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Giants Claim Luis Gonzalez From White Sox

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TODAY: The Giants recalled Gonzalez from Triple-A today and placed him on the Major League version of the 60-day IL.

AUGUST 12: The Giants officially announced González has been claimed off waivers. He has been optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. With third baseman Evan Longoria expected to return from the 60-day injured list in the coming days, it seems likely González will wind up on the 60-day IL whenever Longoria’s ready for reinstatement.

AUGUST 11: The Giants are claiming outfielder Luis González off release waivers from the White Sox, reports Kiley McDaniel of ESPN (Twitter link). González was released on Monday when the Sox reinstated Luis Robert from the 60-day injured list.

The move was a cost savings measure on Chicago’s part. González suffered a season-ending shoulder injury during an optional assignment to Triple-A Charlotte. Players on the minor league IL remain on the 40-man roster and can’t be outrighted. To remove González from the 40-man, the ChiSox had to either place him on the major league 60-day IL — where he’d receive MLB pay and service time — or release him.

Chicago elected for the latter course of action, presumably with the intent of re-signing González to a minor league deal if he cleared waivers. Doing so saved the White Sox from paying the 25-year-old the major league minimum salary for the remainder of the year. (They’re not unique in this regard, as the Tigers and Diamondbacks did the same thing with Franklin Pérez and Jon Duplantier, respectively, this season). Releasing the player instead of adding him to the major league IL comes with the risk of losing him, however — either via claim or the player signing elsewhere after clearing waivers.

The Giants intervened to add an interesting young player with an eye towards 2022 and beyond. Baseball America ranked González the #19 prospect in the White Sox system midseason, writing that he projects as an average hitter with gap power and the ability to play some center field. He had a decent season with Charlotte, hitting .241/.352/.423 with seven homers over 163 plate appearances.

San Francisco figures to immediately place González on the 60-day IL. He’ll make the major league minimum for the remainder of the year and won’t cost the team a 40-man roster spot during the season. González will have to be reinstated from the IL at the start of the offseason. If he sticks on the 40-man roster all winter, he’ll offer the Giants a lefty-hitting depth option for the outfield. González has one minor league option year remaining beyond this season.

White Sox Activate Luis Robert, Release Luis Gonzalez

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The White Sox announced Monday that they’ve reinstated center fielder Luis Robert from the 60-day injured list. Outfielder/first baseman Gavin Sheets was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte in order to open a spot on the active roster. Minor league outfielder Luis Gonzalez was released in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Gonzalez’s release may initially surprise some fans, given his standing as one of the organization’s 10 to 20 best prospects over the past few years, but he’s slated to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery, James Fegan of The Athletic tweets. Injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers, so the team’s only recourse was to either release Gonzalez or add him to the MLB roster and place him on the Major League 60-day injured list. The Sox will opt for the former path and presumably look to re-sign him to a new minor league contract, as is fairly common in these instances.

As for the dynamic Robert, he’ll return after missing more than three months due to a Grade 3 hip flexor sustained back in early May. The injury initially called for a rehab period of 12 to 16 weeks, and he’ll return on the shorter end of that timetable. Robert appeared in a dozen minor league rehab games — four in Class-A Advanced and eight in Triple-A — and notched a combined .268/.388/.390.

Robert, 24, won a Gold Glove and finished second to Kyle Lewis in American League Rookie of the Year voting. He’s played in 81 big league games to this point in his young career, batting .259/.320/.444 with 12 home runs, 17 doubles, a triple and 13 steals (in 16 attempts). Strikeouts have been an issue (30.6 percent), but Robert has been regarded as an elite prospect since he left Cuba and signed with the Sox for a $26MM bonus (that came with a $26MM overage penalty for Chicago, whose bonus pool was just north of $2.9MM at that point). He then inked a six-year, $50MM contract extension with a pair of club options before even suiting up for his first big league game.

The White Sox lost both Robert and Eloy Jimenez early in the 2021 season, but they’ve nevertheless been able to steamroll a feeble American League Central, building a 10.5-game lead  over the second-place Indians as of this writing. With Robert and Jimenez now back from injury and Craig Kimbrel at the back of the bullpen, the South Siders are as strong as they’ve been at any point this season. The division title has long looked like a foregone conclusion, but the return of their promising young outfielders and a few key deadline pickups have better positioned the Sox as a postseason threat.

Injury Notes: Antone, Gray, Engel, Buxton

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The Reds announced Tuesday morning that they’ve reinstated right-hander Tejay Antone from the injured list and optioned Scott Heineman to Triple-A Louisville to open a roster spot. Antone ultimately missed only 11 days due to a bout of forearm inflammation and will be returning at a perfect time; Cincinnati used every reliever on the roster during last night’s 12-inning marathon against after starter Tyler Mahle lasted just four innings. The 27-year-old Antone has been one of baseball’s best relievers in 2021, pitching to a minuscule 1.41 ERA with a lofty 34.5 percent strikeout percentage against a 9.5 percent walk rate. He’s worked multiple innings with regularity, though it remains to be seen whether the club will drop him right back into a multi-inning stint after an injury layoff — even in spite of the taxed bullpen.

Cincinnati right-hander Sonny Gray could also be closing in on a return, as C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic reports Gray will make a rehab start with the Reds’ top minor league affiliate Thursday. The 31-year-old hit the injured list a couple weeks ago due to a groin strain, and the team was hopeful at the time that he’d only need to miss a pair of starts. It may end up being a bit longer, but if all goes well with Gray’s rehab outing, he’d be looking at only about a three-week absence from the rotation. The veteran righty has a 3.42 ERA and a 30.1 percent strikeout rate in 50 innings for the Reds this season.

A couple more injury scenarios of note around the league…

  • The White Sox announced Tuesday that outfielder Adam Engel is headed to the 10-day injured list due to a strain of his right hamstring. Outfielder Luis Gonzalez is up from Triple-A Charlotte in his place. It’s the second IL stint of the season for Engel, who opened the year on the shelf with this same injury and missed almost two months of action. Engel joins fellow outfielder Adam Eaton, who is also dealing with a right hamstring strain, on the injured list, further depleting a White Sox outfield that is also without stars Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert. The 29-year-old Engel batted .241/.313/.552 in just 32 plate appearances between IL stints. The club didn’t place a timetable on his return, although this new IL stint was backdated to June 20.
  • The Twins are still determining whether Byron Buxton’s fractured left hand will require surgery, manager Rocco Baldelli said prior to today’s game (Twitter link via Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press). Uncertainty as to whether the injury will require surgical repair likely contributes to the vague response Baldelli have when initially prompted for a timetable on the injury to Buxton, who was hit on the left hand by a Tyler Mahle heater last night and found to have a boxer’s fracture. For now, the team is still “looking into the best approaches for recovery,” per Baldelli. It’s common for players to get opinions from multiple doctors and/or specialists when a potential surgery of any kind is on the table.

White Sox Activate Lance Lynn From Injured List

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The White Sox are reinstating righty Lance Lynn from the injured list to start this afternoon’s game against the Indians (via James Fegan of the Athletic). Outfielder Luis González has been optioned to the alternate training site in a corresponding move.

Lynn went on the IL on April 18 with a right trapezius strain. He’ll wind up missing just a couple starts. One of Chicago’s biggest offseason acquisitions, Lynn got off to a fantastic start with his new team. Over his first three appearances, the veteran righty tossed 19.2 innings of four-run ball (two earned), striking out 27 while only issuing two walks. He’ll now rejoin Lucas Giolito, Dallas Keuchel, Carlos Rodón and Dylan Cease in the rotation.

With Lynn sidelined, Michael Kopech stepped in to start a pair of games. The young righty was stellar- particularly in his most recent appearance, when he struck out ten Rangers’ hitters without a walk over five innings. Still, Chicago is likely to move Kopech back into a relief role as they keep an eye on his innings total. He missed all of 2019 recovering from Tommy John surgery and opted out of last season due to concerns about COVID-19, so the Sox will surely be cautious building his arm strength back.

White Sox Place Adam Engel On IL, Select Luis Gonzalez

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The White Sox have placed outfielder Adam Engel on the injured list and selected fellow outfielder Luis Gonzalez’s contract from their alternate training site, James Fegan of The Athletic was among those to report.

Chicago put Engel on the IL because he may have come into contact with someone who has the coronavirus. However, Engel has not tested positive for it. The IL placement interrupts a solid start to the season for Engel, who has batted .263/.317/.500 with a pair of home runs in 41 plate appearances.

Gonzalez, 24, was a third-round pick of the White Sox in 2017 who could now receive his first major league action. After producing nice offensive numbers at the Single-A and High-A levels from 2017-18, he debuted in Double-A last year and batted .247/.316/.359 with nine homers and 17 steals in 535 trips to the plate. MLB.com ranks Gonzalez as the White Sox’s 13th-best prospect, noting he has a “sweet left-handed swing,” a “plus arm” and the versatility to play all three outfield positions.

White Sox Announce 60-Man Additions

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The White Sox announced the addition of 16 players to their 60-man player pool Tuesday. They’ll all head to the team’s alternate camp site in Schaumberg, Ill. Today’s additions include (* = non-roster invitee):

Right-Handed Pitchers

Left-Handed Pitchers

Catchers

Outfielders

As Opening Day draws nearer, the White Sox will option additional players to their alternate camp site. There are currently 43 players in big league Summer Camp with the South Siders, and they’ll need to trim that number to 30 by the time the opener rolls around.

Today’s list of additions contains several notable names, including 2020 first-round pick Garrett Crochet, whom the Sox selected 13th overall out of the University of Tennessee. Farm director Chris Getz isn’t ruling out the possibility of Crochet making his MLB debut sometime this year, Bruce Levine of 670 The Score tweets.

Getz also spoke about another recent White Sox first-round pick in Zack Burdi, whom they took 26th in 2016, saying (via Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times): ’We hope to build off how he finished major league camp. It’s the best we’ve seen him in a while. His last couple outings were very encouraging. It’s a special arm.”

Significant injuries have prevented the hard-throwing Burdi from realizing his potential or even reaching the bigs since the White Sox drafted him. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2017, barely pitched the following year as a result, and then succumbed to a ligament tear in his patella last season. Burdi’s still a well-regarded relief prospect, though, and may have a chance to factor into Chicago’s bullpen this season.

Remembering A Disastrous World Series Performance

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The worst bullpen meltdown of the 2001 World Series was not the one you think. You probably go right to Byung-Hyun Kim blowing saves in games four and five in Yankee Stadium, putting the Diamondbacks on the brink of elimination heading into game six. But that’s not it.

You might also think of Mariano Rivera blowing the save in game seven. Mark Grace singled, Rivera turned a sac bunt attempt into runners on first and second, Tony Womack eventually knocked home the tying run. Then Tim McCarver – without so much as a spoiler alert – laid out exactly what was about to happen like he’d seen it already, and Luis Gonzalez shoveled a ball over the drawn in infield to win the World Series. Just like that, the greatest closer of all time blew game seven of the World Series, ending a Yankee dynasty in its tracks.

But that’s not it either. I’m talking about Jay Witasick’s beautifully disastrous performance in game six.

With the Yankees up three games to two in the 2001 World Series, the series shifted back to Arizona for a critical game six. The Yankees were just one win away from their fourth consecutive World Series championship, while the Diamondbacks, in their fourth season, hadn’t yet existed in a world in which the Yankees were not the champs. Kim’s consecutive blown saves put Arizona in this position, but in game six, it would be the Yankees bullpen that would implode. Though Jay Witasick’s meltdown didn’t come in as high a leverage situation as Kim’s (nor Rivera’s), it was something to behold.

Witasick entered Game 6 with runners on second and third with the Yankees trailing 5-0. It was still early. The game was in reach. Here’s how hitters fared against Witasick that inning:

  • Single to LF
  • Single to LF
  • Single to LF
  • Single to RF
  • Tony Womack strikes out swinging (phew!)
  • Single to CF
  • Double to LF
  • Single to CF
  • Double to CF
  • Reggie Sanders strikes out swinging (finally!)

In a game when the Yankees could have clinched a World Series victory, Joe Torre let Witasick stay in the game to surrender four consecutive hits – twice! – in one inning. By the time Reggie Sanders finally struck out, the Diamondbacks led 12-0. Relievers are often made to wear it the way Witasick did here, but a win in this game meant a World Series title. This wasn’t a normal game. This was the type of game when – normally – you never give up. Witasick’s 8 earned runs tied him with Grover “Pete” Alexander for the most runs ever given up in a World Series game. Alexander took 2 1/3 innings to give up that many in the 1928 World Series against the Yankees. 

Witasick would give up two more hits the next inning (he started another inning!), giving him a final line that looks like this (parents, cover your children’s eyes): 1 ⅓ innings, 10 hits, 9 runs (8 earned), 4 strikeouts. Randy Choate came on and allowed Witasick’s stragglers to score, by which point the Diamondbacks led 15-0. Luis Gonzalez – their consensus best player – was pulled for rest in the bottom of that inning (the 4th inning!). Given the stakes of the game, it’s amazing that Torre allowed Witasick to get shelled the way he did. 

I’ll give Torre this: games four and five of the 2001 World Series went into extra innings, and leading 3 games to 2 going into game six, the Yankees had some cause to pack it in by the time Andy Pettitte left the game without recording an out in the third inning. And it’s not as if Witasick was giving up home runs. These were mostly bleeders through the left side of the infield – but they weren’t totally cheap knocks either. 

On the other hand, when Pettitte exited the game, it was still just a 5-0 deficit in the 3rd inning. Of course, Torre also had reason to doubt whether his offense could come back from a deficit that large. In the first five games of the series combined, the Yankees had scored a total of four runs in innings 1 through 8. Without a pair of clutch ninth-inning home runs from Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius, the Yankees came dangerously close to losing all 7 games of the series (which, of course, would have been impossible). 

Still, Witasick’s ill-fated stint in the third and fourth inning of game 6 stands out as a woeful performance with the season on the line. Witasick put together a solid professional career, pitching for 7 teams over 12 years with a 4.64 ERA/4.69 FIP, and it’s hardly his fault that Torre decided to pack this one in by the third inning, but it’s worth a re-watch nonetheless.

Winter Meetings Previews: Royals, White Sox

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In advance of the winter meetings, let’s take a moment to quickly preview a couple teams from the American League Central…

  • The Kansas City Royals will look for value buys on the free agent market, per Lynn Worthy of The Kansas City Star. Given the sale of the team and the managerial transition underway, the Royals have more justification than usual for patience this offseason. With Kansas City, however, there’s often a sense that internal valuations of the talent on hand differs from those of the general public. The Royals continue to present the idea that they are happy with their core, an impression bolstered by the “moon, sun, and stars” type packages the Royals are demanding for players like Whit Merrifield, Danny Duffy and Ian Kennedy. Senior VP of Baseball Ops & GM Dayton Moore refined his fence-walking trick recently while saying both, “…we’re very encouraged with where we are based on how our players performed individually last year,” and also, “I think we’ve got to upgrade everywhere, really.” Pitching is definitely a target, and Moore has been active in trade discussions already, enough to have a sense of where trades might happen – though from Moore’s comments, it seems the Royals are disinclined to be major players on the trade market unless opposing GMs become more amenable to Moore’s ask(s). They do have four open spots on the 40-man roster and should be active in the Rule 5 draft, per The Athletic’s Alec Lewis.
  • After being spurned by Zack Wheeler, the White Sox remain in the hunt for starting pitching, per MLB.com’s Scott Merkin. Chicago was also among the teams in on Jordan Lyles before the righty signed with the Rangers, tweets the MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. Their rotation candidates are currently made up of high-ceiling but largely-unestablished youngsters, fronted by 2019 breakout superstar Lucas Giolito. Speculatively, Dallas Keuchel fits nicely from a culture perspective as the perennially-attention-starved White Sox have already added Yasmani Grandal from the nobody-believes-in-us free agent pool – and they like playing with a chip on their shoulder on the southside. As for position players, Chicago boasts close to a full house now that Grandal and Jose Abreu are officially on board. With prospects Luis Robert and Nick Madrigal expected to play a large portion of 2020 in the big leagues, they have one of the more intriguing groups on that side of the ball. Still, there’s definitely room to tinker around the edges, especially in the outfield, where Luis Alexander Basabe, Daniel Palka, Leury Garcia, Adam Engel, and Luis Gonzalez make up the flexible collection of candidates to join Eloy Jimenez and Robert in the outfield.

AL Notes: Verlander, McCullers Jr., Orioles

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Justin Verlander doesn’t plan on shutting it down any time soon, it seems. Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle quotes Verlander in a tweet: “I’m going to play until the wheels fall off.” In 2018, Verlander surpassed 200 innings and 200 strikeouts for the third straight season while accumulating 6.8 fWAR and achieving a career-best 3.03 xFIP. In other words, the wheels are secure. Verlander’s current deal runs one more season in Houston at $28MM, after which he will become a free agent in advance of his age-37 season. 

More from around the American League…

  • In another quote posted by Rome (via Twitter), starter Lance McCullers Jr. suggests that he and the Astros will be examining the state of his current health in the next couple of weeks. With rumblings about his arm health, McCullers addressed a potential injury by admitting that he’s “been pitching through some stuff.” The 25-year-old McCullers has never started more than 22 games in a season, but nevertheless he’s been a valuable swingman for Houston’s recent playoff runs, starting three postseason games while pitching in relief seven times over the past two Octobers. McCullers is arbitration eligible for the second time this offseason, though as a Super Two player, he is not due to be a free agent until after the 2021 season.
  • It’s not the sexiest of front office work, but the Orioles face a significant challenge in shaping their 40-man roster in advance of the Nov. 30 non-tender deadline. Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com notes (via Twitter) that the 40-man roster, currently full, will require some finagling to open a minimum of four spots for pitchers Dillon Tate, Luis Gonzalez, Branden Kline, and catcher Martin Cervenka. Additionally, there are five other players currently on the O’s 60-day DL who will need to be added back to the 40-man if Baltimore wants to keep them. Those players – Richard Bleier, Pedro Araujo, Gabriel Ynoa, Mark Trumbo, and Austin Hays – figure to make the roster, with Ynoa being the most likely of the group to be let go. One spot should open when Adam Jones files for free agency, but that still leaves eight players Baltimore will need to non-tender, trade, or waive prior to December’s Rule 5 draft.

Quick Hits: Marlins, Brewers, Maddux, Iwakuma

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News from around the majors as we head into the very last weekend of the 2012 season…

  • Former Diamondbacks star Luis Gonzalez is believed to be on the Marlins' short list of managerial candidates, reports MLB.com's Joe Frisaro.  Gonzalez is currently a special assistant with the D'Backs and he spent his final season with Miami in 2008.
  • Candidates for the Marlins job are being interviewed separately by front office personnel and by owner Jeffrey Loria, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.  Loria and his staff will convene after the World Series and then make a decision.
  • Brewers owner Mark Attanasio tells Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that his team will be focused on upgrading the bullpen and adding an experienced starter this winter, though the latter won't be at a large price.  “We’re just not adding any veteran. It has to be the right move for us. I know Doug [Melvin] and his staff would like to add another veteran starter. I don’t know how or where that’s going to come from," said Attanasio.  “We’ve got a lot of good young pitchers coming up from the minor leagues, so we may find our answers there.”
  • Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux hasn't yet been contacted about any managerial openings, reports MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan.  Maddux was interviewed for the Cubs job last winter turned down an interview with the Red Sox.  
  • The Mariners "will make a strong push" to re-sign Hisashi Iwakuma, writes MLB.com's Greg Johns, who also notes that Iwakuma expressed in returning to Seattle earlier this year.  Iwakuma signed a one-year, $1.5MM deal with the M's last winter and performed well in his first season in North America, posting a 3.16 ERA and a 7.3 K/9 rate in 30 games (16 of them starts).  Those numbers included significant home-road splits, so it's no surprise that Iwakuma would want to continue pitching at Safeco Field. 
  • Tim Bogar turned down an offer to be the Astros' bench coach due to a contract clause that would've prohibited Bogar from interviewing for managerial jobs, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.  Bogar has been connected to manager jobs over the last few years, including the Astros job itself that eventually went to Bo Porter.  Bogar served as the Red Sox bench coach last season, though he won't be returning to Boston, as Torey Lovullo will serve as bench coach under new manager John Farrell.
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