Where last year’s White Sox ended up for 2021
Our house lost power on Thursday afternoon and didn’t get it back until Saturday night, so as much as I would love to delve into Andrew Vaughn’s first game in left field, I didn’t really have the capacity to watch video, much less carve it up.
Instead, we’ll be delving into the less data-intensive posts on my to-do list before Opening Day, starting with a survey of where members of last year’s White Sox are going to give it a go this season.
Steve Cishek: Free agent. He signed a split contract with the Astros that would’ve paid him $2.25 million if he made the roster, but he did not make said roster, and the Astros granted his request for a release. It wasn’t for performance reasons, as his spring numbers were more than fine (12 strikeouts, two walks over 7⅔ innings).
PERTINENT: Steve Cishek never resembled Steve Cishek with the White Sox
Alex Colomé: Twins. After giving the White Sox desired results over his two years in Chicago, the Twins picked him up for the relatively paltry commitment of one year and $6.25 million. He’ll make $5 million in 2021, with a $5.5 million team option for 2022, or a $1.25 million buyout. The White Sox replaced Colomé with Liam Hendriks signed for more than double the 2021 salary and five times the total commitment, so we could be having quite the debate about resource allocation once the standings take shape.
Cheslor Cuthbert and Nicky Delmonico: Reds. Both are with Cincinnati on minor-league contracts, and getting reps at first base. Delmonico’s had the better spring by far.
Ross Detwiler: Marlins. DFA’d by the White Sox in September, Detwiler rebounded by signing a major league contract for $850,000, with another $100,000 in possible incentives. He’ll be pitching out of Miami’s bullpen.
Dane Dunning: Rangers. Traded to Texas in the Lance Lynn deal, Dunning will open the season in the Rangers’ anonymous starting rotation.
Jarrod Dyson: Royals. After not being able to contribute much to the White Sox in 2020, he could be back to tormenting them as a member of the Royals. Kansas City signed him to a one-year, $1.5 million deal earlier this month.
Edwin Encarnación: Free agent. It seems like his representation has been trying to get people to talk about him …
… but it hasn’t materialized in a deal.
Ryan Goins: Braves. He signed a minor league deal with Atlanta, which reassigned him to its minor-league camp a couple days ago.
Gio González: Retired. Having finally pitched for the White Sox after being drafted by them and traded from them twice, Gio wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer.
Ian Hamilton: Twins. White Sox Frank Grimes had a Grimeyesque journey through MLB’s waiver wire. The Mariners claimed him after the White Sox DFA’d him, only to designated Hamilton in December, after which the Phillies picked him up. When the Phillies ran out of room and tried to sneak him through waivers, the Twins picked him up. The Twins then DFA’d him after signing Colomé, and Minnesota managed to retain him as minor-league depth.
For those who were a fan of Ethan Katz saying Carlos Rodón was “very quad-dominant,” here’s some more jargon from Twins pitching coach Wes Johnson in dianosing Hamilton’s power loss.
“He’s got an elevated distal humerus, which means it’s up really high. We’re trying to get him down. We also think that’s going to help with where we’re trying to throw the fastball. Part of that elevated distal humerus is probably because of past history.”
Kelvin Herrera: Retired. He tried to catch on with the Cubs during the 2020 season after the White Sox cut him, but the North Siders let him go in late August.
Nomar Mazara: Tigers. Mazara’s latest chance at a breakout season will come in Detroit, which signed him to a one-year, $1.75 million contract. He’ll be reunited with Scott Coolbaugh, who was the White Sox’s assistant hitting coach last year, and worked with Mazara coming up with Texas as well. He’s hitting .192/.250/.231 over 28 plate appearances this spring, for what that’s worth.
James McCann: Mets. McCann parlayed his wildly successful time with the White Sox into a four-year, $40.6 million contract with the Mets. He’s off to a McCannish start, hitting .333/.368/.389 with one walk to nine strikeouts over 38 plate appearances.
PERTINENT: Deal with Mets closes James McCann’s nifty little White Sox career
Yolmer Sánchez: Orioles (for now). While Sánchez has signed with another organization before, he hasn’t played a game for another team besides the White Sox, as the Giants released him during the 2020 season after signing him on a minor-league contract. It looked like he had a clear path with the Orioles after signing a $1 million contract, but they just DFA’d him to make room for Adam Plutko (updated).
(Photo by Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire)
Yolmer got DFA’d yesterday.
So the Orioles just blew a million? How’s that work?
Arb contracts like Yolmer’s only become guaranteed once he makes the Opening Day Roster.
They’ll owe him 45 days of pay since they cut him this close to the season. So that’s about $262K.
Thanks, I missed that while riding out the rest of the storm.
I think attempting to restore power to your home takes priority over the late-March adventures of the prodigal Gold Glover.
I don’t get it, the Orioles don’t have a clear 2B other than Ramon Urias. Maybe Rio Ruiz or Valaika, neither of which can hit nor have Yolmer’s fielding prowess. All of them are around the same age. Yolmer is clearly better than all of them.
I am a bit surprised as to how little a good 2B glove is valued in the Majors.
Fear not, he might get 500 PA as a left fielder on his third stint with the Sox.
* spills coffee on keyboard laughing hard *
It wasn’t a joke
* spills tears on keyboard to mix up with coffee *
It’s not funny, but it is most assuredly a joke.
Akin to Billy Hamilton getting 500PA as 2021 Sox LF.
Billy Hamilton playing regularly would be the lamest thing ever. I would be shocked if Hahn allowed that to happen for an entire season.
Penny pinching taken to the extreme
Leave Brad out of this, bam-ba-lam.
We should have never let Big Boss Ross go.
Glad Hans Gruber finally made it into a post. He was due Jim.
“Mazara’s latest chance at a breakout season will come in Detroit…” <—Good one.
How does Yolmer keep leaving and yet never play for another team other than the Sox?
Reverse Gio Gonzales….
Continuing the annual tradition of prominent Rick Hahn acquisitions who promptly play their way out of baseball.
Watch Nomar Mazara blast 30 Homers this season, 15 of them versus the Sox.
He’d be Hahn’s version of Swisher, except without getting Wilson Betemit on the tail end of the ordeal.
Mazara homered against Toronto today. I view the blast, on the day of this post, as taunting.
Jason Benetti and Steve Stone are interviewing Tony La Russa during the game and La Russa sounds 20 years older than Stone.
Yeah, La Russa had no interest in that interview. That was the opposite of the interview they did with Tim the other day.
Stone isn’t the kind of old guy that thinks he knows everything and everyone else is an idiot, so he seems a lot younger than he is. I think broadcasting with Hawk helped crystalize for him who he DOESN’T want to be.
–absolutely fantastic!
That Gio Gonzalez sign off was great.
He always seemed like a guy who loved the game and understood what it meant to be in The Show.
Are we going to let “Part of that elevated distal humerus is probably because of past history.” go without comment? What other type of history is there but past history?