At the start of spring training, 13 ostensibly active members of the 2024 White Sox hadn't yet started their next chapter in professional baseball.
In the 10 days since that post, four have found jobs, and almost in alphabetical order.
On Feb. 12, John Brebbia joined Detroit on a one-year, $2.75 million deal, hoping to benefit from Chris Fetter's bullpen sauce. Two days later, Paul DeJong parlayed his surprising 24-homer season in 2024 into a guaranteed one-year, $1 million contract with the Nationals.
On Monday, Chris Flexen signed a minor league deal with the Cubs.
On Thursday, the MLB transaction wire realized it skipped over Mike Clevinger, and resolved it by -- oh, oh my:
Free-agent pitcher Mike Clevinger and the Chicago White Sox are in agreement on a minor-league contract, sources say. The deal includes an invite to spring training.
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) February 21, 2025
It was one thing when Rick Hahn signed Clevinger in 2023 before the domestic abuse allegations were revealed. It shined an unflattering spotlight on the White Sox's concept of due diligence, and Hahn's usual rhetorical polish crumbled under the volume of follow-up questions from a larger-than-usual media presence. But as the order of events played out, the White Sox's central mistake was jumping the market to commit significant money to an asset that was depressed and depressing.
It was also one thing when Chris Getz brought him back last year, because the league closed its investigation with no discipline imposed and Clevinger had proceeded to throw 131 recidivism-free innings of 3.77 ERA ball in 2023. The juice didn't seem remotely worth the squeeze, but a baseball-based argument could be formed for him, especially since he was coming back for a quarter of the original commitment. (The White Sox also lauded his clubhouse presence, but they said a lot of things about their clubhouse that year.)
But then Clevinger's body once again failed him. He threw only 16 ineffective innings before spending the rest of the season on the injured list, first for right elbow inflammation, and then for disc replacement surgery in his neck. Without recent performance to blind the White Sox to the potential pitfalls, and with the low-grade efforts to earn back the trust of the fan base staggering into a third year, everybody should've felt comfortable speaking of Clevinger's White Sox career in the past tense.
Alas, until the day Clevinger files his retirement papers, White Sox fans can't trust that Getz won't pull that sandwich out of the garbage for one more bite.
That scene is funny because there's no good reason why Homer formed an emotional attachment to a rancid sub. He's just a glutton, and punishment follows. The degree of absurdity and impaired judgment --and declining acquisition cost! -- is roughly the same here, but the humor fails to make the jump.
What is kinda funny is that the White Sox have signed Clevinger the last two years, then proceeded to lose 20 more games, going from 81-81 in 2022 to 61-101 in 2023 to a record-breaking 41-121 in 2024. If that pattern holds, the White Sox can be locked in for a 21-141 finish come October.
And then the White Sox will sign him again by March.
POSTSCRIPT: James had the opportunity to ask Getz at the complex about whether the association with the previous allegations against Clevinger, and resulting fan dismay at the team for retaining him was weighed in the decision to bring him back.
"Sure, it’s part of the consideration because it has been associated with Clev," Getz said. "With that being said, we’ve been around Clev for the last couple of years. I know how he is respected with his teammates and everyone in the clubhouse. Also, we’ve learned more about the situation and we are comfortable with it."
The problem is that White Sox fans have also watched 'Clev' be around for the last couple years -- barely in 2024 -- and have seen no visible reward, whether in terms of team performance or trade value. There wasn't a market for him when he was functional, and then he wasn't functional, so there isn't a reason to think that a third consecutive make-good contract will turn out any different from the first two.
