilding process.
That will leave Lee in the minors as a depth option. If he stays down for at least 20 days, he will burn his final option year in 2025. If that comes to pass, that would leave him out of options going into 2026.
Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images
Smart move. Give the catchers of the future the job.
Meanwhile, Red Sox keep waiting for Roman to get called up.
No reason to promote Anthony. Boston is cooked this year anyway.
Agreed. Since record is insignificant, maybe they split it pretty even if they see Teel is significantly better overall and DH them the other days. Get a feel for what they want the split to look like next year.
Teel is athletic enough to handle a corner OF role and either could be a 1B/DH. It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. Hopefully, neither will struggle with the bat on days they’re not at C, but we’ve seen guys like Frank Thomas be much worse when not playing where they’re comfortable.
If they’re playing well, worst-case scenario is both are best at C and then Sox have a valuable trade chip to fill another position or two.
Teel has been up for 3 days. Quero for longer, and has come back down to earth and is not showing the pop he had in the minors. Lets not put the cart before the horse. As we have to see these kids adjust to what pitchers are going to do to them, heck after one game it appears that Teel’s weakness is not laying off pitches up and in, so Im guessing that is where pitchers are going to go now, lets see if he can lay off of those.
I still think it would help if they got rid of the hitting coach that was partially responsible for last years abhorrent W-L record.
Lee was once also a catcher of the future, ranked as high as #70 by Baseball America, compared to Teel’s #52. I might have kept all three and used the DH to give them all ABs.
Yeah, but Lee’s calling card was his defense. If you have two good hitting catchers who are also at least average defensively, I’d rather fill the 1B spot with a good hitter so that all three roles have solid bats.
Braves should make a waiver claim. bring back their prospect
“… the Tigers, the team with the best record in baseball…” Don’t wake me up – I’m enjoying this dream!
Good luck to your Tigers against the Cubs!
“The Tigers..don’t wake me up”…As long as we’re “dreaming”, tomorrow’s starting pitcher is “The Bird”, Mark Fidrych and Justin Verlander is lined up for the weekend series.
Detroit Tigers era Verlander? Cubbies don’t stand a chance lol
Detroit wants Cusick but they don’t want him on the 40 man roster. So they won’t claim him on waivers, if no one else does, but don’t be surprised that he signs a minor league contract with the Tigers.
Eager to see how Teel does. The Sox are gradually becoming kind of a fun young team. They surprised the Tigers a bit this week, and probably will surprise the Royals this weekend
Not counting those Royals wins until they have them. Sox got swept by the O’s recently and couldn’t score against one of the worst pitching staffs in the majors. Just have to hope the good version of the team shows up.
At least they’re more competitive than last year.
The bullpen is still hot poo. That severely limits any kind of serious momentum from forming.
Lee is a good catcher. Option Quero.
Teel is going to win the starting catcher job, he isnt a first baseman. Sox have a small dilemma on their hands, a good problem to have but its difficult rostering two starting catchers.
Padres need a catcher. What do you guys want for Lee?
Sox need OF. Tears is too much to ask for, maybe Ornelas. Personally would rather have a lottery ticket, like Coronil and maybe a future middle-relied type. I know he’s a SS, but with Colson looking like a bust, Sox need someone there, too.
I could see Ornelas and definitely a RP, but I don’t really want to give up Coronil. Tho I understand the Montgomery not living up to his potential. So how about Ornelas, Coronil and a RP for Robert Jr and Lee?
Haha! Now you’re asking like we have the authority to make it happen. Robert’s value is nil. If the Padres want to give anything of value, it’s a win
I would have kept Korey on the roster as just a true backup catcher, that way Teel and Quero could split time at catcher and DH and Lee playing maybe once a week against a lefty and as a backup in case of injury if either Quero or Teel is the DH
Did I miss it or did Darragh fail to mention that Teel was acquired in the trade for Crochet? Pretty important bit of information don’t you think?
CHSN is now on Comcast. Will be interesting to actually see some games, at least before I ditch Comcast shortly.
Why is Brooks Baldwin not starting on the White Sox now. What does he have to do?
I like Baldwin and think he may be a good grinder kind of player, but he was not hitting much up at the big league level. Though not sure how you get comfortable moving all over the diamond in the field… He has played in 6 different positions at the Majors this season so far…Yeesh.
After hitting 6 homers since being put back into the minors they may bring him back up, but in doing that I think you just freak a player out not knowing if an 0-4 day gets you sent back down to the minors by Mr “Transactional hokey pokey’ Getz.
I also think this has more to do with not sticking him into one position (that he can be comfortable in) as I think he was an INF, but now OF, and if they are going to ‘super ute’ him, then he probably will not reach his potential. But I think at 24 maybe they just want him to get consistent playing time in the minors, though not sure why he is just not up here learning from …ahem… the ‘best coaches’ which should be in the major league level, and its not like they should be playing to win more than they are now. Its a ‘rebuilding year’ if that is the case, you put the guys you think will be around for the next few years out there. Not retreads from other teams to try to win a few more games.