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White Sox Claim Drew Romo, Designate Ben Cowles

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The White Sox have claimed catcher Drew Romo off waivers from the Mets, according to a club announcement. Chicago designated infielder Ben Cowles for assignment in order to open a spot for Romo on the 40-man roster.

The No. 35 overall pick by the Rockies back in 2020, Romo garnered some top-100 fanfare earlier in his prospect days but has seen his bat stall out after a nice 2023 season between High-A and Double-A. He’s still a quality defensive catcher with a rocket arm behind the plate, but Romo’s offensive output at Triple-A has declined in consecutive seasons. He hit .264/.329/.409 (75 wRC+) in an extremely hitter-friendly Triple-A Albuquerque setting in 2025 and saw his strikeout rate balloon from 17.8% in ’24 to 25.8%.

The Rockies gave Romo a couple brief looks in the majors, but he totaled only 56 plate appearances and logged a .167/.196/.222 slash with a sky-high 37.5% strikeout rate. He still has a pair of minor league option years remaining, so he’ll give the South Siders some defensive-minded depth behind the plate.

The Sox have Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero on the big league roster already. Both were top-100 prospects this time a year ago. Quero held his own in his 2025 MLB debut (.268/.333/.356 in 403 plate appearances), and Teel excelled at the plate. In 297 trips to the batter’s box, Teel slashed .273/.375/.411 (125 wRC+) with a big 12.5% walk rate. Given that he not only outproduced Quero but also grades out as a vastly better defender, Teel staked his claim to the starting job in 2026 and beyond. Twenty-seven-year-old Korey Lee, who’s out of minor league options, will also have to break camp with the team (if he’s not traded first) or else be designated for assignment.

Both Teel and Quero have drawn offseason trade interest, though that doesn’t mean a move will come to fruition. Other clubs have called the White Sox about that catching tandem — not vice versa — which is only natural, given the scarcity of quality catchers in the game and the ever-increasing emphasis on cultivating young, controllable talent. Claiming another catcher doesn’t indicate that the Sox are more seriously considering a trade of either Teel or Quero; it’s more likely a mere matter of adding some depth (particularly some optionable depth, as Lee’s hold on his roster spot figures to be a bit tenuous).

As for Cowles, who’ll turn 26 next month, he’s a former tenth-round pick by the Yankees who has already twice changed teams in his pro career. New York shipped him to the Cubs alongside Jack Neely in the 2024 Mark Leiter Jr. trade, and the White Sox claimed him off waivers about 13 months later.

Cowles has yet to take a plate appearance in the majors. He split the ’25 season between the Triple-A clubs for the two Chicago teams, slashing a combined .235/.300/.371 with nine homers, 18 steals, a 7.2% walk rate and a 28.8% strikeout rate. He’s viewed as a serviceable defender at shortstop who can also handle second base and third base, giving him a chance to carve out a role as a utility player.

Although his 2025 numbers were ugly, Cowles hit .286/.372/.457 with nine homers, 14 steals, a 10.4% walk rate and a 17.7% strikeout rate in 92 Double-A games during the 2024 season. Between that production, his solid glove/speed combination, and a pair of remaining minor league option years, there’s a chance he’ll be picked up by another club hoping to secure some optionable infield depth.

Cubs Claim Ryan Rolison

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The Cubs have claimed left-hander Ryan Rolison off waivers from the White Sox, per ESPN’s Jesse Rogers. The Sox designated Rolison for assignment when they needed to open a 40-man roster spot for free agent signee Sean Newcomb. The Cubs currently have four vacancies on their 40-man, so a corresponding move isn’t needed.

A first-round pick by the Rockies back in 2018, Rolison didn’t make his major league debut until the 2025 season, as injuries significantly derailed his trajectory to the majors. He wound up tossing 42 1/3 frames for Colorado — 31 relief appearances, one start —  and being tagged for a grim 7.02 earned run average in that time. He pitched well out of the bullpen in Triple-A, however, notching a 3.34 ERA with a 25.2% strikeout rate, 7.1% walk rate and 48.8% ground-ball rate.

Rolison previously sat in the upper 80s and low 90s with his four-seamer while working as a starter, but his average fastball jumped to 93 mph this season while working in short relief. Home runs were a major issue for him in his debut campaign (2.34 HR/9), but despite that penchant for serving up the long ball, he actually induced a large amount of weak contact. When opponents did manage to barrel Rolison, those balls left the yard too often, but hitters still averaged a measly 87.5 mph off the bat against him.

It’s been some time since the former Ole Miss standout was a prospect of real note, but big league clubs clearly still see something in Rolison now that he’s healthy. He’s bounced from the Rockies, to the Braves, to the White Sox, to the Cubs now since his original DFA in Colorado. Following his DFAs with the Rockies and Braves, he didn’t even make it to waivers. The Braves and Cubs acquired him via small trades. And even in spite of those rough-looking numbers in his debut, he still wasn’t able to be passed through waivers by the South Siders.

Rolison has a minor league option remaining, so the Cubs don’t necessarily need to carry him on the Opening Day roster. He’s been used more in relief than as a starter in recent seasons, which isn’t a huge surprise for a former starter who lost about two years of his still-young career to a torn labrum in his left shoulder, which required surgery. The Cubs are quite deep in rotation options — particularly with a trade for Marlins righty Edward Cabrera reportedly in its final stages — and have deepened their bullpen this winter with signings of Phil Maton, Hunter Harvey, Jacob Webb, Hoby Milner and Caleb Thielbar. Rolison joins lefties Luke Little and Riley Martin as southpaw bullpen options who seem likely to begin the year in Triple-A Iowa.

White Sox Among Teams Interested In Griffin Canning

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The White Sox have added some depth to the rotation already this winter, signing lefties Anthony Kay and Sean Newcomb to respective two-year and one-year contracts ($12MM for Kay; $4.5MM for Newcomb). Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic report this morning that the South Siders are still hoping to bring in another veteran arm on a one-year deal, with Griffin Canning among the pitchers they’ve targeted.

There’s no indication that a deal is close. Canning surely isn’t Chicago’s lone target, nor are the White Sox the sole team looking at the possibility of signing him. The fit between the two parties is a fairly sensible one, however.

Canning, 30 in May, is a former second-round pick and top prospect with the Angels. He showed flashes of making good on that potential across parts of five seasons with the Halos, but injuries repeatedly set him back. The Angels eventually swapped him out for Jorge Soler in a Nov. 2024 deal with the Braves. Atlanta non-tendered him a few weeks later. Canning went on to sign a one-year deal with the Mets.

Early in the 2025 campaign, that low-cost pickup looked like a steal for the Mets. Thrust into the rotation mix after spring injuries to Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea, Canning raced out of the gates with a 2.47 ERA, 23.2% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate and gaudy 55.2% ground-ball rate in his first nine starts. Fielding-independent metrics like SIERA (3.84) and FIP (3.92) weren’t quite as bullish as his earned run average, but Canning very much looked the part of a quality mid-rotation arm over that span of nearly two months.

The right-hander then ran into some troubles with his command, issuing 18 walks over his next 26 1/3 frames. His numbers obviously took a step back along the way, and Canning never got much of a chance to right the ship. He was through 2 2/3 spotless innings against the Braves on June 26 when he suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon that ended his season. Overall, Canning closed out the year with a 3.77 ERA, 21.3% strikeout rate, 10.7% walk rate and 50.9% grounder rate.

The uptick in grounders was a new development for Canning, who’d previously carried just a 39.5% ground-ball rate in his career. The Mets scrapped his prior curveball in favor of a knuckle curve, but the more prominent factor in his newfound success in that regard were changes to his slider and changeup, which generated grounders at respective rates of 57% and 62%. Canning threw his slider at career-high levels in ’25 and used his four-seamer at a career-low mark (while also averaging 94.1 mph on the pitch — second-best in his career).

Discouraging as his finish to the season was, Canning showed enough in his 16 starts with the Mets to command a big league deal this winter. He’s a relative upside play, which makes him a good fit for a club that can promise him a rotation spot and trot him out every fifth day. The White Sox, still working through another rebuilding effort, can afford that opportunity far more easily than a clear-cut contender.

At the moment, each of Kay, Shane Smith, Sean Burke and Davis Martin appear locked into manager Will Venable’s rotation. Newcomb could compete for a starting gig this spring but spent more time in the bullpen in recent seasons. Jonathan Cannon will be in the mix but has a minor league option remaining. Top prospects Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith could both debut in 2026, but each could probably use some more minor league time. Smith hasn’t pitched at all in Triple-A, and Schultz struggled mightily there in five starts (9.37 ERA) after a much stronger showing in Double-A. Both southpaws could stand to improve their command, in particular.

Whether it’s Canning or another veteran, there appears to be ample room for at least one more arm in the White Sox’ rotation. Kay is looking to continue his NPB breakout but has never had much big league success. Smith (a 2024 Rule 5 pick) and Burke only have one season of solid results in the majors. Martin has pitched like a fourth or fifth starter in parts of three MLB seasons. Smith, Martin and Burke all have minor league options remaining.

At the moment, RosterResource projects just an $87MM payroll for the White Sox. That’s over $100MM shy of their franchise-record mark, set back in 2022 ($193MM). The Sox carried just a $75MM payroll on Opening Day last year but were well over $100MM in both 2024 ($123MM) and in 2023 ($181MM).

White Sox, Jarred Kelenic Agree To Minor League Deal

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The White Sox are signing outfielder Jarred Kelenic to a minor league deal, according to a report from Jesse Rogers of ESPN. Kelenic’s deal includes a non-roster invitation to big league Spring Training in February.

Kelenic, 26, was drafted sixth-overall by the Mets back in 2018 and exploded to become a top-five prospect in the entire sport early in his pro career. Kelenic’s prospect status saw him shipped to the Mariners as part of the deal that brought Edwin Diaz to Queens, and at the time the deal was viewed as a coup for Seattle thanks to Kelenic’s star power. Unfortunately, the outfielder is now five years into his MLB career and has yet to put it all together at the major league level.

After hitting at a well below average level in 147 games across the 2021 and ’22 seasons, Kelenic finally seemed to be steadying himself in 2023. That year, he slashed a respectable .253/.327/.419 with a 110 wRC+ in 105 games. He swatted 11 homers with 25 doubles and swiped 13 bags in 18 attempts. While that combination of decent power and speed with a respectable 9.9% walk rate was encouraging, Kelenic was held back in a big way by strikeouts. His 31.7% strikeout rate would’ve been the fourth-highest in the majors that year if he had enough plate appearances to qualify, just ahead of Teoscar Hernandez and Eugenio Suarez for the team lead. That led the Mariners to try and retool their lineup with a larger focus on contact during the 2023-24 offseason, and part of that effort was a deal that shipped Kelenic to Atlanta that winter.

Joining the Braves offered Kelenic an opportunity for a fresh start, but he didn’t make much of an impact even in spite of receiving the lion’s share of playing time in left field. With Atlanta, Kelenic reached a career high in games played (131) and plate appearances (449) but managed a wRC+ of just 87 as his walk rate and BABIP both declined significantly while his strikeout rate remained at a much too high 29.6%. A .286 on-base percentage is hard to justify for a regular no matter how much power they provide, but Kelenic’s 15 homers and 35 total extra-base hits in 2024 certainly wasn’t going to cut it.

That led Atlanta to pivot away from using Kelenic in a starting role this past year, instead signing players like Jurickson Profar and Alex Verdugo to try and fill the hole in left field. A PED suspension for Profar and deep struggles from Verdugo were enough to get Kelenic another shot in the majors, but he struggled with that opportunity and hit just .167/.231/.300 in 24 games with a 47 wRC+ and a 35.7% strikeout rate. Those numbers were essentially unplayable at the major league level and left Kelenic to spend most of his time in the minors last year. Unfortunately, he also struggled for the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Gwinnett. For the Stripers, Kelenic hit just .213/.286/.309 in 95 games. While Kelenic’s strikeout and on-base woes persisted last year, his power completely evaporated.

All of those struggles led the Braves to designate Kelenic for assignment earlier this year, and he elected minor league free agency back in October. The outfielder is more of a project than a surefire piece at this point in his career, but given that he’s still just 26 years old, it’s understandable for the rebuilding White Sox to take a gamble on a talent once so well-regarded. If Kelenic shows he has more in the tank, he’d likely compete for a job in right field with Brooks Baldwin as Luis Robert Jr. and Andrew Benintendi cover center field and left field respectively. A trade of Robert or even Benintendi can’t be ruled out given Chicago’s status as one of the league’s few rebuilding clubs, and a deal sending either of those two out of town would create a more substantial opportunity for Kelenic to get work in on the grass in the majors.

Joe Kelly Announces End Of His Playing Career

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After 13 Major League seasons, reliever Joe Kelly has decided to call a career, as the right-hander told WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford on a recent edition (audio link) of the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast.  In his usual irreverent fashion, the 37-year-old Kelly declined to say he was officially retiring, taking issue with the term itself.

“Retiring is like, something that my grandmother did….I’m sorry all you people out there watching this that work a real job.  You guys deserve to retire, athletes don’t,” Kelly said.  “We just stop [expletive] playing, okay?  Let’s cancel the word ’retirement.’  It’s used for people who [expletive] served in the military, used for people who worked until 65…When athletes are done playing, just say ’congratulations, they’re no longer playing.’ ”

Kelly last played during the 2024 season, tossing 32 regular-season innings for the Dodgers.  He didn’t sign a contract last winter, and stated last July that he was planning to showcase himself in a throwing session for the Dodgers alone, saying that he only wanted to pitch for Los Angeles if he returned at all.  That session came and went without any fanfare, and Kelly told Bradford that continued injury problems convinced him to hang up the glove.  “I can throw 98 [mph] like nothing…[but] I threw a pitch and like strained again, so like ’nah, I’m done,’ ” Kelly said.

High velocity has been a bedrock of Kelly’s career, as he averaged 95mph on his fastball in his MLB debut season with the Cardinals in 2012.  A move to the bullpen added even more heat, as Kelly had an average velo of 98.2mph over the final eight seasons of his career, and he topped the 102mph mark at his peak.  While Kelly’s fastball drew the most attention, however, his sinker (which also regularly sat in the upper 90s) and curveball were his most effective pitches at finishing off batters after Kelly set them up with his standard fastball.

A third-round pick for the Cardinals in the 2009 draft, Kelly made his MLB debut with St. Louis in 2012 and he tossed his first 266 big league innings in a Cards uniform.  A notable swap at the 2014 trade deadline saw Kelly and Allen Craig sent to the Red Sox in exchange for John Lackey, and while the trade was panned by Boston fans at the time, Kelly’s development into a valued member of the Red Sox pen has made the deal a little more palatable for Red Sox Nation in hindsight.

Kelly struggled with injuries and consistency over his first two full seasons as a starter with the Sox, and a move to relief pitching in 2016 helped him at least spend less time on the injured list.  Kelly had a 4.33 ERA over his entire 359 1/3 inning tenure with the Red Sox, but he shone brightest when posting a 0.79 ERA over 11 1/3 frames during the 2018 postseason, playing a big role in Boston’s World Series championship victory.

After helping beat the Dodgers in that Fall Classic, Kelly then went to L.A. on a three-year, $25MM free agent deal.  Some early struggles made that signing look like a potential bust, but Kelly righted the ship and finished with a 3.59 ERA, 26.9% strikeout rate, 59.9% grounder rate, and 9.8% walk rate over 105 1/3 innings in that three-season span.  The highlight was another postseason success and a ring in 2020, with Kelly allowing one earned run over 4 2/3 innings during the Dodgers’ title run.

A two-year, $17MM contract with the White Sox followed for Kelly in advance of the 2022 season, but the injuries started to really pile up, leading to a only a 5.59 ERA over 66 innings in a Chicago uniform.  Acquired again by the Dodgers at the 2023 trade deadline, Kelly suddenly regained some of his old form in posting a 1.74 ERA the rest of the way.  Los Angeles brought him back for a one-year, $8MM contract for the 2024 season, but Kelly’s health problems continued and he managed just a 4.78 ERA in his final 32 innings in the Show.  While he wasn’t part of the Dodgers’ playoff roster, Los Angeles’ World Series victory meant that Kelly earned his third ring in what ended up as his farewell season.

Over 485 games and 839 career innings in the majors, Kelly had a 3.98 ERA, 51.8% grounder rate, 21.1% strikeout rate, and a 9.8% walk rate.  His postseason resume consists of a 3.45 ERA over 60 innings, and a particularly impressive 2.03 ERA across 13 1/3 innings in the World Series.

Along the way, Kelly created quite a reputation for himself as a character.  Kelly’s competitiveness sometimes led to a pair of high-profile suspensions, but his willingness to defend teammates only added to the fuel of the rivalries between the Red Sox and Yankees, and the sign-stealing scandal inspired feud between the Dodgers and Astros.  Between his big fastball, erratic control, and eccentric personality, Kelly welcomed all comparisons to “Wild Thing” Rick Vaughn, to the point of wearing #99 with the Dodgers after giving his #17 jersey to the incoming Shohei Ohtani.  (This gesture resulted in Ohtani gifting a Porsche to Kelly’s wife Ashley.)

We at MLBTR congratulate Kelly on a fine career, and we wish him all the best in retir….er, his post-playing endeavors.

Several Teams Interested In Yoán Moncada

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Infielder Yoán Moncada is currently a free agent after playing out a one year, $5MM deal with the Angels. He was an above-average hitter in 84 games in 2025 but missed time due to right thumb and right knee injuries. According to Francys Romero of Beisbol FR, several teams have expressed early interest in signing Moncada, including the Angels, Pirates, White Sox, and Blue Jays.

The 30-year-old originally signed with the Red Sox out of Cuba for a $31.5MM bonus in February 2015. He made his debut late in 2016 before being traded to the White Sox as their key return for Chris Sale. Moncada had a 105 wRC+ in 231 plate appearances in 2017 but fell below average in his first full season in 2018. He broke out in 2019 with a .315/.367/.548 batting line in 559 PA, along with 25 home runs. Granted, the ball was juiced that year, but Moncada’s output was still 39% better than average by wRC+. The White Sox were confident enough to give him a five-year, $70MM extension in March 2020, which covered the 2020-24 seasons and contained a club option for 2025.

Moncada slumped during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, posting a 94 wRC+ while seeing a drop in power and spending two weeks on the injured list. He rebounded in 2021 with a line of .263/.375/.412 and a 120 wRC+. The power wasn’t quite back to his 2019 levels, though he looked like a more mature hitter overall, dropping his strikeout rate to 25.5% while posting a career-best 13.6% walk rate.

Unfortunately, Moncada has struggled with injuries and inconsistency ever since. From 2022-24, he batted .236/.291/.387 with an 88 wRC+ while playing in just 206 out of 486 possible games. In 2024, he spent most of the season on the 60-day IL with a left abductor strain, making just 45 plate appearances with a 118 wRC+. After the season, the club declined their $25MM club option on Moncada in lieu of a $5MM buyout, making him a free agent.

This year with the Angels, he had a 117 wRC+ in 289 PA over 84 games. His strikeout rate of 26.0% was high, while his 11.1% walk rate was better than average. His .214 ISO was his highest since his 2019 breakout season, as was his .448 slugging percentage. Although he is nominally a switch-hitter, most of his damage came as a lefty facing right-handed pitching. He posted 125 wRC+ in 262 PA against righties, but just a 37 wRC+ in 27 PA against southpaws. Meanwhile, both Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average saw Moncada as a liability at third base. His -13 OAA was worst in the league among third baseman with at least 300 defensive innings.

Altogether, Moncada showed above average offense but was weighed down by injuries and newfound defensive struggles. As a free agent, he is more or less in the same position as last offseason, with a one-year deal being his most likely outcome. The current market has Alex Bregman and Eugenio Suarez as the top options at third base. Kazuma Okamoto is still available, with his posting window closing on January 4. The next-best options after that are utility players, so teams needing an everyday third baseman could look to Moncada as a low-cost flier.

Among the clubs with reported interest, the Angels might be the best fit. Anthony Rendon is expected to retire after an injury-riddled tenure in Los Angeles. After Moncada, Luis Rengifo got the most time at the hot corner in 2025, though he is a now a free agent. The club acquired infielder Vaughn Grissom from the Red Sox earlier this month, and he has not played third base in his big-league career. Another one-year deal with Moncada would fill the third-base vacancy and set Grissom up to compete for second base time, where the incumbent Christian Moore was unimpressive offensively in 2025.

Looking at the Pirates, the team traded Ke’Bryan Hayes to the Reds in July and saw Isiah Kiner-Falefa claimed by the Blue Jays in August. Jared Triolo played 260 1/3 innings at the hot corner, but he is more of a multi-positional player and did not hit as well as Moncada. The club is interested in signing Okamoto, but Moncada could be a fallback option for them.

The White Sox recently signed Munetaka Murakami to play first base and have Miguel Vargas as the projected starter at third. Moncada would be an offensive upgrade over Vargas if the club limits his exposure to left-handed pitching. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays are known to be interested in signing Bregman. Ernie Clement and Addison Barger are already on the roster if he signs elsewhere. Both are average hitters, while Clement is an excellent defender at third (11 DRS in 2025), so they are a more curious fit for Moncada.

Photo courtesy of Steven Bisig, Imagn Images

Players In DFA Limbo

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When a team designates a player for assignment, he is removed from that club’s 40-man roster. The team then has a period of time with some ability to impact what is next for that player. This is colloquially referred to as “DFA limbo”.

The team can trade the player to another club, unless the trade deadline has passed and the new offseason has not yet begun. The team can also place the player on outright or release waivers. This limbo period can last as long as seven days. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the team has a maximum of five days to work out a trade.

Or at least that’s the case for most of the year. It’s different around the holidays, with several instances in recent years of players being in DFA limbo for longer than two weeks. For instance, catcher Sam Huff was designated for assignment by the Rangers on December 23rd of 2024. He stayed in DFA limbo until he was claimed off waivers by the Giants on January 8th of 2025, 16 days later.

There has never been an official announcement made about what the rules are but it’s clear there’s some sort of freeze on the DFA clock around the holidays in late December and early January.

In this morning’s edition of The Opener, MLBTR mentioned two players who had been designated for assignment on December 17th, expecting those situations to be resolved today. There have been no updates as of the publication of this post. It’s possible the situations have been resolved but just haven’t been reported publicly because of media/communications people taking time off for the holidays. It’s also possible that those players have had their DFA clocks frozen and will remain in limbo into January.

Below is a list of players who have been designated for assignment in the past week without resolution, listed chronologically.

December 17th

December 19th

December 20th

December 22nd

December 23rd

Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images

MLBTR Podcast: Three-Way Trade, Murakami’s Short-Term Deal, And Willson Contreras To Boston

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Check out our past episodes!

  • The Mets Sign Jorge Polanco, And The Braves, Blue Jays And Royals Make Moves – listen here
  • Winter Meetings Recap – listen here
  • An Agent’s Perspective with B.B. Abbott – Also, Cease, Williams, Helsley, And Gray – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Wendell Cruz, Imagn Images

White Sox Sign Sean Newcomb

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The White Sox announced this morning that they’re in agreement with left-hander Sean Newcomb on a one-year deal that guarantees the southpaw $4.5MM this morning. Will Sammon of The Athletic reports that Newcomb “will at least get the chance to start” for Chicago. Lefty Ryan Rolison was designated for assignment to make room for Newcomb on the 40-man roster. Newcomb is a client of Tidal Sports Group.

Newcomb, 32, was a first-round pick by the Angels back in 2012 and spent years as a consensus top-100 prospect in the minors. The lefty made his big league debut with Atlanta back in 2017 after previously coming over as part of the Andrelton Simmons trade. He spent the first two seasons of his career as a rotation piece, with a 4.06 ERA (103 ERA+) and a 4.16 FIP that gave him the look of a decent back-end starter. Unfortunately, in 2019 early season struggles led to him being demoted to Triple-A and moved into a bullpen role upon his return. He started four games for the Braves in 2020 but struggled badly across those starts as well, and ultimately did not start another game for the team before being designated for assignment by the club.

The lefty was traded to the Cubs shortly after his DFA and moved to the bullpen for the club, but struggled to put things together over the next few seasons. He pitched to an atrocious 6.61 ERA in 47 2/3 innings of work at the major league level between the Cubs and A’s over the next three seasons, held back primarily by a whopping 15.0% walk rate. Back in January, Newcomb latched on with the Red Sox on a minor league deal and found a path back to a big league rotation job between a strong performance in Spring Training coupled with injuries to rotation pieces like Lucas Giolito and Brayan Bello that kept them off the Opening Day roster.

Newcomb’s performance once added to the rotation was a mixed bag. He made five starts for the Red Sox and posted a lackluster 4.43 ERA, but did so with strong peripherals. He struck out 25.7% of his opponents while walking 10.5%. After moving to the bullpen, he posted a much stronger 3.38 ERA in seven relief outings for Boston, though his strikeout rate cratered during those outings. That led the Red Sox to designate him for assignment in late May, and he found himself traded back to the A’s shortly thereafter.

The lefty remained with the Athletics for the remainder of the 2025 season and did extremely well for himself with the club. In a full-time relief role for the A’s, Newcomb pitched to a dazzling 1.75 ERA with a 2.69 FIP in 51 1/3 innings of work. That excellent performance was backed up by strong peripherals, as he struck out 24.9% of his opponents, walked just 7.0%, and posted a strong 48.9% ground ball rate. His 3.22 SIERA in West Sacramento would be good for 44th among relievers with at least 50 innings of work last year if separated from his time in Boston. He’d also rank fifth by ERA and 18th by FIP.

That performance is more than strong enough to justify offering Newcomb a solid one-year guarantee to be a lefty bullpen arm, and the 32-year-old likely could have landed a similar dollar amount from a more competitive team for 2026 based on contracts offered to comparable lefties this offseason like Caleb Thielbar, who re-upped with the Cubs on a $4.5MM guarantee earlier this month. With that said, those contenders would have presumably wanted to keep Newcomb in a full-time bullpen role. The White Sox, by contrast, don’t have expectations of contention headed into 2026 and therefore can afford to offer Newcomb the opportunity to earn a rotation spot this spring.

Fellow offseason signing Anthony Kay figures to join Shane Smith and Davis Martin in the front three rotation spots for the White Sox this year. That leaves Newcomb to compete with players like Sean Burke, Jonathan Cannon, and Chris Murphy for the last two spots in the club’s rotation. It wouldn’t be a shock to see Newcomb land that role, though it’s certainly possible that he could also be used in a late-inning role given that the Sox bullpen has only Mike Vasil and Jordan Leasure as leverage options at the moment, with Tyler Gilbert as the top lefty option.

As for Rolison, the southpaw was claimed off waivers from Atlanta earlier this month. Rolison made his MLB debut as a member of the Rockies this past year, but struggled badly to the tune of a 7.02 ERA in 42 1/3 innings of work at the big league level for Colorado this year. The lefty will now be put through the waiver wire again, unless the Sox work out a deal involving Rolison before then. Should he pass through waivers unclaimed, Rolison figures to be outrighted to Triple-A as non-roster depth for Chicago headed into the 2026 season.

White Sox, Dustin Harris Agree To Minor League Contract

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The White Sox are signing outfielder Dustin Harris to a minor league deal, reports James Fegan of Sox Machine. The lefty hitter will be in camp as a non-roster invitee.

Harris, 26, is a former A’s draftee who was traded to Texas early in his career. He showed a decent power-speed combination in the minors and ranked among Baseball America’s top 10 prospects in the Rangers system each year from 2022-24. The Rangers carried him on their 40-man roster for a couple years. Harris received a brief look as a September call-up at the end of the ’24 season. His prospect stock had already begun to dim by that point, as his .272/.358/.391 showing in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League was a little worse than average given the hitter-friendly setting.

The Rangers bounced Harris on and off the active roster for the first few months of this past season. They designated him for assignment at the trade deadline and successfully ran him through waivers. He came back up in September while Adolis García was on the injured list but was outrighted again at the beginning of the offseason. Harris elected free agency the second time around.

His big league résumé consists of 21 games, in which he has hit .217 with a .280 on-base percentage. Harris has posted solid but not exceptional numbers over two and a half seasons in Triple-A. He’s a .276/.367/.420 hitter in nearly 1300 plate appearances. Harris has posted strong strikeout and walk rates, but his exit velocities at the Triple-A level are near the bottom of the scale. He can play all three outfield positions and probably fits best in left field.

The White Sox have Andrew Benintendi in left field and Luis Robert Jr. (barring a trade) to play center. Out-of-options Everson Pereira is probably lined up for right field work. Pereira has a .146/.227/.215 line in 50 major league games. Fourth outfielder Derek Hill and depth types Brooks Baldwin and Tristan Peters are on the 40-man roster. They’ll enter Spring Training ahead of Harris on the depth chart, but it’s a good spot for a non-roster invitee to carve out a role with an impressive camp.

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