White Sox Rumors

White Sox Sign Andrew Romine

By Connor Byrne | January 15, 2020 at 9:31pm CDT

The White Sox and utility player Andrew Romine have agreed to a minor league contract, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports. Romine will earn a $900K salary if he reaches the majors in 2020.

A fifth-round pick of the Angels in 2007, Romine debuted in the majors in 2010 and has since combined for 1,323 major league plate appearances with the Halos, Tigers and Mariners. While Romine has lined up all over the diamond in that span, offensive success has been hard to come by for the 34-year-old switch-hitter. So far, Romine has only managed a .235/.291/.301 line with 10 home runs.

Romine saw at least some MLB action in each season from 2010-18, but he spent all of last year in Triple-A ball with the Phillies. He slashed .289/.342/.409 with eight homers and 21 stolen bases across 417 trips to the plate.

White Sox Designate Dylan Covey, Announce Steve Cishek Signing

By Jeff Todd | January 14, 2020 at 10:52am CDT

The White Sox have designated right-hander Dylan Covey for assignment, per a club announcement. His roster spot goes to Steve Cishek, whose previously reported signing is now official.

Covey has certainly had his chances to forestall this result. Over the past three seasons, he has been given 250 1/3 innings of MLB action with the South Siders. The results simply have not been there.

All told, Covey carries a 6.54 ERA to this point in his career. He has an even fifty percent grounder rate but otherwise the peripherals are equally unsightly: 6.2 K/9, 4.1 BB/9, 1.62 HR/9.

Covey has averaged between 94 and 95 mph with both his four-seam and two-seam fastballs, partnering those with a changing variety of secondary offerings. Opposing MLB hitters have feasted on most everything he has sent across the plate and haven’t been tempted to chase very often.

It’s a disappointing situation for both team and player. Covey was long seen as a potential rotation fixture but just hasn’t made the leap. He has thrown 95 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level over the past three seasons as well, finding much more success there. In that span, Covey owns a 2.63 ERA with 84 strikeouts and 25 walks.

White Sox Hire Wes Helms As Triple-A Manager

By Connor Byrne | January 14, 2020 at 12:04am CDT

The White Sox announced some notable hires at the minor league level Monday, as LaMond Pope of the Chicago Tribune relays. Former major league infielder Wes Helms will manage the White Sox’s Triple-A team in Charlotte. Meanwhile, ex-MLB reliever Danny Farquhar will work as the organization’s pitching coach at High-A Winston-Salem. It was already known Farquhar would serve as a pitching coach in the organization when he retired in August, but the destination was unclear at that point.

Taking over in Charlotte represents a homecoming of sorts for the 43-year-old Helms, a North Carolina native. And he’ll be the second member of his family to manage in Charlotte, joining his uncle, Tommy Helms. Wes Helms spent last season as the bench coach with the White Sox’s Double-A club, and he served in the same role with the Phillies’ top minors affiliate in 2018, but this will be his first experience as a manager.

Of course, Helms is best known for his playing days in the majors. He suited up for the Braves, Brewers, Marlins and Phillies for a combined 1,212 games from 1998-2011.

As for Farquhar, the fact that he’s making news right now is especially interesting, considering the impact he had on the momentous events that just occurred in Houston. The sign-stealing accusations Farquhar made against the Astros in November helped lead to an investigation from Major League Baseball. The league then found enough evidence against the Astros to hit them with a massive penalty on Monday, and the team fired GM Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch as a result.

The Astros were also the team Farquhar dealt with a scary health situation against in 2018, as he suffered a life-threatening brain aneurysm while with the White Sox. That upended Farquhar’s MLB career, though he did attempt to return to the game’s highest level last season. Farquhar will now try to help some of Chicago’s young pitchers climb their way up to the bigs.

Hahn: McCann Still Has Role Despite Grandal, Encarnacion Deals

By Steve Adams | January 13, 2020 at 7:24am CDT

Although the White Sox have largely displaced James McCann with the signings of Yasmani Grandal and Edwin Encarnacion, general manager Rick Hahn reiterated this weekend that he views McCann as a valuable member of the club (link via Madeline Kenney of the Chicago Sun-Times). “Having quality depth is a positive thing on good clubs, and it’s part of what makes good clubs able to withstand the unexpected,” said Hahn. “We view James as potentially playing a role on a championship club, and that hasn’t changed since the end of last season to today.” There’s been some speculation about McCann’s availability in trade talks, but ChiSox leadership has publicly maintained a desire to keep McCann on the roster. The 29-year-old’s .273/.328/.460 slash in 2019 was clearly strong on the whole, but it was fueled by a .359 average on balls in play. Beyond that, McCann wilted over the summer, hitting just .231/.285/.410 from July through season’s end. Most of that was due to an abysmal month of July — he rebounded to an extent in August and September — but the Sox clearly still saw room for an upgrade. At $5.4MM, he’s a bit of an expensive backup, but few clubs can boast that type of offensive potential from their reserve catcher and the Sox have the payroll space to make the situation work.

Examining The Luis Robert Extension

By Anthony Franco | January 12, 2020 at 9:47pm CDT

Following their extension last week, the White Sox have now invested over $100MM in Luis Robert before his major league debut, observes Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic. As Rosenthal explains, the Sox paid over $25MM in overage taxes while guaranteeing Robert $26MM as an amateur under the prior international spending rules. (Spending on international amateurs was hard capped following the 2016-17 signing period, so deals like Robert’s are no longer permissible). Nevertheless, Rosenthal argues, the extension makes perfect sense for the White Sox. Not only does it grant Chicago an extra season of team control, it creates a ceiling for Robert’s earnings in arbitration, he points out. While Robert was wise to secure the guarantee, Rosenthal opines, the agreement serves as the latest reminder that MLB’s economic landscape drastically underpays players at the beginnings of their careers, when they are likely to be their most productive. MLBTR readers certainly anticipate Robert’s becoming an impact player, with 56% of poll voters forecasting him to exceed 2.3 wins above replacement in his first season.

White Sox Outright Tayron Guerrero, Kodi Medeiros To Triple-A

By Mark Polishuk | January 11, 2020 at 10:39pm CDT

The White Sox have outrighted right-hander Tayron Guerrero and left-hander Kodi Medeiros to Triple-A, the team announced (hat tip to The Athletic’s James Fegan). Guerrero and Medeiros each cleared waivers after being designated for assignment since the start of the new year.

Guerrero was claimed off waivers from the Marlins in early December following a season that saw the righty post a 6.26 ERA over 46 innings out of Miami’s bullpen. The hard-throwing Guerrero has yet to harness his 99mph fastball into a consistent force at the MLB level, as while he has a 9.4 K/9 over his 106 career big league innings, he has also issued a lot of free passes — a 7.0 BB/9 last season, boosting his overall career BB/9 to 5.7.

Control has been a persistent issue for Guerrero throughout his decade-long professional career, as he also has a 5.8 BB/9 (with a 4.02 ERA and 9.0 K/9) over 346 2/3 minor league innings. Guerrero just celebrated his 29th birthday two days ago, so while he’d count as a late bloomer, there’s still time for him to become a useful relief weapon if the White Sox can get him on track.

Selected 12th overall by the Brewers in the 2014 draft, Medeiros has yet to reach even the Triple-A level through six seasons in pro ball. Medeiros has a 4.77 ERA, 8.6 K/9, and 1.82 K/BB rate through 545 minor league frames (starting 91 of 139 games). The southpaw came to the White Sox in July 2018, as part of the trade package in the deal that sent Joakim Soria to Milwaukee.

Medeiros’ first full year in Chicago’s farm system was far from a success, as he had a 5.10 ERA over 83 innings for Double-A Birmingham. However, Medeiros saw much more work as a reliever than in the past, starting only nine of 28 games, and he fared much better out of the bullpen — a 2.55 ERA over 42 1/3 relief innings, as opposed to a 7.75 ERA over 40 2/3 frames as a starter. This could hint at a new direction for Medeiros, who is still just 23 years old.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: American League

By Steve Adams and Jeff Todd | January 10, 2020 at 7:00pm CDT

Entering the day, there were more than 150 players on the clock to exchange arbitration figures with their respective teams prior to a noon ET deadline. As one would expect, there’ll be an utter landslide of arbitration agreements in advance of that deadline. We already ran through some key facts and reminders on the arbitration process earlier this morning for those who are unfamiliar or simply need a refresher on one of MLB’s most complex idiosyncrasies, which will hopefully clear up many questions readers might have.

We’ll track the majority of the American League’s settlements in this post and split off a separate one for NL settlements as well. Note that all projections referenced come courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz:

Newly acquired Angels righty Dylan Bundy receives a $5MM salary, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter links). He had projected at a $5.7MM price tag. Teammate Hansel Robles gets $3.85MM, per Heyman, just shy of his $4MM projection.
The Yankees have worked out deals with all of their eligible players. The team has a hefty $8.5MM pact with Aaron Judge, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter). Backstop Gary Sanchez settled for $5MM, per Feinsand (via Twitter). The New York org will pay righty Luis Cessa $895K and Jonathan Holder $750K, Murray reports (Twitter links). Fellow reliever Tommy Kahnle will earn $2.65MM, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). And star lefty James Paxton has settled at $12.5MM, Heyman adds via Twitter. Chad Green and Jordan Montgomery have also agreed to terms, the former at $1.275MM and the latter at $805K, per Heyman (Twitter links).
The Twins announced that they struck deals with Trevor May, Taylor Rogers, Eddie Rosario and Byron Buxton. Jon Heyman of MLB Network followed up with salary terms (all links to Twitter). May earns $2,205,000; Rogers takes home $4.45MM; Rosario lands at $7.75MM; and Buxton receives $3.075MM. While the first and last of those land rather close to the projected amount, Rogers got $550K more and Rosario got $1.15MM less than the calculators predicted.
Shortstop Carlos Correa settled with the Astros for $8MM, per MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart (via Twitter). Righty Brad Peacock lands at a $3.9MM salary, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). The former went for more than his $7.4MM projection, while the latter ended up shy of the $4.6MM mark produced by the computers. The ’Stros also have agreed with closer Roberto Osuna as well, per an announcement. It’s a $10MM deal, slotting in just $200K shy of his projection, per Rome (via Twitter).
The Orioles have a deal with outfielder/first baseman Trey Mancini, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets. It’s for $4.75MM, per Dan Connolly of The Athletic (via Twitter), well south of the $5.7MM projection.
Outfielder Jorge Soler has agreed to a $7.3MM deal with the Royals, MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan tweets. That’s well off of the $11.2MM that MLBTR’s model projected, though it is likely that the cause of the gulf lies in the interpretation of the correct baseline to start from in building Soler’s salary. He’s in the 4+ service class but had been playing on the original deal he signed out of Cuba.
The Tigers have a deal in place with southpaw Matthew Boyd, per Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press (via Twitter). It’ll pay him $5.3MM, per Chris McCosky of the Detroit News (Twitter link). That falls comfortably below the $6.4MM, suggesting that Boyd’s camp was concerned with the way his suboptimal ERA would play in the arb process. Fellow lefty starter Daniel Norris will earn $2.96MM, McCosky tweets.

Earlier Settlements

Carlos Rodon ($4.45MM) and Nomar Mazara ($5.56MM) each have deals with the White Sox, per Robert Murray (Twitter links). The former was projected at $4.5MM after an injury limited season, making for an expectedly light raise on his $4.2MM salary from the prior campaign. The latter, recently acquired from the Rangers, comes in just under the $5.7MM the MLBTR model projected. The Chicago organization also announced that it has agreed to terms with infielder Leury Garcia for $3.25MM and righty Evan Marshall for $1.1MM.
The Angels have a $900K deal in place with righty Noe Ramirez, per Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times (via Twitter).
Recently acquired Indians outfielder Delino DeShields Jr. will play for $1.875MM, per Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer (via Twitter).
Tigers outfielder JaCoby Jones will play for $1.575MM, per Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press (via Twitter).
Righty Buck Farmer will earn $1.15MM from the Tigers, Robert Murray reports on Twitter.

The Rays will pay righty Oliver Drake $1.025MM, according to Murray (via Twitter). Infielder Daniel Robertson will play for the same rate, per John Romano of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter).
The White Sox signed closer Alex Colome to a one-year deal worth $10.5325MM, tweets Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com. A free agent next winter, Colome had been projected to earn $10.3MM. Chicago also settled at $1.1MM with righty Evan Marshall, per Robert Murray. He was projected at $1.3MM.
Infielder Gio Urshela and the Yankees agreed to a $2.475MM that tops his $2.2MM projection, tweets Murray.
The Rangers agreed to deals with Joey Gallo ($4.4MM) and Danny Santana ($3.6MM), Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports (Twitter links). Murray adds that righty Rafael Montero gets $785K from Texas. Gallo bested his $4MM projection, while Santana fell shy of his $3.9MM projection and Montero cam in south of his $900K number.
Right-hander Nick Wittgren and the Indians are in agreement on a one-year, $1.125MM deal that checks in a bit south of his $1.3MM projection, per Murray.
The Mariners agreed to terms with outfielders Mitch Haniger ($3.01MM) and Mallex Smith ($2.35MM), tweets Murray. Haniger’s salary is a near-exact match with his $3MM projection, though Smith clocks in a bit south of his $2.7MM figure.
Right-hander Chris Devenski and the Astros settled on a $2MM salary that aligns perfectly with his $2MM projected salary, tweets Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle.
The Angels and infielder Tommy La Stella agreed to a $3.25MM deal that tops his $2.9MM projection, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand.
Orioles infielder Hanser Alberto will be paid $1.65MM in 2020, tweets Joe Trezza of MLB.com. He was projected at $1.9MM.
The Twins and right-hander Tyler Duffey agreed to a $1.2MM deal, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 SKOR North radio. That’s $100K north of his $1.1MM projection in the first of three trips through arbitration.
Southpaw Andrew Heaney and the Angels agreed on a $4.3MM salary, tweets Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. That’s quite a bit shy of the flat $5MM he was projected to earn on the heels of an injury-shortened campaign. A Super Two player, Heaney will be arb-eligible once more next winter.
Infielder/outfielder Chad Pinder and the Athletics settled on a one-year, $2.025MM deal, tweets Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. That tops the $1.8MM at which he was projected in his first year of eligibility.
The Orioles and righty Mychal Givens settled at $3.225MM, tweets USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. It’s nearly a dead match with the $3.2MM projection of Givens, who’ll be arbitration-eligible once more next winter before hitting free agency after the 2021 season.
Outfielder Hunter Renfroe and the Rays agreed to a $3.3MM deal, tweets Nightengale. That checks in $100K south of the $3.4MM projection for Renfroe, who’ll be arb-eligible three more times.
Nightengale also tweets that the Blue Jays and Matt Shoemaker agreed to a $4.2MM contract, topping his $3.8MM projection by a sum of $400K. He’ll be a free agent next winter.
The Indians and outfielder Tyler Naquin settled at $1.45MM, tweets Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. He falls shy of his $1.8MM projection in the first of three trips through arb.
Righty Matt Barnes and the Red Sox have agreed to a $3.1MM deal, also via Feinsand. He was projected to earn $3MM as a second-time-eligible player. Nightengale adds that right-hander Heath Hembree and the Sox agreed to a $1.6125MM deal, which nearly matches his $1.6MM projection.
The Rays and righty Tyler Glasnow agreed to a $2.05MM salary for the upcoming season, MLBTR has learned. That salary clocks in north of his $1.9MM projection. As a Super Two player, Glasnow will be eligible for arbitration thrice more.
The Angels have agreed to a one-year pact with right-hander Keynan Middleton that’ll pay him $800K, tweets Robert Murray. That’s an exact match with the projection for Middleton, who underwent Tommy John surgery in 2018 but returned to the mound in 2019.
Righty Sam Tuivailala and the Mariners agreed to an $800K salary for the upcoming season, tweets Murray. He was projected to earn $900K after returning from 2018 surgery to repair a tear in his Achilles tendon.

White Sox Announce Edwin Encarnacion Signing, Designate Kodi Medeiros

By Steve Adams | January 9, 2020 at 11:07am CDT

The White Sox have formally announced their previously reported one-year contract with slugger Edwin Encarnacion, designating left-hander Kodi Medeiros for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Encarnacion will be guaranteed $12MM for the upcoming season, the team announced, and there’s a $12MM option for the 2021 season as well. That option comes with a $2MM buyout, meaning Encarnacion’s base salary for 2020 will land at $10MM. If the ChiSox pick up the option, he’d earn a total of $22MM over two seasons. Chicago agreed to terms with Encarnacion back on Dec. 24, but it seems that the holiday season delayed the finalization of the pact.

The 37-year-old Encarnacion becomes the latest official addition in an action-packed offseason that has seen the South Siders spend more than $200MM in free agency. Yasmani Grandal, Dallas Keuchel, Gio Gonzalez and Steve Cishek all join Encarnacion as open-market acquisitions. The organization has also extended Jose Abreu (three years, $50MM) and acquired Nomar Mazara in a trade with the Rangers, emphatically announcing their intent to emerge from a multi-year rebuilding effort.

Medeiros, 23, was a first-round pick by the Brewers back in 2014 (No. 12 overall) but made his way to the ChiSox in the 2018 trade that sent Joakim Soria from Chicago to Milwaukee. The Hawaiian-born southpaw repeated the Double-A level in 2019 but struggled through an ugly season in what was a very pitcher-friendly league. Through 83 innings of work, Medeiros logged a 5.10 ERA with 8.1 K/9, 5.5 BB/9 and a 36.1 percent grounder rate that marked a 14 percent drop from the previous season. Not only did Medeiros walk 51 hitters in his 83 innings (only one being intentional), he also plunked 11 batters and uncorked eight wild pitches.

All in all, it was a largely miserable season for the left-handed Medeiros, whom the White Sox now have a week to trade, release or place on outright waivers. He does have a pair of minor league options remaining, so perhaps another club will take a speculative flier in hopes of sorting out the former first-rounder’s control issues. But Medeiros’ 2019 struggles in his second trip through what should be a pitcher-friendly setting should give the Sox at least a chance of passing him through waivers and keeping him in the organization.

White Sox To Sign Steve Cishek

By Jeff Todd | January 7, 2020 at 11:58am CDT

The White Sox have reached a deal with free agent reliever Steve Cishek, per Jeff Passan of ESPN.com (via Twitter). He’ll be guaranteed $6MM in the pact, which per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (Twitter link) includes his 2020 salary and a $750K buyout of a $6.75MM option.

It’s a move that reflects the shifting tides of Chicago’s two sides. Cishek had stabilized the Cubs’ pen for the past two years. With his former team pressing up against its budget ceiling, he’ll cross town to take up a late-inning role with a White Sox organization that is hopeful of a breakout 2020 campaign.

Cishek has sidearmed his way through an awful lot of good innings over ten seasons in the majors. He has worked to a 2.69 ERA in 556 total frames and never once finished a full season with an ERA over 3.58. Having picked up 132 saves along the way, Cishek is no stranger to high-leverage spots.

Can the South Siders expect more of the same? There are conflicting signs. Cishek’s strikeout rate has wavered over time; last year’s 10.5% K%-BB% was a personal low. But he still generated grounders on half of the balls put in play against him, limited the long ball nearly as well as ever (at least compared to the league average), and held opponents to a sub-.250 BABIP for the fourth-straight season. Statcast identified some good fortune (.285 wOBA-against; .313 xwOBA-against) but found that Cishek was elite at limiting hard contact (25.9%) and exit velo (84.5 mph).

It’s ultimately hard to argue with the results, even if they haven’t always quite been supported by the peripherals. Cishek doesn’t throw hard but generates lots of spin. He’s an unconventional pitcher who has proven consistently capable of befuddling MLB hitters. He’s unquestionably better against same-handed hitters, though that’s true of most hurlers.

Cishek may not on the upswing at 33 years of age. But he’s a nice get on a one-year deal. That suits the needs of a White Sox organization that wants to boost its immediate chances without risking too much future payroll space on veteran players.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

MLBTR Poll: Luis Robert’s Rookie Season

By Connor Byrne | January 6, 2020 at 8:40am CDT

The White Sox recently made their latest bold move in a winter full of them, signing center fielder Luis Robert to a six-year, $50MM extension last week. Although the 22-year-old Robert has never played above the Triple-A level, setting his price for the foreseeable future came off as a worthwhile risk by the White Sox. Those types of gambles have become a trend for the club, which took the same approach before last season in inking left fielder Eloy Jimenez to a six-year, $43MM guarantee. Because Chicago was no longer concerned about Jimenez’s service time after extending him, he predictably cracked its Opening-Day roster. As expected, Jimenez went on to further establish himself as an integral long-term building block for the White Sox.

The team no doubt expects Robert to follow Jimenez’s lead this year in cementing himself as a foundational piece. Odds are that Robert, like Jimenez last year, will get a chance to do so from Day 1 of the season. Assuming that’s the case, he’ll take over for the White Sox’s most common center fielders from 2019 – Leury Garcia and Adam Engel – as their primary option. Garcia and Engel combined for a a passable 2.1 fWAR last season, though they didn’t offer much at the plate, totaling an unimposing .269/.308/.379 batting line with 14 home runs and 18 stolen bases.

Considering Robert has no experience in the majors, there’s no guarantee he’ll outproduce Garcia and Engel in his first taste of the majors. On the other hand, as en elite prospect (MLB.com ranks him third in the game) who has run roughshod over high-minors pitching, Robert’s a legitimate candidate to begin his career with a flourish. Robert hadn’t played above High-A ball until last season, when he destroyed Double-A (.314/.362/.518 in 244 plate appearances) en route to a promotion to Triple-A Charlotte. There was no shortage of offense in the International League, but the .297/.341/.634 slash Robert registered in 223 attempts was still 36 percent better than the league’s average hitter, according to FanGraphs’ wRC+ metric.

It’s too much to ask for Robert to hit that well in the majors this season, of course. Nevertheless, projections on his rookie season are bullish. For instance, Dan Szymborski’s ZiPS system calls for 2.3 fWAR, a .265/.309/.455 line, 20 homers and 24 steals over 539 plate appearances. That would go down as a similar first full season to the one Nationals budding star center fielder Victor Robles recorded in 2019, an age-22, 617-PA campaign in which he posted 2.5 fWAR, slashed .255/.326/.419, swatted 17 HRs and stole 28 bases.

For the purpose of this poll, we’ll set the WAR over/under at ZiPS’ forecast, 2.3. Do you expect Robert to meet, exceed or fall short of that figure in 2020?

(Poll link for app users)

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