- White Sox lefty Carlos Rodon, suffering from bicep tightness, got some good news when an MRI revealed no structural damage, CSN Chicago’s Dan Hayes tweets. Rodon will still visit Dr. Neal ElAttrache to get a second opinion and hopefully confirm that the injury isn’t serious. Sox GM Rick Hahn said yesterday that Rodon will likely begin the season on the DL since the team wants to be as cautious as possible with their young southpaw.
White Sox Rumors
White Sox Notes: Moncada, Rodon
White Sox second baseman Yoan Moncada initially took Boston’s offseason decision to trade him in a package for ace Chris Sale “as a very personal rejection,” his father, David, told Eli Saslow of ESPN The Magazine. But, thanks in part to teammate and first baseman Jose Abreu, Moncada has adjusted well to the changing of Sox. Abreu, a fellow Cuban, texted Moncada the night of the trade and told him that “this team gets it,” in reference to the White Sox’s history of employing Cuban-born players. Their relationship has continued to grow since, and the 21-year-old Moncada, arguably the best prospect in baseball, now regards Abreu as a “mentor and friend whose example I can only hope to follow.”
- The White Sox scratched left-hander Carlos Rodon from his start Friday because of tightness in his bicep, Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago was among those to report. There’s no structural damage, and manager Rick Renteria said the team’s initial exam was “positive,” but Rodon will nonetheless go for an MRI (all Twitter links). “Odds are” Rodon will begin the season on the disabled list, according to general manager Rick Hahn, who noted that the White Sox “are going to err on the side of caution here, even if it winds up costing him his first couple starts” (Twitter links via Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune and Hayes). That makes sense considering the 24-year-old Rodon is one of the rebuilding White Sox’s most important cogs. Thus far in his career, the two-year veteran has logged a 3.90 ERA, 9.08 K/9, 3.7 BB/9 across 304 1/3 innings.
Mixed Opinions Around Majors On Lucas Giolito
- Right-handed prospect Lucas Giolito has lost some of the hype that accompanied him last year, leading Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com to wonder if he’ll regain it with the White Sox organization. Previously a member of the Nationals, with whom he topped out as Baseball America’s fifth-best prospect, Giolito was part of a blockbuster December trade in which he (and fellow righties Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning) went to Chicago for outfielder Adam Eaton. Despite serving as the headlining part of the return for the Sox, and despite continuing to rank as a high-end prospect according to most outlets, skepticism has developed regarding the 22-year-old. “I think he will be a bullpen guy down the line, kind of like a Jon Rauch or Luke Hochevar,” a National League executive told Crasnick. “He got hyped up a lot and Washington found out later. Usually, the drafting team is the last to know.” Meanwhile, one member of an American League front office Crasnick spoke with isn’t as ready to write off Giolito. “As a 22-year-old who’s already missed a year with Tommy John, Lucas Giolito deserves a chance to grow and evolve,” he said. “He really hasn’t had enough innings to show us what he’s going to be.”
Is Jose Quintana Worth It For The Pirates?
- Jose Quintana is worth the big price it would cost the Pirates to acquire the southpaw from the White Sox, Paul Zeise of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette opines. Quintana’s strong track record and affordable contract make him a good fit for the Bucs, who could sacrifice young arms Tyler Glasnow and Mitch Keller in order to win now with Quintana, in Zeise’s view. Giving up outfield prospect Austin Meadows could be difficult, though Zeise wonders if the Sox have perhaps slightly lowered their asking price. (White Sox GM Rick Hahn said nothing had changed on that front in comments to reporters today.) Pirates GM Neal Huntington “should do [the trade] today,” Zeise writes, if Chicago would accept Glasnow, Keller and Josh Bell.
No Recent David Robertson Talks Between ChiSox, Nats
- The White Sox are open to any trades, “but at their price,” according to one rival GM. While this statement is probably generally true for every team, Chicago is known to have a very high price tag on its main trade chips as it looks to rebuild, and the Sox have already landed two big prospect hauls from the Red Sox and Nationals, respectively, in deals for Chris Sale and Adam Eaton. The Nats and White Sox have also been heavily linked in talks about David Robertson, though a source tells Heyman that it has been “over two months” since the two sides last discussed the closer.
[SOURCE LINK]
Details On Tim Anderson's Extension
- Speaking of extensions, neither the White Sox nor shortstop Tim Anderson’s representatives wanted discussions on a new deal to drag into the season, according to Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago. Thus, it was a must for the two sides to reach an agreement by Opening Day, which they did Tuesday. Anderson’s camp was skeptical of signing a long-term pact when the White Sox contacted them several weeks ago, per Hayes, who reports that they rejected the team’s initial offer. But talks intensified from there and ultimately yielded a six-year, $25MM guarantee. “In the end, what really mattered was the fact that Tim wanted to do the deal, so we pulled the trigger,” said Patrick Murphy, the COO of Anderson’s agency, Reynolds Sports Management.
Latest On Potential Jose Quintana Trade
Pittsburgh has pursued a trade for White Sox left-hander Jose Quintana over the past several months, but Pirates general manager Neal Huntington found the asking price to be “well above where it made sense for us” (via ESPN’s Jim Bowden). With the Bucs seemingly out of the picture for Quintana, the Astros and Braves are the “best possibilities,” per Bowden, who notes that the White Sox “continue to work hard” to trade the 28-year-old. No deal is imminent, though, according to Bowden, who adds that the Astros would have to part with both right-hander Francis Martes and outfielder Kyle Tucker, two of Baseball America’s top 20 prospects, to acquire Quintana (all Twitter links). Houston balked at giving up a package of Martes, Tucker and righty Joe Musgrove for Quintana during the Winter Meetings.
For his part, White Sox GM Rick Hahn is content to wait until someone makes what he deems a satisfactory offer for Quintana, who’s reasonably priced and controllable through the 2020 season. “We’ve had conversations even this spring where if our asks was met, we’d make a move,” Hahn told Scott Merkin of MLB.com. “Obviously nothing has developed as of yet, but that could well change early in the season or it could take to the trade deadline or into the next offseason” (Twitter links).
Offseason In Review: Chicago White Sox
This is the latest entry in MLBTR’s Offseason In Review series. The full index of Offseason In Review posts can be found here.
The White Sox set a rebuilding course with a pair of Winter Meetings blockbusters in which Chris Sale and Adam Eaton were cashed in for top prospects.
Major League Signings
- Derek Holland, SP: one year, $6MM. Includes performance bonuses.
- Total spend: $6MM.
Trades And Claims
- Claimed OF Rymer Liriano off waivers from Brewers
- Claimed RP Giovanni Soto off waivers from Athletics
- Acquired 2B Yoan Moncada, SP Michael Kopech, OF Luis Alexander Basabe, and RP Victor Diaz from Red Sox for SP Chris Sale
- Acquired SP Lucas Giolito, SP Reynaldo Lopez, and SP Dane Dunning from Nationals for CF Adam Eaton
- Acquired SP Dylan Covey from Athletics in Rule 5 draft
- Acquired cash from Rangers for P James Dykstra
- Claimed OF Willy Garcia off waivers from Pirates
- Acquired 1B Brandon Dulin from Royals for player to be named later or cash
Notable Minor League Signings
- Cory Luebke, Anthony Swarzak, Geovany Soto, Everth Cabrera, Cody Asche, Peter Bourjos, Blake Smith, Tyler Matzek, Tyler Ladendorf
Extensions
- Tim Anderson, SS: Six years, $25MM. Includes club options for 2023 and 2024.
Notable Losses
- Chris Sale, Adam Eaton, Brett Lawrie, J.B. Shuck, Justin Morneau, Austin Jackson, Alex Avila, Matt Albers, Jacob Turner, Daniel Webb, Anthony Ranaudo, Jason Coats
White Sox Roster; White Sox Payroll Information
Needs Addressed
When I published my White Sox Offseason Outlook on November 5th, the team had not yet tipped its hand as to the offseason direction. GM Rick Hahn had said in August, “By the time we make our first or second transaction, publicly it will be fairly clear as to our direction.” Hahn wasn’t kidding. The White Sox staked a very clear rebuilding position with back-to-back Winter Meetings blockbuster trades. Finally, the team committed to a full teardown.
First, longtime ace starting pitcher Chris Sale was traded to the Red Sox for a bevy of top prospects, led by Moncada and Kopech (pictured at right). In Moncada, the White Sox acquired the type of player who is rarely traded: a potential perennial All-Star, on the cusp of being MLB-ready. The switch-hitting Cuban is penciled in as Chicago’s second baseman of the future. Moncada draws raves from prospect gurus for his power, speed, and arm. Kopech, meanwhile, is a power pitcher who comes with “front of the rotation potential,” according to Baseball America. Basabe, while further from the Majors, also rates as one of the team’s top ten prospects now. The White Sox determined they could not win in the next three years with Sale, and Hahn was able to maximize the return by pitting the Red Sox against the Nationals, Astros, Braves, and others.
Barely 24 hours later at MLB’s Winter Meetings in Orlando, Hahn made a deal to send Adam Eaton to the Nationals for three pitching prospects. Baseball America ranks Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez both slightly above Kopech, and has all three in the #25-32 range among all MLB prospects. Like Moncada, Giolito and Lopez have Major League time. While there may be growing pains, the top assets acquired by Hahn are all close to contributing in 2017. Dunning played the Basabe role in this deal, as a third piece who is further from the big leagues. Eaton, 28, is at the top of his game and was the rare veteran player to be dealt with five years of remaining control. With the Eaton trade, Hahn was able to pull off a second deal that drew raves around the industry. The total haul for Sale and Eaton leaned toward pitching, a function of Hahn pursuing the best available young players, regardless of position.
A week later, the White Sox filled their rotation vacancy by signing Derek Holland to a one-year deal. Holland hasn’t had a healthy, valuable season since 2013, but this is the kind of free agent signing we expect to see with a rebuilding club. In the best case scenario, Holland has a nice first half and the White Sox are able to spin him for a useful, controllable piece in July.
Earlier this week, the White Sox locked up shortstop Tim Anderson to a precedent-setting six-year, $25MM deal. The contract sets a new record for a player with less than one year of Major League service. With only 115 days of Major League service under his belt, it’s difficult to project what kind of player Anderson will become. But at age 23, he already looks like a solid two-win contributor. And the team has a fantastic recent track record with these types of extensions, having previously signed Sale, Eaton, Jose Quintana, and Nate Jones.
Questions Remaining
With the Sale and Eaton trades occurring in rapid succession, it seemed a Jose Quintana deal wasn’t far behind. Quintana’s availability this winter was no secret. While the 28-year-old doesn’t have Sale’s ace reputation, he is a very good starting pitcher on a very team-friendly contract. With a terrible free agent market for starting pitching, it was surprising no team was willing to meet the demands of the White Sox for Quintana. The Pirates and Astros were reportedly quite interested, with the Rangers, Yankees, and Braves also connected. Quintana is undoubtedly a major trade chip for the White Sox in the coming months. In a February call with MLB.com’s Scott Merkin, Hahn said, “Frankly, there just hasn’t been an offer on the table that has made us feel like, ’Boy we better move now or we are going to be kicking ourselves.'” While Hahn noted he’s feeling no economic or timing pressure on his remaining trade chips, the team is taking a calculated risk that offers will improve in future. While a summer Quintana trade currently seems like the most likely scenario, it’s possible a deal could be struck between now and Opening Day.
Rumors were scant regarding first baseman Jose Abreu, outside of a Winter Meetings note that the Rockies were interested. The White Sox may have run into an overcrowded free agent market, which featured more first base/DH-type bats than there were jobs. At the lower end, players such as Brandon Moss, Mike Napoli, and Chris Carter took cheaper-than-expected deals. Abreu, 30, is more appealing than many of those free agents, but not enough to trigger wide reported interest.
In their talks for Adam Eaton, the Nationals reportedly attempted to expand the deal to include reliever David Robertson. Talks continued, but the Nationals and White Sox have reportedly reached a stalemate on the veteran closer. With two years and $25MM remaining on his contract, and control problems in 2016, Robertson is not for everyone. He’s another name to watch this summer. Perhaps the White Sox will end up eating more money than they were willing to in the winter. Todd Frazier, a free agent after 2017, is another veteran player who received little reported interest this winter despite hitting 75 home runs over the past two seasons. The White Sox will be rooting for strong, healthy first halves for many veteran players, which would lead to an active July. Hahn repeatedly said he would have liked to have made four more transactions this winter, and perhaps Quintana, Abreu, Robertson, and Frazier were the four players.
The team would also be best served moving 32-year-old veteran Melky Cabrera, who will serve as the Opening Day left fielder. The Melk Man hit about as well as Wil Myers, Adam Eaton, or Mike Napoli last year, but his below-average defense and $15MM salary seems to have limited interest. One quietly intriguing trade chip this summer will be Nate Jones, a fantastic reliever who is under contract for up to five more seasons. Jones, a 31-year-old with a 97 mile per hour fastball, is far more valuable than Robertson and could be the best reliever traded this summer. The White Sox still have a ton of trading left to do.
Aside from all the trades that have yet to happen, the other question is who is actually going to play for the 2017 White Sox. With a team that is clearly not concerned about winning in 2017, the White Sox have a rare opportunity to use low-pressure playing time to unearth trade chips or future contributors. Unfortunately, the roster is currently loaded with placeholders devoid of upside. For example, the club’s Opening Day outfield could feature Cabrera, Peter Bourjos, and Avisail Garcia. Someone has to stand out there, but hopefully Hahn can identify a few post-hype sleepers to try out in the outfield until long-term fixtures are identified. The White Sox make a great home for players feeling the roster squeeze. The release of Lawrie was a step in the right direction, opening up second base for cheaper options led by Tyler Saladino. The team’s catching position is another area of uncertainty. The club is hoping 25-year-old Omar Narvaez can keep the seat warm until 2016 first-round pick Zack Collins is ready for The Show.
Overview
In 2017, the White Sox are set to join teams like the Phillies, Reds, Padres, and Brewers as clubs undertaking rebuilds. It’s the right move for the franchise as Hahn and company look to build a sustainable winner with a deep roster. The Major League product will get worse before it gets better, as the White Sox will continue to clear the decks of veteran players this summer.
What’s your take on the White Sox’ winter? (Link to poll for mobile app users …)
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Rick Hahn On Tim Anderson Extension
- White Sox GM Rick Hahn discussed the team’s newly minted extension with shortstop Tim Anderson, as MLB.com’s Scott Merkin reports. He emphasized “the cost certainty and the added control” achieved in the unusually early agreement, noting that doubling down with long-term deals for Chris Sale and Adam Eaton functioned to enhance the value of those players when they were dealt in December. Of course, the hope now is that Anderson will be a core player for a contending team in Chicago. If he can build off of a promising 2016 season, the Sox can perhaps check an important box at a reasonable cost for years to come. “[C]ertainly if you have a number of players outperforming what they’re paid, it makes more free money available to go out and augment the roster,” said Hahn. “That’s certainly the intent.”
White Sox Extend Tim Anderson
The White Sox have officially reached agreement on a long-term deal that’ll keep shortstop Tim Anderson in the organization for the foreseeable future. Anderson, who is represented by Reynolds Sports Management, will receive a guaranteed $25MM over six years — including a $1MM buyout on two option years valued at $12.5MM and $14MM, respectively.
Anderson, of course, was already under Chicago’s control for quite some time. Given that he only accrued 115 days of service in his MLB debut last season, he couldn’t have qualified for free agency before 2023 and wouldn’t have hit arbitration eligibility until at least 2020. This deal, then, represents a bid by the South Siders to achieve cost certainty and pick up control over two would-be free agent seasons from the young shortstop.
For Anderson, he’ll lock in earnings now while giving up the right to control his destiny after 2022, which will be his age-29 campaign. Though he’s leaving some open-market upside on the table, Anderson won’t need to prove anything more to take home the annual salaries promised in the contract. He will receive successive paydays of $850K, $1MM, $1.4MM, $4MM, $7.25MM, and $9.5MM over the deal’s guaranteed years.
At $25MM, the guarantee handily tops the $20MM the Rays paid righty Chris Archer in 2014. That had set a record for contracts given to players with less than a full year of MLB service time. Such contracts are quite rare, of course. The Rays have mostly cornered the market to this point, with Evan Longoria and Matt Moore preceding Archer in receiving sub-1 service class extensions. Catcher Salvador Perez was promised just $7MM from the Royals in his deal. And the Astros promised $10MM to Jon Singleton before he appeared in the majors.
That last contract is the only one that hasn’t (yet) paid out handsomely from the team’s perspective, though that’s not to say there isn’t any value to the right player. Singleton may never establish himself as a big leaguer, but already has life-changing money to show for his professional career. (I argued at the time it was a fair bargain for him.) Longoria and Perez later struck much larger deals with their respective organizations, with the latter in particular seemingly receiving consideration from the team that his original contract did not remotely reflect his true value.
In Anderson’s case, the reasoning for the extension from his perspective isn’t difficult to see at all. His guarantee and contract structure aren’t altogether different from those achieved by much more established players. Talented up-the-middle, 2+ service-class performers Ender Inciarte and Odubel Herrera each got $30MM and change over the winter from the Braves and Phillies, respectively. Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong gave up only one option on his five-year, $25.5MM contract as a 2+ player. And most interestingly, perhaps, the Sox previously picked up seven years of control (two via option) over since-traded outfielder Adam Eaton for a promise of only $23.5MM. It’s worth noting, too, that Anderson’s option years come with a relatively large price tag.
All said, it seems to be an attractive deal for Anderson, but it will still be a bargain if he grows into the quality regular that the team obviously expects him to be. Drafted as something of a high-risk project in the first round of the 2013 draft, Anderson moved swiftly to the majors despite substandard plate discipline. Reaching the bigs last year, the 23-year-old showed that his tool set could play even without the strikeout-and-walk numbers you’d hope for. He managed a .283/.306/.432 slash with nine home runs over 431 plate appearances despite tallying 117 strikeouts to go with a paltry 13 walks. The fleet-footed infielder was undoubtedly aided by one of the game’s highest batting averages on balls in play, though he has a history of doing the same in the minors. He also hinted at some power upside with a .149 isolated power mark.
Clearly, Chicago is willing to bet that the bat still has room to grow. But Anderson doesn’t need to become an All-Star for the contract to pay off. Importantly, he rated at about six runs above average in the field last year in the eyes of both UZR and DRS, suggesting that Anderson may provide big value with the glove — especially if he can pare down the errors (14). And perhaps there’s also a possibility that Anderson will increase his output on the basepaths. He swiped 21 total bags last year in the majors and at Triple-A, but stole 49 at Double-A over the 2015 seasons.
It’s tempting to wonder whether this agreement says anything about the South Siders’ anticipated contention timeline and rebuilding strategy. The organization just kicked off its youth movement this winter, after all, but has already committed to Anderson for the long haul. But that’s not necessarily unique — the 2013 Astros signed an extension with Jose Altuve in the midst of an 111-loss campaign, for instance — and is even less surprising for a White Sox club that has had more than its share of successes with early-career extensions (though none so soon as Anderson’s). In addition to the above-noted Eaton, the Sox made out like bandits with another 2+ player in Chris Sale — whose appealing contract was also cashed in for prospects in the winter — along with fellow southpaw standout Jose Quintana, who signed with just 1.133 days of service.
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported the agreement (Twitter links) after MLB.com’s Scott Merkin reported yesterday that the sides were in talks. Bob Nightengale of USA Today and Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (Twitter links) reported the financial terms.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
