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White Sox Designate Adam Eaton For Assignment

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The White Sox have designated outfielder Adam Eaton for assignment, the team announced.  The move clears a roster space for another outfielder in Adam Engel, who was activated off the 10-day injured list.

Eaton only just returned from the IL himself earlier this week, after missing two weeks with a hamstring strain.  However, the White Sox had clearly seen enough from Eaton after he hit only .201/.298/.344 over 219 plate appearances, marking his second straight year of subpar offensive production after a similarly lackluster season with the Nationals in 2020.

That said, it still counts as a bit of a surprise to see the White Sox so abruptly cut ties with Eaton, in part because of the team is still so shorthanded in the outfield with Luis Robert and Eloy Jimenez both still on the injured list.  Until those stars return (or unless the Sox make a notable trade deadline addition), Chicago will go with a mix of Engel, Andrew Vaughn, Brian Goodwin, Gavin Sheets, Billy Hamilton, and utilitymen Leury Garcia and Danny Mendick as their outfield options.

Beyond the immediate on-field impact, the Sox will now almost surely have to eat the remainder of Eaton’s contract.  The outfielder inked a one-year deal worth $8MM in guaranteed money ($7MM salary, $1MM buyout of an $8.5MM club option for 2022) during the offseason, and while Eaton didn’t play well in 2020, it wasn’t a bad investment for the White Sox to make considering his above-average play over the majority of this career.  Since it seems quite unlikely that another team will claim Eaton off DFA waivers and absorb the rest of his salary, Chicago’s front office will have to chalk the signing up as a misfire.

While many fans wished for a more substantive outfield addition last winter, the club’s plan of having Robert, Jimenez, and an Eaton/Engel platoon in the outfield (with Vaughn in the wings as an outfield/first base/DH candidate) seemed at least decent on paper, though injuries quickly altered the situation.  The White Sox have still build a big lead in the AL Central even despite all their injury woes, but the outfield clearly seems like an area of need heading into the trade deadline.

Since another team would only have to pay Eaton the prorated minimum salary, it seems probable that the veteran will land somewhere else once he clears DFA waivers and is cut loose by the White Sox.  Speculatively, a return to Washington might not be out of the question, as the Nationals are in need of outfield help with Kyle Schwarber sidelined by a hamstring injury.

White Sox Reportedly Interested In Trevor Story

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The White Sox “have serious interest” in star Rockies shortstop Trevor Story, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Colorado isn’t expected to trade Story — to the White Sox or anyone else — before the All-Star Break, Nightengale adds.

At first glance, the Sox would appear to be an odd fit to acquire a high-end shortstop. They already have an All-Star caliber player at the position in Tim Anderson. The idea under consideration, though, would be for Chicago to add Story with the idea of kicking him over to second base for the remainder of the year.

Chicago has already lost incumbent second baseman Nick Madrigal for the season on account of a hamstring strain that required surgery. The position has been manned by Danny Mendick and Leury García since then, and it’s clearly an area at which the Sox front office is hoping to upgrade. Chicago has been tied to both Diamondbacks infielder Eduardo Escobar and Pirates second baseman Adam Frazier in recent weeks. Those remain plausible scenarios, although Nightengale writes that Escobar’s recent battle with a nagging right quad injury has cooled Chicago’s interest in him somewhat.

While it might be surprising to hear of a team contemplating a trade for a plus defensive shortstop only to move him off the position, the idea becomes more sensible when considering the league context. Most contending clubs already have an entrenched in-house shortstop. That could cause teams to look for more creative ways of installing Story into the lineup to plug other holes on the roster.

Story hasn’t played anywhere other than shortstop during his MLB career. He had a little bit of time at second and third base during his days as a prospect but hasn’t logged a single inning at another position since 2015. Nevertheless, there’s reason to believe he’s equipped to take on another spot on the dirt.

Second and third base are less demanding positions to handle than shortstop. A team acquiring Story and moving him to second temporarily wouldn’t be all that dissimilar from the Blue Jays signing former A’s shortstop Marcus Semien to man the keystone in deference to Bo Bichette. Semien has adjusted to that transition swimmingly.

A player’s willingness to take on new positions can vary person-to-person, of course. But there’d be ample reason for Story to embrace a move off shortstop if it helps facilitate a trade. Not only would he leave the 36-48 Rockies for a chance to compete for a postseason berth, a midseason deal would remove the possibility of Story being tagged with a qualifying offer before he hits free agency at the end of the year.

Teams other than the White Sox are certainly also in the mix for Story, so a trade of some sort continues to look very likely. The 28-year-old isn’t amidst his best season, hitting .255/.328/.445 with ten home runs across 296 plate appearances. He was among the best players in baseball over the past three seasons, though, combining for a cumulative .292/.355/.554 slash line.

Welington Castillo Retires

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Former big league catcher Welington Castillo is retiring from baseball, reports Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (Twitter link). He’ll hang up his spikes having appeared for five teams in parts of ten major league seasons.

Castillo began his professional career with the Cubs, signing out of the Dominican Republic in 2004 and reaching the majors by 2010. He went on to spend the next four-plus years on the North Side of Chicago, hitting fairly well as the Cubs regular catcher from 2013-14. Chicago traded him to the Mariners in May 2015, and Seattle flipped him to the Diamondbacks as part of a deal to acquire Mark Trumbo a little more than a month later.

The right-handed hitting backstop spent the next year and a half in Arizona, working as the D-Backs primary backstop before being non-tendered. He signed on with the Orioles for the 2017 campaign, again offering his typical blend of quality offense and fringy but playable defense behind the dish. He then returned to Chicago — this time on the South Side — on a two-year deal with the White Sox.

Unfortunately, Castillo’s White Sox tenure didn’t go as hoped. He was suspended for eighty games after testing positive for a banned substance midway through the 2018 season, and he struggled at the plate for the first time in his career in 2019. While Castillo signed minor league deals with the Nationals in each of the past two offseasons, he didn’t make it back to the majors. The 34-year-old opted out last season due to COVID-19 concerns and has spent this year with Washington’s Triple-A affiliate.

While Castillo’s career didn’t end the way he’d likely envisioned, there’s little doubt he had a solid run. Castillo tallied 2701 plate appearances over his ten big league campaigns, compiling a .254/.313/.426 line that betters the .243/.311/.390 mark managed by the league average catcher between 2010-19. Castillo picked up 626 hits (including 98 home runs), drew 183 walks, scored 251 times and drove in 339 runs. Baseball Reference estimates he was worth around 12 wins above replacement. (FanGraphs, which accounts for his generally poor pitch framing metrics, pegs him closer to five wins). B-Ref tallies his career earnings at just north of $28MM. MLBTR congratulates Castillo on a fine career and wishes him all the best in his future endeavors.

Yasmani Grandal Day-To-Day With Calf Tightness

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10:05PM: Grandal is day-to-day with the injury, as manager Tony La Russa told The Athletic’s James Fegan (Twitter links) and other reporters that the Sox will monitor Grandal’s condition to determine if an IL placement is eventually necessary, or if another roster move is necessary to get another catcher on the roster.  For now, the plan seems to be for Collins to start tomorrow’s game and Danny Mendick to act as the emergency catcher.  Zavala left tonight’s Triple-A game, so he is likely to at least be added to Chicago’s taxi squad.

8:49PM: White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal left tonight’s game due to left calf tightness, the team announced.  It isn’t yet clear when the calf issue surfaced for Grandal, as was replaced behind the plate by Zack Collins prior to the bottom of the fifth inning, more than two innings as Grandal’s last at-bat (he struck out to end the top of the third).

Between that strikeout and a single in his first plate appearance, Grandal’s slash line now sits .190/.388/.441 through 243 plate appearances.  Despite the lack of batting average, Grandal still has a 135 wRC+ due to his power (14 homers) and his exceptional on-base skills.  Grandal’s 59 walks ranks second among all players, as the Rangers’ Joey Gallo leads baseball with 63 free passes, though Gallo has the benefit of 80 more plate appearances than the Chicago catcher.

It isn’t yet known if Grandal will be placed on the injured list, though such a move would leave the White Sox without yet another key bat.  Luis Robert, Eloy Jimenez, Adam Engel, and Jake Lamb are all on the IL, while Nick Madrigal has been lost for season after hamstring surgery.  Yoan Moncada also suffered a bruised hand while sliding into third base yesterday, and will miss at least Chicago’s current three-game series with the Tigers while recovering.

Collins figures to get the majority of starts at catcher if Grandal is sidelined, and Collins took an above-average 106 wRC+ (and .236/.333/.400 slash line in 127 PA) into tonight’s game with Detroit.  Yermin Mercedes has played two games at catcher this season, and Seby Zavala is also available at Triple-A.

White Sox Interested In Adam Frazier

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The White Sox are “taking a close look” at Pirates second baseman Adam Frazier, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link). The 29-year-old is amidst a stellar campaign that earned him his first career All-Star nod last night.

Chicago surely isn’t alone in taking an interest in Frazier, who has a .326/.393/.468 line (139 wRC+) through 346 plate appearances this season. He broke into the majors in 2016 and immediately settled in as a fairly productive, high-contact bat. Over his first three-plus seasons, Frazier’s ability to put the ball in play resulted in league average offense (.279/.342/.420), despite lacking impact power. He slumped to a .230/.297/.364 mark during last year’s shortened season but has more than rebounded during this season’s first half.

In actuality, Frazier’s true talent level probably hasn’t bounced around as much as those numbers would suggest. Because he specializes in making contact, his production is more dependent than most players on ball-in-play results. Last season, Frazier’s BABIP fell to .246; this year, it’s sitting at a sky-high .361. Over the course of his career, Frazier has a more ordinary .312 BABIP, and it’s fair to presume it’ll settle in around that mark moving forward.

Frazier has made some modest process improvements this season. His contact rate is up nearly four percentage points, to a career-high 88.6%. He’s traded in some grounders for a few extra line drives. But Frazier hasn’t started hitting the ball with dramatically more authority. His hard contact rate is in the 4th percentile leaguewide, while his barrel rate (essentially how often a batter hits the ball hard at an optimal launch angle for power) is in the 3rd percentile, per Statcast. All in all, Frazier likely isn’t all that different than the player he was entering 2021.

That’s not to say he’s not a quality player. As mentioned, Frazier has an established track record of solid work at the plate. He’s a career .282/.345/.422 hitter, six percentage points better than league average by measure of weighted runs created. Advanced defensive metrics have suggested he’s an average or better gloveman at second base, and he’s rated highly as a corner outfielder when asked to man the grass.

In addition to his solid play on the field, Frazier’s an eminently affordable target for contending clubs. He’s making just $4.3MM this season (exactly half of that remains due from now through the end of the year) and is controllable next year via arbitration. He’ll certainly be in line for a nice raise given his production this season, but even a salary in the $8MM – 9MM range in 2022 would be more than reasonable for a player of his caliber.

A year and a half of Frazier’s services would hold a lot more value to a contender than it would for the rebuilding Pirates. Pittsburgh isn’t making the playoffs this season, and they’re not expected to next year either. There’s little reason for the Pirates not to take offers on Frazier (as they did over the offseason) and he looks like a virtual lock to wind up elsewhere before the July 30 trade deadline.

It’s not hard to see the appeal for the White Sox. Second baseman Nick Madrigal is out for the season after undergoing hamstring surgery, and the Sox have been relying on Leury García and Danny Mendick since he went down. Prospect Jake Burger has gotten work at second in the minors and was called up to make his MLB debut today. It’s unclear, though, whether Chicago would feel comfortable turning to Burger, whose more natural position is third base, at the keystone during a pennant race.

The White Sox have also been tied to Eduardo Escobar over the past couple weeks. An Escobar trade remains a possibility (and, as Heyman notes, would surely require a lesser prospect package than the one required to land Frazier), but other teams have jumped into the bidding for the Diamondbacks infielder in recent days.

White Sox Promote Jake Burger, Option Yermin Mercedes

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11:38am: The White Sox announced that they have indeed recalled Burger from Triple-A Charlotte. Chicago has also reinstated Adam Eaton from the injured list. In a pair of corresponding roster moves, they’ve optioned righty Zack Burdi and, most notably, designated hitter Yermin Mercedes.

The 28-year-old Mercedes was the talk of baseball when he started the season 8-for-8 and generally decimated big league pitching for the first six weeks of the season. Mercedes batted .368/.417/.571 through the season’s first 38 games, producing at a Herculean level even as hitters throughout the league struggled so extensively that MLB finally began to crack down on pitchers’ use of foreign substances.

In his next 31 games, however, Mercedes has seen his offensive production completely evaporate. The endpoint here, admittedly, is rather arbitrary, but Mercedes is hitting just .150/.220/.196 across his past 118 plate appearances. Understandably, the Sox have begun to cut back on his playing time, and he’s now Charlotte-bound, where the team will hope he can get a reset of sorts to round back into the form he displayed early in the 2021 campaign.

11:00am: The White Sox are calling up infield prospect Jake Burger for his big league debut today, tweets The Athletic’s James Fegan. Scott Merkin of MLB.com suggested last night (via Twitter) that Burger was likely to be with the club in Detroit this weekend, and the White Sox themselves have even tweeted a not-so-subtle indication that Burger is getting the call — though they’ve yet to make a formal announcement and reveal the corresponding roster moves.

It’s the culmination of a remarkable journey for the 2017 first-rounder, who has twice torn his Achilles tendon and endured grueling, months-long rehabilitations. Burger didn’t play in a single minor league game from 2018-19 (or in 2020, for obvious reasons). Making the jump from Class-A to Triple-A after a three-year layoff from competitive games is impressive in itself, but Burger has done far more than simply make that leap — he’s absolutely torn Triple-A pitching apart. In 185 plate appearances over 42 games, the former No. 11 overall pick has mashed at a .322/.368/.596 clip, swatting 10 homers, 15 doubles and a triple along the way.

Burger only recently turned 25, so despite the considerable injury hurdles he’s had to clear in his journey to this point, his age lines up nicely with the rest of an increasingly impressive core of young White Sox stars. He’s played primarily third base in the minor leagues, but the Sox began getting him some looks at second base when Nick Madrigal went down with a season-ending hamstring tear. For the time being, however, Burger could get a look at his primary position at the hot corner, as Yoan Moncada sustained a hand injury on a slide into third base yesterday.

Burger’s early performance could be pivotal for the White Sox. While they’re comfortably in command of the American League Central, they’ve still reportedly been discussing a trade centering around D-backs infielder Eduardo Escobar. While those talks have apparently slowed as other teams jump into the Escobar bidding, Burger’s performance could conceivably curb Chicago’s own interest.

If Burger storms out to a hot start and Moncada comes back healthy sooner than later, the Sox could just let Burger run with the second base role and forgo an infield upgrade entirely. Conversely, if Burger looks overmatched, the Sox might be more interested in pursuing a short-term upgrade at a clear position of need on a win-now club — be it Escobar or another trade candidate.

Multiple Teams Now Showing Interest In Eduardo Escobar

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July 2: While a deal sending Escobar to the ChiSox was in the works recently, Heyman tweets that multiple other clubs jumped into the mix this week and began showing interest, which has slowed the process. An eventual Escobar trade still feels inevitable, given his status as a pending free agent on MLB’s worst club.

June 28: The White Sox and Diamondbacks have been discussing a potential Eduardo Escobar deal for the past week, and it seems as though talks could be accelerating. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, who initially reported the talks between the two sides, suggests in his latest notes column that the D-backs are “on the verge” of starting a sell-off that will begin with an Escobar trade. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets this morning that the two sides have made “progress” in a trade that would send Escobar from the D-backs to the ChiSox — the organization that originally signed Escobar out of Venezuela back in 2006.

Escobar is a sensible target for a Sox club that has lost Nick Madrigal for the season and now faces a notable hole at second base. The 32-year-old Escobar has spent more time at third base in recent years but has logged 227 innings at second base in 2021 and carries 849 career innings at the position. He’s also emerged as a reliable source of power and, over the past six weeks, been on a tear at the plate.

The switch-hitting Escobar fell into a considerable slump in early May, with his OPS bottoming out at .655 on May 14. In 152 plate appearances since that time, he’s mashed at a .306/.342/.563 clip with 10 homers, five doubles and a triple. That hot streak has boosted his season batting line to a respectable .253/.298/.481 and bumped his 2021 home run total up to 17. Escobar’s walk rate is down to 6.1 percent — a drop of some note from its 8.2 percent peak in 2018 — and he’s striking out at a career-high 22 percent clip. That’s still below the league average in today’s brand of strikeout-centric baseball, however.

Escobar is earning $7.5MM in 2021 — the final season of a three-year, $21MM contract extension he signed with Arizona in lieu of his first trip to the free agent market back in 2018. There’s still about $3.9MM yet to be paid out on that salary between now and season’s end. While rental players aren’t always ideal for contending clubs, it’s a rather sensible route for the Sox to take with regard to their infield needs. Yoan Moncada is locked in as the long-term answer at third base in Chicago, and the White Sox expect Madrigal back in 2022.

If a deal does ultimately get pushed across the finish line, Escobar would figure to be the first of multiple additions for a White Sox team that is in first place despite several injuries to key contributors. Eloy Jimenez hasn’t played in a game this season after suffering a ruptured pectoral tendon during a Spring Training game, and Luis Robert has been out since early May with a Grade 3 hip flexor strain. Fellow outfielders Adam Eaton and Adam Engel, meanwhile, are on the shelf owing to hamstring strains — the second of the season in Engel’s case.

As for the D-backs, Escobar is one of many veteran pieces who could change hands between now and the July 30 trade deadline. Asdrubal Cabrera, another pending free agent, seems all but assured to move. Outfielder David Peralta and right-hander Merrill Kelly are both affordably signed through the 2022 season. Backup catcher Stephen Vogt and reliever Joakim Soria aren’t having their best seasons, but they’re both impending free agents with solid track records and reasonable $3.5MM salaries. Ketel Marte, of course, is the Diamondbacks’ premier trade chip, as he’s controlled all the way through the 2024 season. That said, he’s also dealing with a hamstring issue and is undergoing additional imaging today as the team continues to evaluate that injury.

White Sox Activate Michael Kopech; Aaron Bummer, Evan Marshall Placed On 10-Day IL

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The White Sox have reinstated right-hander Michael Kopech from the 10-day injured list, and also called up left-hander Jace Fry from Triple-A Charlotte.  The moves come in response to a pair of bullpen injuries, as both southpaw Aaron Bummer (right hamstring strain) and righty Evan Marshall (strained right flexor pronator) are headed to the 10-day IL.

Due to a Tommy John surgery and then a COVID opt-out, Kopech’s 31 1/3 innings this season marked his first big league action since his debut campaign of 14 1/3 frames in 2018.  One of the game’s more highly-touted pitching prospects, Kopech has displayed that potential with a 1.72 ERA and a 36% strikeout rate this season before a strained left hamstring sent him to the IL on a retroactive May 28th placement.

The White Sox planned to keep Kopech in a hybrid swingman role a way of managing his innings, and it’s possible he could get more looks out of the pen in the near future considering the absences of Bummer and Marshall.  Chicago manager Tony La Russa told reporters (including James Fegan of The Athletic) that the club is hopeful Bummer is able to return after a minimal stint on the IL, though Marshall will be out of action for a to-be-determined longer period of time.

Bummer has a 3.26 ERA over 30 1/3 innings, with his typically large ground ball rate (a career-best 74%) as well as a 32.1% strikeout rate that would be a career high by a large margin over a full season.  Bummer has been an effective weapon out of Chicago’s bullpen for five years now, with the exception of an injury-shortened 2020 campaign.

Marshall pitched well last season to help account for Bummer’s absence, but 2021 has been a much tougher ride for the right-hander.  Marshall has a 5.60 ERA over 27 1/3 innings, due to the combination of a larger-than-usual homer rate, a below-average strikeout rate, and a 40.8% grounder rate that is well south of his 52.6% career average.

Luis Robert Roughly Four Weeks From A Rehab Assignment

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Luis Robert could be roughly four weeks out from a rehab assignment, per The Athletic’s James Fegan (via Twitter). Assuming all goes well for Robert — a significant assumption this far out — and the White Sox could hope to have their star centerfielder back in the lineup for the stretch run late in August. The club itself has not put an exact timetable on his return, however. Still, an update of any kind is a positive sign for the first-place Sox. If Robert avoids any hiccups in the next few weeks, the White Sox could be emboldened enough to stick with their current roster, rather than make a move to add another centerfielder before the deadline. In the meantime,Brian Goodwin has been the latest replacement to man center, joining Billy Hamilton and Adam Engel as fill-ins.

Jose Abreu Day-To-Day With Bruised Knee, X-Rays Negative

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Jose Abreu was in visible pain after being hit in the left knee by a JT Chargois pitch during today’s 3-2 White Sox loss to the Mariners, but the reigning AL MVP appears to have avoided a worst-case scenario.  The Sox announced that Abreu had suffered a bruised knee, and that x-rays were negative.

Abreu had to be removed for a pinch-runner after his HBP in the sixth inning of the first game of the doubleheader, and obviously wasn’t in Chicago’s lineup for Game 2.  Andrew Vaughn replaced Abreu at first base and Yasmani Grandal played first in the second game, and these two are likely to see the bulk of first-base duties while Abreu is recovering, or if a stint on the 10-day injured list is ultimately required.

As MLB.com’s Scott Merkin notes, Abreu has had to deal with several minor injuries this season, which could explain his dropoff in production from his big 2020 campaign.  Abreu’s 111 wRC+ is still above average, but is hitting a comparatively modest .244/.323/.435 with 12 home runs over an even 300 plate appearances.  It’s fair to wonder (as White Sox manager Tony La Russa recently did) whether or not these accumulated knocks were taking their toll on Abreu, since he entered today’s action with only a .523 OPS and one homer over his last 98 PA.  It could be that the Sox decide a 10-day IL stint is warranted even if the knee bruise isn’t overly serious, just to give Abreu some time to recharge for the second half of the season.

If Abreu does have to miss time, it would represent yet another significant loss to Chicago’s starting lineup.  The team’s entire projected starting outfield (Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert, Adam Eaton) are on the injured list, as well as backups Adam Engel and Billy Hamilton.  As well, second baseman Nick Madrigal’s season is already over after undergoing hamstring surgery.  After the loss in the first half of today’s doubleheader, the White Sox have dropped seven of their last eight games, reducing their lead in the AL Central to two games over the Indians.

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