Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

White Sox Rumors

White Sox Outright Yoendrys Gómez

By | at

The White Sox announced to reporters, including Scott Merkin of MLB.com, that right-hander Yoendrys Gómez has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Charlotte. He had been designated for assignment earlier this week.

While no player wants to be booted out of the major leagues, it’s possible that this is the best result for Gómez in the short term. He came into 2025 out of options, which has led to him bouncing around the league in a long relief role. He started the year with the Yankees but was designated for assignment about three weeks into the season. He was claimed off waivers by the Dodgers but lasted a little over a week with that club. The Sox then claimed him on May 10th and he was DFA’d on the 20th.

Around those transactions, he logged 17 2/3 innings over 12 long relief outings, posting a 6.62 earned run average in the process. But now that he has cleared waivers, perhaps the Sox will let him get stretched back out as a starter in Charlotte.

That’s a role in which he has shown some promise in the past. Though he made his professional debut in 2017, the canceled 2020 season and a Tommy John surgery in 2021 kept him from climbing too high on the minor league ladder. He went into 2022 without having pitched any higher than Single-A.

Over the 2022 through 2024 seasons, he went through High-A, Double-A, Triple-A and the majors. He logged 195 2/3 innings on the farm over those three seasons with a 3.36 ERA. His 11.6% walk rate in that time was certainly high but he also punched out 27.2% of batters faced. Baseball America considered him one of the top 30 Yankee prospects in each season from 2019 to 2024.

But as mentioned, his out-of-options status has had him in a sort of holding pattern for this year. He hasn’t shown enough for a proper big league rotation job, with a 5.23 ERA in 31 big league innings over three seasons. He has been bouncing around to various clubs in a mop-up role.

While losing his roster spot probably isn’t fun, it might at least be a chance to get back into a groove as a starter. The White Sox have a fairly inexperienced rotation, so there could be opportunities available later in the year. Adrian Houser was just signed but he’s on a one-year deal and should be traded this summer if he’s throwing well. Davis Martin, Jonathan Cannon, Sean Burke and Shane Smith all came into this season with less than a year of service time. Injuries are also fairly inevitable, with the Sox having already lost Drew Thorpe and Ky Bush to Tommy John surgery this year.

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Hui, Imagn Images

Poll: Did The White Sox Find A Gem In The Rule 5?

By | at

There’s not been much for fans on the South Side of Chicago to get excited about of late. The club’s lengthy rebuild in the 2010s assembled a core that included well-regarded pieces like Lucas Giolito, Dylan Cease, Eloy Jimenez, Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada, and Luis Robert Jr. but did not translate to much success on the field; the group ultimately made it to the playoffs in 2020 and ’21 but lost in the first round both years before regressing to an 81-81 record in 2022 and kicking off the latest rebuild.

Since then, White Sox fans have watched that core get dismantled, whether via trades or declined club options, and breakout ace Garrett Crochet followed them out the door over the offseason. Crochet’s excellent pitching performances were the one highlight of the White Sox season this side of the Campfire Milkshake, so that left fans with little to look forward to in 2025… or so we thought. In reality, the White Sox seem to have replaced their dominant ace with another potential front-of-the-rotation arm who came from the most unlikely of places: the Rule 5 draft.

Righty Shane Smith was plucked from the Brewers’ organization and made Chicago’s Opening Day rotation out of Spring Training. It was difficult to know what to expect from Smith, given that an organization as well-regarded for its pitching development as Milwaukee was comfortable leaving the righty unprotected this past winter. That’s quickly proving to have been a mistake. Through his first ten starts of the season, Smith has posted a sterling 2.36 ERA that stands as the eleventh-best figure among qualified starters this year, just ahead of Paul Skenes.

ERA is an imperfect estimator of talent, of course, and Smith’s personal figure is deflated by the fact that a six-run, five-inning outing against the Cubs saw five of those runs scored as unearned. Even setting ERA aside, however, his season has been an impressive one so far: a 3.32 FIP (26th) and 3.57 xERA (t-29th) lend credence to the idea of Smith as a potential front-end arm, even if he isn’t quite in the Cy Young conversation based on those more advanced metrics. Have the White Sox truly found a diamond in the rough, or is Smith’s hot start to his career just a flash in the pan?

Overall, Smith’s profile is a solid one, but there are signs that it’s closer to that of a league average starter than anything else. His 22.0% strikeout rate and 8.1% walk rate are both middle of the pack, and a 45.3% ground ball rate is above-average but not exactly elite. His .259 BABIP and 5.9% home run to fly ball ratio are both top-of-the-scale, but neither of those figures are particularly skill-interactive or sustainable, particularly for a hurler who rarely generates soft contact. If anything, those figures are potential red flags that indicate risk of future regression. Smith’s 3.96 SIERA and 97 xFIP- paint him as a roughly average MLB starter as well, offering all the more reason to think he might regress.

There are reasons for optimism as well, however. Smith generates swinging strikes at a well above average clip, which could be a sign for strikeout potential beyond the average rates that he’s shown to this point. An uptick in strikeouts would raise the floor on his whole profile in a way that could allow him to keep producing at this level. Even without that, however, it’s fair to point out that there have certainly been pitchers who have found consistent MLB success over the years despite mediocre underlying data. Smith’s metrics are better than, as one example, those of Javier Assad on the other side of town. Assad has a career 3.40 ERA across nearly 300 innings in the majors despite lackluster metrics, and that’s a figure any team would happily take from a Rule 5 pick.

How do MLBTR readers think Smith will pan out going forward? Will he be able to find another gear and keep producing like a front-half of the rotation arm, will he settle in as more of a reliable back-end starter, or will this hot start prove to be a total mirage? Have your say in the poll below:

White Sox Release Omar Narvaez

By | at

The White Sox released catcher Omar Narváez from his minor league deal, according to an announcement from their Triple-A affiliate. He’d signed one month ago, his second non-roster contract of the year with the Sox.

Narváez has played in 15 games for Triple-A Charlotte, where he’d paired with top prospect Kyle Teel. The veteran hit .218/.317/.345 with a pair of homers in 63 plate appearances. Narváez had a brief stint on the big league roster immediately after Korey Lee went down with an ankle sprain. He only appeared in four games before the team pivoted to prospect Edgar Quero. Narváez was waived, elected free agency, then returned on the aforementioned second minor league deal.

Lee has been on a rehab assignment with Charlotte since May 9. Teams can keep an injured position player on a rehab stint for up to 20 days. The Sox will need to activate him by next week at the latest. They’ll need to decide whether to keep him in Charlotte on an optional assignment or carry him on the MLB roster, likely at the expense of out-of-options backup Matt Thaiss.

They could also option Quero back out, but he’s holding his head above water in his first MLB action (.267/.357/.302 in 98 plate appearances). Keeping him in the majors allows both Quero and Teel to continue developing defensively with the respective lion’s shares of playing time at catcher in MLB and Triple-A.

Narváez figures to look for a minor league opportunity elsewhere. The 33-year-old has appeared in 10 big league seasons. He developed into a solid #1 catcher for the Mariners and Brewers midway through that run, though his production has tanked over the past few seasons. He owns a .201/.278/.286 slash line since the start of 2022.

White Sox Notes: Robert, Wilson, Benintendi

By | at

Luis Robert Jr. has been the subject of trade rumors for well over a year. With the White Sox in a full rebuild, it has felt like a matter of time before the 2023 All-Star would head elsewhere.

That has been complicated by Robert’s recent play. He missed a couple months early last year with a hip flexor strain and hit .224/.278/.379 with 14 homers in 100 games. The Sox held him over the offseason, maintaining a high asking price in hopes that he’d rebound and emerge as a key deadline trade chip. That hasn’t happened, as Robert’s numbers have only further spiraled. He goes into tonight’s game with a .186/.281/.308 line over 180 plate appearances. Robert has taken walks at a career-best 11.7% rate, but he’s striking out 29% of the time and not hitting for his usual amount of power.

Robert acknowledged that the lack of production is tanking his trade value. “Right now, as my season is going, I don’t think anybody is going to take a chance on me,” he told reporters through an interpreter (link via Kyle Williams of The Chicago Sun-Times). There are a little over two months for Robert to turn things around before the deadline. He remains a capable defensive center fielder and leads MLB with 17 stolen bases. Robert still has intriguing physical tools, but he hasn’t come close to his 2021-23 numbers (.287/.331/.511) in the batter’s box.

The Sox owe Robert what remains of his $15MM salary. He’s controlled via $20MM club options for another two seasons, but it’s increasingly difficult to see the team exercising those.

In other news out of Chicago, the Sox finalized their one-year deal with righty Adrian Houser this afternoon. He drew right into the rotation and held Seattle scoreless over six innings in a 1-0 victory for his team debut. Manager Will Venable confirmed that the Sox were moving Bryse Wilson back to the bullpen as a result of the signing (link via Scott Merkin of MLB.com).

Wilson had begun the year in relief but drew into the starting five after the Martín Pérez injury. He had a 5.28 ERA over 10 relief appearances. He struggled in four starts, surrendering 13 runs across 17 2/3 innings. Wilson is out of options, so the Sox needed to keep him on the MLB roster or designate him for assignment. He’s likely to work as a long man.

Meanwhile, Andrew Benintendi began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Charlotte this evening. He went 0-4 with a strikeout while working as the designated hitter. Benintendi has been out for two weeks with a strained calf. He’d hit .224/.298/.400 with five homers through his first 24 games. Austin Slater is the primary left fielder in Benintendi’s absence.

White Sox Designate Yoendrys Gomez For Assignment

By | at

The White Sox announced Tuesday that right-hander Yoendrys Gomez has been designated for assignment. His spot on the roster goes to veteran righty Adrian Houser, whose previously reported major league deal with the South Siders has now been formally announced. Chicago had just claimed Gomez off waivers from the Dodgers ten days ago.

The Sox were Gomez’s third team of the still-young season. A former top prospect in the Yankees’ system, he’s bounced from the Bronx to L.A. to Chicago’s South Side. Along the way, he’s totaled 17 2/3 innings and allowed 13 runs (6.62 ERA) on 20 hits and 13 walks with 13 strikeouts. He tossed 3 1/3 innings with Chicago and allowed three runs on five hits, two walks and a hit batter. Gomez has now pitched 31 innings in the majors and yielded a 5.23 ERA.

Lackluster major league track record notwithstanding, Gomez sports near-identical ERAs of 3.64 and 3.67 in Double-A and Triple-A, respectively. Those have come in samples of 83 1/3 innings and 81 2/3 frames. Gomez has fanned 27% of his opponents in Triple-A against an 11.3% walk rate, and his Double-A rates (28.3% and 12.6%) are again quite similar.

Any team that claims or acquires Gomez will have to plug him right onto the MLB roster. He’s out of minor league options and can’t be sent down without first clearing waivers. The once-promising righty’s development has been slowed by the canceled 2020 minor league season and a Tommy John procedure that wiped out most of his 2021-22 campaigns. He could potentially benefit from some additional time in the upper minors, but it’s not a luxury teams can pursue until he passes through waivers. If Gomez goes unclaimed this time around, he’ll stick with the Sox as a depth option; he lacks the major league service time or the prior outright assignment needed to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency.

White Sox Sign Adrian Houser

By | at

May 20: The Sox announced today that they have signed Houser to a one-year, $1.35MM deal. Assuming that’s prorated, Houser will get about $950K. James Fox of FutureSox previously reported that Houser was expected to start tonight’s game for the Sox, indicating it would be a big league deal. The Sox designated right-hander Yoendrys Gómez for assignment as the corresponding move.

May 19: The White Sox are nearing an agreement with free agent righty Adrian Houser, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. It’s not clear if he’ll jump right onto the big league roster or head to Triple-A Charlotte. Houser, a client of BBI Sports Group, was granted his release from a minor league contract with Texas last week.

Houser signed with the Rangers during the offseason. He has worked out of the rotation at Triple-A Round Rock, tallying 39 1/3 innings across nine appearances. While his 5.03 earned run average is pedestrian, that’s not all that uncommon in the Pacific Coast League. Houser has stronger peripherals. He struck out a decent 22.8% of opponents while running an excellent 57.3% grounder rate.

Ground balls are Houser’s speciality. He has gotten grounders at a near-52% clip over parts of eight seasons in the majors. That was up in the 58-59% range during his best seasons with Milwaukee but has been down to a more normal 46-48% mark over the past few years. That caught up to him last year, as he allowed 5.84 earned runs per nine across 69 1/3 frames with the Mets. Houser had begun the season in New York’s rotation but was kicked to the bullpen after seven starts. His results in relief were much better. He carried an ERA north of 8.00 as a starting pitcher but turned in a 3.28 mark across 35 2/3 relief innings.

Texas signed him as rotation depth, which seems likely to be his role in Chicago (assuming the deal is finalized). The rebuilding White Sox have baseball’s least experienced rotation. Bryse Wilson is the only member of the current starting staff who entered the season with even one year of MLB service. Wilson, who had begun the year in the bullpen, stepped into the starting five after Martín Pérez suffered a forearm injury. He has allowed a 6.62 ERA with nearly as many walks as strikeouts over four starts.

Rule 5 pick Shane Smith has been the team’s best pitcher, turning in a sterling 2.05 ERA with average strikeout and walk numbers over his first nine MLB starts. Davis Martin and Jonathan Cannon have each been a little worse than average. Opening Day starter Sean Burke has struggled, though he’d been better this month until giving up six runs to the Cubs on Saturday. If Houser jumps right onto the MLB roster, he could nudge Burke or Wilson from the rotation. Burke still has a full slate of minor league options. Wilson is out of options and would need to be designated for assignment for the Sox to take him off the big league roster.

White Sox Outright Jacob Amaya

By | at

TODAY: Amaya has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A, according to Sox Machine’s James Fegan.

MAY 16: The White Sox announced Friday morning that infielder Jacob Amaya has been designated for assignment. He’ll be the corresponding roster move for Chicago’s previously reported acquisition of reliever Miguel Castro. The Sox also added infielder Vinny Capra, whom they claimed off waivers from the Brewers, to their active roster. Left-hander Jared Shuster was optioned to Triple-A to clear a second roster spot.

Amaya, 26, originally came to the White Sox via waivers last August. He was briefly jettisoned from the 40-man roster in January and claimed by the Orioles. The South Siders claimed Amaya back from Baltimore two weeks later when the O’s tried to pass him through waivers themselves.

Amaya is regarded as a gifted defender but offers little with the bat. He’s appeared in 56 games with the ChiSox and totaled 139 plate appearances but has just a .140/.174/.155 batting line to show for it — including a .097/.119/.113 slash in 68 plate appearances this season. Though he’s yet to provide any offense in the big leagues, Amaya has a more palatable (albeit still below average) .246/.342/.380 batting line in 1219 plate appearances at the Triple-A level.

Because Amaya is out of minor league options, the Sox couldn’t simply send him directly to Triple-A Charlotte. He’d first need to pass through outright waivers for the Sox to be able to assign him to a minor league affiliate. Major League Baseball’s DFA window lasts a week, and the Sox are free to explore trade possibilities or place Amaya during that time. Waivers are a 48-hour process, however, so if they find a trade partner it’d need to happen within the next five days. Given Amaya’s struggles this year, waivers seem likelier, but a team with a short-term need at shortstop could show some interest.

White Sox Place Tyler Gilbert On 15-Day Injured List

By | at

The White Sox announced that left-hander Tyler Gilbert has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a sprained left MCL.  Southpaw Jared Shuster has been called back up to Chicago’s 26-man roster in the corresponding move, just a day after Shuster was optioned to Triple-A as part of another collection of roster moves.

This is the second time this season that a left knee issue has sidelined Gilbert, as he began the year with a 15-day stint on the IL due to bursitis.  The MCL sprain arose yesterday, as the lefty made it two batters into a relief appearance against the Cubs before he had to be removed from the game.  The length of Gilbert’s recovery timeline will depend on the severity of the sprain, and more details on that front should arise when manager Will Venable meets with the Chicago media today.

Acquired in a January trade with the Phillies, Gilbert has a 4.85 ERA over 13 innings and appearances for the White Sox this season.  (Three of those appearances were “starts” as an opener, and the other 10 came out of the bullpen.)  Five of Gilbert’s seven earned runs came over back-to-back rough outings against the A’s and Red Sox on April 16 and 18, as he has otherwise been pretty solid, allowing just two ER over his other 10 2/3 frames of work.

Gilbert has a strong 30.8% strikeout rate but control has been a problem, as the left-hander has a 13.5% walk rate.  While acknowledging the small sample size, both statistics are far different from Gilbert’s career norms, as he had a 16.5% strikeout rate and 7.3% walk rate over his 100 career MLB innings heading into 2025.  Of course, a good chunk of that prior experience came as a starting pitcher, and Gilbert has increasingly transitioned into being a full-time reliever over the last two seasons.

White Sox Acquire Miguel Castro From Astros

By | at

May 16: The White Sox announced the trade. However, rather than the cash considerations indicated by Brown, the Sox announced that they’re sending international bonus pool space back to Houston in the swap. Pool space must be traded in $250K increments unless a team is emptying out a bonus pool that has under $250K remaining (in which case the entire remainder is sent).

Given the Sox’ position and long-term outlook, it seems likely that they’re sending at most $250K or perhaps that they had less than that amount remaining. Notably, no actual cash changes hands when pool space is traded. The Astros are simply acquiring the right to spend an additional block of cash on international amateur free agents.

May 15: The White Sox are acquiring right-hander Miguel Castro from the Astros, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. Astros general manager Dana Brown tells Chandler Rome of The Athletic that Houston receives cash considerations in return.

Castro, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Astros in the offseason. He has since pitched 19 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level with a 2.29 earned run average. His 10.1% walk rate is a tad high but he’s striking out 25.3% of opponents while getting grounders on 44% of balls in play.

Despite those solid numbers, it seems the Astros weren’t planning to call him up, so they’ve traded him instead. Per Ari Alexander of KPRC 2, Castro’s deal had an upcoming opt-out date on June 3rd.

The White Sox are rebuilding and don’t have a strong relief group. Collectively, their bullpen has a 4.42 ERA, putting them in the bottom third of major league teams. Given that they are 14-30 and at the bottom of the American League standings, they presumably plan to install Castro into the bullpen and see if he can pitch his way into being a midseason trade candidate. Assuming they plan to call him up before his opt-out, they will need to open a 40-man spot for him.

Castro has occasionally been a useful pitcher in the big leagues, though with declining results in recent seasons. His ground ball rate has been fairly consistently near 50% and his walk rate has usually been a bit higher than average. The strikeouts have been high at times but there’s been a clear downward trend. He peaked at 33% in 2020 but that figure dropped to 25.4% in 2021, 23.7% in 2022 and 22.4% in 2023.

Last year, he started with the Diamondbacks but landed on the injured list due to shoulder inflammation in the middle of April. He stayed there for about three months, getting reinstated in July but was released in early August. Around the IL stint, he tossed 13 2/3 innings with a 5.93 ERA and 12.5% strikeout rate in that small sample. Based on his minor league numbers this year, it’s possible he has put the shoulder problems behind him and is back in good form.

Photo courtesy of Reinhold Matay, Imagn Images

White Sox Release Brandon Drury

By | at

The White Sox released Brandon Drury from his minor league deal, according to the MiLB.com transaction tracker. He has been on the injured list since May 8.

Drury hasn’t played a game for Triple-A Charlotte since April 26. Their manager, Sergio Santos, told Jeff Cohen of Future Sox last week that Drury had injured his wrist on a hit-by-pitch. At the time, Santos said that Drury was able to field without issue but experienced soreness when he was taking swings. He’d only been able to appear in 10 games before the injury. The veteran infielder hit .179/.319/.282 with one home run across 47 trips to the plate.

The Sox signed Drury to a minor league contract shortly before the opening of Spring Training. He looked well on his way to breaking camp when he raked at a .410 clip through 13 exhibition contests. That was scuttled when he broke his left thumb in the final few days of Spring Training. Chicago granted him his release but brought him back on a new minor league deal in mid-April once he’d returned to health.

There aren’t many specifics on his latest injury, but it stands to reason that Drury will find renewed minor league interest whenever he’s healthy. He won a Silver Slugger in 2022 and remained an above-average hitter as recently as ’23, when he hit .262/.306/.497 with 30 doubles and 26 homers for the Angels. The wheels fell off last season. His bat cratered to a .169/.242/.228 showing across 360 plate appearances, limiting him to minor league offers.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

hide arrows scroll to top