- The White Sox signed righty Jorge Rondon to a minor league pact earlier this month. Rondon has a 13.26 ERA over 19 career innings pitched in the majors, making brief appearances in each of the last three seasons with the Cardinals, Rockies, Orioles and Pirates. A pro since 2006, Rondon has a 4.24 ERA, 5.8 K/9 and 1.54 K/BB rate over 647 1/3 career frames in the minors, appearing as a reliever in 346 over his 387 career games.
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White Sox Rumors
White Sox Re-Sign Chris Volstad to Minors Pact
- The White Sox have re-signed right-hander Chris Volstad, who spent all of 2016 with their Triple-A affiliate in Charlotte. Volstad ate 176 2/3 innings last season, though he didn’t produce inspiring results (4.79 ERA, 4.28 K/9, 1.73 BB/9). The 30-year-old former Marlin and Cub was once a mainstay in the majors, having exceeded the 100-inning plateau in each season from 2009-12, but has only tossed big league 10 1/3 frames dating back to 2013.
Pirates Have “Worked Hard” To Deal For Jose Quintana
TODAY: Even after the Pirates reached an agreement with Ivan Nova, the Pirates are still trying to acquire Quintana, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter link).
WEDNESDAY: The Pirates have “worked hard” to trade for star White Sox lefty Jose Quintana, ESPN’s Buster Olney tweets. Olney notes that Quintana’s very reasonable contract — which guarantees him a very reasonable $15.85MM over the next two years, plus cheap options or $1M buyouts for 2019 and 2020 — would fit into the budget of the low-revenue Pirates.
The Bucs currently have a very young and unproven rotation behind Gerrit Cole, and Quintana would certainly provide a big boost to a team that could conceivably contend in 2017. Acquiring Quintana, though, would seemingly constitute a significant change in direction for the Pirates, who have spent much of the offseason thus far discussing trades involving star outfielder Andrew McCutchen (who they now appear likely to keep). Adding Quintana, who has pitched over 800 innings in the last four seasons and who had a 3.20 ERA, 7.8 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 while finishing 10th in AL Cy Young voting in 2016, would dramatically increase the Pirates’ chances of making the playoffs next year.
Quintana would come at a significant price in prospects. The White Sox have driven hard bargains so far this offseason in trading Chris Sale and Adam Eaton, and they reportedly asked for top prospects Francis Martes and Kyle Tucker, plus big-leaguer Joe Musgrove, when the Astros called about Quintana. That’s not a wholly unreasonable price for a terrific pitcher with four years of control remaining, particularly given the seemingly seller-friendly market this offseason, but it isn’t cheap, either. The Pirates could conceivably offer top prospects like Austin Meadows, Tyler Glasnow or Mitch Keller in a Quintana trade, although the exact players discussed as they’ve worked to deal with the White Sox remain unknown.
White Sox Want Conforto From Mets For David Robertson
- The Mets “haven’t made a serious inquiry” about a trade for White Sox closer David Robertson this winter or at the last trade deadline, though New York hasn’t ruled out the possibility, Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News reports. Chicago would ask for Michael Conforto in any Robertson deal, however, so it could be hard for the two sides to settle on a deal. The White Sox weren’t looking for a big prospect return when they explored moving Robertson at the deadline, Ackert writes, though their current ask of Conforto reflects this offseason’s huge market for relief pitching.
- Also in regards to a possible Robertson trade, since the Mets are unlikely to deal Conforto or another young talent for the closer, Metsblog.com’s Matthew Cerrone proposes that the White Sox should swap Robertson for Jay Bruce if they’re unable to find a team willing to surrender a good prospect for Robertson’s services. The Sox would, if nothing else, save some money in the deal, as Bruce is owed $13MM in 2017 while Robertson is owed $25MM through 2018. Bruce could also become a good trade chip at the deadline, which would allow the White Sox to eventually get the prospect they want. The Mets would be taking on extra salary in this proposed deal, though allocating that money towards a strong relief arm is a better fit for the club than paying for a superfluous corner outfielder.
Latest On The Rangers’ Offseason
Here’s the latest on the Rangers’ progress this offseason, via ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (all Twitter links).
- The Rangers have asked the White Sox about Jose Quintana, Crasnick writes. The Rangers likely won’t be significant bidders for Quintana, however, unless the White Sox’ price comes down. The two teams discussed Quintana at the trade deadline during the season, and the White Sox asked for Jurickson Profar plus “a lot more.” The Rangers thought that price was too high. There would, of course, be little reason for the White Sox not to ask for a lot in return for Quintana, who is controllable for the next four seasons. While it’s not surprising that the White Sox wanted more than Profar in exchange for Quintana, the basic framework of the deal makes sense — the Rangers reportedly targeted another controllable starter, Joe Ross, when the Nationals asked about Profar.
- The Rangers are still pursuing potential trades for starting pitchers, Crasnick writes. The Rangers’ rotation is strong at the top with Cole Hamels and Yu Darvish, and Martin Perez makes a decent third option. But they’re weak after that, with wild-card new signee Andrew Cashner topping a list of possible fourth and fifth starters.
- The Rangers also continue to linger on the periphery of Edwin Encarnacion’s market. Encarnacion’s agent said earlier today that several teams had made offers to Encarnacion of three or four years, although it’s unclear if the Rangers are one of those teams. GM Jon Daniels has said that it’s “highly unlikely” the Rangers will sign Encarnacion, despite a clear opening for a bat to play first base and/or DH.
White Sox Outright Matt Purke
- The White Sox have outrighted lefty Matt Purke, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times tweets. The White Sox designated Purke for assignment when they signed Derek Holland. Purke, a former first-round and third-round pick, posted a 5.50 ERA, 7.5 K/9 and 6.0 BB/9 in his first 18 career big-league innings in 2016. He spent most of the season in the bullpen at Triple-A Charlotte, where he had a 3.52 ERA, 8.9 K/9 and a way-too-high 5.4 BB/9 over 38 1/3 innings.
White Sox Have Six Of Seven Top Prospects Traded This Offseason
- The White Sox acquired the top four prospects traded this offseason, as MLB.com’s Mike Rosenbaum notes (perhaps not surprisingly). Rosenbaum’s list of the top prospects to be dealt this winter begins with Yoan Moncada, Lucas Giolito, Michael Kopech and Reynaldo Lopez, and also includes two other new White Sox, Luis Alexander Basabe (who’s at No. 6 and who came with Moncada and Kopech in the Chris Sale deal) and Dane Dunning (who’s at No. 7 and who arrived in the Adam Eaton deal with Giolito and Lopez).
Latest On Yankees, Jose Quintana
The Yankees have yet to add a starting pitcher to their rotation this winter, but MLB Network’s Jon Morosi tweets that they’re still interested White Sox ace Jose Quintana. As he points out, the Yankees certainly have a deep enough farm system to entice the Sox to part with their second front-of-the-rotation lefty of the offseason. However, Morosi doesn’t contextualize their interest, and it’s worth noting that Yankees GM Brian Cashman has said earlier this winter that he’s reached out to virtually every team at some point and is casting a wide net in attempting to improve his team. Along those lines, ESPN New York’s Andrew Marchand writes that the Yankees have been extremely disinclined to part with young talent this winter, and he ultimately characterizes the chances of Quintana landing in New York as unlikely.
White Sox Re-Sign Blake Smith
- The White Sox have re-signed righty Blake Smith to a minor league deal, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweets. (Heyman had previously reported it was the Padres who had signed Smith, but that seems to have been incorrect.) Chicago non-tendered Smith two weeks ago. The 29-year-old made his big-league debut in 2016, pitching 4 1/3 innings for the White Sox, but he’s perhaps a little more interesting than that pedigree suggests — he played his first several pro seasons as an outfielder before moving to the mound in 2013 as a 25-year-old, and he’s since made good progress getting through the minors, posting a 3.53 ERA, 9.5 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 in 71 1/3 innings for Triple-A Charlotte in 2016 while throwing his fastball in the 93-MPH range in his big-league stint. The Padres selected Smith in the second round of the Rule 5 Draft in 2015 but ultimately returned him to the White Sox.
- The Marlins have signed righty Javy Guerra to a minor league deal, tweets MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro. The 31-year-old Guerra pitched briefly for the Angels in 2016 but spent most of the year with Triple-A Salt Lake, where he posted a 4.35 ERA, 9.9 K/9 and 5.4 BB/9 in 51 2/3 innings. As that line suggests, Guerra has struggled with his control, and his 4.3 career MLB BB/9 has probably been his biggest impediment to sustained success (although he’s also had injury issues, and he missed 50 games in 2015 due to a drug suspension). Nonetheless, he has had strong seasons with the Dodgers and White Sox in parts of six years in the big leagues, and his experience could be valuable to the Marlins as they continue to address their bullpen.
Jose Abreu, White Sox Avoid Arbitration
The White Sox have announced that they’ve avoided arbitration with slugger Jose Abreu, signing him to a one-year deal for 2017. Abreu will receive $10.825MM, MLB.com’s Phil Rogers tweets. Abreu is a client of ISE Baseball.
MLBTR had projected Abreu would make $12MM next season, with the caveat that Abreu’s situation required us to be somewhat more speculative than usual. Last month, Abreu opted out of the last three years and $34MM remaining on his guaranteed contract, instead letting his next three years of salaries be dictated by the arbitration process. Abreu’s salaries in his first few seasons were already large, unlike almost all players entering their arbitration years, since he arrived in the league as a veteran from Cuba. A player’s arbitration-year salary is typically dictated in large part by what he earned the previous season, and reductions in salary from one year to the next are rare.
MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes argued that the baseline salary from which Abreu’s 2017 figure would be determined was $11.66MM, or Abreu’s $10MM 2016 salary plus a sixth of the $10MM signing bonus on his original contract with the White Sox. Players entering arbitration with statistics similar to Abreu’s, such as Giancarlo Stanton, received significantly less than $11.66MM in their first trips through, though, so the idea was that Abreu would receive only a token raise on that $11.66MM for 2017.
It appears, however, that Abreu will actually receive a bit less than that (although he’ll still receive slightly more than the $10.5MM he would have gotten had he not opted into arbitration). It could be that both parties figured Abreu’s signing bonus would not have been a significant factor for an arbitrator in determining his 2017 salary.
The 29-year-old Abreu had his worst season in the big leagues in 2016, although his offensive marks were still excellent — he batted a fine .293/.353/.468, with his 25 home runs paling only in comparison to his 36-homer total in 2014 and 30-homer mark the following year. His numbers at first base rank as below average, so he has little defensive value, but he remains one of the game’s more capable hitters. His name has lately come up in trade rumors as the White Sox have traded veteran teammates like Chris Sale and Adam Eaton, and the Rockies have reportedly shown interest. Abreu’s 2017 salary was unlikely to be a significant impediment to a trade, but if the White Sox do end up dealing him now, their trade partners will at least know exactly what his salary next season will be.
