The White Sox have signed infielders Oliver Dunn and Tim Elko to minor league contracts (SoxMachine’s James Fegan was among the beat writers to report the news.) Dunn’s deal contains an invitation to Chicago’s big league Spring Training camp, though Elko will presumably miss camp due to his ongoing recovery from ACL surgery in October.
Elko was a 10th-round pick for the White Sox in the 2022 draft, and he’ll continue his career with the organization after being non-tendered in November. That move cleared a space on Chicago’s 40-man roster, and it is fair to guess that the two sides probably had a handshake deal to bring Elko back in relatively short order. Elko’s surgery came with an eight-month recovery timeline, so he won’t be a factor for a potential return to the 26-man roster until at least July.
The torn right ACL was a sour end to Elko’s first big league season, as he made his debut in May. Elko hit only .134/.194/.328 in 72 plate appearances over 23 games, while also spending four weeks on the injured list due to a right knee sprain that now seems like a precursor to his ACL problems. The White Sox are expected to do something to address their first base position, but if they more or less stand pat, it could give Elko some more opportunity to see what he can do against MLB competition when he’s healthy.
Dunn’s MLB resume consists of 55 games with the Brewers over the last two seasons, and only a .206/.261/.290 slash line to show for 145 PA. A large portion of Dunn’s 2024 rookie season was spent on the injured list due to a back injury, but while Dunn was still in the mix for regular infield duty with Milwaukee going into this season, his lack of offense made him an afterthought. The Brewers designated Dunn for assignment and outrighted him off their 40-man roster in September, and Dunn elected minor league free agency at season’s end.
The 28-year-old Dunn has mostly played at second and third base during his pro career, but he has a handful of appearances as a left fielder, shortstop, and a couple of cameos at first base. The White Sox will see what Dunn can do in competing for a bench job this spring, and he could be retained as minor league depth even if he doesn’t break camp.
The White Sox seem to really like players the Brewers toss to the wayside because they don’t have the roster space to keep them all.
An I the only person who glanced at the headline and wondered how they signed Olivia Dunne?
It might be their only chance to sign Skenes in some alternate reality.
His nickname is Livvy Dunne.
He posts on Tiktok.
Shane Smith worked out, keep em coming
Adrian Houser was originally with the Brewers too. He worked out well and brought back three potential prospects.
Nice exchange, Houser and Smith one way. Andrew Vaughn the other. And Brewers win = Cubs loss. Win-win.
I tried to keep the Vaughn fiasco out of mind.
@Theo: Yes–but doesn’t this team still look like one that needs a major free-agent signing or two?
Sox fans who look at the Vaughn trade and say, well, at least it hurt the Cubs, are pretty much the definition of loser.
All the more reason not to get worked up over losing Grindy Vaughn. Think Elko could have more upside long term.
I’m a big fan of Elko. I hope he gets more than a sip of coffee this season. I view him as a poor man’s version of Patrick Wisdom. With enough at bats he will run into 25-30 HR. Could be a pipe dream.
Yes, ideally they’d be active in the market, but where?
@alan53 you’re a cubbie fan, right?
@Crawdad: Yes. So much so, and for so long, that I even find the cutesie, smarmy term “cubbie” offensive
“Root root root for the cubbies…” that’s the song isn’t?
@Crawdad: No. The words to that song are, “Root, root, root for the home team….”
Getz seems to like other players rejects
Elko ain’t a reject
I like that Elko came back
Oliver Dunn, the man I need.
-White Sox GM
It’s a Dunn deal.
These guys high k rates and should not take time away from good batters.
One of the few Stearns/Arnold moves that backfired.
I predict another 100 + game losing season 2026 for the Sox . If you don’t agree please tell me why not
The Sox was on a 70 win pace in the second half. The 2026 opening day roster won’t have an entire junk list of players who having no business in MLB. So in that case, I predict a high 60ish-low 70ish win team for the Sox. Ditto for 2019.
Which Sox?
As Aiden said, 70-win pace in the 2nd half. Actually had a positive run differential, so should’ve been even better. It’s a lot of work around the margins now: getting the bullpen to the point it’s not blowing a late lead every other night, getting guys to execute with runners on and less than two outs, making incrementally better swing decisions, etc.
There’s a definite cap on how good this team could be, but if they can get the fundamentals down, see growth from Teel, Quero, Colson, Shane, Vasil, Vargas, and Meidroth (or some combination of them, at least), and get a meaningful contribution from at least one of Bonemer, Schultz, Hagen, or Braden, I think 75 wins becomes a realistic, though ambitious, goal.
Even if the team gets no contributions from the minors and the guys just repeat last year’s performance, they ought to avoid 100 losses. 65 feels like a floor for them, barring some catastrophic injury luck.
We also have to prey on no sophomore slumps too. They added Anthony Kay to the SP rotation two weeks ago to eat up innings.
100 + losses again . Hate to say that . What improvements have they made to prevent another 100 losses
Because they have some very good young players coming into their own. They look to me like about a .500 team.
No such thing as a bad minor league deal