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Dodgers, White Sox Previously Discussed Luis Robert Jr. Trade

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The Dodgers and White Sox previously engaged in trade talks that would’ve sent center fielder Luis Robert Jr. to Los Angeles in exchange for outfielder James Outman and an unnamed “front-line prospect,” according to a report from USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. Nightengale notably adds that talks between the sides have been tabled at present, however, and it’s unclear whether these discussions occurred recently or at some point during this past offseason.

That the Dodgers would have interest in Robert is fairly unsurprising. The center fielder was among the most obvious trade candidates of the offseason with Chicago coming off the worst season in MLB history. Robert himself was part of that brutal campaign, as he was limited to just 100 games by injuries and did not perform up to expectations even when healthy with a .224/.278/.379 slash line (84 wRC+). While he stole 23 bases and slugged 14 homers during that time, he was held back by a 33.2% strikeout rate, the highest of his career.

That’s not much of a platform season to market to potential suitors. Between that and the $17MM guaranteed to Robert this season between his $15MM salary and the $2MM buyout of a $20MM team option for 2026, it’s hardly a surprise that the White Sox weren’t able to find the right value for their franchise center fielder. Despite his weak 2024 campaign, however, he did garner interest from clubs like the Reds and Giants this winter. It’s not hard to see why, given that Robert is not too far removed from a 2023 campaign that saw him make his first career All-Star team, finish 12th in AL MVP voting, and win the Silver Slugger award in center field. In 145 games that year, he posted a 128 wRC+, slugged 38 homers, swiped 20 bags, and posted a 5-win campaign (4.9 fWAR, 5.3 bWAR).

That tantalizing upside appears to have intrigued the Dodgers as well. It was reported back in December that Robert was among a number of possible alternatives to Teoscar Hernandez that L.A. was weighing a pursuit of if they were unable to bring the slugger back into the fold via free agency, though that thought experiment ultimately went nowhere when Hernandez re-signed with the club shortly thereafter. Even after bringing Hernandez into the fold, however, adding Robert could make at least some sense for the Dodgers. With Robert installed in center field, L.A. would be much less reliant on Miguel Rojas (and, eventually, Hyeseong Kim) at second base and could instead install switch-hitter Tommy Edman at the position. A stronger defender on the infield like Edman could help Mookie Betts improve as he works on learning shortstop, or could even provide the Dodgers with the ability to begin using Edman at short and Betts at the keystone if the experiment of playing Betts at the most valuable defensive position on the diamond does not work out.

Between the additional flexibility Robert would provide the Dodgers in how they deploy Edman and his previous heights as a star player, it’s not hard to see why the club would have some level of interest in him. The discussions reported by Nightengale suggest that Outman would be a key part of the return, which could make plenty of sense for both sides. Outman, 28 next month, finished third in NL Rookie of the Year voting back in 2023 with an excellent debut season where he hit .248/.353/.437 (118 wRC+) as Los Angeles’s regular center fielder. Unfortunately, his sophomore season did not go nearly as well as he struck out in 35.3% of his plate appearances, posted a wRC+ of just 54, and was below replacement level in 53 games.

In some regards, Outman is a somewhat similar player to Robert, albeit with a far lower ceiling. Outman currently isn’t slated to hit free agency until after the 2030 season, which could also be attractive to the rebuilding White Sox. He evidently wouldn’t have been the only piece Chicago received had the trade been consummated, though it’s unclear whether the “front-line” prospect involved would be a top-100 type talent like southpaw Jackson Ferris or shortstop Alex Freeland or perhaps a less flashy name like righty Nick Frasso or outfielder Kendall George. What the hypothetical trade would have ended up looking like, it’s clear the sides aren’t currently discussing a deal at this point. Perhaps they could circle back and reignite talks closer to the trade deadline, when Robert is sure to be on the market ahead of the final guaranteed year of his contract.

White Sox Place Austin Slater On 10-Day IL Due To Right Meniscus Tear

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The White Sox announced that outfielder Austin Slater has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a meniscus tear in his right knee.  The IL placement is retroactive to April 11.  Outfielder Greg Jones was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.

With Andrew Benintendi (groin strain) and Mike Tauchman (hamstring strain) already on the IL, Chicago’s outfield has now been further reduced by Slater’s injury, which looks to be significantly longer term in nature depending on the severity of the tear.  The best-case scenario could see Slater back on the field in a few weeks’ time, while he might be shelved for a couple of months if surgery is required.  Manager Will Venable told SoxMachine’s JamesFegan and other reporters that the team doesn’t have a timeline yet for Slater.

This is actually the second injury Slater has suffered during his brief tenure with the White Sox, after an oblique issue cost him a couple of weeks during Spring Training.  Slater signed a one-year contract worth $1.75MM in guaranteed money back in November, as the Sox aimed to use the right-handed hitting Slater in a platoon capacity in one or both of the corner outfield positions.  Now, all of Chicago’s planned corner outfield candidates are on the IL, leaving Michael A. Taylor, Brooks Baldwin, Joshua Palacios, and now Jones as the makeshift group flanking center fielder Luis Robert Jr.

Slater posted solid to very good numbers as a part-timer with San Francisco from 2020-23, but his production cratered badly last year, as he slashed just .209/.321/.266 over 212 combined plate appearances with the Giants, Reds, and Orioles.  He has actually logged more big league innings as a center fielder than he has in left or right field, though defensive metrics indicate that Slater is much better suited to corner outfield work.

White Sox Designate Justin Anderson For Assignment

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The White Sox have designated right-handed reliever Justin Anderson for assignment, per a team announcement. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to infield prospect Chase Meidroth, whose contract has now been formally selected ahead of his previously reported MLB debut tonight. Outfielder Greg Jones was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte to open a spot on the active roster for Meidroth.

Anderson, 32, spent the majority of the 2024 season in the ChiSox bullpen, picking up 53 1/3 innings of relief action en route to a 4.39 ERA. He averaged a hearty 96 mph on his fastball and fanned a slightly better-than-average 23.6% of his opponents, but he also walked an ugly 13.2% of the batters he faced.

The Sox optioned Anderson to Triple-A this year after a rocky spring performance (seven runs, 10 hits, four walks, nine strikeouts in six innings), and he’s had a similarly shaky go of it in Charlotte. Through his first 5 2/3 innings, the hard-throwing righty has been tagged for five runs on seven hits and a pair of walks. He’s whiffed eight hitters but also plunked a batter and already been charged with a pair of wild pitches.

Command has never been a strong point for the 6’3″, 230-pound Anderson. He’s walked 14.8% of his opponents in parts of three big league seasons. His lifetime 9.7% mark in parts of five Triple-A campaigns is better but still higher than average. Anderson can pile up strikeouts, however, evidenced by a career 26.3% mark in the majors and a gaudy 34.3% rate in Triple-A.

Anderson’s 2024 work with the Sox was his first big league action since 2019. He was beset by injuries in the interim years, most notably a Tommy John surgery in July of 2020 that wiped out that entire season as well as the vast majority of his 2021 campaign. From 2020-22, Anderson pitched a total of just 16 minor league innings. He’s healthy once again, and as a hard-throwing righty with a history of missing bats and a pair of minor league options remaining, he could hold interest to another team in a small trade or waiver claim.

The Sox can trade Anderson or place him on outright waivers at any point in the next five days. The waiver process itself lasts for 48 hours, meaning that within a week’s time, he’ll know the outcome of his DFA.

White Sox To Promote Chase Meidroth

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The White Sox are going to call up prospect Chase Meidroth, as first reported by Thomas Nestico of TJStats. He is not yet on Chicago’s 40-man roster, so they will need to make a corresponding move to open a spot for him.

Meidroth, 23, will seemingly get to make his major league debut against his original club. A fourth-round pick of the Red Sox in 2022, he was one of four players flipped to the White Sox as part of the December 2024 trade which sent Garrett Crochet to Boston. The White Sox will be hosting the Red Sox for a three-game set this weekend.

Kyle Teel and Braden Montgomery were the headliners of Chicago’s return, as top 100 prospects and former first-round picks, but Meidroth was an interesting secondary piece in the deal. As mentioned, he was a fourth-round pick in 2022, signing for a modest $272.5K bonus.

During his time in the minors, he has seemingly been disproving nominative determinism, as his primary attribute has been his plate discipline. He has 1,187 minor league plate appearances in his career thus far, with more walks than strikeouts. He’s drawn a free pass in 17.4% of those trips to the plate while only getting punched out 15.6% of the time.

The power is more questionable, as he only hit 23 home runs in that stretch. However, the overall production is still strong. He has a combined .285/.425/.414 batting line and 136 wRC+ at the moment, indicating he’s been 36% better than league average.

He has other attributes as well. He stole 13 bags last year and in 2023 as well. Defensively, he has played the three infield positions to the left of first base. Prospect evaluators don’t consider it likely that he becomes an everyday shortstop, but he can be solid at second and third while occasionally taking short in an emergency. Baseball America currently lists him as the #8 prospect in Chicago’s system.

Meidroth had a chance to crack the Opening Day roster since he spent all of 2024 at the Triple-A level. However, he hit just .146/.300/.171 in the spring and got sent to Charlotte to start the year. His nine games with the Knights have resulted in a .267/.450/.600 line and a call-up to the big leagues.

The White Sox should have lots of ability to give Meidroth playing time. Miguel Vargas has been the everyday third baseman this year but is hitting .179/.289/.231. Second baseman Lenyn Sosa has a line of .194/.219/.323. Shortstop Jacob Amaya is at .115/.143/.115.

Perhaps not coincidentally, today is the last day that a player can be promoted and earn a full year of service time in 2025. A player needs 172 days in the majors to earn a full year of service, but there are only 171 days left in the season after today. The Sox played this afternoon and Meidroth won’t be added until tomorrow at the earliest. That means Meidroth will be under the one-year line even if he stays up with the club for the rest of the season. That will mean the Sox can control him through 2031 even if he immediately establishes himself as a big leaguer. Some players can still earn a full service year under such circumstances by finishing in the top two of Rookie of the Year voting but that’s only for top prospects and not guys like Meidroth.

The Sox lost 121 games last year and are firmly in rebuild mode. Their loss today dropped them to 2-10 in the current season. The 2025 campaign is mostly about playing time for young guys or potential trade candidates. Meidroth didn’t get his chance when camp broke but turned things on in Triple-A recently while others struggled in the majors, so he’ll get a crack at the big leagues now.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images

White Sox Select Joshua Palacios, Omar Narvaez; Release Juan Carela

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The White Sox announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contracts of outfielder Joshua Palacios and catcher Omar Narvaez. (The likelihood of the Narvaez move was first reported last night.) They’ve also placed catcher Korey Lee and outfielder Mike Tauchman on the 10-day injured list due to a sprained left ankle and a strained right hamstring, respectively.

The Sox only had one open 40-man roster spot, so they’ve released right-hander Juan Carela to accommodate the addition of Palacios and Narvaez. Carela was acquired from the Yankees in the 2023 trade that sent Keynan Middleton to New York, and the Sox selected him to the 40-man roster just this past November to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft. However, Carela suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament in spring training and required Tommy John surgery.

Since injured players cannot be placed on outright waivers, the Sox will instead release Carela. It’s relatively common for teams and players in this exact situation to quickly strike up a new minor league contract, but the right-hander will technically have the option to talk to 29 other clubs, assuming he clears release waivers. The 23-year-old right-hander has yet to make his MLB debut, but the Sox added him to the 40-man roster on the heels of a 2024 season in which he logged 106 2/3 innings of 3.71 ERA ball with a 25.2% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate between High-A and Double-A.

Palacios, 29, has played in parts of four big league seasons between the Blue Jays, Nationals and Pirates. He saw semi-regular work in Pittsburgh during the 2023 season and showed a bit of pop but struggled to get on base. He entered spring training out of minor league options and didn’t make the cut on a Pirates club that had several outfield options ahead of him on the depth chart. The Pirates designated Palacios for assignment and outrighted him to Triple-A, but he rejected the assignment in favor of free agency, which was his right as a player who’d been outrighted once previously in his career.

Over the past two seasons in Pittsburgh, Palacios slashed .236/.291/.398 with a dozen homers in 342 plate appearances. His 19.9% strikeout rate is a few ticks below the league-average mark, and he was plagued by a .264 average on balls in play despite frequent hard contact, which could create some optimism for better performance. However, Palacios is also an extreme ground-ball hitter (51% as a Pirate) with good-not-great speed and a pull-heavy approach — all of which leaves him a bit susceptible to a lower BABIP.

Still, with both Tauchman and Andrew Benintendi on the injured list — Benintendi suffered an adductor strain earlier this week — Palacios ought to get a chance for significant playing time. If he can make the most of it, he can be controlled for four years beyond the current season. He’s a career .302/.389/.482 hitter in 720 Triple-A plate appearances, so there’s certainly a track record of performance in the upper minors upon which the White Sox can dream.

At this point, it’s not yet clear how long Lee or Tauchman will be sidelined. Lee suffered the injury while hurrying back to first base yesterday when Guardians catcher Austin Hedges threw behind him in a pickoff attempt (video link). Lee’s left ankle contorted significantly, and he was tagged out when he crumbled off the bag. He was in obvious pain as White Sox trainers helped him off the field. He’d gotten out to a fast start, going 5-for-15 with a pair of doubles and a pair of walks in 17 plate appearances (.333/.412/.467).

As for the veteran Tauchman, he missed the first week-plus of the season with a strain in that same right hamstring and only made his 2025 debut on April 6. The 34-year-old signed a one-year, $1.95MM deal in free agency and has appeared in only three games thus far, going 4-for-10 (all singles) with a pair of walks in a dozen trips to the plate (.400/.500/.400). Given that he’s now dealing with back-to-back strains in the same muscle, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Sox took a more cautious approach to his absence this time around. Timetables for both Lee and Tauchman will presumably become clearer after manager Will Venable meets with the media prior to today’s series finale in Cleveland.

White Sox Planning To Select Omar Narvaez

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The White Sox intend to call up veteran catcher Omar Narváez, reports James Fegan of Sox Machine. Korey Lee left today’s game against the Guardians in the sixth inning when he rolled his left ankle running back to first base on a pickoff.

There’s not much clarity on Lee’s injury. The Sox have only announced it as ankle soreness and indicated he’ll go for testing. It looked ugly enough that an injured list stint seems inevitable. Even a day-to-day injury for a catcher usually necessitates a roster move, since teams tend to only carry two catchers on the active roster. Lee has split the position with Matt Thaiss in the season’s first two weeks.

Thaiss has started seven of the 11 games. He only has four hits but has worked seven walks over 27 plate appearances. Lee has five hits and a couple walks in 17 trips to the dish. A former first-round pick of the Astros, Lee appeared in a career-high 125 games last season. He hit .210/.244/.347 with 12 homers while striking out in 31% of his 394 plate appearances.

Narváez was in camp on a minor league contract. The Sox released him at the end of Spring Training but re-signed him on a fresh minor league deal at the beginning of April. With highly-regarded prospects Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero splitting the catching duties in Triple-A, the Sox assigned Narváez to Double-A Birmingham. He’s far more experienced than most players at that level. Narváez has gone 2-7 with a double and a walk in two games.

Today’s loss dropped the White Sox to 2-9. They’re clearly in for another long season. Teel and Quero should each receive their first MLB call at some point this year. (Quero has gotten out to a blistering start at Triple-A Charlotte.) The Sox are taking their respective progressions deliberately and evidently don’t feel they’re ready for MLB action. They’ll instead go with the 33-year-old Narváez to split the catching duties with Thaiss in the short term.

Narváez was an All-Star with the Brewers back in 2021. His production has tanked in the three years since then, as he’s a .200/.276/.286 hitter in 511 plate appearances going back to the start of the ’22 season. Narváez is not on the 40-man roster. The Sox have an opening after outrighting Travis Jankowski, so they’ll only need to make an active roster move (presumably an IL stint for Lee) to select his contract.

White Sox Re-Sign Travis Jankowski To Minor League Deal

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The White Sox announced that outfielder Travis Jankowski has been signed to a minor league deal. He had cracked the club’s Opening Day roster but was designated for assignment about a week into the campaign. He cleared waivers and elected free agency before now returning on a new deal. That’s a fairly common sequence of events as veterans might perhaps work out new opt-out dates in a subsequent contract.

Jankowski, 34, is generally a speed-and-defense outfielder. He has over a decade in the big leagues at this point but has only once played more than 117 games in a season. He has 102 stolen bases in 127 attempts. His 3,520 innings of outfield work have resulted in 30 Defensive Runs Saved and 33 Outs Above Average.

The offense has been more mercurial. He was around league average with the 2023 Rangers, helping them win the World Series that year, but his bat fell off steeply the following season. He has a .235/.319/.304 batting line in his career. That amounts to a 76 wRC+, indicating he’s been 24% below league average overall.

The Sox have been rotating various veterans through their outfield mix, alongside Luis Robert Jr. and Andrew Benintendi. They signed Mike Tauchman in the offseason but he required an IL stint to begin the year. Austin Slater, Michael A. Taylor and Jankowski have also seen some playing time.

Tauchman’s return from the IL bumped Jankowski off the roster but he could have a good shot at playing time later in the year. Everyone in that outfield mix should be available on the midseason trade market. Slater and Taylor are one-year deals. Robert has some club options but is in the final guaranteed season of his deal. Tauchman can be retained via arbitration next year but was just non-tendered at the end of last season. Benintendi’s deal runs through 2027 but he’s playing well and the Sox would probably love to sell high since he struggled in 2023 and 2024. He landed on the IL today due to an adductor strain, though it may be a fairly minor issue. Greg Jones was recalled to take his place on the active roster.

Whether it’s due to trades or injuries, it’s unlikely that the entire outfield group stays intact for the remainder of the season. If an opening arises, Jankowski could step in and retake his spot on the roster.

White Sox Place Andrew Benintendi On IL With Adductor Strain

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The White Sox announced that outfielder Andrew Benintendi has been placed on the ten-day injured list, retroactive to April 7, with a left adductor strain. Fellow outfielder Greg Jones has been recalled to take his place on the active roster.

The news isn’t significant for the Sox in the short-term. They were unprecedentedly bad last year, setting a modern era record with 121 losses. They are out to a 2-8 start this year. They’re one of the few teams in the majors not actively trying to compete.

But they would surely love for their veteran players to build trade value and Benintendi is one of the most interesting guys to watch in that regard. Broadly speaking, his signing has not worked out well. The Sox gave him a five-year, $75MM pact ahead of the 2023 season but he hit just .246/.309/.374 for a wRC+ of 90 over the first two seasons.

However, he did have a strong finish last year. He started out with a brutal .195/.230/.284 showing, carrying that line when he headed to the IL in June due to an Achilles injury. He came off the IL and then hit 16 home runs in his final 322 trips to the plate. He drew walks at a 9.9% clip and only struck out at an 18.9% pace. His .251/.326/.470 line in that time translated to a 124 wRC+.

That gave him a bit of momentum coming into 2025, which has been up-and-down so far. He was hit by a pitch early in spring and fractured a bone in his hand, putting him on ice for a few weeks. He was able to get healthy by Opening Day and has a strong .290/.333/.484 line in his first 33 plate appearances this year. Unfortunately, he’ll now have to be put on the shelf for a while.

It may not be an extended absence. Benintendi departed Sunday’s game due to this adductor issue. The Sox didn’t initially put him on the IL, perhaps suggesting it was more of a day-to-day thing. But after a few days, he’s now been placed on the IL after all. Since it’s been backdated by two days, he could theoretically be back in just over a week.

Once he’s back, he would ideally pick up where he left off. He’s making $16.5MM this year and will be owed $31MM over the final two years of the deal. That will leave about $37MM left to be paid out when the deadline is approaching. Given his inconsistent performance in recent years, the Sox would probably have to eat a bunch of that to line up a deal, but they should be able to do that easily since they have almost nothing else on the books. How much they have to eat will depend on what kind of health/performance they get from Benintendi in the coming months.

For now, White Sox fans can get their first look at Jones, who was claimed off waivers from the Rockies just before Opening Day. He has only six big league plate appearances but has huge speed. He stole 46 bags in the minor last year, despite only playing in 89 games.

Octavio Dotel Dies In Roof Collapse Tragedy

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Former major leaguer Octavio Dotel has died in a tragic accident, Major League Baseball confirmed. The news was first reported by multiple outlets in the Dominican Republic, including Diario Libre. The roof of the Jet Set club in Santo Domingo collapsed in the early hours of Tuesday morning. As of Tuesday night, at least 98 people have lost their lives while nearly 200 more were injured, according to The Associated Press. Dotel was 51 years old.

Exact details of the tragic situation are difficult to pin down, but it appears hundreds of people were in the venue for a concert when the collapse happened. Dozens of people have been pulled out alive but many have died and the figures are likely to change. Dotel was reportedly trapped for about 11 hours before being rescued and initially survived, but was declared dead after being taken to a hospital.

Dotel was well known to baseball fans because he pitched in the majors for over a decade and bounced around to various teams. He made his major league debut with the Mets in 1999, working in a swing role. He was traded to the Astros ahead of the 2000 season and continued to work both out of the rotation and the bullpen for a while.

He eventually moved into a primary relief role and had more success. Though his earned run average was over 5.00 in both 1999 and 2000, he posted a 2.66 ERA in 2001. He tossed 105 innings over 61 appearances, only four of those being starts.

He continued working as a solid reliever for years after that, bouncing to the Athletics, Yankees, Royals, Braves, White Sox, Pirates, Dodgers, Rockies, Blue Jays, Cardinals and Tigers. He finished his career with a 3.78 ERA in 758 games. He recorded 109 saves and 127 holds. He won the World Series with the Cardinals in 2011. He was a part of a combined no-hitter with the Astros in 2003. He retired in 2014.

We at MLB Trade Rumors send our deepest condolences to Dotel’s family, friends and fans, as well as the hundreds of others who have been impacted by this awful event.

Photo courtesy of Kelley L Cox, Imagn Images

Travis Jankowski Elects Free Agency

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Travis Jankowski elected free agency after being outrighted by the White Sox, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. Chicago designated the veteran outfielder for assignment over the weekend when they activated Mike Tauchman from the injured list.

Jankowski started Spring Training with the Cubs. He was granted his release and signed with the White Sox in mid-March. Jankowski broke camp and appeared in seven games. He had three hits (all singles) and a walk in 14 at-bats. The lefty-hitting outfielder didn’t produce much offensively last season. He hit .200/.266/.242 in 207 plate appearances with the Rangers.

Texas got much better production out of Jankowski during their World Series season. He hit .263 with a .357 on-base percentage and stole 19 bases across 287 trips to the plate in 2023. Jankowski doesn’t provide any kind of power but he’s a patient hitter who has walked at a solid 10.1% clip over his career. His speed allows him to cover all three outfield positions.

Jankowski should find interest on another minor league deal. It wouldn’t be especially surprising if he circles back to the White Sox on a non-roster contract. First-year manager Will Venable was also the associate manager in Texas for the last two seasons.

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