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Craig Kimbrel Elects Free Agency

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TODAY: Kimbrel cleared waivers, and the Braves announced that Kimbrel elected free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A.

JUNE 7: Craig Kimbrel’s return to the Braves lasted just one day, as the club announced today that the veteran reliever has been designated for assignment.  Left-hander Austin Cox was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett to take Kimbrel’s place on the active roster.

Kimbrel signed a minors contract in March, providing a full-circle moment in rejoining his original organization.  The story reached a pinnacle when Atlanta selected Kimbrel’s contract to the active roster yesterday, and he posted a scoreless inning in the Braves’ 5-4 loss to the Giants.  It was an eventful inning, as Kimbrel allowed a hit to Heliot Ramos and a walk to Jung Hoo Lee, but Ramos was caught stealing and Kimbrel picked Lee off first base to emerge unscathed.

While it may surprise fans to see a prominent name like Kimbrel so quickly shuffled off the roster (and after a scoreless frame, no less), today’s move may reflect the reality of where the 37-year-old is at during this stage of his career.  Kimbrel is, after all, coming off a rough 2024 campaign that saw him released by the Orioles in September after posting a 5.33 ERA in 52 1/3 innings.  Kimbrel had a 3.10 ERA and two All-Star nods over 188 2/3 innings during the 2021-23 seasons, but he seemed to lose his effectiveness in the later stages of those three seasons or into the postseason.

That said, it isn’t as though Kimbrel doesn’t have anything left in the tank for his 16th Major League season.  He posted a 2.00 ERA over 18 combined innings with Double-A Columbus and Triple-A Gwinnett, with a 32.86% strikeout rate in that small sample size but also a 12.86% walk rate.  Control has been a question mark for Kimbrel even in some of his best big league seasons, but a spike in his home run rate in recent years has contributed to his struggles.

Kimbrel’s minors deal with the Braves had a distinctive “rolling opt-out” clause that would’ve allowed Kimbrel to exit the deal at any point if another team offered him a spot on their Major League roster.  News of this clause surfaced only a few days before Atlanta selected Kimbrel to its active roster, but obviously none of other 29 clubs felt compelled to try and lure the right-hander away beforehand.  Kimbrel’s minor league contract called for a prorated $2MM salary if he was called up the active roster, so (as per The Athletic’s Dave O’Brien) the Braves will now be on the hook for roughly $25K, counting Kimbrel’s day on the active roster and however long his DFA period may last.

While Kimbrel has more than enough MLB service time to reject an outright assignment and re-enter free agency, it is possible he might accept an outright to stay with Atlanta.  Staying in a familiar organization might hold more appeal for Kimbrel than re-entering the market after his long stay in free agency last winter, plus the Braves’ ever-revolving bullpen could mean that Kimbrel may get another look in the majors in relatively short order.  It all depends on what Kimbrel wants to do at this point of his career, though it doesn’t appear as if retirement is in the cards.

Marlins Place Ryan Weathers On 60-Day IL With Lat Strain

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The Marlins announced that left-hander Ryan Weathers has been placed on the 60-day injured list due to a lat strain. Righty Eury Pérez has been reinstated from the 60-day IL, as was reported last week. Isaac Azout of Fish on First reported on Weathers prior to the official announcement.

It’s an unfortunate development for Weathers, who has had a stop-and-start career with his flashes of promise usually proving to be brief. A seventh overall pick of the Padres, he was once a top 100 prospect but struggled in his first tastes of the majors. He had a 5.73 earned run average through his first 143 big league innings when the Marlins traded for him in 2023.

In Miami, he showed some hints of a breakthrough last year. He logged 86 2/3 innings over 16 starts with a 3.63 ERA. His 21.8% strikeout rate was around average, while his 6.5% walk rate and 46.6% ground ball rate were both strong marks. Unfortunately, injuries capped the overall workload. A strain in his left index finger sent him to the IL in June and it took him over three months to return, with his final three starts occurring in September.

This year, injuries have interfered again. In mid-March, he suffered a forearm strain that sent him to the IL to start the year. He was reinstated from the IL and put up some decent numbers, with a 3.28 ERA, 22.5% strikeout rate, 7.8% walk rate and 40.6% ground ball rate in five starts this year. Unfortunately, he’s now on the shelf again. The specifics of the injury are still lacking but the fact that he’s been quickly placed on the 60-day IL after just starting on Saturday doesn’t bode well.

The move will seemingly remove any chance of Weathers being a summer trade candidate, as he will be on the shelf past the deadline. Players on the IL can be traded but it wouldn’t make much sense for the Marlins to flip him when his value is low. He can be retained via arbitration for three seasons after this one. The silver lining of the injury absences, for the Marlins, is that he won’t be able to increase his salary very much.

The Fish will have other opportunities to trade him in the future, ideally after he has shown a strong run of health to build value. Or perhaps Weathers can be a part of a competitive club in Miami, depending on how long this ongoing rebuild takes to bear fruit.

For now, the Marlins will proceed without Weathers in the rotation. Pérez jumps into a group that includes Sandy Alcantara, Cal Quantrill and Edward Cabrera, with guys like Valente Bellozo also in the mix. Max Meyer is on the IL himself but his hip impingement seems minor and he could be back shortly.

With the club sporting a 24-39 record that has them ahead of only the Rockies in the National League, it’s expected that they will be broadly open to trades. In recent years, players like Luis Arráez, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jesús Luzardo have been sent out of town even with years of club control remaining. As mentioned, Weathers is far less likely to be moved now, though he will ideally be able to jump back into the rotation late in the year and build some more innings going into 2026.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images

White Sox To Promote Grant Taylor

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The White Sox are promoting pitching prospect Grant Taylor, reports James Fox of FutureSox. The club will have to make a corresponding move or moves to make space for him on both the active and 40-man rosters.

Taylor, 23, will be getting the call for the first time. The Sox selected him with a second-round pick in 2023, 51st overall, even though he had undergone Tommy John surgery earlier that year. Prior to that surgery, there were some who considered him the top pitcher for LSU, ahead of Paul Skenes. But Skenes obviously took off from there while Taylor has largely been on the shelf.

Taylor did make his professional debut last year, though in somewhat limited fashion. He tossed 19 1/3 innings between the Complex League and Single-A last year, allowing 2.33 earned runs per nine innings. He had a massive 44.4% strikeout rate and 2.8% walk rate in that small sample. Those outings took place in May and June. His last appearance was June 7th but he suffered a lat strain at that time, per James Fegan of Sox Machine. He did get healthy enough in time for some Arizona Fall League action, tossing 7 2/3 innings there, allowing eight earned runs but striking out 15 batters.

Despite the limited workload, he’s been generating some prospect hype. Baseball Prospectus gave him the #90 spot on their top 101 list coming into the year. FanGraphs gave him the #94 spot, hyping up his arsenal from the AFL. The FanGraphs report noted that he flashed “four average or better pitches,” noting that his fastball velocity was in the mid-to-upper 90s. He also throws a curveball, a slider and a changeup, the latter apparently being a new pitch that he didn’t have in college.

This year, it seems the Sox have been focusing on a relief role for Taylor. He started the year with six starts, though none of those went longer than three innings. Since then, he has largely been kept in a single-inning relief role. It’s hard to argue with the numbers on a rate basis. Taylor has logged 26 2/3 Double-A innings this year with a 1.01 ERA, 36.6% strikeout rate, 10.9% walk rate and 56.9% ground ball rate.

The Sox are apparently excited enough that they are going to skip Taylor over Triple-A and let him face some major league hitters, presumably in the same bullpen role he’s been in recently. It’s unclear if the Sox view that as a permanent move or just a temporary situation while he builds up a foundation of innings to build from.

Taylor hasn’t built up to a huge workload but there clearly lots of potential in the arm. Though he may be a work in progress, the Sox are in a position to experiment. Their 22-44 record is the worst in the American League and ahead of just the Rockies overall.

Though Taylor was on a few top 100 lists coming into the year, the prospect promotion incentive doesn’t apply here. To qualify for PPI, a player must be on two of the three lists between Baseball America, MLB Pipeline and ESPN. Taylor wasn’t on any of those three.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

Mariners Designate Leody Taveras For Assignment, Outright Casey Lawrence

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The Mariners announced that they have recalled outfielder Dominic Canzone from Triple-A Tacoma. In a corresponding move, fellow outfielder Leody Taveras has been designated for assignment. The M’s also announced that right-hander Casey Lawrence, who was designated for assignment a couple of days ago, has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A.

Seattle somewhat surprisingly claimed Taveras off waivers earlier this year, despite him being owed about $3.73MM at the time of that move. Seattle had been hamstrung financially throughout the offseason, with ownership providing the front office a reported $15-16MM to try to add as many as three bats to the lineup. Presumably, ownership was emboldened by a hot start to the season and gave the green light to a buy-low opportunity on Taveras while both Victor Robles and Luke Raley were on the injured list.

Simply put, it hasn’t worked. At the time of his DFA in Texas, Taveras was hitting just .241/.259/.342 with a career-worst 28% strikeout rate and exit velocity and hard-hit numbers. The switch-hitter’s batted-ball metrics have improved, but the bottom-line results have only gotten worse.

In 98 plate appearances with the M’s, Taveras has posted an anemic .174/.198/.272 batting line with a 27.6% strikeout rate. He’s cut down on his chase rate and been more aggressive within the strike zone, but the Mariners, who’ve dropped 10 of their past 14 games and fallen 2.5 games back of the Astros in the AL West, apparently don’t feel they have the luxury of waiting to see if the improved approach and stronger contact eventually manifest in better production.

Taveras will be placed on waivers or traded within the next five days. If he clears waivers, he’ll surely accept an outright assignment to Tacoma, as he doesn’t have enough service time to reject an outright and retain the remainder of his salary. As of this writing, he’s still owed about $2.86MM of this year’s $4.75MM salary. Any team that claims Taveras would be responsible for that sum, but they’d also gain control over the switch-hitting speedster through the 2027 season.

Taveras gave the Rangers two solid years from 2022-23, slashing a combined .264/.311/.400 with plus defense and the flexibility to play any of the three outfield positions. Even in a down year in 2024, when he batted .229/.289/.352, he provided value on the basepaths and with the glove. Perhaps that track record, plus the encouraging trends in his plate discipline and batted-ball quality, would be enough to get him a look elsewhere. The Royals reportedly had interest in claiming Taveras last time he was on waivers but balked at the $3.73MM he had left to be paid out. By the time he hits waivers, the remaining commitment to him will be nearly $1MM less than the first time he was on waivers.

In place of Taveras, Canzone will get another opportunity to prove he can be a piece of the puzzle at T-Mobile Park. He hit just .196/.271/.381 in 188 plate appearances with the Mariners last year and went hitless in three plate appearances earlier this season. The 27-year-old is having a big year in Triple-A, however, mashing at a .296/.360/.564 clip with 13 home runs, a 9.1% walk rate and a 21.3% strikeout rate. He’s batting .382/.488/.529 with as many walks as strikeouts across his past nine games.

As for Lawrence, this is just the latest trip around the Seattle-Tacoma DFA carousel for the journeyman right-hander. He’s now had five different stints with the Mariners in 2025 alone. The soft-tossing 37-year-old has pitched 15 innings with a flat 3.00 ERA for the Mariners this year, plus one lone 2 2/3-inning appearance for the Blue Jays, wherein he allowed three runs.

Overall, Lawrence has 17 2/3 MLB frames with a 4.08 earned run average on the season. His 8.8% strikeout rate is as low as you’ll find, but he’s walked only 1.3% of opponents. The Mariners are effectively utilizing Lawrence and fellow journeyman Jesse Hahn as 41st and 42nd members of their 40-man roster, selecting them to the majors when they need an extra arm for some length and then designating them for assignment and passing them through waivers to bring back an optionable arm as needed.

It’s a tumultuous way to earn a living in some respects, but the team has been upfront with the righty about his role and Lawrence is clearly amenable to the setup. He’s picked up 34 days of major league service time this year — players accrue MLB pay and service while in DFA limbo and/or on outright waivers — and thus banked at least $142K in major league salary alone (which doesn’t even include his minor league pay).

Angels Acquire LaMonte Wade Jr.

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The Angels and Giants swung a trade this evening, as San Francisco sent first baseman and outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr. to Anaheim in exchange for a player to be named later or cash. The Giants are sending cash to Anaheim as part of the deal alongside Wade. The Angels designated right-hander Michael Darrell-Hicks for assignment to make room for Wade on the 40-man roster.

Wade, 31, was designated for assignment by San Francisco last week. A ninth-round pick by Minnesota back in 2015, he appeared in 42 games for the Twins across the 2019 and 2020 seasons before being dealt to the Giants prior to the 2021 campaign. Wade immediately became a fixture of the Giants lineup, slashing .253/.326/.482 in 109 games for San Francisco in his first year with the club. Injuries limited him to just 77 games in 2022, but he bounced back in 2023 and ’24 to slash a combined .258/.376/.401 (120 wRC+) in 252 games for the Giants where he primarily played first base but also got occasional looks in the outfield corners and at DH.

In his final year ahead of free agency, Wade seemed likely to once again serve as a solid left-handed bat for the Giants who could be trusted to hold things down at first base while the club waited for the arrival of top prospect Bryce Eldridge. Unfortunately, that’s not how things played out. Wade failed to hit much at all in 50 games for the Giants this season, posting a putrid .167/.275/.271 slash line (59 wRC+). At least some of those struggles can be attributed to poor fortune on batted balls, as Wade’s .211 BABIP is down nearly 90 points relatively to what it had been during his previous four seasons with the Giants. With that being said, Wade was hitting for less power than ever before in his career, and even his .287 xwOBA was well below average. With San Francisco in the thick of the Wild Card race this year, they couldn’t justify continuing to wait around for Wade to get right and pulled the plug on him last week in order to bring veteran first baseman Dominic Smith into the fold.

For the Angels, the addition of Wade is an interesting one. The club already has a left-handed first baseman entrenched in an everyday job with Nolan Schanuel, who has done quite well for himself with a 119 wRC+ in his age-23 season so far. Notably, Anaheim’s announcement of the move referred to Wade as an outfielder, hinting that he might primarily find use in the corner outfield mix for the Halos going forward. That would be a sensible use for the veteran, given that the club’s current outfield group of Jorge Soler, Taylor Ward, Jo Adell, and Mike Trout hit exclusively from the right side. Wade could serve as a lefty complement to Ward in left field and Soler at DH once Trout resumes playing right field on a regular basis. In the short term, Wade can also provide the Angels with some additional coverage in the outfield in the event that Soler needs to head to the injured list due to a nagging groin issue he’s been struggling with in recent days.

Wade has always been best suited for a platoon role, as he’s a career .193/.288/.250 hitter against fellow lefties and has not collected a hit against a left-handed pitcher this year. Even the club’s depth and bench outfield options like Chris Taylor, Matthew Lugo, and Scott Kingery bat right-handed, which should give Wade a niche on the club’s roster. That should be a fairly safe environment for Wade to try and bounce back, as he can be more or less completely platoon protected. It remains to be seen if Wade can resume generating enough power to get his production anywhere close to the 115 wRC+ he posted with the Giants from 2021-24, but one encouraging sign is that his strikeout (20.9%) and walk (12.7%) rates from that timeframe are almost identical to his 20.7% strikeout rate and 12.4% walk rate this year.

That suggests that his skills haven’t regressed at least from a discipline perspective, and even if his power doesn’t bounce back it’s not impossible to imagine Wade being a roughly league average bat against righties going forward. That’s enough to make him a useful bench piece for a team with a heavily right-handed lineup like Anaheim, and they clearly though bringing him into the fold was worth absorbing at least a portion of $5MM salary Wade is making this year. It’s not yet clear exactly how much cash the Giants sent to Anaheim to offset that financial blow, but shedding even a portion of the first baseman’s salary is a win for San Francisco given that Wade would’ve been able to elect free agency and leave them on the hook for the full deal had he cleared waivers.

Departing the Angels’ roster to make room for Wade is Darrell-Hicks. The 27-year-old made his big league debut with Anaheim earlier this year and made six appearances, where he surrendered eight runs on ten hits while walking four and striking out six in 7 2/3 innings of work. That lackluster performance is fairly representative of his work at Triple-A Salt Lake this year as well, where he has an 8.87 ERA in 22 1/3 frames. That said, he’s just one season removed from posting a dominant season split between Double- and Triple-A, with a 2.60 ERA in 62 1/3 innings of work across 40 appearances. The Angels will have one week to either work out a trade involving Darrell-Hicks or else place him on waivers. If he passes through waivers unclaimed, Anaheim will have the option to outright him to the minor leagues as non-roster depth for the remainder of the year.

Corbin Burnes To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo has informed members of the media that right-hander Corbin Burnes will undergo Tommy John surgery. Burnes will therefore miss the remainder of this season and possibly the entire 2026 campaign as well. Radio broadcaster Chris Garagiola was among those to pass the info along. Burnes is already on the 15-day injured list but will be transferred to the 60-day as soon as the club needs a roster spot.

The news is devastating but unsurprising. Burnes was pitching on Sunday when he called the training staff out from the dugout. He departed that game and the club later announced that he was experiencing elbow discomfort. He went for various medical opinions in the following days but it seems the worst-case scenario could not be avoided, so he’ll go under the knife. Given that Tommy John surgery usually requires 14 to 18 months of recovery time, Burnes is definitely out for the rest of 2025. A return in late in 2026 is possible but can’t be guaranteed.

Burnes is well known as one of the best pitchers in the sport. He won a Cy Young Award while pitching with the Brewers in 2021. He posted a 2.43 earned run average in 167 innings that year. He struck out 35.6% of opponents, only gave out walks at a 5.2% clip and got grounders on 48.8% of balls in play.

His results have backed up a bit since then but he’s still been excellent. Over the next three years, his strikeout rate continued to fall but it didn’t prevent his overall run prevention much. His ERA finished around 3.00 in each season from 2022 to 2024, even though his strikeout rate fell to 30.5%, 25.5% and 23.1% in those seasons.

He was one of the top free agents in the most recent offseason. MLBTR placed him second in the class, behind only Juan Soto, predicting Burnes could land a $200MM contract over seven years. He naturally fielded a lot of interest, with clubs such as the Orioles, Blue Jays and Giants among those who were connected to him most often.

In late December, he finally picked a new team. Arizona was a surprising destination since the club already had a number of rotation options and wasn’t heavily connected to the starting pitching market. But Burnes is an Arizona native and reportedly wanted to be close to his family, so the two sides made it work. The six-year deal guarantees Burnes $210MM, though with $64MM of that deferred into the next decade. It also affords him the opportunity to opt out after the 2026 season.

The Diamondbacks had made a number of investments in their rotation in recent years but this was the largest by far. Going into 2024, they gave Eduardo Rodríguez a four-year, $80MM deal and Jordan Montgomery also got a one-year, $25MM guarantee plus an easily-attainable vesting option.

Despite the heavy amount of investment in starting pitching, the Arizona rotation hasn’t been a strength. That was true even before this Burnes news, something that MLBTR’s Anthony Franco recently took a look at in a post for Front Office subscribers.

Losing Burnes for the rest of the year will only compound the problem. Montgomery himself required Tommy John surgery before the season started, so he’s already been out of action all year. Rodríguez has a 7.05 ERA in nine starts. He went on the IL in mid-May due to shoulder inflammation and was reinstated today.

Despite having one of the best lineups in baseball, the Arizona pitching has contributed to a fairly disappointing season so far. A recent four-game win streak has got them back to .500, but their 31-31 record still has them 3.5 games out of a playoff spot at the moment. They will have to try to climb back into the race without Burnes. Their current rotation consists of Rodríguez, Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Brandon Pfaadt and Ryne Nelson. Kelly is having a good year but Gallen, Pfaadt and Rodríguez are all struggling. Nelson has been in a swing role and is only now taking up a rotation spot in the wake of the injuries.

With the club hovering around contention, decisions will have to be made about the club’s deadline plans. If they fall back in the standings, they have a number of impending free agents and could have a lot to sell. That includes Gallen, Kelly, Eugenio Suárez and Josh Naylor. Montgomery is also an impending free agent but naturally has no trade value since he’s out for the year. Though if the Snakes can hang in there, adding at the deadline could obviously be the move.

Those impending free agencies and the Burnes surgery will also lead to questions about the 2026 rotation. As of now, it consists of Pfaadt, Rodríguez and Nelson. There are some prospects who could potentially take up roles but it’s clearly a very different picture to the imperfect group they have now.

Turning to the Burnes opt-out, it now seems incredibly unlikely that he triggers it. Though he could come back late next year, that will likely be for a handful of starts at most. It would be hard for him to build up enough of a platform to turn down the four years and $140MM (with deferrals) left on the deal.

That’s a largely moot point for the future. For today, the takeaway is that it’s real bad news for the Diamondbacks. Subtracting Burnes blows a big hole in their rotation right now, while the club is trying to salvage the season, and into the long-term as well.

Photos courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas and Allan Henry, Imagn Images

Braves Select Craig Kimbrel

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June 6th: Atlanta made it official today, announcing they have selected Kimbrel’s contract. They also recalled lefty Dylan Dodd, placed right-hander Daysbel Hernandez on the 15-day injured list with forearm inflammation and traded righty Scott Blewett to the Orioles.

June 5th: The Braves are planning to select the contract of right-hander Craig Kimbrel from Triple-A Gwinnett, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The full-circle promotion of the now-37-year-old former Atlanta closer, who’s been pitching well on a minor league deal in Gwinnett, comes less than an hour after the Braves’ bullpen melted down and squandered a six-run ninth-inning lead in an 11-10 loss to the Diamondbacks.

Kimbrel, of course, broke into the majors with Atlanta late in the 2010 season and immediately catapulted himself into stardom. He was the unanimous NL Rookie of the Year in 2011 — winning over teammate Freddie Freeman — after posting a 2.10 ERA with an NL-best 46 saves and a colossal 41.5% strikeout rate. He made the first of four straight All-Star teams that year — a remarkable run of four straight seasons that saw him lead the Senior Circuit in saves while garnering repeated Cy Young and MVP votes. From 2010-14, Kimbrel posted a comedic 1.43 ERA and 42.2% strikeout rate while racking up 186 saves. It’s arguably the best five-year from any reliever in the sport’s history.

Kimbrel has never quite recaptured that dominance, though he was still excellent from 2015-18 before running into some rough patches. He logged ERAs north of 5.00 in 2019-20 before bouncing back with a solid if tumultuous 2021-23 stint where he was often shakier than his surface-level numbers might initially suggest. His 2024 run with the Orioles started well — Kimbrel carried a 2.10 ERA into the All-Star break — but went off the rails in the season’s second half. From July 14 onward, Kimbrel was shredded for an 11.50 ERA in 18 innings before being released.

Now back in the Braves organization after signing a minor league deal, he’s looked terrific in Triple-A. Kimbrel carries flat 2.00 ERA in 18 innings. He’s set 33% of his opponents down on strikes, albeit against a 13% walk rate. He’s also working with a fastball that’s now sitting just 93.2 mph — nowhere near the sizzling 97-98 mph he averaged at his peak. Even as recently as 2023 with the Phillies, Kimbrel’s heater sat at 95.8 mph, but he’s now dropped nearly three ticks off that velocity.

Time will tell whether Kimbrel can get big league hitters out with such diminished power on his pitches and with command that’s clearly not up to par, but the bar to clear in Atlanta is low right now. Closer Raisel Iglesias saw his ERA balloon from 5.79 to 6.75 today. Scott Blewett, who’s been designated for assignment to make room on the roster for Kimbrel, yielded five runs on his way out the door. Daysbel Hernandez has a 2.22 ERA but has walked more than 19% of his opponents, so there’s no way he can continue at that pace. Trade acquisition Rafael Montero has a 5.29 ERA in 17 innings.

Atlanta has gotten good to great results from Pierce Johnson, Aaron Bummer, Enyel De Los Santos and Dylan Lee, but Iglesias has floundered all season and the final couple spots in the ’pen have been a revolving door. The hope will be that Kimbrel can help to solidify things, but recent seasons have shown that he’s susceptible to lengthy slumps not all that dissimilar from the one in which Iglesias is currently mired.

Jerry Reinsdorf, Justin Ishbia Reach Agreement For Ishbia To Obtain Future Majority Stake In White Sox

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The White Sox announced Thursday that chairman and majority owner Jerry Reinsdorf and minority owner Justin Ishbia “have reached a long-term investment agreement that establishes a framework for Ishbia to obtain a future controlling interest in the White Sox.” Under the terms of the agreement, Ishbia will make “capital infusions” into the White Sox in 2025-26 that will pay down existing debt and “support ongoing team operations.”

There will be no immediate transfer of control — and none until at least 2029. The agreement gives Reinsdorf the option of selling his controlling interest to Ishbia at any point from 2029-33. After the 2034 season, Ishbia will have the option to acquire the controlling interest from Reinsdorf. If and when Ishbia does acquire the controlling stake, other minority owners will have the opportunity to sell to him as well. His brother, Mat Ishbia, the principal owner of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, and his father, Jeff Ishbia, will be “significant” investors under the new agreement, too.

Reinsdorf, who purchased the White Sox in 1981, made the following statement within today’s press release:

“Having the incredible opportunity to own the Chicago White Sox and be part of Major League Baseball for nearly 50 years has been a life-changing experience. I have always expressed my intent to operate the White Sox as long as I am able and remain committed to returning this franchise to the level of on-field success we all expect and desire.”

Operating the club “as long as [he is] able” is a statement of some note. Reinsdorf is 89 as of this writing. He’ll be 90 next February and will be 93 when the initial window of potential transfer opens in 2029. By the time Ishbia has the option of purchasing the majority stake outright and of his own volition, Reinsdorf would be just a few months from his 99th birthday. That’s not intended to delve too far into the macabre, but the question of Reinsdorf’s ability to oversee day-to-day operations of the club as he ages into his mid-90s is difficult to overlook.

There’s also the question of the White Sox’ location. They’ve been on Chicago’s south side more than a century — one of the eight charter MLB teams established back in 1901. Reinsdorf has previously sought to move the Sox to Central Florida in the late 1980s and early 1990s. There have been far more recent rumors and speculation about a potential relocation to Nashville, although Reinsdorf was also looking into a new stadium in Chicago’s South Loop as recently as last year. The Sox’ current lease at Guaranteed Rate Field runs through 2029 — the first year that the current agreement opens the window for Ishbia to become majority owner.

The 47-year-old Ishbia has a reported net worth of more than $5 billion. Earlier this year, he was viewed as the leading candidate to purchase the division-rival Twins from the Pohlad family, but Ishbia abandoned that pursuit when the opportunity to increase his stake in the White Sox arose.

The 180-degree turn reportedly shocked the Twins, who had previously believed there was a path to completing a sale to Ishbia prior to Opening Day. At the time, White Sox officials denied to Jon Greenberg and Dan Hayes of The Athletic that there was a path to control of the White Sox available to Ishbia, but less than four months later, the team has now publicly revealed the specifics of that path.

Reinsdorf has increasingly drawn the ire of White Sox fans amid a yearslong spell of noncompetitive clubs. The White Sox won the 2005 World Series but have reached the postseason only three times since, never advancing beyond the first round of play. Reinsdorf conceded to a rebuild in 2016 when he allowed then-GM Rick Hahn to tear the roster down to the studs and build a new core from the ground up. By 2019, the Sox had the top farm system in baseball and an emerging core built around potential stars like Jose Abreu, Yoan Moncada, Luis Robert Jr., Eloy Jimenez, Dylan Cease and Lucas Giolito — among others. The plan looked to have worked when the Sox reached the playoffs in 2020 and 2021, but by 2022 the wheels had come off as that core regressed and/or fell to injury.

Viewed anywhere from loyal (to a fault) to insular, Reinsdorf brought Tony La Russa back to manage the club in 2021 — going over Hahn’s head to bring his friend back for another go-around as manager. The Sox won in year one despite some clear hiccups along the way, but reports during that 2022 season of a miserable clubhouse culture emerged.

La Russa was out by season’s end, at which point Hahn hired former Royals coach Pedro Grifol as La Russa’s dugout successor. A losing team and further reports of clubhouse tumult persisted, and by Aug. 2023, Hahn and longtime executive vice president Kenny Williams were dismissed. The pair had ranked among the longest-tenured executives in the entire sport. Rather than conduct an outside search for a new front office, Reinsdorf promoted assistant GM Chris Getz to general manager just days after firing Hahn and Williams.

Getz fired Grifol last year after a historically bad 28-89 start to the season. The 2024 White Sox wound up setting the modern record for futility, losing 121 games. The 2025 Rockies are on pace to make that a short-lived record, but it was nevertheless a dubious distinction that shone a spotlight on the stunningly swift nature of the White Sox’ fall from an MLB-best farm system and team-on-the-rise status to the dregs of Major League Baseball.

Getz hired former big league outfielder Will Venable — who’d been Bruce Bochy’s right-hand man in Texas — as his club’s new skipper this past offseason. The second-year GM has been tasked with the latest rebuild, again rebuilding the farm system through a series of trades and high draft picks. Chicago’s farm system is unequivocally in a better spot than it was just a few years ago, but there’s little hope of a return to competitive play on the near-term horizon — particularly in an increasingly formidable AL Central that sent three teams to the playoffs in 2024 and currently has four teams with winning records.

If and when the time comes for Getz & Co. to reenter the free agent market to supplement a new core, Reinsdorf’s frugality in free agency will again return to the forefront of conversations surrounding the Sox. Despite playing in one of the largest markets in baseball, Reinsdorf tends to run the South Siders more like a small-market operation. They did run out a $193MM Opening Day payroll in 2022 and a $181MM payroll in 2023, as noted at Cot’s Contracts, but those are clear outliers. The Sox have never had a payroll of even $130MM outside those two seasons. Even more incredibly, Andrew Benintendi’s five-year, $75MM contract remains the largest contract in White Sox history. The White Sox and A’s are the only two teams in baseball that have never given out a contract of at least $100MM.

For all these reasons, the news of a light at the end of the tunnel on Reinsdorf’s ownership tenure has been met by fans with a blend of celebratory relief and frustration that there’s not a more immediate transition of power in today’s agreement. Even if we’re at least four years from a bona fide sea change, today’s announcement is still a turning point in White Sox history — one that provides a countdown clock for the turnover long coveted by the fan base.

White Sox To Promote Kyle Teel

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The White Sox scratched top catching prospect Kyle Teel from today’s Triple-A lineup and plan to promote him to the majors, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. The team has not made the move official, but the social media account for TeelsBaseball — a training facility run by his father Garett — has announced the call-up. Chicago will need to select his contract and make corresponding moves for the active and 40-man rosters.

It’s an exciting day for White Sox fans. Teel was the centerpiece of the Garrett Crochet return. (Chase Meidroth was the first prospect from the group to debut and has played his way to everyday work in the middle infield.) Boston’s first-round pick in 2023, Teel has ranked among the sport’s most talented catching prospects throughout his time in pro ball.

The University of Virginia product was essentially the consensus #4 prospect in the Red Sox’s system. He was behind Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer but was viewed as one of the sport’s 50 or so best minor leaguers in his own right. Teel ranked between 32nd and 52nd on the preseason lists at MLB Pipeline, ESPN and Baseball America. He slotted 42nd on BA’s most recent in-season update, which came out this week.

Baseball America now ranks Teel as the White Sox’s #2 prospect and their top position player talent. The left-handed hitter has a well-rounded profile that gives him a good chance to be a long-term starter behind the plate. He has been particularly good offensively throughout his minor league career. Teel has a .300/.401/.456 batting line in pro ball. He has kept up a similar pace during his first season in the Chicago system.

Teel has played 50 games this year with Triple-A Charlotte. He carries a .295/.394/.492 slash with eight home runs through 213 plate appearances. As he has throughout his career, he’s taking free passes at an excellent 14.1% clip. Teel has struck out a little more than a quarter of the time, but the overall production has been strong. He was on fire throughout the past month, hitting .333/.444/.613 in May after posting a .626 OPS in April.

There isn’t a whole lot left for Teel to prove against minor league pitching. He’ll probably strike out a decent amount in the majors, but his plate discipline should give him a solid on-base floor. The Sox are certainly going to have him in the lineup on most days, though it’ll be interesting to see how they deploy him defensively. Scouting reports suggest he’s a solid defensive catcher.

The Sox already have a touted rookie catcher in Edgar Quero, who began the season playing alongside Teel in Charlotte. He and Korey Lee are splitting the work behind the plate. The switch-hitting Quero isn’t hitting for any power, but he’s batting .250 with a .341 on-base percentage in 37 games. He has hit at every minor league stop and deserves continued playing time. Lee is unlikely to be more than a long-term backup, but the White Sox probably won’t want to carry only two rookie catchers.

Teel said this week that he has begun taking first base drills. He has not played anywhere other than catcher in a minor league game. Teel could mix in at first base, where the Sox have gotten nothing all season. They’ll probably also use both rookie catchers somewhat frequently at designated hitter. That’d push Andrew Benintendi into more of a full-time left field role while cutting the playing time for journeyman outfielder Joshua Palacios.

As a consensus Top 100 talent, Teel meets the eligibility for the Prospect Promotion Incentive. That means he could earn a full service year if he finished in the top two in AL Rookie of the Year balloting. The A’s Jacob Wilson may have already locked up one of those spots, but there’s at least an outside chance for Teel to play well enough to get consideration for the other. The White Sox would not receive a bonus draft choice if that happens because they didn’t promote him early enough to spend 172 days in the majors. If he doesn’t earn the full service year, Teel will remain under club control for at least six seasons beyond this one. He likely wouldn’t reach arbitration eligibility until the 2028-29 offseason.

Image courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images.

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