Given the typically cautious nature of executive-speak, Chris Getz likely knew more than he was letting on Monday afternoon when he said in response to James Fegan's question about right field that adding a player there is "something we may accomplish here" at the winter meetings in Dallas.
Not even six hours later, here comes Mike Tauchman on what a source confirmed to James is a major league deal.
Tauchman, who turned 34 one week ago, is coming off two seasons of productive fourth-outfielding with the Cubs. He hit .250/.360/.372 over 751 plate appearances on the North Side. He posted a 13.7 percent walk rate, hit 15 homers and stole 13 bases in 16 attempts. FanGraphs and Baseball Reference's valuations both round to 3 WAR, with mild disagreements on how he got there.
His profile neatly fits multiple White Sox needs. Thanks to the excellent plate discipline, he has experience leading off -- he hit .297/.379/.426 in 116 plate appearances at the top of the Cubs' order last year -- which is something the White Sox sorely need. Tauchman also provides a natural left-handed counterpart to the winter's earlier acquisition of Austin Slater, and while he shouldn't play center field for any extended amount of time, he can contribute to standing there in the event of any Luis Robert Jr. absence, be it trade or otherwise. A Palatine native, Tauchman also fills the void created by Nicky Lopez's release by employing a local product whose family might buy its share of tickets.
Tauchman made my rundown of potentially useful non-tenders by virtue of his .360 OBP over his last two years with the Cubs, raising the question of why Jed Hoyer wasn't interested in meeting Tauchman's projected $2.9 million salary in his second year of arbitration. The recently non-tendered Gavin Sheets was projected for $2.6 million, and Tauchman's recent work is a clear cut above.
The counterpoint to any enthusiasm: Plate discipline notwithstanding, Tauchman doesn't do anything else particularly well. Setting aside a powerful 2019 that looks like a product of that particular year -- he was part of a Yankees team that hit 306 homers -- he's not a good bet to hit 10 homers even as the strong side of a platoon. He has experience in all three outfield positions, but hasn't graded as plus in any one spot. He can steal a base, but more in an opportunistic sense.
In another weird wrinkle, his spray chart slid toward the opposite field from 2023 to 2024, to such an extent that you might assume he was right-handed based on where the extra-base hits are:
You may remember one of his opposite-field homers: the one he hit off Michael Kopech to seal one of the Cubs' many 7-6 victories over the White Sox in 2024:
Here are the others:
One more year will determine if this is a coincidence or a trend, and that's where the optimism-pessimism split lies. If you're the White Sox, you might think that Tauchman can maintain this form for one more year, and he'll scrape together his share of cheap homers at Guaranteed Rate Field by dropping fly balls or sliced line drives into the White Sox bullpen. If you're the Cubs, you're anticipating that he was lucky to hit seven homers in 2024, and if he won't strike sufficient fear in pitchers to draw his walks, now is the time to walk away from the table.
Of course, if Tauchman signs for less than his projected $2.9 million salary -- especially if it's something like $1.75 million -- the White Sox will have tried to hedge their bets and split the difference.
