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White Sox To Release Yonder Alonso

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The White Sox have requested unconditional release waivers on first baseman/designated hitter Yonder Alonso, according to a club announcement. He’ll formally become a free agent once he clears waivers on Friday. A team could technically claim Alonso, but doing so would mean claiming the remaining $4.83MM still owed to him, which won’t happen given the former All-Star’s considerable struggles in Chicago.

Alonso, 32, was acquired partly because the Sox envisioned him to be a productive partner for Jose Abreu in a first base/DH timeshare but also likely as a means of enticing his brother-in-law, Manny Machado to choose the Sox in free agency. Neither of those things came to fruition, however. In 251 plate appearances this season, Alonso has floundered at .178/.275/.301 pace with seven home runs.

Alonso is still not far removed from an All-Star appearance in a 2017 season that saw him emerge as one of the poster boys for MLB’s “fly-ball revolution.” The former No. 7 overall draft pick (Reds, 2008) put a focus on elevating the ball with the A’s that season and saw his fly-ball rate jump nearly 20 percent from his 2015 levels with the Padres. He raked at a .266/.369/.527 clip with Oakland before being traded to the Mariners. His fly-ball rate, launch angle and average exit velocity have steadily trickled downward since that strong 2017 campaign, however.

Once he clears waivers, Alonso will be free to sign with any club and would only be owed the prorated portion of the league minimum for any time spent in the Majors, with the Sox on the hook for the remainder of this season’s salary. Disappointing as his tenure on the South Side of Chicago was, Alonso will likely find interest elsewhere given his solid track record (although he may need to settle for a minor league contract).

White Sox To Promote Dylan Cease

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The White Sox announced that they’ll promote top pitching prospect Dylan Cease to start Game 1 of Wednesday’s doubleheader against the Tigers. The right-hander is already on Chicago’s 40-man roster, so it won’t need to make a corresponding move in that regard.

Cease joined the White Sox in July 2017 in a trade that could make a huge long-term impact for the Pale Hose. They acquired Cease and outfield prospect Eloy Jimenez from the crosstown rival Cubs for left-hander Jose Quintana. Jimenez is already a mainstay in the White Sox’s lineup as a 22-year-old rookie, and Cease could soon join him as a staple on their roster for the foreseeable future. Indeed, manager Rick Renteria told reporters the plan is for Cease to stay in the fold going forward.

The 23-year-old Cease is widely regarded as an elite pitching prospect, with MLB.com rating him the 18th-best farmhand in the game. Cease possesses a dominant fastball/curveball combination, Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com write in their free scouting report.

For the most part, Cease has been a force in the minor leagues, though his numbers have taken some steps back this season in his first Triple-A experience. In 68 1/3 innings and 15 starts with Charlotte, Cease has pitched to a 4.48 ERA/3.77 FIP with 9.61 K/9, 4.21 BB/9 and a 54.9 percent groundball rate.

Should Cease offer similar production in his first taste of the majors, it would be welcome for Chicago, whose rotation has been atrocious this season. The club looks to have found an ace in breakout righty Lucas Giolito, but he has been the lone bright spot among its starters. Carlos Rodon struggled earlier this year before undergoing season-ending Tommy John surgery in May. Likewise, Reynaldo Lopez, Ivan Nova, Manny Banuelos and Dylan Covey have fallen flat in an extensive number of starts, and no one else the Sox have plugged in has helped their cause either.

With Cease, Giolito and prized young righty Michael Kopech, who’s recovering from September 2018 TJ surgery, the club may be laying the foundation for an enviable rotation. Those three could occupy 60 percent of Chicago’s starting staff in a year. For now, though, Cease will try to earn a spot on a team that’s 6 1/2 games back of a playoff spot and still has a glimmer of a chance to make things interesting this season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Latest On White Sox Prospect Jake Burger

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White Sox third base prospect Jake Burger didn’t play at all last year after tearing his left Achilles tendon twice, once in February and again in May. It turns out Burger will also miss this season, owing in part to a bruised left heel, general manager Rick Hahn told James Fegan of The Athletic and other reporters Friday.

The Burger news adds to a vicious week on the injury front for the White Sox, who also ruled injured pitchers Ryan Burr, Jimmy Lambert, Ian Hamilton and Zack Burdi out for the season Friday.

Like Burdi (No. 26, 2016), Burger joined the organization as a recent first-round pick. The White Sox selected Burger 11th overall in 2017 and then inked him for $3.7MM – almost $500K below slot – with the hope the ex-Missouri State standout would lock down third on the South Side for the foreseeable future.

The 23-year-old Burger could still emerge as a long-term building block in Chicago despite this injury-stunted start to his career. It may not happen at third, though, as Kiley McDaniel and Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs noted back in April he looked like a questionable fit for the position even before this awful run of left leg troubles. Nevertheless, McDaniel and Longenhagen ranked Burger 12th among the White Sox’s prospects and credited him with possessing a “sizable ceiling.” The Sox are hoping Burger will return for Arizona Fall League action this year and finally start showing off his potential in real games again.

Rick Hahn On White Sox's SP Need

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  • At 6 1/2 games back of a wild-card spot, the White Sox may be closer to playoff position than expected this season. However, general manager Rick Hahn unsurprisingly isn’t going to mortgage the future for short-term pitching help prior to the deadline, Bruce Levine of 670 The Score writes. Asked Friday about adding an established starter in the next month, Hahn said: “”I wouldn’t say you can count on additions at the deadline that will be short-term fixes. Our focus going to remain long term.” Hahn admitted Chicago “would like to add controllable starting pitching,” but he quickly noted that’s a goal for every team in the game. Below-average starting pitching has prevented the White Sox from making a more serious playoff push this year. While Lucas Giolito has been tremendous, the team hasn’t gotten respectable production from any of its other starters.

White Sox Notes: Hamilton, Cease

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The White Sox already lost injured right-handers Ryan Burr, Jimmy Lambert and Zack Burdi for the season earlier Friday. Add fellow righty Ian Hamilton to the list, according to James Fegan of The Athletic. Hamilton will require multiple surgeries to repair multiple fractures he suffered to his jaw on a line drive earlier this season, Fegan reports.

Now 24, Hamilton joined the White Sox as an 11th-round pick in 2016. He reached the majors for the first time last season, throwing eight innings of four-earned run ball, but pitched solely at the minors’ highest level this year before suffering his injury. Hamilton made 16 appearances with Triple-A Charlotte and allowed more than an earned run per inning (18 in 16 1/3 frames), but he did register 11.02 K/9 against 1.65 BB/9 and post a 51.9 percent groundball rate.

Although Hamilton has struggled to prevent runs this year, he entered 2019 as a well-regarded prospect. MLB.com (No. 13) and FanGraphs (No. 30) currently place him among Chicago’s top 30 farmhands. Hamilton could eventually turn into a major league closer, per MLB.com, but that quest is now on hold. He followed Lambert and Burdi as the third top 30 White Sox prospect to be ruled out for the season Friday.

In better news for the White Sox, one of their premier righty prospects, Dylan Cease, is moving closer to his first big league promotion. The prized 23-year-old is “getting awful close” to joining the White Sox, general manager Rick Hahn said Friday (via Scott Merkin of MLB.com). Hahn noted two-plus weeks ago Cease was working toward a call-up, and it seems he has continued to build a case since then. Cease has put up a 4.62 ERA/3.79 FIP with 9.51 K/9, 4.06 BB/9 and a 54.9 percent grounder rate in 64 1/3 innings during his first Triple-A experience this year.

Three White Sox Pitchers Out For Season

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Three White Sox hurlers are out for the season, per reports from Scott Merkin of MLB.com and James Fegan of The Athletic. Right-handers Ryan Burr and Jimmy Lambert have undergone Tommy John procedures, while fellow righty Zack Burdi has a ligament tear in his patella.

Burr’s the lone member of the trio who has pitched in the majors to this point. The 25-year-old debuted with the White Sox last season and has since registered a 5.52 ERA/5.60 FIP with 7.98 K/9, 4.3 BB/9 and a 43.7 percent groundball rate in 29 1/3 innings. Chicago placed him on the injured list May 28 with a right elbow capsule strain.

Lambert, 24, has posted a 4.55 ERA/4.68 FIP with 10.62 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 in 11 starts and 59 1/3 frames at the Double-A level this season. MLB.com ranks Lambert, a fifth-round pick of the White Sox in 2016, as the team’s 18th-best prospect.

Burdi follows his brother, Pirates reliever Nick Burdi, in missing the rest of the season. Nick Burdi underwent thoracic outlet syndrome surgery earlier this week. Zack Burdi’s injury may not be that severe, but it still pushes back a potential major league promotion. The 24-year-old, whom the White Sox drafted 26th overall in 2016, has experienced his first Double-A action this season and logged a 6.41 ERA/6.11 FIP with 10.98 K/9 and 5.95 BB/9 in 19 2/3 innings. Burdi checks in at No. 15 on MLB.com’s list of White Sox prospects.

White Sox Place Tim Anderson On IL, Select Ross Detwiler

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4:04pm: Anderson could miss four to six weeks, according to general manager Rick Hahn (via Scott Merkin of MLB.com).

2:37pm: The White Sox announced that they’ve placed shortstop Tim Anderson on the injured list due to a right ankle sprain, recalled outfielder Daniel Palka from Triple-A Charlotte and selected the contract of left-hander Ross Detwiler from Charlotte. The team’s previously reported DFA of Yonder Alonso is now also official.

There’s still no official word on how long Anderson will be sidelined, though he was wearing a walking boot earlier this week when it became apparent that an IL stint was quite likely. The 26-year-old shortstop is in the midst of a his best season, having batted .317/.342/.491 with 11 homers and 15 steals in 281 plate appearances. The free-swinging Anderson is still loath to take a walk (2.5 percent) and has benefited from a .373 average on balls in play, but he’s also made dramatic improvements in his hard-hit rate and average exit velocity, per Statcast.

Detwiler, 33, will start tonight’s series opener against the Twins. The journeyman left-hander opened the season with the York Revolution of the independent Atlantic League but quickly landed with the White Sox and has thrown 43 innings of 3.89 ERA ball thus far in Triple-A (albeit with a 6.21 FIP and 4.75 xFIP). The longtime Nats hurler has bounced around the league since being cut loose by Washington — most recently appearing in one big league game for the Mariners in 2018. Detwiler has a career 4.36 ERA with 5.5 K/9, 3.3 BB/9 and a 46 percent ground-ball rate in 584 big league innings.

White Sox Outright Odrisamer Despaigne

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White Sox right-hander Odrisamer Despaigne has accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Charlotte, James Fegan of The Athletic tweets. The club designated Despaigne on June 24.

Despaigne could have rejected an outright in favor of a return to free agency, but he’ll stick with Chicago, which signed him to a minor league deal May 19 after he opted out of a minors contract with the Reds. The 32-year-old Cuba native then recorded a 2.00 ERA/4.27 FIP with 8.0 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9 over 18 innings in Charlotte.

Despaigne’s output with the White Sox’s top affiliate earned him a promotion to the majors, though he wasn’t able to carry his success to the game’s highest level. Despaigne made three starts with the ChiSox and managed a 9.45 ERA/6.86 FIP with a matching 4.73 K/9 and BB/9 across 13 1/3 frames before they designated him.

Jose Abreu Wants To Stay With White Sox

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  • The White Sox have been open about their desire to keep Jose Abreu beyond the 2019 season, and the first baseman also has no plans to leave the south side, he tells Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune.  “I’ll always be a White Sox….I’m a part of this organization. This is the organization that gave me a chance to play at this level and made all my dreams come true. I hope to stay here a very long time,” Abreu said.  While there’s nothing stopping the Sox from trading Abreu at the deadline and then re-signing him after the season, Abreu said he expects to remain with the club.  As Sullivan notes, this might leave Alex Colome as the only real trade chip for the White Sox at the deadline, as Chicago’s other veteran players apart from Colome, Abreu, and James McCann (who might also be retained) have largely struggled.

White Sox To Designate Yonder Alonso For Assignment

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2:28pm: Feinsand tweets that the move won’t become official until tomorrow because the Sox are off today.

1:31pm: The White Sox have designated first baseman/designated hitter Yonder Alonso for assignment, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports (via Twitter). The team has yet to formally announce the move or a corresponding transaction.

The trade to bring Alonso to Chicago from Cleveland this offseason simply hasn’t panned out on any front for the White Sox. In 251 plate appearances, the 32-year-old slugger has struggled to a career-worst .178/.275/.301 batting line through 251 plate appearances with the South Siders. His acquisition was also portrayed as a potential means of swaying his brother-in-law, Manny Machado, to choose the ChiSox in free agency, but Machado ultimately went to San Diego, who topped the Sox’ reported offer by a hefty $50MM in guaranteed money.

Alonso is only two years removed from a breakout All-Star campaign in which he slashed .266/.365/.501 with a career-high 28 home runs. Alonso was one of the foremost examples of the “fly-ball revolution” that season, but this year’s 43.1 percent ground-ball rate is his highest mark since the 2016 season. His 37.7 percent fly-ball rate, meanwhile, is his lowest since that same year.

Alonso parlayed that breakout effort into a two-year, $16MM contract with the Indians. Viewed as a more cost-effective replacement for Carlos Santana (who they reacquired this winter), Alonso wasn’t able to replicate his 2017 production in Cleveland but still posted a respectable .250/.317/.421 line with 23 homers last year. The Indians spent much of the offseason working to shed salary and reduce payroll, though, and dealing Alonso to the division-rival White Sox was a part of those efforts.

Chicago will have a week to trade, outright or release Alonso, who is still owed about $5.13MM through season’s end (including the buyout on a 2020 option). That salary makes a release the most likely outcome. If Alonso is indeed cut loose, he’d become a free agent who can sign with any club and would only be owed the prorated portion of the league minimum through the remainder of the season. That sum would be subtracted from what the Sox still owe him.

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