White Sox jump into post-lockout frenzy with Joe Kelly, Josh Harrison

(Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire)

One could argue that the White Sox didn’t really need to sign another reliever or utility man. At least the White Sox added a good one of each.

The White Sox joined the flurry of activity after the lockout this evening, reportedly landing right-handed reliever Joe Kelly for two years, and Josh Harrison for one year and a club option.

Kelly, 33, is entering his 11th season of an up-and-down career, but it was mostly up during his two years with the Dodgers, over which he posted a 2.67 ERA with 59 strikeouts over 54 innings. He rediscovered his sinker with the Dodgers, allowing him to post ground-ball rates well over 50 percent in each of his three years with Los Angeles. It’s paired with a curveball that gets him swings and misses.

He slots in alongside fellow signee Kendal Graveman as trustworthy right-handed options behind Liam Hendriks, and adds to the relief corps’ pile of red ass as well.

They have now found replacements for Ryan Tepera and what Craig Kimbrel was supposed to be. Kimbrel himself is still around, and Tony La Russa said today that he figures Kimbrel will stick around.

As for Harrison, the 34-year-old staved off an early decline with 1½ quality seasons in a utility role with the Nationals, hitting .291/.363/.431 over 123 games between 2020 and 2021. He played mostly second base and third base, but he also stood in all three outfield positions when needed. After the Nationals collapsed, they flipped him to Oakland, although he didn’t add much to the A’s postseason push (.254/.296/.341).

When Harrison’s right, he puts together enough non-homers, walks and HBPs for an above-average OBP, and plays decent defense at multiple positions. When he’s off, he makes a lot of soft contact that turns into outs. That makes him a less frenetic, righty-righty version of Leury García, which hopefully gives La Russa a chance to avoid over-relying on either one.

Take a second to support Sox Machine on Patreon
48 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
asinwreck

I have enjoyed watching Josh Harrison throughout his career. (Especially here.) I hope he has more in the tank, and it will be interesting to see if he has a better 2022 than Nick Madrigal will.

The assumption is that Hahn will deal Kimbrel, but what if he’s assessing the market for 3 years of Liam Hendriks? What do you think that would bring in return?

Last edited 2 years ago by asinwreck
Trooper Galactus

Maybe a decent outfielder on a similar contract.

peanutsNcrackerjack

An all star quality outfielder can be had for Hendriks type money. If that were to happen and Kimbrel warms to the closer roll–2 big ifs–the Madrigal for Kimbrel move looks enlightened, and you have trade currency with Vaughn/Sheets.

burning-phoneix

J-Hay is the poster child for Heads up baseball. My favourite clip of him is this slide-turned-jump to avoid the tag at second.

Still, a puzzling acquisition given he’s similar to Leury.

jhomeslice

It only took two days after the lockout ended to know that the remaining Sox offseason would be just as pitiful as it was before it started. Leury Garcia II as an answer to their 2b issues, and a 34 year old reliever. Wow.

Joliet Orange Sox

I’m going to wait before I complain. The Sox are rumored to be pushing to acquire Mahle. A trade like that would change the look of the off season quickly.

jorgefabregas

Is there a semi-credible source on the Mahle rumor?

Trooper Galactus

I mean, I don’t doubt that the White Sox would love to have Mahle, but the issue is the same as it was with pursuing the A’s pitchers; the White Sox don’t have the assets to outbid other determined teams.

HallofFrank

I don’t understand why people are complaining about these deals. Both make the Sox better. And we’re barely two days out of the lockout.

If this is all the Sox do, then yes: that’ll be frustrating. In the meantime, let’s celebrate the team being better and deeper than 3 hours ago.

Trooper Galactus

I’m not complaining about them, but they don’t really move the needle for me. For the price of the two of these guys they could have practically signed Conforto (and maybe they still will). I mean, if this is IT, then yeah, not happy.

HallofFrank

What do you think Conforto is going to sign for? It seems to me it’s going to be a fair bit more than $13m AAV or $23m guaranteed.

I agree that these aren’t needle movers, nor are they signings I’m particularly excited about it. But they do fill out the team nicely. And they suggest to me that the Sox are thinking about their postseason roster—which I like.

Trooper Galactus

I’m taking into consideration Harrison’s buyout as part of his cost, so it’s more like $15.5 million, which I think is reasonably close to what Conforto will be paid in 2022.

HallofFrank

Maybe if he gets 3+ years, but he turned down the QO and the market still seems pretty robust.

Trooper Galactus

Yeah, if he gets about $18m/year on a 3+ year deal, then there you have it.

670WMAQtheElder

Why doesn’t anyone think Sheets can handle RF? LH power bat in very homer friendly ballpark.

Trooper Galactus

Because he hasn’t played the outfield since, like, little league, he is one of the slowest players in the league, and he isn’t exactly a twitchy athlete. The raw material to make a good outfielder just isn’t there, and not having any inherent instincts for the position only compounds that.

FishSox

Wondering why Engle isn’t in anyones RF talk? Improved BA & power, trending up, ++def skills.

Trooper Galactus

A combination of reliability concerns and his offensive improvements coming in small samples of vastly different shapes.

WHITESOX_RIGHT_SOX

I really like Adam, but can’t depend on him to stay healthy unfortunately. Seems better suited for a backup role or for some other team to take your advice only for him to flourish somewhere else haha.

dwjm3

I’m worried they are going to be dumb enough to start Leury and Harrison is our new Cracker Jack utility player. LaRussa kept banging on how Leury is starter last offseason. He bristled at him being called a utility player

Trooper Galactus

He’s our starting utility player. Does that work?

LamarHoyt_oncrack

Josh Harrison’s WAR for 2021: 2.1. Leury Garcia: 2.1. Mediocrity at 2b secured.

670WMAQtheElder

2.1 is not exactly mediocre.

LamarHoyt_oncrack

It’s pretty mediocre compared to Altuve, the 2b of the team that whooped them in October.

Last edited 2 years ago by LamarHoyt_oncrack
HallofFrank

Right, it’s below mediocre. If Harrison is plan A for 2B, that’s a terrible plan. He was worth exactly 0.0 WAR in ‘18-20 combined. He’s a nice add as a utility player. He’s a disaster of an idea if the plan is to give him 150+ starts at 2B.

Trooper Galactus

Tell that to the people who lost their minds after Yolmer Sanchez posted 2.2 fWAR in 2017.

WHITESOX_RIGHT_SOX

Simply because these are not moves that tell the fan base we are serious about contending from an organizational standpoint. Their window is now, especially with the current talent. This is not an organization that knows how to draft/develop position players, so there will be another drought after this core is gone. I mean shit, this franchise just made history for making back to back playoff appearances for the first time! Only been around since 1903 😛

Trooper Galactus

And the first playoff appearance came off a third place finish in the AL Central.

LamarHoyt_oncrack

Not exactly the moves Sox fans were hoping for. But then again, they never are.

670WMAQtheElder

It’s about 24 hours past lockdown. They are not done.

StockroomSnail

There goes that Machado money!

Still need a quality starter and a RF, but I suppose I can wait until they don’t fill those spots to complain.

Last edited 2 years ago by StockroomSnail
calcetinesblancos

I’d much rather give Romy a chance at 2B than make Garcia or Harrison the starter.

Trooper Galactus

Garcia makes regular trips to the IL and Harrison is in his mid-30s. I think Romy’s gonna get plenty of opportunities.

Augusto Barojas

What frustrates me is that they needed a solid everyday 2b. And instead of getting one, they sign Garcia, and someone just like him, spending 10M+ and will be lucky to get a slightly below league average 2b out of either or both of them. They just continue to make moves that are not consistent with a team that is serious about winning a title.

Trooper Galactus

I’m reminded of my reaction to the Nomar Mazara trade. It wasn’t the fact that they gave up Steele Walker to get him that bothered me but rather that the extent of their aspirations in right field for a year they were supposed to be contending did not extend further than a guy who had never even posted a 1-WAR season.

Does Harrison make them better today than they were yesterday? Sure. Is this a good thing if their aspirations do not extend past this quality of position player? No.

Tweaky

They have bodies, now let’s see how it plays out. If it’s a mess by mid-season, there’s always the trade deadline.

Trooper Galactus

Because why spend money when you can spend money AND prospects?

670WMAQtheElder

The Sox ranked 8 of 30 in 2B WAR in 2021. Neither are below average. Heck Brandon Lowe is 2.5 WAR and he’s everybody’s top 2b.

Augusto Barojas

I had to check that… wrong, Lowe was 4.7. Semien was over 7, Baez about 5. Altuve 4.4. Skimping by with more close to league average players is not what this team needs. They are not competing with league average teams. There was a chasm of difference between them and the Astros last year. Harrison does not change that one bit, come on.

Trooper Galactus

Uh, how much of that was tied up in the guy the traded?

Augusto Barojas

Good catch! Um, yeah… Madrigal, who nobody playing 2b for them this year will match. In any case, comparing the Sox to league averages is meaningless. They are competing with teams like the Astros, and the goal is a World Series. Well, that’s the fans goal, but not the ownership.

Last edited 2 years ago by Augusto Barojas
shaggy65

At $17M Kelly signs the 17th richest free agent contract in White Sox history!

“The money will be spent!”

670WMAQtheElder

Kelly replaces Tepera. Graveman replaces Kopech. Kimbrel?

Tweaky

I’d like to see them still sign Tepera if Kimbrel is finally dealt.

Augusto Barojas

Sounds like their next move will be to add a left handed hitting outfielder with some power. Rumor has it they close to a deal with… Brian Goodwin!

Trooper Galactus

You had me thinking a Nomar Mazara reunion was in the offing for a moment there.

Tweaky

100% worth it for his bat flip skills alone

WHITESOX_RIGHT_SOX

Oof, what an unsurprising slap in the face to SOX faithful. Disgusting what Reinsdorf is willing/not willing to fork up to supplement the current wave of talent on this team. They f’d up trading their 2B last yr. I hate to just be dour, but damn I gotta vent…if you’re giving up your high draft capital position player for a 2nd closer (which ends up being a wildly unsuccessful strategy-surprise), then pony up for Semien, at least. Instead we have a past prime discount stopgap!

Personally, I do not believe they have any intention of pursuing Conforto. Here’s why: (1) Reinsdorf is a greedy cheap ass billionaire. (2) Recent acquisition of 23 yo rookie RF lefty power bat Oscar Colas. Betting he will be their ‘excuse’ for neglecting to add the best available FA option. (Don’t want to block him with ~4 yr deal it’d require to nab Conforto). Quite the quagmire we are in with the surplus of corner position/DH-type players.