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!
By itself, this is a fine and reasonable risk to take on a depth player who was once good that may still regain the ability to do so again.
Unfortunately, the Sox organization is filled with lots of this. It’s sad.
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 OF free agent class is very disappointing respectfully so I thought a serviceable #5 guy is far smarter than a washed up OF.
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.
When discussing strictly on payroll, JR has allowed the Sox to be around average to above average in most seasons. In 2022, the JR increased payroll to 193M but KW/Hahn used it poorly respectively. JR is cheap but not in the same reasonings as Bob Nutting, Marge Scott plus others over the years or even Charles Comiskey to a greater extent.
Problem is he won’t allow paying up for top talent – hard to say if it is KW/Hahn since they were limited in what they could offer to top players.
I’d bet that Justin Ishbia will be the White Sox controlling owner sooner than 2034. Jerry Reinsdorf will turn 90 next month and can sell his controlling interest to Ishbia and his family as soon as 2029. 🤞
mlb.com/whitesox/press-release/press-release-white…
I highly doubt Jerry lives to 98 years old.
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.
Did you sleep through the $34M free agent acquisition last month?
For the record, the Washington Nationals are also “payers”, like the White Sox, and not a “payee” like the Pirates.
Huh? Wasted comment space holecamel35
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.
What’s the late nite ref? He a klubber? Kewl 3am eternal!
Was hoping he’d bounce back here. Obviously didn’t happen.
He should get plenty of at bats in spring, giving him a chance to audition for all 30 clubs. That’s the best he can do after last season.
Sox are en fuego this off season, another guy that isnt a strikeout pig, puts up good at bats. My bet is he makes team as a 4th outfielder.
Maybe, at worst he’s depth at 1B at Charlotte and not blocking a prospect.
This is how championship teams are built! A 28th ranked payroll, enabled by fans too dumb to refrain from buying tickets to see an amateur level team w/ an owner who is happy to keep robbing them blind after what might have been the worst 3 year stretch in mlb history. Somehow they still drew 18K fans per game in 2025. They don’t even deserve the attendance of a WNBA team.
The Sox have had one full season over .500 in the past 12 full, during which they have averaged losing 93 games per season. Worst owner, GM, and dumbest fan base in sports.
You must be fun at parties
What team do you support sourpuss ? jhomeslice is dumbest by even posting his dribble
Tell us how you really feel.
The way Chris Getz treats free agency is the same way your desperate friend treats tinder
Lmao
Like the Lamont pickup. With Grady Sizemore a key part of the clubhouse, not too surprising. Esther and Julio can’t be too far behind
Nicely done DDT… showing your age or you like the reruns… I guess that makes me THE BIG DUMMY…. Didn’t the Tigers have a Bubba Tramel??
Olmtiant-
Tigers had Trammell. I remember him as a Met. A little bit of pop. I’m pretty sure he was a head case of some category as well. Definitely a blast from the past!! The Bobby Higginson Tiger’s. Rough years back in the late 90’s and early 2000’s.
Older siblings got me into classic tv- good catch on Bubba
Time to retire if only the white sux want you
Oh that innovative. Replace one vowel with another to create zing. Genius! Now do the Red Sox