White Sox Outright Dylan Covey
The White Sox have outrighted right-hander Dylan Covey to Triple-A Charlotte, thus opening up a spot on their 40-man roster, James Fegan of The Athletic reports on Twitter.
A fourth-round pick of the A’s in 2013, Covey spent the first few years of his professional career in Oakland’s system before joining the White Sox in the December 2016 Rule 5 draft. The 26-year-old Covey ended up playing a fairly prominent role in Chicago last season, but he struggled mightily in his first taste of major league action.
Across 70 innings (18 appearances, 12 starts), Covey logged a 7.71 ERA/7.20 FIP with 5.27 K/9 and 4.37 BB/9. While Covey did keep the ball on the ground at a respectable clip (48.5 percent), the fly balls he allowed tended to lead to disaster. In fact, he surrendered 2.57 home runs per nine – the worst mark on the team and the third-worst figure in the majors among those who amassed at least 70 frames.
White Sox Sign Hector Santiago
The White Sox have agreed to a minor-league deal with lefty Hector Santiago, GM Rick Hahn told reporters including Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune (via Twitter). Santiago would earn at a $2MM rate in the majors, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter).
It’s a homecoming for Santiago, who’s now thirty years of age. He more than made good on the South Siders’ decision to draft him in the thirtieth round of the 2006 draft, ultimately cracking the majors for the first time with Chicago in 2011. Santiago ended up departing in the memorable three-team deal that landed the Sox Adam Eaton.
The move also lands the rebuilding White Sox another bounceback arm that’ll help deepen the staff. If Santiago throws well in camp, he might conceivably challenge for a rotation spot or — perhaps more likely — earn a long relief role for the coming season.
Santiago has at times produced solid results. Indeed, through the 2015 seasons, he had compiled a 3.55 ERA over 532 2/3 MLB innings. But the peripherals never quite supported that kind of output; for example, Santiago carried a 4.54 FIP to that point.
Since, though, things have fallen apart. Santiago produce a messy 2016 effort, struggling after a mid-season swap from the Angels to the Twins but at least managing to compile 182 frames. He collapsed last year, managing only 70 1/3 innings of 5.63 ERA pitching in a season marred by back and shoulder problems. Santiago coughed up 15 long balls in that span and saw his average fastball velocity drop to 90.8 mph.
Avisail Garcia Wins Arbitration Against White Sox
White Sox outfielder Avisail Garcia has emerged victorious from his arbitration hearing with the team, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). The Mato Sports Management client will earn $6.7MM in the 2018 season.
That salary represents an exact match for the arbitration projection of MLBTR and contributor Matt Swartz. As MLBTR’s 2018 MLB Arbitration Tracker shows, the Chicago organization had argued for a $5.85MM salary.
Garcia, 26, earned a nice raise from his 2017 salary of $3MM by turning in a breakout effort. Over 561 plate appearances, he slashed a healthy .330/.380/.506 with 18 home runs. He’ll be eligible for arbitration one final time after the current season.
This represents the eighth player victory out of fourteen arbitration cases that have gone to a hearing to this point. In terms of the total dollars at stake, this is the second-largest case to have been decided. (Mookie Betts previously defeated the Red Sox in a case with a hefty $3MM spread.) There are eight arb cases that have yet to be resolved.
AL Notes: Orioles, McHugh, Indians, Brantley, White Sox
The Orioles have inquired about the availability of Astros right-hander Collin McHugh, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com hears. Although McHugh could be the odd man out of a loaded Houston rotation this year, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported earlier this week that the reigning champions aren’t in a rush to trade him. Nevertheless, with multiple holes in their rotation and a reported unwillingness to spend big to address their staff, it makes sense that the Orioles are interested in McHugh. After all, the 30-year-old has been a quality starter with the Astros since 2014 and is under arbitration control at affordable prices through 2019. He’ll earn in the neighborhood of $5MM this season.
Here’s more from the American League…
- Indians outfielder Michael Brantley‘s status for Opening Day is up in the air, Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com suggests on Twitter. Brantley underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right ankle in October, which came on the heels of a 90-game season for the 30-year-old. It was the second straight abbreviated campaign for Brantley, who missed all but 11 games in 2016 on account of right shoulder issues. To Brantley’s credit, he fared respectably across 375 plate appearances last year (.299/.357/.444), leading the Indians to exercise his $12MM option for 2018 early in the offseason.
- Aside from keeping Brantley and signing Yonder Alonso, the Indians haven’t spent much this winter. Regarding the Tribe’s quiet offseason, one team’s vice president told ESPN’s Buster Olney, “They’re not spending, and that probably means they feel like they’re overextended [financially].” Even though the Indians have been among baseball’s elite in recent years, drawing fans to Progressive Field has still been a challenge. Thanks in part to that, Olney posits that small-market Cleveland may have difficulty maintaining its relatively high payroll going forward, which could soon force the team to engage in a sell-off similar to the one Pittsburgh has orchestrated this winter. The Indians will probably lose top relievers Andrew Miller and Cody Allen to free agency next offseason, observes Olney, who writes that rising prices for their under-control core players could make it tough for them to adequately address other areas of their roster.
- The White Sox have hired Dave Duncan as a pitching consultant, Scott Merkin of MLB.com tweets. This will be the second stint with the White Sox for the 72-year-old Duncan, who was previously on the team’s coaching staff from 1983-86. He’ll now join pitching coach Don Cooper as the second highly respected pitching guru under Chicago’s employ. Duncan is perhaps best known for his run at St. Louis’ pitching coach from 1996-2011, a period in which the Cardinals won a pair of World Series titles and regularly boasted one of the league’s best staffs.
Minor MLB Transactions: 2/9/18
We’ll keep track of some today’s minor moves around the league here…
- The White Sox announced yesterday that they’ve inked infielder/outfielder Jake Elmore to a minor league contract and invited him to Spring Training. The versatile 30-year-old didn’t appear in the Majors in 2017, instead spending the year with the Triple-A affiliates for the Blue Jays and Marlins, where he struggled to a .236/.324/.281 in 416 plate appearances. Those unsightly rate stats aside, Elmore is a lifetime .289/.388/.369 hitter in nearly 2000 Triple-A plate appearances and comes with 197 games of MLB experience as well. In parts of five seasons with the D-backs, Astros, Reds, Brewers and Rays, Elmore is a .215/.297/.280 hitter that has appeared at every position on the field (including two innings of relief work).
Matt Davidson Changes Agencies
White Sox third baseman Matt Davidson has changed representation and is now a client of agent Dan Lozano and the MVP Sports Group, reports Yahoo’s Tim Brown (via Twitter).
A former top-tier prospect, Davidson initially came to the White Sox organization in the 2013 trade that sent Addison Reed to the Diamondbacks. After struggling mightily with Chicago’s Triple-A affiliate in Charlotte in 2014-15, Davidson put together a solid 2016 campaign there and eventually found his way onto the big league roster for the rebuilding South Siders in 2017.
Davidson, 27 in March, slugged 26 homers for the ChiSox in just 118 games/443 plate appearances this past season, though he did so while hitting .220/.260/.452 on the season as a whole. Davidson punched out an alarming 165 times in what was roughly three quarters of a season (37.2 percent of his PAs), so he’ll clearly need to improve his contact skills if he is to carve out any sort of long-term role with the Sox.
As things currently stand for the Sox, Davidson should once again be in line for a healthy share of plate appearances. He spent 60 games at DH last season and could share time with Nicky Delmonico there in 2018, and he can also spell both Yolmer Sanchez and Jose Abreu at the infield corners.
Davidson currently has a year and 145 days of MLB service time, meaning he’d likely qualify as a Super Two player next offseason he accrues a full year of big league service in 2018. The White Sox can control him through the 2022 campaign, should he prove capable of holding down a big league spot in the long term.
Davidson’s switch in representation has been reflected in the MLBTR Agency Database, which contains representation info on more than 2,500 Major League and minor league players. If you see a notable error or omission, please let us know: mlbtrdatabase@gmail.com.
Yolmer Sanchez Wins Arbitration Hearing Against White Sox
Yolmer Sanchez has won his arbitration hearing against the White Sox, as MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports on Twitter and the team has now announced. Sanchez, a client of MVP Sports Group, will play for $2.35MM in 2018.
The 25-year-old Sanchez qualified for arbitration as a Super Two. MLBTR projected that he’d earn $2.1MM, which is also the number that the South Siders submitted to the arb panel.
After three straight seasons of middling offensive production, Sanchez emerged with a solid effort in 2017. He saw regular action for the rebuilding White Sox, slashing .267/.319/.413 with a dozen home runs over 534 plate appearances.
With highly-rated glovework at second and third base mixed in, Sanchez graded out as an average or better regular last year. If he can maintain anything like that overall productivity moving forward, he’ll represent quite a useful asset for the White Sox.
As always, you can find all the latest arbitration numbers at MLBTR’s 2018 MLB Arbitration Tracker.
AL Notes: Sox, Nunez, E. Jimenez, Orioles, Royals, Soler
Free agent utilityman Eduardo Nunez “hasn’t lost contact with the Red Sox,” Chad Jennings of the Boston Herald writes. With Dustin Pedroia set to miss the early portion of the year as he recovers from knee surgery, re-signing Nunez would give Boston a clear Opening Day second baseman. However, Nunez would obviously lose playing time upon Pedroia’s return, and the Red Sox are also set at his other positions – third base, shortstop and the corner outfield. All of those factors, not to mention interest from other clubs, could prevent Nunez’s return to the Red Sox. The 30-year-old joined the Sox via trade with the Giants last summer and thrived, hitting a stellar .321/.353/.539 in 173 plate appearances.
Here’s more from the American League:
- As their search for starting pitchers continues, the Orioles remain interested in re-signing free agent right-hander Chris Tillman, while fellow righties Alex Cobb and Lance Lynn are still too expensive, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports. Kubatko also adds a new name to the mix, 27-year-old righty Drew Hutchison, who’s on Baltimore’s radar. The Orioles are familiar with Hutchison from his run with AL East rival Toronto from 2012-16. Hutchison had his moments across 406 1/3 innings as a Blue Jay, with whom he pitched to a 4.92 ERA/4.23 FIP and posted 8.28 K/9 against 2.94 BB/9. However, he only threw 24 big league frames between Toronto and Pittsburgh in 2016, and he’s now coming off a year spent exclusively in the minors. With the Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate last season, Hutchison logged a 3.56 ERA/4.13 FIP with 7.0 K/9 and 3.22 BB/9 over 159 1/3 innings.
- When the Royals acquired outfielder Jorge Soler from the Cubs last year for closer Wade Davis, their hope was that the former top prospect would develop into a long-term building block. Soler, 25, still has a chance to do that, but Year 1 with the Royals saw him limp to a .144/.245/.258 showing in 110 PAs and, according to Maria Torres of the Kansas City Star, begin to believe that his major league career was over. Reflecting on 2017, most of which he spent in the minors, Soler told Torres: “I had an awful season. Things went fine in the minor leagues but not in the big leagues. Obviously there were things I was doing wrong. I needed to make adjustments. … I don’t know how it’ll translate to the field but in the cage there’s an incredible change. I’ve never felt this way.” Hoping to avoid a repeat this year, Soler has spent the offseason reshaping himself mentally and physically, having lost 20 pounds, and revamping his swing, as Torres details. Since October, Soler has been in Miami working with Dodgers international scout Mike Tosar, who helped Yonder Alonso break out last season. The results of their sessions have encouraged not only Soler and Tosar, but also members of Royals’ front office. General manager Dayton Moore suggested that Soler will be an everyday player for the Royals this year, adding that “the talent is there” and “we believe in him a great deal.”
- White Sox outfielder Eloy Jimenez, one of the game’s best prospects, has only racked up 73 PAs above the Single-A level. Nevertheless, there’s optimism the 21-year-old will make his major league debut in 2018, per Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago. Jimenez told Levine “he’s close to getting to the big leagues,” while GM Rick Hahn noted that “it is not going to shock me if over the summer Eloy forces our hand a bit.” Levine’s piece is worth checking out in full for more quotes on Jimenez from Hahn and White Sox hitting coach Todd Steverson.
White Sox To Sign Bruce Rondon
The White Sox have agreed to sign right-hander Bruce Rondon to a minor league deal, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo reports (Twitter link).
Rondon just turned 27 last month, and he has averaged an eye-popping 97.8 mph on his fastball over his 111 2/3 career Major League innings. Despite this promise, however, it was no surprise when the Tigers non-tendered Rondon rather than pay him a projected $1.2MM in arbitration salary. Rondon has struggled to translate his ability to miss bats into consistent performance, with a career 5.00 ERA including an ugly 10.91 ERA in 15 2/3 frames in 2017. He also faced off-the-field criticism about his maturity and conditioning, culminating in the Tigers sending him home before the end of the 2015 season due to a perceived lack of effort.
A fresh start with a new organization certainly appeared to be necessary for Rondon to get his career on track, and he’ll now get another chance within the AL Central. Rondon will be one of many veterans competing for spots in the Chicago bullpen, joining other offseason minor league signings like Xavier Cedeno, Jeanmar Gomez, Rob Scahill, and T.J. House.
Heyman’s Latest: Darvish, Utley, Hosmer, Moustakas, Stanton, Marlins, Melky, Dyson, Garcia, ChiSox
Here’s the latest hot stove buzz from FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman in his weekly look at all 30 teams…
- Yu Darvish is still on the radar for both the Cubs and Dodgers, though with some caveats. Chicago “seem to be hoping that Darvish will choose them for reasons that are not economic,” which implies that Darvish would drop his asking price to play for a World Series contender. In the Dodgers’ case, there is “some ambivalence by at least some” at the ownership level about bringing Darvish back in the wake of his well-publicized struggles during the World Series.
- “The overwhelming belief is that Chase Utley will be back” with the Dodgers for another season. Utley, who turned 39 last month, hit .236/.324/.405 in 353 PA in 2017, with most of those plate appearances coming against right-handed pitching. Beyond his lefty bat and backup capability at first and second base, Utley is also regarded as a strong leader within the Los Angeles clubhouse.
- “Royals ownership was more than willing to move on” from Eric Hosmer, though GM Dayton Moore is trying to do what he can to retain the core members of their 2014-15 pennant winners. Moore is still hoping that Hosmer can be re-signed, though some cuts may need to be made to the K.C. payroll to facilitate the first baseman’s return.
- The Yankees continue to monitor the infield market for second base or third base help, and discussed Mike Moustakas earlier this week. Moustakas would cost significantly more than some of New York’s other targets, however, which doesn’t fit the Yankees’ plan of getting under the luxury tax threshold unless they can move other salaries.
- Earlier reports indicated that the Giants were willing to pay up to $230MM of the $295MM owed on Giancarlo Stanton‘s contract, though Heyman writes that San Francisco was actually willing to absorb all $295MM. Some “not upper-tier” prospects also would’ve gone to the Marlins. Since Stanton wasn’t willing to waive his no-trade clause to join the Giants, of course, it ended up being a moot point. The Cardinals were willing to take on roughly $265MM of Stanton’s deal and offered the best trade package in terms of prospects, according to a source who had seen the proposals Miami received from the Cards, Giants, and Yankees.
- The Marlins have received just “limited interest” in Starlin Castro in trade talks, and may have to eat some of the $22MM remaining on his contract in order to complete a deal. Castro has already switched uniforms once this winter, going from the Yankees to the Marlins as part of the Stanton trade, and he has already asked Miami’s front office to be dealt.
- Melky Cabrera has drawn some interest from the Marlins, Royals, and Pirates. There hasn’t been much news on the veteran outfielder this winter, with only the Orioles (also mentioned here by Heyman) previously reported to have discussed Cabrera’s services.
- Jarrod Dyson‘s asking price was in the area of a two-year, $14MM deal, though the speedy outfielder has been receiving one-year offers “for less than a third” of his hoped-for dollar figure. The Blue Jays, Giants, Mariners, and Orioles have been linked to Dyson at various times this winter, though the first three of those teams have since addressed their outfield needs with other players.
- Heyman adds Jaime Garcia‘s name to the list of veteran starters receiving consideration from the Orioles. Garcia posted a 4.41 ERA, 2.02 K/BB rate, and 7.4 K/9 over 157 innings for the Braves, Twins, and Yankees last season. As noted by Heyman, the O’s are particularly stringent when it comes to pitchers’ medicals, which could be an issue in Garcia’s case — the lefty has a history of shoulder problems and a Tommy John surgery on his record.
- The White Sox are looking for DH help, but they don’t appear to be looking at the Dodgers‘ Matt Kemp as a trade possibility.