The White Sox are in agreement with first baseman/corner outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr. on a minor league contract, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. A client of Covenant Sports Group, Wade will be in MLB camp as a non-roster invitee.
Wade is a veteran of parts of seven MLB seasons. He has spent most of the past few seasons as the Giants’ primary first baseman, at least against right-handed pitching. Wade was an above-average hitter as recently as 2024, when he put up a .260/.380/.381 slash line across 401 plate appearances. It was his second consecutive season with excellent on-base marks in a platoon role. Wade combined to hit .258/.376/.401 between 2023-24. Among hitters with 800+ trips to the plate, he ranked 11th in on-base percentage.
Everything went off the rails last year. Wade hit .167 with a .275 OBP over 50 games for San Francisco. They traded for Rafael Devers at designated hitter and eventually signed Dominic Smith to play first base. Wade was designated for assignment as the corresponding move for the Smith acquisition.
The Angels rolled the dice on a change of scenery, acquiring Wade out of DFA limbo in a small trade. They got him into 30 games over two months, but he hit .169/.260/.215 and was released in August. That ended his season with a .167/.271/.254 slash over 242 plate appearances. That kind of production obviously isn’t going to cut it, but there’s minimal risk for the Sox in giving him a look during camp to see if an offseason gets him back on track.
Munetaka Murakami will get everyday work at first base. The designated hitter spot will probably be divided between young catchers Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero. A rebuilding team isn’t going to press the 32-year-old Wade into the lineup over their younger hitters, but he could earn a spot as a left-handed bat on a bench that skews heavily to the right side. There’s also a wide open competition for playing time in right field, though GM Chris Getz left the door open to an outfield pickup after trading Luis Robert Jr. on Tuesday.
Awful last season, but an interesting bounce back candidate. White Sox have OF and DH AB’s to give so you never know
He recorded solid seasons not too long ago. Beni is eating most AB’s at DH bc of declining outfield defense btw.
Late night comes to Chicago!
Well Getz did say they were gonna be active with the Robert Jr. savings. Did anybody think he was talking about anyone who could impact the very day lineup? lol. Welcome to the South Side.
I would like them to use most of the LRJ savings to a mid tier SP like Zack Littell or split them and use it on Jose Quintana or Griffin Canning plus a Michael Conforto.
That’s smart thinking!
The White Sox are beginning to make a mockery of the league by flat out not trying for Joe many seasons now? This is the stuff that will hurt small market teams in the next contract discussions. Why give revenue sharing to teams who are content with dumpster diving and putting out a trash product for nearly 5 years in a row?
Pirates are finally waking up and giving an effort. Not the strongest but a start. Now the White Sox and Nats are just using the excuse of a rebuild to totally pare down the payroll for many years until someone notices.
Sox were able to sign Mune despite a low payroll. Nats realized that they couldn’t let Gore walk in FA. The Pirates seem to try not giving Paul Skenes the Trout and Ohtani era with the Angels. Also, every team does minor league signings like these btw.
First, the White Sox are a payer, not a recipient. Second, they last made the playoffs in 2021; it’s not like it’s been decades. Third, there’s an agreement that Justin Ishbia can buy controlling interest after 2033, which is farther away than I’d like, but it will happen. Lastly, all White Sox fans have noticed how cheap Jerry is; this isn’t a news flash.
What most teams in “continuous” rebuilds are doing is trying to get a magical core of quality pre-, and early-, arb guys together at the same time. Supplementing that frugality with a cheap, bounce-back FA candidate or two, and a few team-friendly extensions, and there’s your roster. That, in a nut(ting)shell appears to be their plan to ‘win it all’.
It almost always hinges on unproven assets vastly exceeding expectations.
@hole
Relax, this is a MiLB signing. If this is ALL they do, then yes, riot. But even if the White Sox all of the sudden go ham the rest of the off-season, they’ll still need moves like this to fill in gaps. Just like every other team.
Plus, if he can get back to form, he gets on base and play solid 1b, which is a great pickup for a rebuilding team.
Bargain Bin Busters!!!
Really excited to see how year develops! Looking for better than expected year!
No explanation for his rapid decline.
Much love to Late Nite! Hopefully he finds his groove.