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White Sox Sign Cody Sedlock To Minor League Deal

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The White Sox have signed right-hander Cody Sedlock to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He’s been assigned to the Complex League for now but will presumably move up to a higher affiliate after ramping up.

Sedlock, 29 in June, has a tiny amount of major league experience, more like a sip of coffee than a cup of coffee. He appeared in one game for the Orioles in 2022, tossing three innings. He allowed five earned runs that day while issuing one walk and striking out three opponents. After that one outing, he was outrighted off the roster and traded to the Tigers. He become a free agent at season’s end and didn’t sign anywhere for the 2023 season.

Prior to that major league debut and gap year, the righty was a notable prospect for the Orioles. Selected 27th overall in 2016, he was considered the #2 prospect in that club’s system by Baseball America in 2017. However, injuries have largely gotten in the way since then, something that Keith Law of The Athletic attributes to a heavy workload during Sedlock’s college years.

The righty tossed 101 1/3 innings for Illinois in his draft year and then another 27 frames at Low-A after being selected, but he hasn’t been able to reach 100 innings pitched in any season since then. Along the way, he had forearm and shoulder injuries and also required surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome. He has a combined 4.46 earned run average in the 422 minor league innings that he’s thrown over the years, striking out 21.6% of batters while walking 10.7%.

It’s hard to know what to expect from Sedlock at this point. There will likely be some rust after sitting out all of last year but it’s also possible the rest allowed his body to recover in some way. For the Sox, there’s little harm in taking a flier on a former first-rounder to see what happens.

If Sedlock looks good after getting into game shape, he’ll give the staff some non-roster depth. The Sox have recently traded away most of the best pitchers as part of their ongoing rebuild and are likely to make make even more trades this summer since they are currently the worst team in the league at 3-15. If Sedlock gets into good form in the next few months, there could be a path for him to get back to the big leagues.

2023 Rule 5 Update: April Edition

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We’re three weeks into the 2024 season, and this year’s crop of Rule 5 picks has had an atypical amount of staying power. That’s perhaps in part due to the fact that only ten players were selected in the 2023 Rule 5 Draft, but as of this writing, only one Rule 5 selection has been returned to his original organization.

For those unfamiliar, in order to be eligible for the Rule 5 Draft, a player must not be on his team’s 40-man roster and must have played in either parts of five professional seasons (if they signed at 18 or younger) or four professional seasons (if they signed at 19 or older). The deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 by selecting their contracts to the 40-man roster typically falls in mid-November and spurs a good deal of player movement as teams jettison borderline players and non-tender candidates from their roster in order to protect younger prospects.

A player who is selected in the Rule 5 Draft must spend the entire subsequent season on his new club’s Major League roster and cannot be optioned to the minors. The player can technically spend time on the injured list as well, but at least 90 days must be spent on the active roster. If not, the player’s Rule 5 status rolls into the following season until 90 days on the active roster have been accrued. If a team at any point decides it can no longer carry a Rule 5 selection, that player must be passed through waivers and subsequently offered back to his original organization. Any other club can claim the player via waivers, but the same Rule 5 restrictions will apply to the claiming team.

Broadly speaking, the Rule 5 Draft rarely produces impact players. There are plenty of exceptions over the years, though, with names like Johan Santana, Dan Uggla, Shane Victorino, Joakim Soria, Josh Hamilton and, more recently, Garrett Whitlock and Trevor Stephan thriving in new organizations. The Rule 5 Draft dates back more than a century and has even produced a handful of Hall of Famers: Roberto Clemente, Hack Wilson and Christy Mathewson.

It’s unlikely we’ll see any Cooperstown-bound players come from this year’s crop, but the teams who opted to select a player will be content if any of these names become a viable reliever or role player for the next several seasons. Here’s a look at this year’s group of ten Rule 5 players and where they stand. We’ll do a few of these throughout the season, keeping tabs on which players survive the season and formally have their long-term rights transferred to their new clubs.

On a Major League Roster

Mitch Spence, RHP, Athletics (selected from Yankees)

Spence, 26 next month, was the first overall pick in this year’s Rule 5 Draft, and understandably so after the 2023 season he had. His 4.47 ERA might’ve been pedestrian, but the 2019 tenth-rounder led all Triple-A pitchers with 163 innings while delivering a nice blend of strikeouts (21.8%), walks (7.5%) and ground-balls (50%). For an A’s club desperately thin on starting pitching after the slew of rebuilding-driven trades for minor league arms have failed to produce much, adding a 25-year-old arm with that type of season held obvious appeal.

Spence made Oakland’s decision easy with a monster spring showing. He pitched 17 2/3 innings and allowed only six earned runs (3.06 ERA) on 15 hits and six walks with 21 punchouts. He’s worked out of the ’pen so far in Oakland but could very well find himself making starts later in the year. Through his first 11 2/3 MLB frames, Spence has yielded four earned runs on 10 hits and four walks with a 48.4% grounder rate. He’s not in danger of losing his spot anytime soon.

Matt Sauer, RHP, Royals (selected from Yankees)

Another 25-year-old righty out of the Yankees organization, Sauer came to his new club with a much heavier draft pedigree than his now-former teammate, Spence. The Yankees selected the 6’4″ righty with the No. 54 overall pick back in 2017, but Sauer didn’t develop as quickly as hoped. He was set back by 2019 Tommy John surgery and the canceled 2020 minor league season. He’s never topped 111 innings in a season, but Sauer rebuilt some prospect pedigree with a nice 2023 season that saw him pitch 68 1/3 innings of 3.42 ERA ball in Double-A. He whiffed 29.5% of his opponents, albeit against a less palatable 10.3% walk rate.

Like his former teammate, Sauer had a nice spring that made the decision relatively easy for his new club. In 10 2/3 innings, he held opponents to three earned runs (2.53 ERA) on 13 hits and three walks with 13 strikeouts. He opened the season in the Kansas City bullpen and has thus far pitched five innings, allowing a pair of runs in that time. Sauer has walked four of his 25 opponents and fanned just two thus far. It’s a small sample, of course, but he’ll need to reverse that early trend to hang onto his roster spot — especially if the Royals continue their hot start and find themselves contending into the summer.

Anthony Molina, RHP, Rockies (selected from Rays)

The 22-year-old Molina worked as a starter in the Rays’ system last year, taking the ball 28 times (27 starts) and pitching 122 innings with a 4.50 ERA. The undersized righty has garnered praise for a solid-average heater and above-average changeup, and he showed good command in 2023 after struggling with walks earlier in his minor league career. Molina continued to show good command in spring training (in addition to a massive 60.5% grounder rate), but the regular season has been brutal for him thus far. In three appearances, he’s been tattooed for a dozen runs on 13 hits and four walks with just two strikeouts. The Rockies can afford to be as patient as they want. They’re 4-13 on the season and were never expected to contend. Still, Molina will need to improve on his early performance in order to stick on the roster.

Nasim Nunez, INF, Nationals (selected from Marlins)

The Nationals have effectively played the season thus far with a 25-man roster. Nunez made the Opening Day squad but has been M.I.A. since. He’s appeared in just five of Washington’s 16 games and received only two plate appearances, going hitless in that meaningless sample. Nunez is an all-glove and speed prospect who hit just .224/.341/.286 in Double-A last season. He did go 52-for-59 in stolen base attempts, and scouting reports have long touted his defensive excellence at shortstop. He hit just .152/.200/.182 in 35 spring plate appearances.

It’s fair to wonder how long the Nats can essentially punt a roster spot by keeping Nunez on the bench, but like the Rockies, they’re not expecting to contend this season anyhow. One would imagine that from a pure developmental standpoint, they need to find a way to get Nunez into some games and start getting him some playing time, but for now, the team appears content to just hide the 23-year-old on the bench.

Ryan Fernandez, RHP, Cardinals (selected from Red Sox)

Fernandez, 25, has just four appearances out of the St. Louis bullpen so far and has been understandably deployed in low-leverage spots while he acclimates to the majors. He’s pitched fairly well in sparse duty, holding opponents to three runs (two earned) in 5 2/3 innings. Fernandez has averaged just under 96 mph on his heater, fanned seven opponents and issued three walks. His swinging-strike rate isn’t close to where it’s been in his minor league work, but his wipeout slider has been strong thus far. Fernandez has finished off eight plate appearances with that pitch, picking up four strikeouts and yielding only one hit. Nothing he’s done so far makes it seem like he’ll be cut loose anytime soon.

Justin Slaten, RHP, Red Sox (selected by Mets from Rangers; traded to Red Sox for LHP Ryan Ammons)

While most Rule 5 relievers are eased into low-pressure spots, that hasn’t been the case with the Sox and Slaten. He held a four-run lead to pick up a seven-out save in the team’s fourth game of the season, and the 6’4″ righty has since tallied three holds out of Alex Cora’s bullpen. In 10 1/3 innings, Slaten has allowed only one run on three hits and a walk with eight strikeouts. Add in 6 1/3 shutout innings in spring training, and he’s looked more like a seasoned veteran than a 26-year-old who entered the season with all of 8 1/3 innings above the Double-A level. Slaten has immediately made himself an important part of Boston’s roster, and while a prolonged slump could always change things, he looks like a keeper right now.

Stephen Kolek, RHP, Padres (selected from Mariners)

Kolek, who’ll turn 27 tomorrow, began his big league tenure with four runs in 1 2/3 innings over his first two appearances. He’s since bounced back with 8 2/3 innings of one-run ball, fanning 11 hitters against three walks along the way. He punched out nearly a quarter of his opponents in Triple-A last year and did so with a huge 57.5% ground-ball rate. He hasn’t picked up grounders at such a strong level just yet (43.5%), but San Diego probably isn’t second-guessing their decision to select him. He’s already picked up a pair of holds, and his recent run of success has dropped his ERA to 4.35. Command has been a problem for Kolek in the past, but he’s only walked 8.9% of his opponents against a 26.7% strikeout rate so far.

On the Major League Injured List

Shane Drohan, LHP, White Sox (selected from Red Sox): Drohan underwent shoulder surgery in late February and is on the 60-day IL. There’s no telling yet when he’ll be medically cleared to return. As noted in the intro, Drohan needs 90 days on the active roster to shed his Rule 5 designation; even if he spends the entire 2024 campaign on the injured list, his Rule 5 status will carry over into 2025 until he picks up those 90 active days.

Carson Coleman, RHP, Rangers (selected from Yankees): Coleman is also on the 60-day injured list. Unlike Drohan, it was well known at the time of his selection that he’d be IL-bound to begin the year. Coleman had Tommy John surgery last year and is expected to be out until midsummer at the least.

Returned to Original Organization

Deyvison De Los Santos, INF, Guardians (returned to D-backs): De Los Santos has big raw power but a well below-average hit tool. The Guardians selected him on the heels of a 20-homer campaign in Double-A with the D-backs, but he hit just .227/.227/.318 in 44 spring appearances before being designated for assignment, clearing waivers and getting returned to the Snakes. He’s had a big performance in a return-trip to Double-A.

White Sox, Tommy Pham Agree To Minor League Contract

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April 15: MLB.com’s Juan Toribio reports (on X) that the Sox and Pham have indeed reached an agreement. The veteran outfielder will be guaranteed a $3MM base salary for time spent in the majors and can earn an additional $1.5MM in performance bonuses. Pham would be able to request his release if he’s not called to the majors by April 25, tweets Rosenthal. There’s a $500K assignment bonus if Pham gets traded, per Rosenthal.

April 14: The White Sox and Tommy Pham are close to an agreement on a minor league deal, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports.  The non-guaranteed nature of the contract is something of a technicality due to the fact that Pham is out of minor league options.  Since Pham will need some time to properly ramp up to the regular season, starting him in the minors gives the White Sox more flexibility to call him up whenever he is ready.

The Padres, Pirates, and Diamondbacks were all linked to Pham at various points during the offseason, and 10 teams reportedly checked in on the veteran outfielder early in November.  The White Sox were also known to be interested in Pham’s services, as USA Today’s Bob Nightengale first noted just under a month ago.  However, Opening Day came and went without Pham finding a new contract, and Rosenthal notes that Chicago might have been motivated to finally close a deal after losing Eloy Jimenez, Yoan Moncada, and Luis Robert Jr. to the injured list.

Assuming that a deal is finalized and Pham reaches the active roster as planned, the White Sox will be the eighth different team the outfielder has played for over what will be an 11th Major League season.  While his production has been inconsistent over the last four of those seasons, Pham hit well just last year, batting .256/.328/.446 over 481 combined plate appearances with the Mets and Diamondbacks.  He also ran hot-and-cold during Arizona’s playoff run, but Pham had huge performances for the D’Backs in the NLDS and in the World Series.

Pham turned 36 last month, and some off-the-field issues have perhaps contributed to his semi-journeyman status despite generally solid numbers over the years.  That said, Pham was one of many veteran free agents who remained on the market for a long time, and ended up signing for much less than expected.  This cold market impacted not just some of the bigger names available (Blake Snell, Cody Bellinger, Jordan Montgomery, etc.), but perhaps hit hardest for more mid-tier players like Pham.

As Brandon Belt described things in a recent interview, interested teams seemed to universally view him as a backup plan this winter, and it is fair to wonder if the same applied to Pham.  If other teams found other outfielders, or (perhaps more importantly) outfielders willing to play for lesser salaries, it left fewer and fewer opportunities for Pham to land a suitor.  Rosenthal notes that Pham was “waiting for an offer he felt was commensurate with his value,” so price seems to have been a factor.

It could be that Pham’s time in Chicago ends up being pretty short, since if he hits well, he’ll undoubtedly get a lot of attention from contenders at the trade deadline.  The White Sox already look like sellers after a dreadful 2-13 start to the season, and moving a short-term veteran bat like Pham could be just one of many trades GM Chris Getz could make before the deadline is over.

Until then, Pham could just slide into a regular role as the right-handed hitting complement to Andrew Benintendi in left field, or with Gavin Sheets at DH.  Chicago signed Robbie Grossman to a minors deal in late March and Grossman has already become essentially an everyday player in either corner outfield slot, so Pham could also eat into that playing time.

White Sox To Select Jonathan Cannon

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The White Sox will promote right-hander Jonathan Cannon from Triple-A Charlotte to start Tuesday’s game, tweets Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times. He’s not on the 40-man roster, so they’ll need to formally select his contract and make a corresponding transaction to open a 40-man spot. It’ll be the big league debut for the 2022 third-rounder.

Listed at 6’6″ and 225 pounds, Cannon has been a fast riser through the South Siders’ system. The former Georgia Bulldog split the 2023 season between High-A and Double-A, and he was also on the roster for the 2023 Futures Game during last year’s All-Star festivities. He’s opened the 2024 campaign with 9 2/3 decent frames at the Triple-A level (three earned runs on ten hits and five walks with 11 punchouts). Baseball America ranks Cannon eighth among White Sox farmhands, while FanGraphs tabs him tenth in the system and MLB.com lists him 11th.

Cannon, 23, pitched 121 innings last season, working to a 4.46 ERA with a 20.5% strikeout rate, 7.5% walk rate and an impressive 53% ground-ball rate. Baseball America tabs him as a potential fourth/fifth starter, barring improvement to his command, which could further boost his ceiling. Their report on Cannon praises a deep arsenal (four-seamer, two-seamer, cutter, slider, curveball, changeup) that generates grounders and weak contact. Cannon sits 93-97 mph with his fastball, and scouting reports from BA, FanGraphs and MLB.com all call him a high-floor, high-probability fourth starter who can eat plenty of innings for the White Sox in the years to come.

It’s not clear yet how long Cannon or tonight’s starter, Nick Nastrini (another rookie who’s making his MLB debut) will stick in the rotation. Sox Machine’s James Fegan tweets that manager Pedro Grifol alluded to a potential bullpen move for struggling veteran Chris Flexen, but Grifol also didn’t commit to Nastrini or Cannon remaining in the mix beyond their debut efforts this week. Certainly, given the dismal results from the rotation thus far — Sox starters rank 26th in the big leagues with 72 1/3 innings pitched, 28th with a 5.60 ERA and dead last with a 5.20 FIP — an impressive debut for either pitcher could earn him another opportunity in the next trip through the rotation.

Beyond Garrett Crochet — who’s likely to be on an innings limit this season — there’s virtually no certainty in the Chicago rotation. Flexen, Erick Fedde and Michael Soroka opened the year in starting roles, but Flexen and Soroka are on cheap one-year deals and will be free agents at season’s end. Fedde’s two-year, $15MM contract after his KBO breakout gives him a longer leash, but he’s also not a long-term piece of the puzzle at Guaranteed Rate Field. The Sox will hope that between Cannon, Nastrini and other prospects like Jairo Iriarte, Jake Eder and Noah Schultz, the Sox have at least a few long-term rotation pieces who can help to quickly usher them out of the team’s latest rebuilding phase.

White Sox Promote Nick Nastrini

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3:40pm: The Sox have now made Nastrini’s promotion official and also activated outfielder Eloy Jimenez from the injured list. To open active roster spots for those two, they optioned right-hander Justin Anderson and infielder/outfielder Zach Remillard. To open a 40-man spot for Nastrini, they transferred catcher Max Stassi to the 60-day injured list. The backstop opened the season on the 10-day IL due to hip inflammation but was hit on the hand by a backswing while rehabbing recently, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com. His exact timeline isn’t clear but he’s now ineligible to be activated until late May.

9:27am: The White Sox will call up right-hander Nick Nastrini to start today’s game in what will be his MLB debut, manager Pedro Grifol announced (link via Kyle Williams of the Chicago Sun-Times). He’s not on the 40-man roster, so the Sox will need to open a spot for his contract to be formally selected.

Nastrini, 24, is widely regarded as one of the White Sox’ top pitching prospects. Acquired from the Dodgers in the trade sending Lance Lynn to Los Angeles last summer, the 2021 fourth-round pick has routinely posted massive strikeout numbers throughout his minor league tenure but has also battled sub-par command for much of his professional career.

Scouting reports at Baseball America, MLB.com, FanGraphs, The Athletic and ESPN all rank Nastrini eighth or better among ChiSox farmhands, with BA listing him third in the system. The Athletic’s Keith Law ranked Nastrini 76th on his 2024 top 100 list, touting him as a possible No. 4 starter and with the ceiling to become quite a bit more than that, given the strength of his secondary pitches.

There’s little doubting the quality of Nastrini’s stuff; he runs his fastball up as high as 98 mph and complements it with a slider, curveball and changeup that all project as potentially average to plus offerings. Nastrini features high-end spin rates on his heater and breaking pitches, and his changeup helped him limit lefties to a .226 average with a 29.7% strikeout rate between Double-A and Triple-A last season. (Righties hit .216 and punched out at a 26.1% clip.) Law touts the changeup, in particular, as a potential plus-plus pitch (70-grade on the 20-80 scale).

If Nastrini had better control of his electric arsenal, he’d undoubtedly grade as one of the game’s elite prospects. At 6’3″, 215-pound righty has the size and deep repertoire to profile as a starter, but he’s walked 11.1% of his career opponents. His penchant for missing the zone leads to plenty of deep counts as well; in 2023 he averaged about 4 2/3 innings per start. There’s still some refinement to be made, though he’s improved his command since college ball at UCLA and has also seen further gains in that field since being traded from L.A. to Chicago (9.5% walk rate in the Sox’ system).

The state of the White Sox’ roster amid their current rebuild gives Nastrini ample opportunity to show he can stick. The Sox are out to their worst start in franchise history, sitting at 2-13 on the season. The woeful state of their rotation has played a significant role in those struggles. Even with Garrett Crochet pitching like a borderline No. 1 starter through his first four turns, White Sox starters rank 26th in the big leagues with 72 1/3 innings pitched, 28th with a 5.60 ERA and dead last with a 5.20 FIP. Despite totaling MLB’s fifth-fewest innings, the rotation is tied for the MLB lead with 14 home runs allowed.

Nastrini will join Crochet, Erick Fedde, Michael Soroka and Chris Flexen in the rotation for the time being. Recently re-signed Mike Clevinger will join that group in a few weeks as well, once he’s sufficiently built up, and other prospects like Jake Eder, Jairo Iriarte and Jared Shuster (currently working as a long reliever in the big league ’pen) could eventually garner looks over the course of the season.

Even if Nastrini is in the big leagues to stay, he won’t accrue enough service time to reach a full year in 2024. Were it not for an illness that rendered Nastrini unavailable the first time Chicago needed a fifth starter, that may not have been the case, but he wasn’t healthy enough in the season’s first week to step onto the staff at the time. He’s still made just two starts in the minors this season, in part due to that illness. Further optional assignments could always alter his timeline anyhow, but for now, Nastrini will be controllable all the way through 2030.

AL Central Notes: White Sox, Correa, Tigers

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The White Sox recently received some good news on the injury front, as GM Chris Getz told reporters (including 670 The Score’s Bruce Levine) that the prognoses on injured hitters Luis Robert Jr. and Yoan Moncada aren’t quite as worrying as the club initially believed.

Per Getz, Robert may be able to return from the Grade 2 hip flexor strain that sent him to the injured list last week after just six weeks of rehab, while the club hopes Moncada can return from his adductor strain in late July. The news is surely relieving for White Sox fans, as Robert was reportedly at risk of missing multiple months due to his injury while Moncada was given an initial timeline for return of three to six months. Getz’s comments indicate that both players are on track to return at the earliest end of their projected timetables.

The injuries are yet another blow to a White Sox club that has started the season with a 2-12 record and appears destined for a second consecutive 100-loss season in 2024. While Chicago was never expected to be a serious postseason contender this season, Robert and Moncada were each shaping up to be rare bright spots for the club this year prior to their injuries. Robert is the face of the Sox franchise following the departures of Lucas Giolito and Dylan Cease in recent months and appeared poised to build upon a 2023 campaign that saw him slash .264/.315/.542 in 145 games, while Moncada was off to his best start in years after struggling with injuries in recent seasons. Through 11 games this year, the 28 year old was hitting a solid .282/.364/.410 with strong strikeout (22.7%) and walk (11.3%) figures.

Of course, it’s entirely possible both players will be able to pick up from where they left off upon rejoining the club later in the season. In the meantime, the White Sox are relying on Dominic Fletcher and Kevin Pillar in center field while Lenyn Sosa gets the lion’s share of playing time at the hot corner. Sosa moving off the bench to take up third base and Fletcher shifting from right field to center has also opened the door for the likes of Zach Remillard and Robbie Grossman to impact the club’s roster.

More from around the AL Central:

  • Twins shortstop Carlos Correa hit the 10-day injured list yesterday with what was initially described as an oblique strain, but Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com noted last night that Minnesota later reclassified as a mild right intercostal strain following the results of an MRI. While a timeline for Correa’s return to action is not yet known, Park suggests that once could be announced at some point this week. The reclassification of Correa’s injury provides some optimism that he could return to action fairly quickly, as MLB.com notes that mild intercostal strains typically have a recovery time of two to three weeks. Even if the absence is a relatively short one, it’s an unfortunate turn of events for a Twins club that has already lost Royce Lewis to injury on the left side of its infield. Correa had gotten off to a hot start this season, slashing a strong .306/.432/.444 through 11 games this season prior to hitting the injured list.
  • The Tigers provided an ominous update on the status of right-hander Sawyer Gipson-Long yesterday, with Evan Woodbery of MLive relaying comments from club manager A.J. Hinch. According to Hinch, the Tigers are getting “multiple opinions” on the righty’s arm after he reported tightness in his forearm last week. To that end, Gipson-Long has returned to Detroit to meet with the team’s doctors and will remain with the club while awaiting next steps. Gipson-Long was already on the injured list due to a groin strain, but an issue with his right arm is far more concerning for the long term. A lengthy absence would be unfortunate for the Tigers, as Gipson-Long impressed with a 2.70 ERA and 3.16 FIP in four starts down he stretch last season during his first big league cup of coffee.

White Sox Sign Wilmer Difo To Minor League Deal

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The White Sox have signed infielder Wilmer Difo to a minor league deal, according to the transactions tracker on Difo’s MLB.com player page.

Difo, 32, is a veteran of eight major league seasons who last played in the majors back in 2022. After signing with the Nationals out of the Dominican Republic and making his pro debut at the age of 18 back in 2010, he made his big league debut with D.C. back in 2015. He’d spend part of six seasons in the US capital, hitting a relatively lackluster .247/.309/.348 in a bench role while playing primarily shortstop as well as second base, third base, and all three outfield spots. While he didn’t make the club’s postseason rosters, Difo played 43 games for the Nats during the 2019 season that saw them go on to win the first World Series championship in franchise history.

Difo’s time with the Nationals came to an end late in the 2020 season, when he was designated for assignment to make room for then-top prospect Carter Kieboom on the club’s active roster. Difo eventually caught on with the Pirates on a minor league deal and had the best season of his career with Pittsburgh in 2021. In 116 games with the club, Difo slashed a roughly league average .269/.329/.384 with a wRC+ of 92 while splitting time between second and third base, shortstop, and right field.

Despite that relatively solid performance as a bench player, the Pirates did not retain Difo headed into the 2022 season. He caught on with the Diamondbacks on a minor league deal, but ultimately made it into just three late-September games with the club after they had already fallen out of the playoff hunt. Difo went on to spend the entire 2023 season in the Yankees organization. Unfortunately, he didn’t manage to crack the club’s big league roster and struggled to a .208/.322/.303 slash line in 96 games with the club’s Triple-A affiliate.

Now, Difo has signed his fourth consecutive minor league deal with a new team and will suit up for the White Sox at the Triple-A level. Chicago entered the season at the start of a rebuild following their devastating 101-loss season last year and so far have gone just 2-12 in the young 2024 campaign. The club’s situation offers little hope of success at the big league level this season, but it’s feasible that an injury or two to the club’s current options of Nicky Lopez, Braden Shewmake, Lenyn Sosa, and Paul DeJong around the infield could provide a path back to the majors for Difo. In the meantime, he’ll try to break through alongside fellow non-roster veteran Danny Mendick with the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Charlotte.

White Sox Select Zach Remillard, Justin Anderson; Bryan Shaw Elects Free Agency

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TODAY: Shaw has rejected the outright assignment and chosen free agency, the White Sox announced.

APRIL 12: The White Sox announced a series of roster moves today, selecting the contracts of infielder/outfielder Zach Remillard and right-hander Justin Anderson. To open active roster spots, outfielder Oscar Colás was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte while right-hander Bryan Shaw was designated for assignment. To open another 40-man spot, infielder Yoán Moncada was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

It was reported earlier this week that Moncada is going to miss three to six months due to an adductor strain. Colás was recalled to take his roster spot, but it seems that was just a temporary measure as the club figured out today’s slate of moves. Moncada’s injury left them slightly short-handed in terms of infielders, so they have optioned out Colás today and added another infielder.

Remillard, now 30, got to make his major league debut last year at the age of 29 after spending the better part of a decade in the minors. He hit .252/.295/.320 in his 160 plate appearances last year while stealing four bases and bouncing around the diamond. He played the three infield spots to the left of first base, as well as the outfield corners. He was designated for assignment in January but cleared waivers, sticking with the Sox in a non-roster capacity. Now he’ll get back to the majors, replacing an injured Moncada just as he did last year.

The Sox have been rotating Paul DeJong, Nicky Lopez and Braden Shewmake through the two middle infield spots so far this year. Lenyn Sosa was in a bench role but started at third with Moncada out of action on Wednesday and could perhaps continue taking that spot. If so, that would leave Remillard serving as the primary depth infielder, though his ability to also play some outfield gives the club a bit of extra flexibility.

Shaw, 36, is a veteran with well over a decade in the big leagues. He signed a minor league deal with the Sox in the offseason and cracked the Opening Day roster but his season didn’t get off to a great start. He has tossed four innings over five appearances thus far, allowing four earned runs on eight hits, striking out four but also walking four.

The Sox have decided to bump him off the roster in favor of some fresh blood in Anderson. The 31-year-old agreed to a minor league pact in November and had a decent Spring Training. He tossed eight innings with three earned runs allowed, striking out ten though also walking five. He reported to Triple-A to begin the season and has tossed 4 2/3 scoreless innings there so far this year, with five strikeouts and no walks.

Whenever Anderson gets into a game, it will be his first major league action in years. He pitched for the Angels in 2018 and 2019, with a 4.75 ERA in 102 1/3 innings, but hasn’t been in the show since. Tommy John surgery in the summer of 2020 wiped out that year and most of 2021 as well. In the Rangers’ system in 2022, he made three Triple-A appearances before going on the minor league IL and never returning. He was in the Royals’ system in 2023 but struggled, posting an ERA of 6.87 in 36 2/3 innings.

There were some positive signs last year, however, as he struck out 35.5% of batters faced. He also got better as he went along, with a 3.44 ERA in his last 11 outings and a tiny ERA of 0.63 in the last eight. That’s a very favorable framing for Anderson, but after so much missed time due to injury, it’s possible he was just getting back on track. Since he’s continued to post decent results since joining the Sox, it seems they want to give him a look against big league hitters.

Anderson still has a full slate of options and less than three years of big league service time, so he can be a long-term depth option for the Sox if he justifies his place on the 40-man roster. As for Shaw, the club will have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. In the latter scenario, he has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency.

White Sox, Cory Abbott Agree To Minor League Deal

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The White Sox have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander Cory Abbott, MLBTR has learned. He’s headed to Triple-A Charlotte for the time being and would earn at an $800K rate for any time spent in the majors. The Dynamic Sports Group client was released by the Mariners earlier this month.

The 28-year-old Abbott opened the season with the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma but appeared in just one game, yielding three runs in as many innings. Seattle cut him loose back on April 4. He’s appeared in the majors in each of the past three seasons, logging a collective 104 1/3 innings between the Cubs — who selected him in the second round of the 2017 draft — and the Nationals. In that time, Abbott has scuffled with a 6.02 ERA, 20.2% strikeout rate and 11.4% walk rate.

Big league struggles notwithstanding, Abbott was excellent in the low minors and up through the Double-A level. He’s yet to have consistent success in Triple-A or in the majors, but Abbott has fanned a strong 28.5% of his Triple-A opponents — albeit against a walk rate of 12.8%. He’s regularly posted huge swinging-strike rates in the upper minors, but his ability to miss bats has frequently been undercut by his penchant for free passes. That wasn’t a problem for him up through the Double-A level, but he’s had issues with walks since returning to the mound following the canceled 2020 minor league season.

Abbott isn’t that far removed from ranking as a prospect of note in the Cubs’ system. Baseball America ranked him 22nd or better in the Cubs’ system each year from 2018-22, with the right-hander climbing as high as No. 8 in his original organization’s farm rankings. He’ll give the Sox some experienced depth who’s worked as both a starter and reliever. Given the threadbare nature of the White Sox’ pitching staff, he could put himself in position for a big league opportunity before long if he gets out to a nice start with the Knights.

Yoán Moncada To Miss Three To Six Months Due To Adductor Strain

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The White Sox announced that third baseman Yoán Moncada has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a left adductor strain, with outfielder Oscar Colás recalled in a corresponding move. The club estimates that Moncada will miss three to six months.

Moncada, 29 in May, has been playing through this injury of late. Manager Pedro Grifol said yesterday, per Henry Palattella of MLB.com, that the issue has been nagging Moncada for three or four days but “He’s doing a really good job maintaining it.” That line of thinking blew up last night when Moncada collapsed while running out a groundout and had to be assisted off the field. In hindsight, it looks to have been a poor decision for him to have stayed on the field.

He has occasionally been an excellent player for the White Sox on both sides of the ball, providing strong defense at the hot corner and a quality bat at the plate. He showed that form as recently as the 2021 season when he hit 14 home runs and drew a walk in 13.6% of his plate appearances. His .263/.375/.412 batting line led to a wRC+ of 120 and his glovework earned three Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average considered him to be right at league par.

But injuries have largely gotten in the way since then. He has gone on the IL due to a right oblique strain, a right hamstring strain, a left hamstring strain and lingering lower back issues over 2022 and 2023 and now this left adductor strain has him on the injured list again. He’s played just 207 games since the end of 2021 and has hit .236/.292/.387  in that time for a wRC+ of 88.

He is in the final guaranteed year of the extension he signed with the club prior to 2020, a pact worth $70MM over five years, which would have made him a potential trade candidate on a rebuilding White Sox club this summer. His continued struggles would have tamped down his trade value, especially as he’s making $24MM this year, but this most recent injury may keep him on the IL past the deadline.

It’s now possible that Moncada has played his last game as a member of the White Sox. His contract has a $25MM option for 2025 but the Sox are almost certainly leaning towards the $5MM buyout at this point. If this injury pushes towards the longer end of that projected timeframe, he may not be able to make it back to the club by the end of the season.

In the short term, the outlook will become increasingly grim for the 2024 White Sox. They weren’t expected to compete this year after kicking off a rebuild last season, but it’s still not pretty to see them limp out to a 2-9 start. Some of their most established players have already hit the injured list, with Luis Robert Jr. facing a significant absence due to a Grade 2 hip flexor strain. Eloy Jiménez is on the IL due to an adductor strain and now Moncada joins him with the same ailment.

With Moncada out and the Sox not bringing up another infielder, it’s unclear how they plan to cover Moncada’s absence. They have been using three infielders to cover the two middle infield spots, with Braden Shewmake, Paul DeJong and Nicky Lopez in that rotation. Neither Shewmake nor DeJong have third base experience, but Lopez does. Lenyn Sosa is also on the roster and has experience at the three infield spots to the left of first base. Danny Mendick and Zach Remillard are in Triple-A, each in a non-roster capacity, though Moncada’s injury means he’s destined to be moved to the 60-day IL as part of a future transaction.

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