The White Sox are paying their prospects through the month of June, which a gesture just short of generous, but well ahead of monstrous. Teams like the Padres, Mariners and Rangers have already guaranteed the $400 stipend for what would've been the whole minor-league season. On the other side, the Oakland A's are cutting off cash to their prospects at the end of the month.
The Sox have differentiated themselves by paying the June stipend to players they released in May. James Fegan put together the list of the latest 26 players, -- the Sox also cut 14 in April -- and they're mostly names only devotees to the draft and Minor Keys posts would know.
| Position Players | Pitchers |
|---|---|
| C Ty Greene | RHP Ramon Pineda |
| C Michael Hickman | RHP Nate Pawelczyk |
| C Jakob Goldfarb | RHP Allan Beer |
| IF Camilo Quinteiro | RHP Luke Shilling |
| IF Sidney Pimentel | RHP Kevin Folman |
| IF Kelvin Maldonado | RHP Justin Friedman |
| IF Joshua Rivera | RHP Connor Reich |
| IF Tom Archer | RHP Sean Thompson |
| OF Josue Guerrero | RHP Jose Nin |
| OF Jonathan Allen | RHP Vladimir Nunez |
| OF Cameron Simmons | RHP Wyatt Burns |
| OF/C/P Jacob Cooper | LHP Andre Davis |
| LHP Hector Acosta | |
| LHP Cristian Castillo |
None of these prospects appeared on White Sox top-30 lists, so there isn't one name that stands out as worthy of instant regret. A couple of them just haven't been able to perform, period. Davis came over from Kansas City in the Melky Cabrera trade in 2017, but hadn't appeared in a game the following two seasons. Shilling also didn't make any appearances in either 2018 or 2019, which would represent the entirety of his professional career unless you believe that exercise divides by zero.
But when you step back and assess the whole list, the most interesting names ...
- Josue Guerrero
- Camilo Quinteiro
- Sidney Pimentel
- Kelvin Maldonado
- Ramon Pineda
... all have something in common: For better or for worse, all were in the orbit of the Great Falls Voyagers.
The infielders are all in the "for worse" camp. Maldonado, a $175,000 signing after getting selected in the 11th round of the 2018 draft, didn't play himself out of Great Falls after posting a .598 OPS. Quinteiro, a $300,000 signing in the 2017-18 July 2 class, did, but struggled significantly as a 22-year-old in Kannapolis. Pimentel, a fellow max signing during the Luis Robert Penalty Box Era, might've needed to repeat the Arizona Rookie League.
But it wasn't just a lack of momentum that did players in. Guerrero, who signed for $1.1 million back in 2016, finally showed something during the second half of the 2019 AZL season, hitting .289/.345/.526 over his last 22 games. While his first taste of stateside progress was delayed, it didn't seem too late for a guy in his age-19 season.
Pineda started later -- he debuted as a 19-year-old in the Dominican Summer League after signing for $10,000 in the same class -- but he looked ticketed for Kannapolis after posting a 2.22 ERA with peripherals to match (24.1 IP, 8 BB, 23 K) with the Voyagers.
I didn't mention Pineda in my post about White Sox prospects who lost the most from a lost season because he enjoyed too much success, but I could have. If he remained in the White Sox organization, he would've been a reliever making his Kannapolis debut in his age-23 season during the 2021 season. It would've helped him to be 22 for that.
Guerrero was my selection for a prospect made uniquely vulnerable by time pressures among the AZL White Sox. I thought his case would be a canary for a certain class of minor league players:
Josue Guerrero (21 years old in 2021): After spending one of his teen seasons in the DSL and two in the AZL, Guerrero finally showed signs of breaking through during the second half of his 2019. He made himself intriguing for a Great Falls blast-off at age 20, and if that’s not available to him whenever baseball resumes, he’ll be the kind of player that will inform us as to how the team treats the lowest rungs of the minors.
The White Sox probably won't feel the losses of Guerrero and Pineda in the long run, but they're the best current representatives of what the Sox are currently losing in the one-two punch of the pandemic stoppage and minor league contraction. While the Sox could previously afford to retain Guerrero for at least one more short season, there will be four fewer jobs for outfielders of a certain age going forward if Great Falls and the Pioneer League are cut out of the affiliated program. Guerrero is individually kinda compelling, but he doesn't stand out from the field, which comprises Luis Mieses, Anderson Comas, Anthony Coronado, Cabera Weaver, James Beard, the White Sox's six-figure prep picks in 2019, and whoever else they might select this time around.
The proponents for minor-league contraction will call this trimming the fat, and a counterargument rests on hypotheticals ("What if [x] succeeds elsewhere?"). But if Chris Getz's comments are more than mere diplomacy, the White Sox didn't seem bothered by having more of a mess to sort through. It makes sense, because there are fewer tough calls when there are more jobs. Baseball's decision-makers seem to prefer when players make their decisions for them.
