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White Sox Re-Sign Dan Altavilla To Minor League Deal

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The White Sox re-signed right-hander Dan Altavilla over the weekend, as reflected in his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The righty pitched an inning and two thirds for Triple-A Charlotte yesterday.

Altavilla, 32, signed a minor league deal with the Sox in the winter. He tossed 9 2/3 innings for them during the spring, allowing three earned while striking out 11 opponents, issuing four walks and hitting two batters. He didn’t break camp with the club and opted out of that deal but has now circled back to the Sox on a fresh contract.

The righty has some capable big league work on his track record, though it’s been a few years since he complied the bulk of it. From 2016 through 2020, he tossed 114 2/3 innings for the Mariners and Padres. He had an ERA of exactly 4.00 in that time, with a strong 26% strikeout rate but also a high walk rate of 12.3%.

But he has thrown only five big league innings since then. Tommy John surgery in the summer of 2021 wiped out most of that year and the subsequent season. In 2023, he was with the Red Sox on a minor league deal but his results weren’t strong and he didn’t get a call-up. He made it back to the show with the Royals last year but landed on the injured list with a right oblique strain after just five appearances. When he was healthy, he was bumped off the roster as opposed to being reinstated.

The Sox have a pretty inexperienced bullpen. Mike Clevinger is the only reliever on the active roster with more than five years of service time. He has spent most of his career as a starter and is only now making the move to full-time relief. Swingman Bryse Wilson is the only other guy with at least four years of service while only Penn Murfee is also over the one-year line.

It’s understandable why a rebuilding club like the Sox would want to try out young arms to see what happens but some of them will surely struggle or simply get hurt. In short, there should be opportunities available for Altavilla throughout the year if he can stay healthy and somewhat effective.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

White Sox Outright Oscar Colás

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The White Sox announced that outfielder Oscar Colás has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Charlotte. He had been designated for assignment a couple of days ago when the club was making its final roster moves ahead of Opening Day.

Seeing this transaction would have been surprising a few years ago but is far more understandable given the way things have played out recently. Colás was a high-profile player even before joining the affiliated ranks. A native of Cuba, he had played both in that country and in Japan, building a reputation with his strong offensive stats. He also dabbled in pitching, leading to some “Cuban Shohei Ohtani” chatter, but his official track record on the mound consists of just 3 1/3 innings in Cuba.

He eventually signed with the White Sox early in 2022, getting a relatively high $2.7MM signing bonus. His first season in affiliated ball went quite well. In that 2022 season, he went from High-A to Double-A and Triple-A. Across those three levels, he hit 23 home runs in 117 games, producing a combined .314/.371/.524 batting line and 137 wRC+.

Going into 2023, he was considered one of the top 100 prospects in the league, but his stock has been falling since then. He has 301 big league plate appearances thus far with a 5.3% walk rate and 26.9% strikeout rate. His .223/.271/.309 line translates to a wRC+ of just 58. His minor league production has also fallen off. His .255/.336/.423 line at Triple-A over the past two years is better than his major league work but amounts to a wRC+ of 93, or 7% below league average. His defense hasn’t been well regarded, making that declining offense all the more troubling.

Coming into 2025, the Sox didn’t seem keen on keeping a job open for him. They already had Luis Robert Jr. and Andrew Benintendi in the outfield mix and then added Austin Slater, Michael A. Taylor, Mike Tauchman and Travis Jankowski. Injuries to Tauchman and Benintendi in spring perhaps opened a path for Colás but he struck out in 38.9% of his plate appearances in Cactus League action.

He has an option remaining, so the Sox could have simply sent him to the minors. But they bumped him off the 40-man and put him on the wire, taking the risk that they would lose him completely. Any of the other 29 clubs could have grabbed him and stashed him in Triple-A but none of them were willing to give him a roster spot, an indication of where his value is right now.

Since he has less than three years of service time and this is his first career outright, he does not have the right to elect free agency. He’ll stick with the White Sox as a depth piece but without taking up a roster spot. The Sox won’t be competing this year and it seems likely that outfield playing time will be open in the second half. Robert should be one of the top trade candidates of the coming months as long as he stays healthy and the other outfielders should be on the block as well. If Colás can turn things around in Charlotte, he could perhaps get another shot at the majors later in the summer.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

White Sox Designate Jake Eder, Dominic Fletcher For Assignment

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The White Sox announced this morning that they’ve designated left-hander Jake Eder and outfielder Dominic Fletcher for assignment. They’ve also placed righty Drew Thorpe on the 60-day injured list while he recovers from Tommy John surgery. That trio of moves clears the way for righty Mike Clevinger, infielder Nick Maton and outfielder Travis Jankowski to be selected to the big league roster. (Maton and Jankowski were already known to have made the club.) All three had been non-roster invitees in camp this spring.

Eder, 26, was a fourth-round pick by the Marlins out of Vanderbilt back in 2020. He was considered one of the best prospects in Miami’s system when the Sox acquired him in a straight-up swap for slugger Jake Burger back at the 2023 trade deadline. Prior to Eder requiring Tommy John surgery late in the 2021 season, he’d even begun to garner some attention on midseason iterations of top-100 prospect rankings at Baseball America (No. 68) and MLB.com (No. 81).

At the time of the trade, Eder was just making his way back from that UCL repair. He’d pitched 39 1/3 innings in the Marlins’ minor league system and showed well. He was rocked in five starts with the White Sox’ Double-A club following the swap, but for a then-24-year-old just returning from major surgery, it wasn’t necessarily a shock to see him fade down the stretch.

Eder’s 2024 struggles, however, were more concerning. The left-hander split last season between Double-A and Triple-A, working to a combined 6.61 earned run average with glaring command troubles. Eder fanned a quality 24.4% of his opponents but also walked 11.6% of the batters he faced — including a sky-high 16.1% of his opponents in nine Triple-A starts. He also plunked five hitters and was charged with 10 wild pitches. His spring work wasn’t any better; Eder faced 13 hitters in 2 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on a pair of hits and three walks with four strikeouts.

Fletcher, 27, came over from the D-backs last offseason in a one-for-one swap that sent pitching prospect Cristian Mena to Arizona. He got a decent look in the South Siders’ outfield but turned in only a .206/.252/.256 slash in 241 trips to the plate. He’d been coming off a strong 2023 showing that saw him hit .291/.399/.500 in Triple-A and .301/.350/.441 in 102 plate appearances during his MLB debut.

Fletcher not only struggled in the majors, however, but also hit poorly in the minors. He clearly fell out of favor, as the Sox instead signed both Mike Tauchman and Michael A. Taylor to big league deals, pushing Fletcher down the depth chart. Even with Tauchman opening the season on the injured list due to a right hamstring strain, Fletcher didn’t make the cut and now is off the 40-man roster entirely.

The Sox will have the next five days to trade Eder and/or Fletcher. If no deal is reached by then, the pair would be placed on waivers, which is another 48-hour process. Either could be waived before that point, but the maximum length of their DFA window will seven days. Eder still has two minor league option years remaining. Fletcher has one.

As for Clevinger, he’ll return for a third stint with the ChiSox, this time in a bullpen role. The 34-year-old fired six shutout innings as a reliever during camp, fanning eight of 21 opponents (38.1%) against just one walk (4.8%). He’s far and away the most experienced pitcher in Chicago’s bullpen and could find his way to late-inning work early on, given the youth of the Sox’ bullpen. Clevinger, Bryse Wilson and Penn Murfee are the only Sox relievers with even a year of major league service (and much of Murfee’s MLB service has been spent on the 60-day IL).

MLBTR Podcast: What We Learned From The Offseason

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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 Steve Adams and Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

  • At the start of the offseason, we expected players to do better than in 2023-24 and it seems like they did. What can we learn from that? (1:50)
  • Apart from Juan Soto and Willy Adames, a lot of top position players have been struggling in free agency. Is this signal or noise? (7:10)
  • There seems to be growing frustration from fans of small-market clubs, with new CBA talks just over the horizon. How will baseball respond? (20:00)
  • The Mets outbid the Yankees on Soto. Is this a paradigm shift in New York? (36:40)
  • Does the Soto deal help the top of next year’s market, guys like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Kyle Tucker? (45:50)
  • Many Central division teams had almost no money to spend due to TV revenue concerns. Are there solutions coming in the future? (54:40)
  • With the Rays stadium situation, the Twins being for sale, the White Sox and Royals trying to get new stadium money, is expansion possible in the near term? (59:30)
  • Things we’re excited about going into the 2025 season (1:05:55)

Check out our past episodes!

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

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images

White Sox To Select Nick Maton, Travis Jankowski

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The White Sox have some more roster moves to come. Per Scott Merkin of MLB.com, infielder Brooks Baldwin, infielder Nick Maton and outfielder Travis Jankowski all made the team. Maton and Jankowski aren’t yet on the 40-man roster, so a couple of spots will have to be opened for them. Per James Fegan of Sox Machine, Tyler Gilbert will start the season on the injured list.

Maton, 28, signed a minor league deal with the club in December and has had a strong camp. He hit .289/.357/.632 in his 43 Cactus League plate appearances, which will get him a chance to return to the majors.

He’s been given some chances in the big leagues before, thanks to some strong work on the farm, but those auditions have generally been brief and unsuccessful. He has a line of .267/.375/.454 over the past three minor league seasons, production which translates to a wRC+ of 118. He’s also been put into 185 major league games over the past four seasons but with a tepid line of .205/.303/.357 in those.

The Sox have plenty of uncertainty on their roster and Maton can move all around. He has big league experience at the three infield spots to the left of first base, in addition to some outfield work. He’s also played first in the minors and could be an option there as well. The Sox figure to have Miguel Vargas and Andrew Vaughn at the corner infield spots but the middle infield is less certain. Baldwin, Lenyn Sosa and Jacob Amaya are options but each is fairly lacking in experience, so Maton can earn some playing time in there.

Maton is out of options and can’t be sent to the minors if he doesn’t click. But if he is finally able to carry some of his strong offense up to the majors, he can be controlled for another four seasons since his service clock is just a bit over the two-year line.

Jankowski, 34 in June, has a long track record as a glove-first outfielder. He’s been in 681 big league games over his decade-long career with a .236/.319/.305 batting line. But he has 102 steals and strong defensive grades. Mike Tauchman seems likely to start the season on the injured list due to a hamstring strain and Andrew Benintendi might be the regular designated hitter. That leaves the White Sox with an outfield mix of Luis Robert Jr., Michael A. Taylor, Austin Slater and Jankowski.

The moves could lead to more domino effects. The Sox already designated Oscar Colás for assignment earlier today. If they plan to select Mike Clevinger, they’ll need to open three more 40-man spots for him, Maton and Jankowski. Drew Thorpe will be able to open one of those by getting placed on the 60-day injured list, since he’ll miss the season recovering from Tommy John surgery, but the Sox will have to find two more.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

White Sox Designate Oscar Colas For Assignment, Claim Greg Jones From Rockies

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The White Sox have designated outfielder Oscar Colas for assignment and claimed infielder/outfielder Greg Jones off waivers from the Rockies, per a team announcement. Chicago optioned Jones and righty Justin Anderson to Triple-A Charlotte. The Sox also reassigned infielders Bobby Dalbec, Tristan Gray and Chase Meidroth to minor league camp alongside righties James Karinchak and Steven Wilson.

Now 26 years old, Colas came to the White Sox with considerable fanfare. The Cuban-born slugger was touted as one of the more intriguing prospects on the 2020-21 and 2021-22 international amateur markets. He bizarrely (and frankly, unfairly) drew comparisons to Shohei Ohtani, of all players, for his plus raw power and because he’d dabbled in pitching during his time in Cuba and a brief foray into Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Outlandish as that comparison was, it did set some unrealistic expectations among fans who were dreaming on Colas as a potential superstar.

Even before the White Sox signed him, Colas had signaled that he no longer intended to pitch and that he’d focus his efforts on his work as a position player. He formally signed with Chicago in Jan. 2022 for a reported $2.7MM bonus. Colas went on to tear through minor league pitching that season, slashing .314/.371/.524 with 23 homers across three levels. Strong as those rate stats were, his production came with some red flags. Colas spent the bulk of the season playing against younger and less experienced competition, and he rarely walked. His strikeout rates also climbed rapidly as he moved from High-A to Double-A to Triple-A.

The Sox gave Colas his big league debut in 2023, and he quickly looked overmatched. In 75 games and 263 plate appearances, he hit just .216/.257/.314 with a tiny 4.6% walk rate and a bloated 27.6% strikeout rate. Of the 328 big league hitters with at least 250 plate appearances in 2023, Colas chased balls off the plate at the 13th-highest rate, per Statcast, despite also turning in a well below-average contact rate on such swings. Only 39 of those 328 hitters had a lower overall contact rate than Colas.

For all of Colas’ big league struggles in 2023, he at least turned in a .272/.345/.465 line in Triple-A Charlotte. That was league-average production by measure of wRC+ — a testament to the hitter-friendly nature of the Triple-A International and Pacific Coast Leagues. Colas showed solid discipline in the minors, walking at a 9.2% clip against a roughly average 22.3% strikeout rate.

The 2024 season brought considerable regression. Colas hit only .246/.332/.400 in Triple-A. His 11% walk rate was an improvement, and his 23.1% strikeout rate effectively matched the prior season, but Colas’ power deteriorated. He also became increasingly prone to hitting grounders and harmless infield flies; nearly one-quarter of his fly balls in Triple-A last year registered as infield flies. That’s more than double the 10.3% MLB average. Despite the Sox fielding a historically bad team, they scarcely gave Colas a look; he logged only 38 plate appearances and hit .273/.368/.273 while fanning 10 times (26.3%). Spring training hasn’t done Colas any favors. He received only 18 official plate appearances and went 4-for-16 with seven strikeouts.

The White Sox will now trade Colas or place him on waivers within the next five days. Outright waivers are a 48-hour process, which could drag his stay in DFA limbo out to a maximum of one week. Though he was a touted prospect not long ago, Colas’ struggles and limited skill set might allow Chicago to keep him. Today’s front offices typically aren’t enamored of power-focused corner bats with questionable on-base skills and sub-par defensive acumen.

In Jones, the Sox will pick up one of the sport’s fastest players. The 27-year-old has only six MLB plate appearances to his credit — he went 1-for-6 with a homer for Colorado last year — but drew 80 grades for his speed as a prospect. Jones went 46-for-49 in stolen bases at the Triple-A level last year despite being limited to just 89 games by injury. He hit .267/.344/.453 with the Rockies’ top affiliate (99 wRC+).

Jones is in the last of his three minor league option years. The former Rays first-rounder has split the bulk of his pro career between shortstop and center field. He’ll give the South Siders some depth at both spots and would presumably be an option in the outfield corners or at second base and third base as well. The Rockies gave him 64 games in center, 16 at shortstop, eight at second base and four in right field last year.

Colorado picked Jones up in a March 2024 trade sending left-handed pitching prospect Joe Rock to the Rays. The Rockies are left without anything to show for that swap now, whereas Rock has blossomed into a nearly MLB-ready rotation prospect for Tampa Bay. Rock profiles as more of a back-end starter or multi-inning reliever than a top-of-the-rotation talent, but the swap has clearly worked out in the Rays’ favor to this point.

Dan Altavilla Opts Out Of White Sox Deal

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Dan Altavilla exercised an out clause in his minor league deal with the White Sox, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. The right-hander was granted his release and is again a free agent.

Chicago gave Altavilla a non-roster invite to big league camp in December. He had a solid Spring Training, working 9 2/3 innings of three-run ball with 11 strikeouts. The White Sox nevertheless opted not to carry him on the big league roster, sending him back to the open market.

Altavilla made five appearances for the Royals last season. He gave up six runs across 3 2/3 frames before sustaining an oblique strain that knocked him out of action for two months. Kansas City waived him rather than reinstate him onto the MLB roster once he was healthy. That was Altavilla’s first major league work since he made two appearances for the Padres in 2021.

The 32-year-old spent most of last season with K.C.’s Triple-A club. He turned in a 3.51 ERA with a 22.2% strikeout rate and a 12.9% walk percentage across 41 innings. The Triple-A and Spring Training numbers should land him a minor league deal somewhere.

White Sox Release Omar Narváez, Reassign Chase Meidroth

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The White Sox today informed catcher Omar Narváez and infielder Chase Meidroth that they would not be making the Opening Day roster. The news was relayed by James Fegan of Sox Machine. Meidroth, a prospect not on the 40-man roster, will start the season at Triple-A Charlotte. Narváez is a veteran who was in camp on a minor league deal. He had an opt-out in that deal and has now been released, though Fegan suggests it’s possible he re-signs on a new minor league deal.

Narváez, 33, has had some good seasons but is coming off a rough two-year stretch. He signed a two-year, $15MM deal with the Mets going into 2023 but that pact went south quickly. He suffered a significant left calf strain in the first season of the deal. He only got into 49 games and hit just .211/.283/.297. To start 2024, he put up a line .154/.191/.185 and was released in early June. A minor league deal with the Astros didn’t get him back on track, as he hit .196/.325/.304 for their Triple-A club down the stretch.

For what it’s worth, his numbers have been more respectable in camp with the White Sox. He had a .250/.400/.333 line in 30 spring plate appearances. However, the Sox are going to roll with Korey Lee and Matt Thaiss as their catching duo, which squeezed out Narváez.

He’ll now have a chance to see what opportunities are available to him in the next few days. He had a solid track record prior to that ill-fated Mets deal, with a .251/.334/.374 career batting line and 96 wRC+ through the end of the 2022 season. His defense wasn’t well regarded when he first made the big leagues but became stronger as his career progressed. Several clubs in the league are dealing with catcher injuries, so he might get a few calls, but it also seems possible he returns to the Sox to give them some non-roster depth.

As for Meidroth, he was just acquired from the Red Sox as part of the Garrett Crochet deal. He spent last year at Triple-A and hit .293/.437/.400 over 122 games. That perhaps gave him a chance to crack the big league roster out of camp but he hit just .154/.313/.179 here in the spring.

That will get him sent back to the Triple-A level to start the year but a midseason promotion should be attainable with a good stretch of play. He has spent a lot of time at the three infield spots to the left of first base and the Sox don’t have a lot of certainty in their middle infield right now, with guys like Jacob Amaya and Lenyn Sosa seemingly slated for a lot of playing time.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

White Sox Claim Mike Vasil Off Waivers From Rays

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The White Sox announced this afternoon that they’ve claimed right-hander Mike Vasil off waivers from the Rays. Right-hander Prelander Berroa was transferred to the 60-day injured list in order to make room for Vasil on the club’s 40-man roster.

Vasil, who celebrated his 25th birthday last week, has had a busy offseason. The longtime Mets farmhand was plucked from the club in the Rule 5 draft by the Phillies but was traded to the Rays for cash considerations shortly thereafter. He spent Spring Training with his newest club in Tampa, posting a 5.91 ERA in 10 2/3 innings of work, but ultimately did not make the club’s Opening Day roster. That led the Rays to place Vasil on waivers. If he had cleared waivers, he would’ve been offered back to the Mets, but instead the White Sox plucked him off the waiver wire and will now bring him into the fold along with all the roster stipulations that pertain to a typical Rule 5 player.

It’s not necessarily a surprise for a rebuilding club like the White Sox to dedicate roster spots to Rule 5 draftees, and some Rule 5 players like Garrett Whitlock and Anthony Santander have gone on to be valuable pieces for their new clubs after being drafted. With that being said, Vasil is coming off a 2024 campaign where he struggled to a 6.04 ERA in 134 innings of work at Triple-A Syracuse while still in the Mets organization. Providing any sort of major league production after struggling that badly at the highest level of the minors the year prior would be impressive in any context, but it would be especially impressive for a player in Vasil’s situation who cannot be optioned to the minor leagues.

With that being said, Vasil’s been viewed as scouts as a likely future starting pitcher capable of eating innings at the back of a rotation for years, and the White Sox are a club that’s clearly in need of innings. Fellow Rule 5 draft pick Shane Smith is also being carried on the club’s roster to open the season, and Smith appears to be in the mix alongside Bryse Wilson for the fifth spot in the club’s rotation behind Davis Martin, Jonathan Cannon, Martin Perez, and Sean Burke. Of that group, only Perez has made more than 21 starts in a big league season before. With so little experience in the club’s rotation mix, having an innings eater like Vasil available to take on spot starts or even carry the load in a long relief role could be quite valuable.

White Sox Release Brandon Drury

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The White Sox announced this morning that they’ve released infielder Brandon Drury. As an article XX(B) free agent, Drury had the opportunity to opt out and test free agency this weekend if he was not added to Chicago’s 40-man roster. Notably, Scott Merkin of MLB.com was among those to note yesterday that the infielder recently suffered a thumb fracture, which left him poised to miss the beginning of the season.

Drury, 32, suffered through a brutal season with the Angels last year where he hit just .169/.242/.228 in 97 games, which led him to sign a minor league deal with the White Sox last month. Drury’s time in camp with Chicago could hardly have gone better, however, and his incredible .410/.439/.821 slash line in 41 trips to the plate this spring seemingly made him a lock for the club’s Opening Day roster until his aforementioned fractured thumb threw those plans off course. It’s surely a frustrating situation for both Drury himself and the White Sox, with Chicago now poised to rely on some combination of Lenyn Sosa, Josh Rojas, Nick Maton, and Jacob Amaya up the middle with Drury no longer in the fold, though top prospect Colson Montgomery could force himself into the lineup at some point this year.

As for Drury, he’ll return to free agency coming off that phenomenal spring performance in hopes of catching on with another club with whom he can rehab his thumb injury and eventually return to lineup. Prior to his disastrous 2024 season, Drury enjoyed a solid stretch of three seasons with the Mets, Reds, Padres, and Angels where he slashed .263/.313/.493 with a wRC+ of 118 in 314 games, showing he can provide above average offensive production while handling either second or third base when he’s on. Whether or not he’ll be able to return to that quality production in 2025 once his thumb has healed remains to be seen, but it would hardly be a shock to see a club in need of infield depth offer him an opportunity in the coming days.

The Brewers are one example of a club that’s thin at third base, while the Astros could theoretically use some extra depth at the keystone after moving Jose Altuve to left field. The Yankees are also known to be in the market to upgrade their infield mix, while teams like the Mets and Twins have suffered injuries to key infield pieces this spring. Any of those clubs could be at least speculative fits for Drury’s services, though assuming he’s willing to take another non-roster deal it’s not hard to imagine a number of clubs being able to find playing time for him at Triple-A as a versatile depth option.

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