The White Sox have agreed to sign right-hander Bruce Rondon to a minor league deal, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo reports (Twitter link).
Rondon just turned 27 last month, and he has averaged an eye-popping 97.8 mph on his fastball over his 111 2/3 career Major League innings. Despite this promise, however, it was no surprise when the Tigers non-tendered Rondon rather than pay him a projected $1.2MM in arbitration salary. Rondon has struggled to translate his ability to miss bats into consistent performance, with a career 5.00 ERA including an ugly 10.91 ERA in 15 2/3 frames in 2017. He also faced off-the-field criticism about his maturity and conditioning, culminating in the Tigers sending him home before the end of the 2015 season due to a perceived lack of effort.
A fresh start with a new organization certainly appeared to be necessary for Rondon to get his career on track, and he’ll now get another chance within the AL Central. Rondon will be one of many veterans competing for spots in the Chicago bullpen, joining other offseason minor league signings like Xavier Cedeno, Jeanmar Gomez, Rob Scahill, and T.J. House.
Interesting.
More trade bait
The Tigers let him go because he had no trade value. Good luck with that.
You don’t know Coop. Did people think Swarzak or Kahnle would have trade value before last season?
Nope.
Or ruin Jeff Samardzija. Coop has probably helped careers but he’s also hurt some.
Jeff Samardzija was already 30 years old when he came to the White Sox, and if you recall correctly, he was too stubborn to actually listen to Coop and try what Coop wanted him to do.
He also received a 5yr/$90mil deal after his 1 year with the White Sox, so saying Coop “ruined his career” is an extreme reach at best.
There are plenty of guys that Coop hasn’t been able to “fix” (as with any pitching coach), but he has done a better job than most.
Samardzija wasn’t ruined by Coop, he had a down season in the short time he was with the White Sox.
Rondon is just the kind of guy Coop excels at maximizing.
Coop may need some help from Dr. Phil on this one.
Hahn slowly building a core of young flamethrowers. I understand they are all far from “great”, but they all have upside and untapped potential.
I like the way this is headed.
Hahahaa…this is good for every other team in the AL Central. Besides the White Sox.
Why is it not good for the White Sox? They’re still rebuilding… Best case scenario? He ends up pitching extremely well (like Kahnle), and they can move him for a legitimate prospect at the trade deadline. Worst case scenario? He helps them lose in a season where they are expected to fight for a top pick in the draft. Seems like a win-win to me…
No one is giving up legit prospects for these guys, you only got one (Blake Rutherford) between the two trades last year and that had more to do with a controllable David Robertson. None of the other prospects cracked the top 15
Just like Fernando Tatis Jr was a scrub prospect the White Sox traded for shields…and within a few years he is now one of the top prospects in all of baseball. Prospects develop at different times and flipping a veteran for a prospect could lead to developing a useful player
Except Tatis was never a “Scrub”, he was a top international prospect and received a decent bonus when he signed
The potential is there. Nice lottery ticket for the White Sox.
A lot of upside with jim and a few others. Guaranteed that Hahn and Coop will turn a few of these guys around and they’ll be flipped at the deadline for prospects or MLB ready players
Go Coop Go
keep signing guys like this in bulk, one would think a couple can become decent.
In bulk is about the only way to sign a guy like Rondon.
This is a perfect signing for the Chi-Sox. Rondon has all the arm talent in the world, but to succeed, he really needs two things. Those two things are focus and motivation, and considering he will be in the same division, except fighting against Detroit, Chicago is the perfect place for Rondon to provide that motivation. So, he should be extremely intrinsically motivated to prove to his doubters in Detroit that he can be a successful reliever at the highest level.
Not only that, with Rondon now leaving Detroit, and getting a fresh start in Chicago, it should provide him with a renewed focus. He can leave behind all the turmoil, regrets, and dysfunction during his time in Detroit, and he can use that as fuel and as his focus towards getting back on track.
With a renewed focus, and with some motivation, I definitely think Rondon can still perform at a high level. I believe Chicago will get a steal in Rondon, and they might choose to keep him, or they could decide to flip him to a contender at the deadline…Regardless, it’s an extremely low risk move for the White Sox, but the reward for them could very well be pretty high…
way to butcher the language.
What, exactly, was wrong with his “language”? I understood his meaning perfectly. I mean, if you don’t agree with his point, that’s fine, but to criticize his writing is immature at best. Also, if you’re going to pick nits with someone else’s writing skills, might wanna at least use proper capitalization – wouldn’t want to look foolish, no?
Ditto!
Detroit never doubted him. They gave him countless opportunities and confidence in him as their closer of the future even as his results and attitude got continually worse. He was given the world and took the Krispy Kremes instead. Keep dreaming.
Or hire Dr. Phil.
Have fun with that guy…
Who’s Bruce Rondon?
He’s the guy that made me think of Bob Uecker in Major League saying “Juuust a bit outside” every time he took the mound..
Well, I had wanted a Rondon on the South Side this offseason but his name was Hector!
Perhaps manager Rick Renteria and pitching coach Don Cooper can have the same success with this minor league signing that they had with hard throwing Anthony Swarzak last year.
They did wonders with Pelfrey.
They did wonders with Kahnle.
Yes, although it took awhile for Tommy Kahnle to make his mark with the White Sox.
As you might recall Kahnle was acquired in a minor trade with the Colorado Rockies following the 2015 season and was back and forth between Chicago and AAA Charlotte in 2016 before finally getting a more prolonged opportunity later in July. Kahnle actually failed to make the White Sox opening day roster in 2017 but was recalled in the first week of April when Jake Petricka was placed on the DL and never looked back before being dealt to the Yankees as part of that megadeal ahead of the summer trade deadline.
Like Hector Rondon is any better?
Unlike Bruce Rondon, Hector Rondon was a successful closer for 2-1/2 seasons with the Cubs including in his first year in that role back in 2014 under current White Sox manager Rick Renteria. I was hoping for a reunion with his former manager on the South Side after the Cubs failed to tender him this past December. I thought it made sense for Rondon to reunite with Renteria, along with his 2014 battery mate Wellington Castillo, where he would have had a solid opportunity to regain the closer role he lost with the Cubs midway through the 2016 season.
Million dollar arm with a 5 cent head
Quite possibly the only fatter baseball player than Sandoval. Those 2 make 60’s and 70’s guys who would habitually show up to ST out of shape look like fitness buffs.
He’s festivity plump
It must have been in the summer of ’69
Weird that the bargain hunting Rangers wouldn’t take a flyer on a fireball throwing reliever with all the bullpen help they need.
The next Kenley Jansen, get em Genghis Hahn. Anyway to get that cubssoxual Aaron S. blocked from commenting on Sox news? Who the heck wants Hector Rondon. If Rick signs another x-flub i may have to become a Brewers fan. Coop’s got his hands full this yr
All arms mentioned in this article are nice lottery tickets for the White Sox. If just one of these arms is a success it’s money well spent. And as mentioned by a previous reader, if they all flop who cares, another draft pick to add to the growing farm system!
Rick Hahn is continuing to work wonders on the South Side. I’ve bought in to the process and I’m excited to see what the 2020’s will bring.
Hahn said he wants a veteran bullpen, he got it. Needs some work, but way better than paying $8-10M for one guy. How about more $25-30M for your bullpen? Not smart.
Bruce Rondon was sent home early in 2015 for intentionally “dialing it back”. . It was so obvious that both the Detroit and Latin media voiced their outrage.
He didn’t want to pitch so he just decided to lob pitches somewhere near the strike zone. and that’s when he was auditioning to be the CL of the future. Just imagine if he gets a huge paycheck how motivated he will be afterward.
the arm is good, the person it is attached to is not.
Good news for the White Palace Grill