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White Sox, Mike Clevinger Agree To Minor League Contract

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The White Sox are in agreement with Mike Clevinger on a minor league deal, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The ACES client receives a non-roster invite to Spring Training.

Clevinger returns to Chicago for what’ll be a third straight season. He signed a $12MM deal with the Sox over the 2022-23 offseason. That was a generally successful pickup, as he turned in a 3.77 earned run average through 24 starts. That came with a below-average strikeout rate for a second consecutive season, leading to a quieter market last winter. Clevinger remained unsigned beyond Opening Day. He eventually returned to Chicago on a $4MM deal.

As a result of the late signing, the veteran righty agreed to start the season in the minors. That afforded him a few weeks to build his arm into game shape. The White Sox recalled him in early May. He took four turns through the rotation, allowing 13 runs (12 earned) across 16 frames. Elbow inflammation shelved him for a couple months. Clevinger was building back from that when the Sox announced in late July that he’d undergo season-ending surgery to address a disc issue in his neck.

The injury-plagued season limited Clevinger to minor league offers as he enters his age-34 campaign. He’s clearly comfortable with the White Sox, where there’s plenty of opportunity in the rotation. Chicago has added Martín Pérez and Bryse Wilson on one-year deals this offseason. No other starter on their 40-man roster has even reached one year of major league service. Clevinger joins Justin Dunn and Jonathan Heasley as non-roster invitees who have MLB experience.

White Sox Claim Owen White

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The White Sox have claimed right-hander Owen White off waivers from the Yankees, according to announcements from both clubs. The latter club had designated him for assignment last week. The Sox moved left-hander Ky Bush to the 60-day injured list as the corresponding move. It was reported last week that Bush would require Tommy John surgery, so he’ll spend the entire 2025 season on the IL.

White, 25, is a logical pickup for the White Sox. He has had rough results for the past two years but was a top 100 prospect before that. The Sox aren’t expecting to be good anytime soon, with their 2024 season being historically bad. Of the 30 clubs in the league, they are the one best positioned to take a flier and hope for a bounceback. White also has one option year remaining, so he can be kept in Triple-A throughout 2025 as the club gets a close-up look at him.

Drafted by the Rangers with the 55th overall pick in 2018, White’s debut was delayed for a while. Tommy John surgery prevented him from pitching in 2019 and then the minor leagues were wiped out by the pandemic in 2020. But despite that lengthy layoff, he went on to put up some eye-popping numbers once on the hill. Over the 2021 and 2022 seasons, he logged 115 2/3 innings on the farm with a 3.42 earned run average. He had a strong 7.5% walk rate and a massive 34.1% strikeout rate.

Going into 2023, he was a consensus top 100 prospect, with Baseball America giving him the #59 spot. The Rangers added him to their 40-man roster to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. But as alluded to earlier, his results have tapered off significantly since then.

He has made his major league debut, which surely wasn’t what he dreamed of. In seven big league frames to this point, he has allowed 13 earned runs, giving him an ugly 16.71 ERA at the moment. His minor league numbers haven’t been great either. He threw 151 1/3 innings for Triple-A Round Rock over 2023 and 2024 with a 5.41 ERA. The Express play in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League but he also didn’t impress with his 17.4% strikeout rate nor his 11.7% walk rate.

The Rangers did get experimental with White midway through 2024, giving him a shot at a relief role. In his final 13 Triple-A appearances on the year, he logged 18 frames from the bullpen. His 5.50 ERA still wasn’t impressive but he did strike out 25.6% of batters faced in that time.

That wasn’t enough for him to hang onto his roster spot. He was designated for assignment in December and traded to the Reds for cash. He was designated for assignment again in late January and put on waivers, with the Sox passing at that time. Given their record last year, they have top waiver priority, but he was claimed by the Yankees. But since then, the 60-day IL has opened up, which gave Chicago a bit more flexibility to make an addition such as this.

The Sox can bring White into camp and see how things go. Perhaps he can get back on track as a starter or find new life with a move to a relief role. As mentioned, they don’t need to give him a spot on the active roster this year. He still has less than a year of service time, so they could cheaply control him for years to come if things click while he’s on the roster.

White Sox Sign Joey Gallo To Minor League Deal

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The White Sox announced the signing of Joey Gallo to a minor league contract. The Boras Corporation client will be in camp as a non-roster invitee.

Gallo is looking to rebound from the worst season of his career. The two-time All-Star inked a $5MM free agent deal with the Nationals last January. He appeared in 76 games and hit .161/.277/.336 with 10 homers across 260 plate appearances. Gallo struck out in 39.2% of his plate appearances, the second-highest rate among hitters with 200+ trips to the dish. While the whiffs are nothing new, that came with a personal-low 12.3% walk rate and slugging percentage.

It was the third straight season in which Gallo has had a tough time offensively. His bat has dropped sharply since the Yankees acquired him from the Rangers in a big deadline trade in 2021. Gallo had hit .211/.336/.497 over parts of seven seasons in Texas. Since leaving Arlington, he owns a .165/.289/.384 slash in more than 1200 trips to the plate between four teams.

Gallo won consecutive Gold Gloves in the outfield in 2020-21. His sprint speed and defensive grades have dropped since then, though he’s still capable of playing right field. Washington used him mostly at first base last season. He logged nearly 500 innings there while starting just seven games in the outfield.

Chicago is likely to give Andrew Vaughn another chance to take a step forward at first base. Right field is wide open. Mike Tauchman and Austin Slater are probably lined up for a platoon there. Gallo, Dominic Fletcher and former highly-regarded prospect Oscar Colás could compete for reps in camp.

White Sox Sign Michael A. Taylor

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February 12: The Sox officially announced their signing of Taylor today. Right-hander Jesse Scholtens was transferred to the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move. He underwent Tommy John surgery in March of last year. Based on this transfer, it seems the Sox aren’t expecting him back in the first two months of the season.

February 11: The White Sox and outfielder Michael A. Taylor are in agreement on a deal, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The ALIGND Sports Agency client gets a $1.95MM guarantee on a one-year deal with performance bonuses, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. The Sox have a full 40-man roster and will need to open a spot.

Taylor, 34 in March, has long been one of the best defensive center fielders in the game. From 2015 to 2024, he has 78 Defensive Runs Saved in center. That tally puts him third in the majors for that stretch, though the two guys ahead of him are now retired: Kevin Kiermaier and Lorenzo Cain. His 62 Outs Above Average at the position put him sixth in the league.

Offensively, he’s been more mercurial. He strikes out a lot and doesn’t take many walks. He does have enough pop in his bat to occasionally overcome those deficiencies somewhat, with four seasons of double-digit homer tallies, though he also remains vulnerable to deep troughs in his production.

The last two seasons highlight the up-and-down nature of his work at the plate. With the Twins in 2023, he struck out 33.5% of the time and only walked at a 6.7% clip but did park the ball over the fence 21 times. That led to a .220/.278/.442 batting line and 95 wRC+. That means he was still 5% below league average on the whole, but thanks to his defense and 13 stolen bases, FanGraphs considered him to be worth two wins above replacement.

He signed a one-year, $4MM deal with the Pirates in 2024 and things went downhill. His strikeout and walk rates held fairly steady at 35% and 7.7% respectively, but he hit only five home runs and produced a dismal line of .193/.253/.290.

After last year’s historically poor season, the White Sox have been giving deals to various veteran players to pad out their inexperienced roster. That includes adding Mike Tauchman and Austin Slater to an outfield that already included Luis Robert Jr. and Andrew Benintendi. Elsewhere on the roster, they’ve signed Josh Rojas, Martin Perez and Bryse Wilson.

Going into the season, Robert will be the everyday center fielder, at least until a trade comes together. He had an excellent season in 2023 but scuffled through an injury-marred 2024. All reporting from this winter has indicated the Sox have set a high price on Robert. As opposed to selling low, they would rather let him prove his health and effectiveness in the early parts of 2025 before hopefully striking a deal at the right time.

They would also surely love to flip Benintendi and the three years left on his deal, though he’s coming off two rough seasons. He did have a strong second half in 2024, so perhaps there’s some hope of him getting back on track. Like Robert, the club should run him out there for regular playing time in the hopes that he plays well and builds some trade value.

Tauchman and Slater could perhaps form a platoon in another corner. Slater hits right-handed and has been better against lefties in his career. Tauchman has fairly neutral splits but does hit left-handed.

Taylor seems likely to be on the bench in a fourth outfielder role, though he does give the club a bit of insurance in the event Robert gets bitten by the injury bug again. Or if some club meets their lofty asking price and gets a trade over the line. Until that happens, he can serve as a defensive replacement or pinch runner from time to time. The club could also put Robert in the designated hitter slot from time to time as a way of easing his workload, putting Taylor in center.

Oscar Colás and Dominic Fletcher are also on the roster but they have options and could be in Triple-A until they either earn their way into bigger roles or injuries opening up opportunities. Players like Corey Julks and Zach DeLoach have been bumped off the roster this winter but are still around in non-roster roles.

Which Teams Should Still Sign A Free Agent Starter?

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Spring training is beginning to kick off around the league, and as is perennially the case, there are a handful of notable free agents still looking for homes. That's of particular importance for the group of starting pitchers who still remain unsigned. Over the years, we've typically (not always) seen late-signing hitters struggle less than late-signing pitchers. Starting pitchers, in particular, seem to benefit from a full, gradual ramp-up rather than the sort of accelerated build that inherently comes with a mid-March signing.

Nick Pivetta stands as the most notable starter who's yet to find a landing spot. He's surely been impacted by the qualifying offer that's hanging over his head. Any team other than the incumbent Red Sox would need to forfeit at least one draft pick (possibly two, depending on CBT status) in order to sign the longtime Boston righty. Others still on the market include veteran mid-rotation or back-end starters Andrew Heaney, Jose Quintana, Kyle Gibson, Cal Quantrill, Ross Stripling, Lance Lynn and Patrick Corbin -- just to name some. (A full list can be seen here.)

This time of year, there's plenty of talk about teams that still need to add an arm. That can take different shapes, however. I wrote about the Mets' rotation for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers last week, but the Mets aren't necessarily the type of team that needs to go out and add an innings eater to step into the fourth or fifth spot in the rotation. They have myriad options there already. Any addition for them, presumably, would be a clear-cut playoff starter. It's a similar situation with the Orioles, Cubs, Blue Jays and many other postseason hopefuls. Other clubs, like the Tigers and Pirates, have a mostly set group with a bevy of interesting young, MLB-ready top prospects knocking on the door. Signing Quintana or Gibson to eat innings likely isn't in the cards for teams in either of these groups.

At this stage of the offseason, some of those available free agents might need to wait for a spring injury or a trade to create the opportunity they seek. But there are still teams around the league that are rather clearly in need of some steady innings in the Nos. 3-5 spots in the rotation. Let's run through some clubs that have the need and, as crucially, the budget (or lack thereof) to add an established veteran arm to the back of the staff.

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White Sox Outright Steven Wilson

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The White Sox announced that right-hander Steven Wilson, who was designated for assignment last week, has passed through waivers unclaimed and been outrighted to Triple-A Charlotte. He’ll be in big league camp as a non-roster invitee, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com.

Wilson, 30, came to the Sox just under a year ago as part of the Dylan Cease trade. He had put up some solid numbers in San Diego over the previous two seasons. He tossed 106 innings over 102 appearances in 2022 and 2023. He allowed 3.48 earned runs per nine. His 10.9% walk rate was a bit high but he struck out 25.4% of batters faced. He was trusted enough by the Friars to rack up a save and 27 holds.

But his 2024 ended up being a struggle, as he went on the injured list due to back strains on a couple of occasions. He did make 40 appearances around those IL stints but had a 5.71 ERA in those. His walk rate spike to 16% while his strikeout rate fell to 20.9%.

Despite the rough season, the White Sox tendered Wilson a contract for 2025 and avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $950K salary. They then bumped him off the roster when they claimed lefty Brandon Eisert last week. It seems none of the 29 other clubs were willing to grab Wilson at that price point, so he went unclaimed.

Wilson has three years of service time, which gave him the right to elect free agency. However, since he has less than five years of service, heading to the open market would have meant forfeiting that $950K. He’ll stick with the Sox and try to earn his way back onto the roster.

There’s a decent chance of opportunities opening up throughout the year. Justin Anderson is the only reliever on the roster with more than three years of service time. Penn Murfee is the only other guy beyond the two-year mark. That means very little is cemented in the group overall, which could afford Wilson a path back to the big leagues. If he gets back on the roster, he has a full slate of options.

Ky Bush To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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White Sox prospect Ky Bush will undergo Tommy John surgery tomorrow and miss the 2025 season, general manager Chris Getz announced to the team’s beat writers this morning (via Scott Merkin of MLB.com). He’s on Chicago’s 40-man roster, so if the Sox need to free up a spot at any point, they can place Bush on the 60-day injured list.

Bush, 25, was a second-round pick by the Angels in 2021 who landed with the South Siders by way of the Lucas Giolito/Reynaldo Lopez trade in 2023. He made his major league debut for the Sox in 2024 but only started four games, totaling 17 2/3 innings with a 5.60 ERA. His minor league output was far more promising. Bush breezed through 80 2/3 innings in Double-A, logging a pristine 2.12 ERA with a 24.6% strikeout rate and 10.1% walk rate. He was hit hard in a small sample of four Triple-A starts, just as he was in the majors, but the bulk of his 2024 work was quite solid.

Given the patchwork nature of the White Sox’ pitching staff, Bush would’ve had a legitimate chance to break into the rotation — if not from Opening Day then certainly by midseason. The Sox currently have Martin Perez, Jonathan Cannon, Davis Martin and Bryse Wilson projected for rotation work. Prospects Sean Burke, Nick Nastrini, Jake Eder, Drew Thorpe and Jairo Iriarte are all in the running for a role in 2025.

Bush would have been in that race for a spot as well, had he been healthy. Instead, the White Sox’ No. 12 prospect (per Baseball America) will now spend the season rehabbing. The mid-February nature of his surgery gives him a chance to be ready not too long after Opening Day 2026. Assuming he spends the entire season on the 60-day injured list, he’ll gain a full year of MLB service while rehabbing. Bush would still be controllable for at least another five years — through 2030 — and would have multiple minor league options remaining as well.

Poll: Who’s Winning The Offseason In The AL Central?

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The calendar has flipped to February and the start of spring is just a matter of days away. While some notable free agents (including seven of MLBTR’s Top 50) remain unsigned, most clubs have already done the heavy lifting in terms of preparing their roster for the 2025 season. In the coming days, we’ll be taking a look around the league at which clubs have had the strongest offseason to this point. The Mets, Cubs, and Dodgers have decisively won the polls covering the National League’s three divisions, but things were much closer in the AL West with the Athletics squeaking past the Rangers by about 300 votes for the division’s best offseason. Will things be just as close in the AL Central?

Coming off a season where they sent three teams to the ALDS and had a fourth club narrowly miss the postseason, the AL Central enters 2025 in its strongest position in years in spite of the White Sox breaking the single-season record for losses last year. That strength comes with heightened expectations, however, and clubs like the Tigers and Royals that have been mired in lengthy rebuilds in recent years are looked at as genuine contenders entering the season for the first time in a decade or more. Meanwhile, the Guardians and Twins hope to keep their perpetual playoff contention going and the White Sox will look to show signs of life despite being mired in what could be a lengthy rebuild of their own following their disastrous 2024 season.

Which team has done the most to set themselves up for success this winter? Teams are listed in order of their 2024 record.

Cleveland Guardians

It’s been a busy offseason in Cleveland with plenty of turnover on the roster. The club’s biggest free agent move was reuniting with longtime ace Shane Bieber on a two-year deal with an opt out after 2025, but they also reunited with longtime first baseman Carlos Santana for his third stint with the club and inked veteran reliever Paul Sewald to a one-year deal as well. Those three free agent moves have been supplemented by a number of notable trades. They shipped out the contracts of Andres Gimenez and Myles Straw to Toronto in separate deals and flipped first baseman Spencer Horwitz (acquired in the Gimenez deal) to the Pirates for Luis Ortiz to bolster the club’s rotation.

In addition to those roster upgrades, however, they’ve also made a handful of sell-side trades including a deal that sent first baseman Josh Naylor to the Diamondbacks. The club also parted ways with right-hander Nick Sandlin as part of the Gimenez trade and shipped righty Eli Morgan to the Cubs in a separate deal. Overall, the Guardians managed to substantially upgrade their rotation after the unit struggled with depth in 2024 and cleared plenty of salary off their long-term books, but did so at the expense of an offense that loses two everyday players in Gimenez and Naylor as well as some of the club’s bullpen depth in Sandlin and Morgan.

Kansas City Royals

The Royals have followed up their breakout 2024 season by continuing to spend in free agency, and kicked off the winter’s free agent market by agreeing to a new three-year deal with veteran right-hander Michael Wacha. Wacha’s return to the rotation gave the club the starting depth they needed to trade right-hander Brady Singer to the Reds in order to acquire infielder Jonathan India and provide Bobby Witt Jr. with additional protection in the lineup.

Those early offseason moves were the most significant of the winter for Kansas City, though they’ve stayed busy by adding closer Carlos Estevez to their bullpen on a two-year deal and re-upping with swingman Michael Lorenzen to provide competition for youngsters Alec Marsh and Kris Bubic at the back of the rotation. It’s a strong group of offseason moves on paper, though it’s somewhat troubling that the Royals haven’t properly addressed an outfield group that was bottom-three in baseball by wRC+ last year.

Detroit Tigers

For much of the offseason, it appeared that the Tigers were largely standing pat as the club entered the holiday season with veteran starter Alex Cobb’s one-year deal as their only notable addition. Since then, however, they’ve added two more notable free agents who didn’t see their markets develop as much as expected. They’ve bolstered the lineup with Gleyber Torres on a one-year deal that kicked Colt Keith over to first base and Spencer Torkelson into a bench role, but most notable of all is the club’s reunion with Jack Flaherty on a two-year deal that includes an opt out after 2025.

After shipping Flaherty to Los Angeles last summer before catching fire down the stretch, plenty of fans have wondered what the Tigers’ run through the postseason last year might have looked like with Flaherty alongside Tarik Skubal at the front of the rotation. That question could now be answered in 2025, and with no significant subtractions from the club’s roster this winter it’s difficult to argue the Tigers haven’t improved headed into the coming season.

Minnesota Twins

It’s been a very quiet offseason in Minnesota. From the outset of the offseason, there’s been reports of the Twins’ payroll being more or less maxed out and the club needing to move salary in order to make notable additions. Those trades haven’t materialized to this point, despite rumors swirling around top players like Pablo Lopez as well as more ancillary pieces like Christian Vazquez and Chris Paddack.

That hasn’t completely stopped the Twins from making moves, however. In the past week, they’ve signed Harrison Bader to back up oft-injured star Byron Buxton in center field while adding southpaw Danny Coulombe to the bullpen as a replacement for Caleb Thielbar. They also managed to swing a trade for former top catching prospect Diego Cartaya with the Dodgers when he was squeezed off of the 40-man in Los Angeles, though Cartaya has yet to so much as make his debut in the big leagues to this point. Whether they can add a bat to the lineup who can help replace the production of Max Kepler and Carlos Santana, however, figures to depend on the club’s success at swinging a sell-side trade to clear salary.

Chicago White Sox

As a firmly rebuilding club, the goals of the White Sox offseason look quite different to the other clubs in the AL Central. With that being said, however, they’ve generally done quite well in achieving those goals. Their most notable move, of course, was shipping southpaw Garrett Crochet to the Red Sox in a Winter Meetings blockbuster reminiscent of the Chris Sale trade following the 2016 season. In exchange for Crochet’s services, Chicago landed a pair of top-100 prospects in catcher Kyle Teel and outfielder Braden Montgomery as well as infielder Chase Meidroth and right-hander Wikelman Gonzalez.

That excellent return for two years of Crochet aside, the club’s offseason has mostly been defined by adding shorter-term ancillary pieces who could potentially be flipped at the trade deadline in July. Matt Thaiss, Cam Booser, Mike Tauchman, Austin Slater, Bryse Wilson, Josh Rojas, and Martin Perez all fit this category to one degree or another, with the latter five names all being signed to inexpensive one-year deals that should make them easily affordable for even budget-conscious contending clubs this summer should any of them play well enough to justify a trade.

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Despite having the lowest cumulative payroll of any division in the majors, the AL Central has had a fairly busy offseason with every team having made at least a couple of noteworthy additions. The Guardians have continued their eternal balancing act of the present and future by improving the roster’s biggest weakness in 2024 while shedding significant salary, while the Royals and Tigers both made notable (if somewhat modest) additions to the rosters that catapulted them to surprise contention last year. The Twins have made a handful of minor moves as they hope their deep roster can rebound from the steps backward some key players took in 2025, while the White Sox jump-started their rebuild with a major trade and added a number of low-cost veterans with an eye towards more trades this summer.

Of the five NL Central clubs, which one has had the strongest offseason so far? Have your say in the poll below:

White Sox Sign Brandon Drury, Tristan Gray To Minor League Deals

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The White Sox announced Friday that they’ve signed infielders Brandon Drury and Tristan Gray to minor league contracts. Both will be in major league camp as non-roster invitees to spring training.

Drury, a Wasserman client, is a veteran of ten major league seasons who’s suited up for seven teams along the way. The 32-year-old has had multiple productive stretches, most recently hitting .263/.313/.493 with 58 home runs over 1179 plate appearances in the three-year period from 2021-23. Drury was outstanding in a short look with the 2021 Mets and in a lengthier look with the Reds and Padres in 2022. He parlayed that into a two-year, $17MM deal with the Angels and looked like a shrewd pickup in year one of that deal after he batted .262/.306/.497 with 26 homers (his second straight season topping 25 round-trippers).

The 2024 campaign, however, was a nightmare. Drury hit only .169/.242/.228 in 360 plate appearances. He saw a major spike in pop-ups and grounders, with his 57.1% ground-ball rate spiking by 15 percentage points over his 2023 levels. No one in baseball (min. 300 plate appearances) put a higher percentage of batted balls on the ground than Drury. For a player whose sprint speed ranked in the 18th percentile of big leaguers, per Statcast, that’s an obviously alarming and suboptimal trend.

Defensively, Drury can move all around the diamond. He’s played all four infield positions and both outfield corners, with the bulk of his time coming between second base and third base. On the whole, defensive metrics like Outs Above Average and Defensive Runs Saved feel Drury’s body of work at second base, third base and first base have been solid, if unspectacular. He did log below-average grades in 2024, though he was hampered by a hamstring strain and a lengthy bout with an upper respiratory illness that knocked him out of action for nearly two weeks and could’ve had some impact on his play on either end of that infection.

Gray, a BJB Group client, has logged brief MLB appearances with the 2023 Rays and the 2024 Marlins. He’s gone just 5-for-33 with a homer in that tiny sample, though there’s little to be gleaned from what amounts to about a week’s worth of MLB at-bats. The 28-year-old has shown plenty of thump in Triple-A. He popped 33 homers with the Rays’ Durham affiliate in 2022 and slugged another 30 big flies the following year. In parts of four Triple-A seasons, Gray is a .238/.306/.472 hitter.

Like Drury, he brings some infield versatility to the table. He’s played all four infield positions. Unlike Drury, however, his most frequent spot has been shortstop, giving him far more defensive utility. He’s played nearly 2500 innings at short, more than 1400 at third base, more than 1300 at second base and just over 900 at first base. There are some strikeout concerns, but Gray is a left-handed hitter who can move to any spot on the infield and has shown 30-homer pop in the minors.

For a Sox club with little to no infield certainty both players are a sensible fit on a non-guaranteed deal. Andrew Vaughn is locked in at first base, but that’s about the only spot that’s set in stone (and even he could switch to DH if need be; he’s not a strong defender). Free agent signee Josh Rojas will likely handle third base, but he’s plenty familiar with playing second if the Sox prefer to give someone else a look at third. Lenyn Sosa, Brooks Baldwin, Jacob Amaya and top prospect Colson Montgomery are the only middle infielders on the 40-man roster. Montgomery will open the season in the minors, leaving the other three as de facto front-runners at shortstop and second base. Drury or Gray could feasibly work their way into that group with nice showings during spring training.

White Sox Claim Brandon Eisert, Designate Steven Wilson

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The White Sox announced Friday that they’ve claimed lefty Brandon Eisert off waivers from the Rays and designated right-hander Steven Wilson for assignment to clear space on the 40-man roster.

Eisert, 27, made his big league debut last season as a member of the Blue Jays — he’d previously gone from Toronto to Tampa Bay in a cash swap following a separate DFA — and allowed three runs in 6 2/3 innings. He spent the bulk of his season in Triple-A for a third straight year. Despite generally successful numbers there in seasons past, he didn’t get a big league look until 2024.

In three seasons with Triple-A Buffalo, Eisert posted a 3.83 ERA in 183 1/3 innings. The former 18th-round pick has set down 28.6% of Triple-A opponents on strikes against a tidy 7.9% walk rate. He’s consistently posted ground-ball rates between 42-44%, right around league-average, and allowed either 1.17 or 1.18 HR/9 in all three of those Triple-A campaigns. Eisert doesn’t throw hard, relying on a 90-92 mph heater as well as a slider and changeup that both fall in the 84-85 mph range. He’s consistently generated quality results in the upper minors, however, and has a pair of minor league option years remaining.

Wilson, 30, went from San Diego to Chicago as part of the Friars’ acquisition of Dylan Cease. He wasn’t a headline piece of the return by any means, but the Sox surely hoped that he could build off two solid seasons to begin his career as a member of the Padres’ bullpen. From 2022-23, Wilson totaled 106 innings of 3.48 ERA ball with a 25.4% strikeout rate, 10.9% walk rate, 1.19 HR/9, 27 holds and a save.

Things didn’t pan out as hoped. Wilson had multiple IL stints due to back strains, saw his fastball velocity dip from 94.5 mph to 93.4 mph on average, and served up eight homers in just 34 1/3 innings (2.08 HR/9). His 20.9% strikeout rate and 16% walk rate were both career-worst marks.

The Sox still tendered Wilson a contract after the season and came to terms on a $950K salary. That salary could now help him pass through waivers unclaimed, at which point the Sox could stash him in Triple-A. Wilson would have the right to reject an outright assignment to the minors in favor of free agency, but he’d have to walk away from his contract in order to do so. He’ll likely accept an assignment if it comes to that.

For the time being, the Sox will have five days to trade Wilson. At that point, he’ll need to be placed on outright waivers (a 48-hour process) if he’s to have his DFA resolved within the allotted one-week timeframe.

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