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White Sox, Cal Mitchell Agree To Minor League Deal

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The White Sox agreed to a minor league deal with free agent outfielder Calvin Mitchell, as first reported by Aram Leighton of Just Baseball. The Sports Management Partners client will be in major league camp as a non-roster invitee next spring.

Mitchell, 25, has spent parts of two seasons in the big leagues, logging 237 plate appearances with the Pirates from 2022-23. He hit .222/.284/.343 with five homers, 11 doubles, three stolen bases, an 8% walk rate and a 22.4% strikeout rate in that time. The former No. 50 overall draft pick (Pirates, 2017) spent the 2024 season with the Padres (his hometown organization) but didn’t get a call to the majors in spite of solid production with Triple-A El Paso: .277/.359/.512 (114 wRC+).

That was Mitchell’s fourth season with at least some time logged in Triple-A. He’s shown little difficulty hitting at that level, logging a career .287/.358/.487 batting line in 1067 plate appearances there. The lefty-swinging outfielder has typically had modest platoon splits but posted far more drastic numbers in that regard this past season, hitting .309/.397/.595 against righties but just .183/.239/.269 in 114 plate appearances against lefties.

Mitchell has played primarily right field but has more than 1000 innings in left field in addition to a tiny sample of 71 innings in center. He’ll give the Sox some left-handed depth behind a big league outfield mix currently including Andrew Benintendi, Luis Robert Jr., Dominic Fletcher, Austin Slater, Oscar Colas and Corey Julks.

Bill Melton Passes Away

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Former American League home run king Bill Melton has passed away at 79. The White Sox announced the news on Thursday afternoon.

Melton, a righty hitter, signed with the Sox as an 18-year-old. The 6’2″, 200-pound slugger hit his way to the big leagues by the end of the 1968 season. He opened the following year as Chicago’s third baseman. It was the first of seven consecutive Opening Day starts for Melton, who developed into a potent power bat.

After hitting 23 home runs during his first full season, Melton posted consecutive 33-homer showings in 1970 and ’71. That was enough to lead the AL in the latter season. Only seven hitters combined for more longballs over that two-year stretch: Henry Aaron, Willie Stargell, Lee May, Johnny Bench, Frank Howard, Billy Williams and Harmon Killebrew. Those players were all multi-time All-Stars; all but May and Howard made the Hall of Fame.

Melton turned in a .266/.346/.490 slash line and drove in 182 runs over those two seasons. The career-best showing in ’71 earned him an All-Star nod and a 13th-place finish in MVP voting. Injury limited him to 57 games the following year, but he managed two more 20-homer seasons thereafter. Melton remained a capable hitter through the end of the 1975 season. The Sox traded him to the Angels at that point. He spent one season in California and played one year for the Indians before retiring.

Melton played parts of 10 seasons in the majors. He recorded just over 1000 hits, including 160 homers. Melton hit .253/.337/.419 across more than 4500 trips to the plate. He scored 496 runs and drove in 591. “Beltin’ Bill” held the Sox’s record for career home runs at the time of his retirement. He still ranks ninth in franchise history in that regard. Melton returned to the organization as a television analyst between 1998 and 2020.

“Bill Melton enjoyed two tremendous careers with the White Sox,” the team’s owner Jerry Reinsdorf said in a statement. “His first came as a celebrated home run king for White Sox teams in the early 1970s, where ’Beltin Bill’ brought power to a franchise that played its home games in a pitcher-friendly ballpark. Bill’s second career came as a well-liked and respected pre- and postgame television analyst, where on a nightly basis Sox fans saw his passion for the team, win or lose. Bill was a friend to many at the White Sox and around baseball, and his booming voice will be missed.” MLBTR joins others around the game in sending our condolences to his family, friends, loved ones and former teammates.

White Sox Expected To Retain Most Of 2024 Coaching Staff

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The White Sox are expected to officially announce their 2025 coaching staff within the next week, but Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that the club will be retaining most of its incumbent coaches.  In terms of new faces, first-time manager Will Venable will be joined by bench coach Walker McKinven (whose hiring was reported by Venable two weeks ago), director of hitting Ryan Fuller, and a new assistant hitting coach whose identity has yet to be revealed.

Hitting coach Marcus Thames, pitching coach Ethan Katz, assistant pitching coach Matt Wise, first base coach Jason Bourgeois, third base coach Justin Jirschele, and catching coach Drew Butera are all expected to return.  Grady Sizemore will also return to the coaching staff after serving as Chicago’s interim manager when Pedro Grifol was fired in early August.  Interim bench coach Doug Sisson and interim assistant hitting coach Mike Gellinger won’t be returning to those roles, but are expected to take other jobs in the organization.

While the White Sox didn’t feel the need to entirely revamp the coaching staff in the wake of a 121-loss season, it should be noted that many of these coaches were already relative newcomers to the organization.  Thames, Wise, Bourgeois, and Butera were all hired just last offseason, and Jirschele was installed last August when former third base coach Eddie Rodriguez was also fired along with Grifol and former bench coach Charlie Montoyo.

There’s really nowhere to go but up for the White Sox in the wake of the worst season in modern baseball history, though Venable and his staff will have another long year ahead of them as the Sox continue their rebuild.  Obviously wins aren’t expected for now, as Venable and the coaches face the broader challenge of helping develop the team’s younger players and changing what reportedly became a toxic clubhouse culture.

Latest On Red Sox’ Rotation Plans

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The Red Sox are looking to improve their rotation this winter but it remains to be seen how exactly that will play out. They have previously been connected to top free agents such as Corbin Burnes, Max Fried and Blake Snell, as well as trade candidate Garrett Crochet.

This week, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that the Sox actually want to of those top free agents. Sean McAdam of MassLive reports that the Sox are continuing to keep tabs on the pitching market while engaging with Juan Soto. They did have some interest in lefty Yusei Kikuchi, though it’s unclear how strong that interest was and he now has an agreement with the Angels. As for Crochet, McAdam reports that the Sox have pulled off the gas a bit there, with some unknown club getting “very aggressive” recently.

Very early in the offseason, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said the club would be looking to the “raise the ceiling” in the rotation and these pursuits all align with that goal. Burnes, Fried and Snell all have long track records of major league success, with Burnes having a Cy Young award and Snell having two of them. Fried doesn’t have the hardware but does have a 3.07 earned run average in just under 900 career innings. Crochet only just transitioned to the rotation in 2024 but did so with aplomb, posting a 3.58 ERA, 35.1% strikeout rate, 5.5% walk rate and 45.1% ground ball rate in 146 innings.

Any one of those pitchers would be a nice upgrade for Boston or any other club, though that will also make them very popular. In addition to the Sox, those pitchers have been connected to clubs like the Blue Jays, Orioles, Yankees, Dodgers and Padres. There are plenty of other clubs that also make sense, even if they haven’t been explicitly tied to those pitchers in rumors.

For the Sox to come away with two of those pitchers would make for quite an aggressive offseason, but that’s exactly what the club has been signaling. Both Breslow and CEO Sam Kennedy have made comments suggesting the club is planning to act boldly this winter, with Kennedy recently saying that paying the competitive balance tax is on the table. Many fans of the club will bring up last year’s “full throttle” comments from chairman Tom Werner and how those didn’t precede much action last winter, but the club is being more specific this year. Kennedy has repeatedly said the goal is to field a club capable of winning 90 to 95 games and taking the division.

Spending money on free agents is one way they could go about accomplishing that. RosterResource projects the 2025 club for a payroll of $138MM, well below their $184MM spending from 2024, which was itself a drop from what they spent in the previous decade. RR pegs the club’s CBT number at $171MM, which is $70MM below the lowest threshold.

There’s plenty of room in there for two notable contracts, though successfully signing Soto would obviously completely change the calculus, given the expectation that he’ll sign a record-setting contract. Leaving that aside for now, big contracts for two of the big free agent starters is a feasible outcome. As part of MLBTR’s Top 50 Free Agents post, each of Burnes, Fried and Snell were projected for contracts with average annual values between $26MM and $32MM. Putting two of those onto Boston’s payroll still wouldn’t even get them to the CBT line. They will presumably also make additions to the bullpen and maybe the position player group as well, but with a willingness to cross the line, all sorts of possibilities could be on the table for them.

Crochet would be far cheaper from a financial perspective, with the biggest cost coming in the form of prospect capital. Since he has spent so much of his career either working in relief or injured, he is down to two years of club control but hasn’t been able to raise his salary very high through the arbitration process. He made just $800K in 2024 and MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him for a raise to just $2.9MM in 2025. He would be due another raise in 2026 before he’s slated to become a free agent.

Two years of an ace-caliber pitcher for that kind of money is tremendous value, which is why Crochet figures to be very popular in trade talks. The Red Sox have a strong farm system and could certainly get a deal done if they wanted to, though it seems some mystery club has pulled ahead of them, per McAdam’s reporting.

For now, the Boston rotation projects to be fronted by Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello and Kutter Crawford. Houck had a breakout season in 2024 but may have run out of gas, as he had a 2.54 ERA in the first half and a 4.23 mark in the second. Bello and Crawford are each coming off decent but not outstanding seasons, each finishing with an ERA in the 4.35-4.50 range. Lucas Giolito and Garrett Whitlock could be in the mix in 2025 but they are fairly unknown quantities right now as each underwent internal brace surgery in 2024.

Adding to that group would improve Boston’s chances in 2025 while bumping guys like Cooper Criswell, Richard Fitts and Quinn Priester to depth roles, either in the minors or in the big league bullpen.

The interest in Kikuchi suggests that the Sox are also open to some of mid-market options. With Kikuchi now gone, some of the other names that could be in line for somewhat similar deals include Jack Flaherty, Sean Manaea, Nathan Eovaldi, Luis Severino and old friend Nick Pivetta.

The qualifying offer will likely be a factor, depending on who the Sox ultimately sign. Snell, Eovaldi and Flaherty were ineligible to receive a QO, Snell and Eovaldi because they had already received one and Flaherty because he was traded midseason. Burnes, Fried, Manaea and Severino rejected QOs, meaning the Sox would have to forfeit their second-best pick in next year’s draft and $500K of international bonus pool space to sign them. Pivetta rejected a QO from the Red Sox, meaning they stand to receive a compensation pick just ahead of the third round if he signs elsewhere, though they would not receive that pick if they ultimately re-sign him.

White Sox Maintain High Asking Price On Luis Robert Jr.

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Much of the focus on the White Sox’ trade efforts this offseason will center around Garrett Crochet, and with good reason — he’s the top starting pitcher who’s readily available on the market. However, heading into the 2024 campaign, it was Luis Robert Jr. who was seen as Chicago’s potential top prize at the deadline. Another slate of injuries ruined the talented but fragile center fielder’s ’24 campaign and further added to his reputation as an injury-prone player. The Sox are still hoping to move Robert, writes Bob Nightengale of USA Today, but one rival general manager tells Nightengale that Chicago’s asking price is simply unrealistic, given all of the health concerns surrounding Robert.

“You’ve got to hope he finally stays healthy and can be the player everyone envisioned all along,” that GM said. “But the White Sox are acting like he’s some big star center fielder and are asking for your top prospects.”

It’s understandable that the Sox would be reluctant to sell low on Robert. He’s among the most talented players in the sport when healthy — he just simply hasn’t been healthy for the majority of his career. Robert has had six IL placements dating back to the 2021 season, many of which sidelined him for significant periods of time. A hip flexor strain in 2021 sidelined him for more than three months. He missed more than two months this past season owing to the same injury. Robert has also been shelved for a wrist sprain, an MCL sprain, and a more ominous viral infection in 2022 that resulted in blurred vision, dizziness and lightheadedness.

That massive slate of injuries looked to have taken its toll on Robert this past season. He landed on the injured list just a week into the season and returned in June but never really found his footing. Robert hit five homers in his first 36 plate appearances upon activation — but he only collected one other hit in that time. He tallied 396 plate appearances post-injury in 2024 and slashed just .225/.281/.370 with a 32% strikeout rate.

Clearly, that’s not the type of production that’s going to generate interest in a player who’s owed a $15MM salary next season. However, from 2021-23, Robert slashed a combined .287/.331/.511 with 63 homers and 37 steals in just 1292 plate appearances. He played plus-plus defense in center field along the way; despite playing only 301 games in that three-year span, Robert tallied 21 Outs Above Average — good for 12th among all major league outfielders. That strong run was headlined by a 2023 campaign — Robert’s age-25 season — during which he hit .264/.315/.542 and popped 38 home runs in a career-high 595 trips to the plate. Robert made the All-Star team, won a Silver Slugger, and drew some downballot MVP votes.

That’s the type of upside any team would be hoping to land when acquiring Robert. Unfortunately, while his per-game and per-inning performance in 2021-23 was excellent, that 2023 season is the only one in which Robert has exceeded 425 plate appearances. He’s appeared in only 65.9% of possible games in his five-year run with the White Sox.

Robert’s 2024 season wasn’t without its silver linings. His average sprint speed, per Statcast, ticked up to 28.8 feet per second — the second-best mark of his career. He’d been down at a still-strong but not-elite 27.9 ft/sec the first time he dealt with a hip flexor strain. His speed bounced back more this time around. And while his defensive grades dipped, that was largely due to some errant throws. Statcast still rated Robert’s range quite strongly. He also sat in the 84th percentile of MLB hitters in bat speed and typically hit the ball hard (90.1 mph average exit velocity, 40.6% hard-hit rate) when he made contact. He just didn’t make contact enough (career-worst 32.8% strikeout rate).

Robert’s contract pays him $15MM next year. There are a pair of matching $20MM club options for the 2026 and 2027 seasons on the deal. Getting the 2021-23 version of Robert for the next three seasons at a combined $55MM would be a steal, even if he spent about one-third of that time on the injured list, as he did in ’21-’23. (Both Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs agree Robert was worth about 10.5 WAR during that run, even with the missed time.)

The problem for interested teams, of course, is that there’s no guarantee he’ll get back to that level of play. Taking a one-year, $15MM flier is probably appealing to many outfield-needy clubs, particularly with the pair of club options looming. Taking on that salary and surrendering top-tier prospects is another story entirely. From the White Sox’ vantage point, trading Robert to simply clear $15MM in guaranteed money would be foolhardy. They barely have any money on the books, with an estimated payroll in the $75MM range, per RosterResource. That’s half their 2024 payroll. Selling low on Robert and watching him bounce back to stardom elsewhere would be agonizing for the Sox and their fans.

It all makes Robert a very difficult player to trade this winter. The Sox have no urgency to shed the relatively small amount that remains on his contract. Other clubs surely feel there’s little sense in trading top-tier prospects for an oft-injured player coming off a 100-game season that was the least-productive stint of his career.

The likeliest outcome would seem to be a midseason trade. If Robert bounces back, the Sox can put him back on the block and effectively market two-plus years of his services. If he continues to struggle, they could move him for a light return, knowing the eventual likelihood was that his option would be bought out anyhow. Perhaps a team could throw caution to the wind and make a surprisingly strong offer for him in the near future, but that seems unlikely. The Sox did move Dylan Cease in spring training when his Cactus League performance quieted some concerns about a pedestrian 2023 season, so it’s possible a big spring from Robert could garner some attention. In all likelihood, though, he seems ticketed to remain on the Sox to open the season, and clubs around the game will keep a close eye on his early performance. If he shows well in April, Chicago GM Chris Getz could follow in Miami counterpart Peter Bendix’s footsteps and make Robert available in late April/early May — as the Marlins did with Luis Arraez.

Phillies Interested In Alex Bregman, Willy Adames

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Last week, it was reported by Matt Gelb of The Athletic that the Phils were giving some thought to trading outfielder Nick Castellanos, infielder Alec Bohm, prospect Justin Crawford or left-hander Ranger Suárez as they look to shake up their roster. Today, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports along similar lines, noting that the club is making Bohm available and is expected to look to free agents Alex Bregman or Willy Adames if they succeed in trading Bohm.

As the Phils look to make some changes, they only have so many avenues. Many of their position players are expensive veterans who are entrenched on the roster, either due to their performance, their contracts or both.

Bohm, on the other hand, is still in his arbitration years, slated for free agency after 2026. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him for a salary of $8.1MM next year and Bohm would be due another raise for 2026.

On top of that, his performance has been more good than great. To this point in his career, he has a batting line of .277/.327/.416. That translates to a 103 wRC+, indicating he’s been 3% better than the league average hitter. He did have a 115 wRC+ in 2024, but in lopsided fashion, with a 128 in the first half and a 90 in the second. Also, most of his damage has been done with the platoon advantage. He has a career 135 wRC+ against lefties in his career but a subpar 91 wRC+ against righties.

Defensively, he hasn’t been great overall, though he has shown signs of improvement. Defensive Runs Saved gave him a grade of -46 over the first four years of his career but then had him at league average in 2024. Outs Above Average had Bohm in negative territory from 2020 to 2022 but slightly better than par in the past two years.

Overall, he’s been a useful player but something below a star, and either Bregman or Adames could be seen as a clear upgrade. Bregman has hit .272/.366/.483 in his career for a 135 wRC+ and has been a considered a strong defender at third base to boot. Adames has hit .248/.322/.444 for a 109 wRC+ in his career while providing strong shortstop defense, but he’s reportedly willing to move to other infield positions. Most shortstops are capable of moving to other spots on the infield fairly smoothly, so it’s possible the Phils would expect Adames to provide better glovework than Bohm, even though it would be a new position for him.

Enacting these moves would have complications. Bohm’s modest projected salary is far less than what Bregman or Adames are likely to earn on their respective contracts. MLBTR predicted Bregman for $182MM and Adames  for $160MM over six years, both for average annual values in the $26-27MM range.

The payroll could be a notable story for the Phils this offseason. Chairman John Middleton has said he expects payroll to go up but it already has, in a way. RosterResource projects the club for a payroll of $263MM next year, which is $15MM higher than 2024 before they’ve even made any moves.

Their $282MM competitive balance tax number is already projected to be above the third tier of penalization. As a third-time payor, that means they are already looking at a 95% tax on any money they add up to the final line of $301MM. Anything they add beyond that line would have a 110% tax rate.

Swapping in Bregman or Adames for Bohm would make those numbers go up but it seems the Phils have at least some hope of making up the difference elsewhere. Nightengale notes that they have tried to use Bohm and Crawford to pry Garrett Crochet loose from the White Sox. Crochet had a massive breakout in 2024, tossing 146 innings with a 3.58 earned run average, 35.1% strikeout rate, 5.5% walk rate and 45.1% ground ball rate.

That performance will make Crochet very popular on the trade market, but so will his salary. Since he spent the early parts of his career either injured or working out of the bullpen, he’s only projected for a $2.9MM salary in 2025, with one more arb pass after that. The Phils have a strong rotation with Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sánchez, Suárez and Taijuan Walker, but Walker has fallen out of favor with the club, getting kicked to the bullpen for a time in 2024. Andrew Painter could be a factor in 2025 but he’s a big unknown since he still hasn’t made his major league debut and is coming back from a long Tommy John surgery layoff.

It would obviously be a wonderful series of chess moves if the Phillies could use Bohm to add a cheap ace to their rotation, perhaps finding a way to unload the two years and $36MM left on Walker’s contract, and then use the cost savings to get a star like Bregman or Adames to replace Bohm at third.

However, doing all of that would require the agreement of other teams. Bohm’s trade value won’t be that high on account of his aforementioned deficiencies. Nightengale adds that the Sox are worried by Bohm’s performance in the second half of 2024. He also wouldn’t have much value to the Sox anyway, since his control window is so short. After Chicago’s record-breaking loss tally in 2024, it’s hard to envision them return to contention in Bohm’s two remaining years of club control. The Phils might have to include some more prospect talent to get a deal done, which they might not want to do right now, given how much of the roster is filled with expensive veterans.

A far simpler outcome for Bregman would just be to re-sign with the Astros, where he has spent his entire career so far. It’s a far simpler fit and the two sides seemingly have had mutual interest in signing a new deal for years, but nothing has come together thus far.

It seems there might be a bit of a gap in terms of the financials, with Nightengale reporting that Houston wants Bregman back on a deal of about $156MM over six years but Bregman is looking to get to the $200MM line. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reported last week that the Astros have made an offer to Bregman. It’s unknown what they put on the table but the fact that he hasn’t yet accepted it suggests that it wasn’t up to his expectations. General manager Dana Brown has suggested the club might need to be creative with the budget this offseason but owner Jim Crane has suggested there’s money available for the right players and all signs have pointed to Bregman being the club’s highest priority.

Bregman has also been connected to the Tigers and Red Sox in the past week, with the latter club considering a move to first base for Rafael Devers, in order to accommodate Bregman. Adames has also been connected to the Red Sox, in addition to the Astros, Atlanta, Blue Jays and Giants. Both players rejected qualifying offers and would be subject to associated penalties, unless they re-sign with their respective 2024 clubs.

For the Phils, since they paid the CBT in 2024, they would have to forfeit $1MM of international bonus pool space as well as their second- and fifth-best picks in the upcoming draft if they sign a player that rejected a qualifying offer. The Astros wouldn’t forfeit anything, apart from the compensation pick they stand to receive if Bregman goes elsewhere, which would come after the fourth round of the upcoming draft.

American League Non-Tenders: 11/22/24

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The deadline to tender a contract to arbitration-eligible players is tonight at 7pm CT. Here’s a rundown of the players on American League teams that have been non-tendered today. This post will be updated as more decisions are revealed. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected salaries for all players eligible for arbitration last month. All players who are non-tendered before this evening’s deadline go directly into free agency, where they’re eligible to sign with any of MLB’s 30 clubs.

Onto the transactions…

  • The Angels announced that they have non-tendered left-hander Patrick Sandoval, infielder Eric Wagaman, as well as outfielders Jordyn Adams and Bryce Teodosio. You can read more about those moves here.
  • The Astros tendered contracts to their entire arbitration class.
  • The Athletics announced that they did not tender a contract to right-hander Dany Jiménez, who was projected for a $1MM salary. He posted a 4.91 in 25 appearances for the A’s in 2024. He struck out 21.4% of opponents but gave out walks at a 16.2% clip.
  • The Blue Jays are planning to non-tender righty Dillon Tate, per Ben Nicholson Smith and Shi Davidi of Sportsnet (X link). Tate was just claimed off waivers at the start of September and had a projected salary of $1.9MM. He’s a former fourth overall pick with some good numbers in his career but he missed most of 2023 due to injury and then posted a 4.66 ERA in 2024. The Jays are also non-tendering righty Jordan Romano, which you can read more about here.
  • The Guardians have non-tendered outfielder George Valera and right-hander Connor Gillispie, per Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com (X link). Both players were designated for assignment earlier this week.
  • The Mariners are going to non-tender outfielder Sam Haggerty, per Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 (X link). He was limited to just eight games in 2024 due to a torn achilles. He was only projected for a salary of $900K but the M’s have decided to move on. They also non-tendered infielder Josh Rojas and righties Austin Voth and JT Chargois, moves that are covered with more depth here.
  • The Orioles plan to non-tender right-hander Jacob Webb, per Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner (X link). Webb was projected for a salary of $1.7MM next year. The righty tossed 56 2/3 innings for the O’s in 2024 with a 3.02 ERA and 24.5% strikeout rate, but an 11.4% walk rate.
  • The Rays announced they have non-tendered outfielder Dylan Carlson as well as left-handers Tyler Alexander, Colin Poche and Richard Lovelady. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times relayed the news (X link) prior to the official announcement. Carlson once seemed like a building block in St. Louis but his offense has declined for three straight years now and he was projected for a $2.7MM salary. Alexander was projected for $2.8MM and had a 5.10 ERA this year. Poche had a solid 3.86 ERA but was projected for $3.4MM. Lovelady was designated for assignment a few days ago.
  • The Rangers tendered contracts to their entire arbitration class.
  • The Red Sox announced that right-handers Bryan Mata and Isaiah Campbell were both non-tendered. Those two had been designated for assignment earlier this week.
  • The Royals tendered contracts to their entire arbitration class.
  • The Tigers announced that they have non-tendered infielder Eddys Leonard as well as right-handers Ricky Vanasco, Brendan White and Wilmer Flores. Three of those four were designated for assignment earlier this week. Flores, the lone exception, is the younger brother of the same-named Wilmer Flores of the Giants. The younger Flores was once a notable pitching prospect but was injured for most of 2024.
  • The Twins tendered contracts to their entire arbitration class.
  • The Yankees have non-tendered infielder Jon Berti, per Robert Murray of FanSided (X link). He was projected for a salary of $3.8MM. He was injured for much of the year and only got into 25 games. The Yankees also announced that they have non-tendered left-hander Tim Mayza, who was projected for a $4MM salary but had a 6.33 ERA in 2024.
  • The White Sox will non-tender first baseman/outfielder Gavin Sheets, which MLBTR covered earlier today. The Sox later announced Sheets and also that they non-tendered right-hander Enyel De Los Santos as well. De Los Santos was projected for a salary of $1.7MM but posted a 5.20 ERA this year.

White Sox Non-Tender Gavin Sheets

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6:05pm: The White Sox announced that they have tendered Vaughn a contract for 2025.

3:40pm: The White Sox are not going to tender a contract to first baseman/outfielder Gavin Sheets, per a report from Robert Murray of FanSided on X. Once official, Chicago’s 40-man roster count will drop to 38.

Sheets, 29 in April, was a second-round pick of the White Sox in 2017. He hit well throughout his minor league career, which made him a notable prospect in the club’s system for a while. Baseball America ranked him as one of their top 15 prospects in four straight years from 2018 to 2021. In the last of those years, he made his major league debut with a splash, hitting 11 home runs in just 54 games. That led to a .250/.324/.506 slash line and 123 wRC+.

But his production has fallen off since then. The Sox have given him 1,255 plate appearances over the past three years but Sheets has hit just .227/.291/.368 in those. That production translates to an 84 wRC+, indicating he’s been 16% worse than league average.

The Sox have had first base largely occupied by José Abreu and then Andrew Vaughn over the past few years. That has forced Sheets to spend more time in the outfield corners, where he’s not considered a strong defender, to put it mildly. In 1,618 innings on the grass, he has -22 Defensive Runs Saved and -13 Outs Above Average.

He crossed three years of service time in 2024, allowing him to qualify for arbitration for the first time. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him for a salary of $2.6MM next year. Given his performance thus far, it’s unsurprising that the Sox have decided they’re uninterested in bringing him back at that price point.

It’s possible that the two sides could reunite on a deal with a lower salary, but Sheets will now be free to talk to all 30 clubs and assess his options. If he latches on somewhere and gets back on track, he can theoretically be controlled for three more seasons.

The Sox still have Luis Robert Jr. and Andrew Benintendi, their two highest-paid players, in their outfield mix. They just signed Austin Slater and added him to the group. Zach DeLoach, Oscar Colás, Dominic Fletcher and Corey Julks are also on the roster and should be battling each other for playing time. Vaughn is still the first baseman on paper, though it’s possible that he also winds up non-tendered today.

White Sox Sign Austin Slater

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The White Sox announced the signing of outfielder Austin Slater to a one-year deal. The Ballengee Group client is reportedly guaranteed $1.75MM and can unlock another $500K in performance bonuses. Slater would receive $50K in his 50th game and $75K apiece at 75 and 100 games. He’ll collect $50K for his 100th, 150th and 200th plate appearance and would earn another $75K each at 250 and 300 trips to the dish.

Slater, 31, was an eighth-round pick by San Francisco out of Stanford during the 2014 draft. The outfielder spent more than a decade in the Giants organization as he made his big league debut in 2017 and remained with the club through last season. In the first three seasons of his career, Slater was a decent but unspectacular fourth outfielder for San Francisco, slashing a combined .254/.335/.368 in 544 total plate appearances during that time. While primarily an outfielder, he also received occasional time at first base and even made token appearances at both second and third base off the Giants’ bench.

The outfielder broke out during the shortened 2020 season, however, with a 150 wRC+ and a .282/.408/.506 slash line in 104 trips to the plate while appearing in 31 of the club’s 60 games. That leap forward offensively earned Slater an expanded role over the next few years, and from 2021 to 2023 he became a regular for the Giants against left-handed pitching. While he was still generally shielded from righties, Slater slashed a respectable .257/.345/.412 in 343 games from 2021 to 2023. That’s good for a respectable 113 wRC+, and across those 838 plate appearances he walked at a 10.5% clip, swatted 24 homers, and swiped 29 bases despite frequent trips to the injured list cutting down on his playing time over the years.

Unfortunately for Slater, his production cratered in 2024. The outfielder hit just .209/.321/.266 (76 wRC+) overall in 212 trips to the plate this year while bouncing between the Giants, Reds, and Orioles. Even more surprisingly, the outfielder actually carried reverse splits this year after years of feasting on left-handed pitching. While he enjoyed a 141 wRC+ against lefties from 2020 to 2023, Slater hit just .188/.310/.231 against them in 142 plate appearances this year. Dismal as that overall production last year was, there is a silver lining in Slater’s performance. Once he arrived in Baltimore on the day of the trade deadline, he looked much more like the player he’s been throughout his career. In 79 plate appearances with the Orioles down the stretch, Slater hit .246/.342/.333 (102 wRC+) overall and posted a 114 wRC+ against southpaws.

That late-season rebound could inspire additional confidence in Slater’s ability to return to form in 2025 and beyond. That appears to be what the White Sox are betting on, and Slater makes plenty of sense for the club as a right-handed platoon option. Veteran lefty bat Andrew Benintendi is entrenched in left field, while the club also employs a host of left-handed youngsters in right field and at DH including Zach DeLoach, Dominic Fletcher, Gavin Sheets, and Oscar Colas. Of that group, only DeLoach (in a sample of just 79 big league PAs) lacks a significant platoon split.

Mixing in Slater against left-handed pitching should be a huge boost for a Sox offense that produced an MLB-worst 74 wRC+ against left-handed pitching last year, even if he merely recreates the production he offered the Orioles rather than bouncing back to the excellent form he showed from 2020 to 2023. While even an excellent short-side platoon bat isn’t going to make the White Sox contenders in 2025 following a 121-loss season this year, Slater was sufficiently attractive as a trade piece this summer to get dealt not once, but twice prior to the deadline. If he can garner that level of interest amid a down season, it’s easy to imagine the White Sox recouping some value for his services next July in the event he bounces back.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post first reported the White Sox were signing Slater to a major league deal. Robert Murray of FanSided reported the $1.75MM base salary and the $500K in incentives. The Associated Press reported the incentive structure.

MLBTR Podcast: The Rays’ Stadium Plans, Diamond Sports, And Some Offseason Rumors

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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 Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • If the Red Sox acquire Garrett Crochet from the White Sox, will they still go after top free agents? (13:15)
  • Could the Reds and Royals line up on a trade involving Jonathan India and Brady Singer or some other Kansas City pitching? (17:25)
  • On the Top 50, none of the writers predicted the Orioles to sign top free agents. Are you underestimating David Rubenstein’s intention to speed up the timeline? (26:05)

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