Ken Rosenthal broke the White Sox's signing of Mike Clevinger a week ago, but without any further updates, it feels more "pending" than "impending." Thanksgiving came and went, November turned to December, the winter meetings start today in San Diego, and still ... nothing.
Usually, such a delay is tied to a corresponding 40-man roster move, but the White Sox have no such concerns with five open spots. I'd still assume it goes through because the White Sox tend to view injury recoveries more as challenges than red flags -- see: Kelly, Joe, and Herrera, Kelvin -- but it would've been nice to hear the what and why about Clevinger in order to project the next turn.
Alas, you'll have to settle for Josh doing it on GN Sports Friday night (also, subscribe to our YouTube channel).
Spare Parts
Pedro Grifol didn't really sell the idea of what Mike Tosar will bring to the freshly minted role of "field coordinator" by emphasizing the bunting game, but James Fegan asks Tosar himself, and the role seems like it's born to allow Tosar the freedom to think about problems and solutions without getting bogged down in the daily details of a traditional instructor role.
I'd recommend reading the whole thing, because it's hard to boil down into a sentence. The fact that it's so open-ended makes me think it could be hard to deduce his impact if the White Sox once again get bogged down by talent or injuries, but the collaborative approach and delegation is going to generate a study in contrast with the previous administration if nothing else.
Bryan Reynolds is trying to force his way out of Pittsburgh, but the Pirates don't seem to be in any rush to acquiesce. He's a switch-hitter who can cover center and is under control for 2025, so while the White Sox could use him, so could many, many other teams.
The White Sox would certainly have to part ways with one of their young infielders to make it happen, whether it's Colson Montgomery or Bryan Ramos, whose profile Justin Jirschele likes at third base.
- Texas lands the highest-upside pitcher in baseball -- FanGraphs
- Orioles among 8-9 teams interested in Carlos Rodón -- MLB Trade Rumors
Whether it's just because we talk a lot, Josh and I picked a lot of the same destinations for free agents. We're 2-for-2 with José Abreu going to Houston and Jacob deGrom going to Texas, which Dan Szymborski assesses in the link above. Now I'm getting pumped about the Orioles being in the thick of the Carlos Rodón sweepstakes.
You can take or leave Anthony Castrovince's specific predictions about what will happen in San Diego, but his prediction about the catcher market could have reverberations for the White Sox, even if the named player doesn't land with the named team.
The catcher trade market will begin to move
There is no reason a catching free-agent market fronted by Willson Contreras (who might not even be a full-time catcher wherever he winds up) and Christian Vázquez should hold back an interesting trade market in which the A’s (Sean Murphy) and Blue Jays (Alejandro Kirk, Danny Jansen or Gabriel Moreno) have valuable commodities to offer.
This is going to get started at the Meetings, with the Guardians completing a deal for Murphy. The two teams got far down the road in discussions last summer, and they ought to be able to finish the job now. Cleveland is reluctant to part with any of its top starting pitching prospects (Daniel Espino, Gavin Williams or Tanner Bibee) but should have enough prospect capital to get a deal done with or without one of those arms.
