Bumdog Millionaire: Aaron Bummer signs five-year extension

(Photo by John Cordes/Icon Sportswire)

As the Offseason Plan Project worked its magic, Aaron Bummer‘s future had a wider spectrum than most. Some treated him as a fixture worth cementing into place, and others regarded him as a sell-high candidate.

Both sides had their reasons, but the White Sox opted for the former during a busy Saturday morning. Along with reaching a new deal for Leury García and contracts for the other players on the 40-man roster, the Sox extended Bummer for five years and $16 million.

The breakdown:

  • 2020: $1 million
  • 2021: $2 million
  • 2022: $2.5 million
  • 2023: $3.75 million
  • 2024: $5.5 million
  • 2025: $7.25 million (club option)
  • 2026: $7.5 million (club option).

The club options come with a $1.25 million buyout, and James Fegan adds that the last option year escalates to $9 million for a second- or third-place finish for AL reliever of the year in any season, and $10 million if he wins one.

There’s reason for both sides to want this deal. For Bummer, when you’re 26-year-old who was a 19th-round selection, missed a season with Tommy John surgery and had some rough stretches in between, I imagine it’s a lot more difficult to assume future life-changing offers will be there for the taking.

And you don’t even really have to imagine when he says as much:

“Physically, mentally, I feel like I’m in a great spot,” Bummer said. “This definitely kind of relieves some pressure, mentally going through a season we know we have a little bit more stability, me and my wife. We can’t complain. Arm feels good, body feels good. Now to be able to take care of my family for the rest of our lives, that’s pretty awesome.”

On the White Sox’s side, Bummer possesses an elite sinker that works on both left-handed and right-handed hitters, and he succeeded in multiple-inning appearances when Rick Renteria needed them. It seems unlikely that he’ll be needed to close a meaningful amount of games, but if the ninth inning somehow falls to him, the White Sox can use him without fear of inflating his arbitration salaries.

I’d be more excited about the deal, but the history of White Sox extensions for their own relievers is rough. They don’t do it often because they aren’t a factory for sustainable, high-octane arms, and the deals they’ve gotten done are pitchers whose big payday is a story of survival, and whose subsequent career is more about hanging on.

* * * * * * * * *

Bummer’s extension is just the fifth for a White Sox reliever in the post-World Series era, and whether it was health, age or the volatile nature of relievers, the first four didn’t really pay off. Then again, the most recent case was five years ago, and perhaps this is something the club’s new pitching lab can assist with.

In reverse order, with each pitcher’s stats reflecting their performance with the White Sox before and after they signed their deal.

Nate Jones: Three years, $18 million in December 2015

JonesGIPHHRBBKERA
Before156168.215014671813.52
After128122.29514431372.57

After two successful seasons to start his career, Jones missed just about all of 2014 and most of 2015 due to a back microdisectomy and Tommy John surgery. When he returned over the last two months of 2015 and posted lights-out numbers, he and the White Sox decided to lock in at least one significant payday.

The extension was for three years and $8 million, but the White Sox held two club options followed by a mutual option. The unusual structure and middling amount was due to Jones’ health history and late-bloomer status, and Jones ended up being wise to take the guarantee. He was only fully healthy in one of his four remaining seasons with the Sox, over which he received $12.65 million. Jones pitched well when he could pitch, but availability was the issue.

There was never a time where his salary got in the way or anything, especially since the Sox offloaded his buyout to the Texas Rangers for international money.

Matt Thornton: Two years, $12 million in March 2011

ThorntonGIPHHRBBKERA
Before336310.2252221063493.19
After19616817011531463.48

Like Jones, Thornton was older than he seemed due to injuries and other stops and starts in his pro career. He was 29 when he debuted for the White Sox after the Joe Borchard trade, and didn’t lock down his first significant money until age 34, when he signed this two-year deal with a $6 million club option for 2013.

Thornton ended up being worth it, but his easy heat wasn’t as easy to watch in his mid-30s. Catastrophic defensive support ended his closing career shortly after it started, he took a whopping 10 losses in 2012, and he shifted into more of a specialist role in the option year before heading to Boston in an inconsequential trade for Brandon Jacobs.

The Thornton extension was fine, and it was nice to see him make his money after providing so much value early on, but it didn’t pay dividends for the club.

Sergio Santos: Three years, $8.25 million in Sept. 2011

SantosGIPHHRBBKERA
Before119115948551483.29
Aftern/an/an/an/an/an/an/a

Santos was a tremendous success story, as the White Sox successfully converted him from shortstop to the bullpen and turned him into a lights-out closer over the course of two seasons. He racked up 30 saves during the 2011 season thanks to an insane 35.4 percent strikeout rate, with late-season fatigue issues his only flaw.

Like the aforementioned relievers, Santos had every reason to accept at least one guaranteed payday, given that he’d been on the fringe of washing out of baseball before.

Curiously, the White Sox flipped him to Toronto before he threw another pitch for them. They had their reasons. Santos pitched in only six games for the Blue Jays in 2012 before undergoing Tommy John surgery, and while he returned to resemble his old form over the second half of 2013, that success was fleeting. That’s still more than Nestor Molina did for the Sox.

Mike MacDougal: Three years, $6.45 million, December 2006

MacDougalGIPHHRBBKERA
Before25251916191.80
After127113.2118683854.91

MacDougal’s excellent two months with the White Sox following a deadline trade inspired Kenny Williams to invest in a three-year extension. MacDougal, who was about to turn 30 and hadn’t yet made seven figures in a season due to an up-and-down history and Kansas City, took the deal.

Like everybody else on this list, he made the right decision, and the less said, the better.

* * * * * * * * *

On Bummer’s side, he’s younger than the rest of this pool. That also means his track record is shorter, but the history he has contains fewer wild swings in health or effectiveness. The idea is that Bummer needed a little bit of time to establish his calling card at the major league level, and now his path to sustainable success is a straightforward one. His left-handed ground-balling stylings draw easy comparisons to Zack Britton, who is working on a six-year streak of being a guy you want.

I can buy that. But I also bought into Jace Fry‘s success in 2018 as fixture material, and his 2019 season was just short of disastrous. That’s why I was ambivalent about keeping Bummer, at least assuming the White Sox had other credible ideas for his innings. For one reason or another, the relievers the Sox build from the ground up tend to have shorter shelf lives.

As Santos shows, this contract extension doesn’t eliminate the possibility of trading Bummer. As Jones shows, you shouldn’t really make this deal with the idea of trading him, either.

Besides, the White Sox stopped rebuilding, so there’s no reason to trade any good player on a good contract unless better options make him expendable. With the bullpen depth still spotty until guys like Ian Hamilton, Tyler Johnson and Zack Burdi can overcome their health hurdles, Bummer figures to be integral for the foreseeable future.

Take a second to support Sox Machine on Patreon
5 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
shaggy65

The initial news scroll on ESPN yesterday read: 

White Sox reach new deals with two players
OF Leury Garcia getting 5-yr, $16M contract

That would have been much harder to justify

burning-phoneix

>Bumdog Millionaire.
Jim, I implore you. Please stop.

John SF

probably my favorite headline so far this year.

Jim, never stop.

John SF

Not every extension works out, but as I see it, extensions are like gambling in a casino — the house always wins on aggregate.

More extensions is better.

That’s why I was hoping for a Bummer extension & excited to see it happen.

I’m still hoping to see some more this off season:

-Moncada
-Giolito
-Lopez
-Kopech
-Cease
-Madrigal
-even Vaughn on a Evan White type deal would be cool but I can’t imagine the Sox being that forward thinking.