The White Sox announced today that they have outrighted outfielder Daniel Palka (via MLB.com’s Scott Merkin, on Twitter). He was designated recently to clear roster space for the signing of Yasmani Grandal.
Palka, 28, turned in a solid showing at the plate in his 2018 debut. While he went down on strikes 153 times in 449 plate appearances and ended with a .294 on-base percentage, he delivered enough power (27 home runs, .484 slugging percentage) to be an above-average overall performer with the bat.
Trouble was, Palka wasn’t up to the task in the outfield, where he graded quite poorly. He needed to make further strides in one or both areas to lock up a roster spot. Instead, he struggled badly in limited MLB chances in 2019, posting an awful .107/.194/.179 slash in 93 trips to the plate.
Some team will still gladly offer the powerful Palka a non-roster invitation on a minors deal. Notably, he showed improved plate discipline during his time at Triple-A in 2019. Offense was up everywhere, so there’s no reason to get carried away with the .900 OPS and 27 dingers he delivered at Charlotte. But Palka has never before managed a K/BB mix like the 109 strikeouts and 72 walks he tallied in 471 plate appearances.
Good riddance.
Why. Why say this.
One… Oh… Seven.
Miserable human
wow.. he was awful, kinda surprised he ever cracked the majors after reading this
He cracked the majors because of what he did the year before and the Sox DH spot was a major drag last year.
No, Palka cracked the majors because the White Sox were tanking these last few years and Palka was so good at helping them, towards that goal.
He was a rookie with a .778 OPS. Wouldn’t a tanking team put a washed up veteran out there instead? Or bench him once his OPS got north of .700?
Dogbone, and many others will be surprised by some news about to unveil this morning.
@Rallyshirt What news was this supposed to be?
besides the K/BB stuff, his minors numbers were pretty great. His average was quite high for someone who stuck out so much and the power was certainly impressive. the guy did hit 27 homers as a rookie in 2018, just got off to such a horrid start in 2019 in the Majors that there was no way his numbers were recovering.
Good luck. Perhaps Palka-Mania will come to a town near you soon.
I guess he forgot to say his prayers and eat his vitamins.
Addition by subtraction
I had one of those yellow Palka mania shirts. An underdog kind of guy you root for. I wish him well.
He graded quite poorly in the outfield for sure. Especially had several horrible defenses for tough luck Chris Volstad. The scorekeeper somehow scored all those awful miscues as hits which killed his ERA. He has never been injured and should be resigned for a cheap contract.
Someone will take a chance on him. Good AAA numbers last year.
No one took that chance. He cleared waivers. That is the textbook definition of not taking a chance.
No taking a chance would be signing him to a minors deal. No one claiming him simply means no one wants to give him a 40-man spot
Sox doing a little house cleaning today. Perhaps they got something else cooking?
That was my thought as well. We’ll see.
Daniel Palka should send the White Sox a “Tank You” note .
TB maybe takes a flyer, theres a definite lack of power in their system
Could have something to do with Micker Adolfo.
How so? Adolfo isn’t even close to major league ready. I don’t see how this could have anything to do with him.
Go to Japan.
Watch him sign with Oakland or TB and hit 30hrs for them this year.
Yeah, but with an OBP around .300. He’s a one-tool player.
I hope this is a sign that they are done accepting mediocrity on the roster, and ending the rebuild.
And a sign they are done signing one-tool left-handed bats in the hopes of striking gold.
Most of the truly awful, but relatively young, position players on the roster (Palka, Tilson, Rondon, Skole, Reed, Delmonico, Goins, Cordell, I would have put Engel here but he was less useless with the bat last year) are gone from the organization now. The mediocre ones are being pushed into bench roles they are more suited for (Engel, Garcia), or getting released because they are easily replaced by cheaper options (Mendick for Sanchez). That’s a sign that the roster is getting stronger. There is just a lot less deadweight and fewer guys who don’t belong on an MLB roster.
They have gotten rid of a bunch of bad pitchers as well – Osich, Baneulos, Detwiler, Despaigne, Santiago to name a few. Some of those guys are FA’s (not cut), but I doubt they will be back. Covey, Fullmer, and a bunch of relievers could be out of jobs depending on how much they remake the staff.
Engel has more value now with the 26-man roster.
He can at least be brought in as a pinch runner and defensive substitution in late innings, and spell people one per week against LHP.
He actually hit LHP very well last year. OPS of 841 against lefties.
I’ve enjoyed reading your assessment. My only criticism involves you view of Engel. Jim Landis is the best center fielder I’ve ever seen, but Engel is a close second. I realize he doesn’t hit enough, but he makes my club as a 4th outfielder to keep the team strong up the middle
in the late innings of winnable games. And if projections are accurate, there will be a bunch of those in 2020.
Jim Landis!
Blast from the past!
Go-Go Sox of ’59!
Engel was just so lost with a bat in his hands up until the second half last year. In the first half he still hit .212/.281/.346 with a 34.5% K-rate. He hits lefties better in general, but this team is already so heavily right handed that a RH PH is, as my college advisor used to say, about as useful as teats on a boar hog. I don’t think Robert is coming out for e defensive replacement, but if Jimenez sticks in left, he might get a lot of late innings there. We also don’t know who the RF is going to be yet. Garcia is a better defender in the corners than in CF and hits LH pitching better than RH also, but will probably get more time in the IF without Yolmer. I thought that, pending a new RF, 3 of Engel, Mendick, Sanchez, and Garcia would make the club with Collins getting the bulk of the DH work, especially since he can catch in a pinch. I still think that as they could bring Yolmer back on a cheaper deal if he can’t get what he wants elsewhere. Engel’s history as a not-terrible hitter is less than 200 PA, so I can only hope it is real because a guy with an 84 wRC+ who plays good defense and can run has a place, a guy with a wRC+ of ~50 (which it was by mid 2019) does not. You just can’t carry that bat, even with a 26 man roster.
There is still some work to do, but to me, the position players by the All Star Break look like Jimenez, Robert, TBA in the OF, Moncada, Anderson, Madrigal, and Abreu around the horn, Collins at DH (only true lefty on the team I think) and Grandal behind the plate with McCann and 3 of the 4 of the guys I listed above on the bench (probably Garcia, Engel, Mendick), assuming they cap pitchers at 13.
Engel will also be gone soon. Roberts, Basabe. Think about it. Not needed any longer. He is a defensive player with suspect offense. Right now he is a place holder. The Sox have eyes on Corey Dickerson or maybe Castellanos. As far as Palka goes, the Sox gave him many opportunities to prove himself. Its unfortunate, but he just did not make the final cut.
Realsox-What about Ken Berry?He was highly regarded also.
Don’t forger Mike Hershberger.
Chicago generally had good fielding and usually good pitching teams during that era.
They had no power and that ultimately hurt them.
I remember they tried to get Willie Stargell and/or Donn Clendenon from the Pirates for Gary Peters and/or Joel Horlan .and the Pirates fortunately said “no”.
Roll out the bar—rel
And we’ll have a bar—rel of fun
(Beer Barrel Palka)