The White Sox have completed some 40-man cleanup in advance of today’s non-tender deadline. The club has decided not to tender contracts to righty Ryan Burr and southpaw Caleb Frare.
Unsurprisingly, recently outrighted infielder Yolmer Sanchez was also non-tendered. Right-hander Thyago Vieira also departed the 40-man. He was released so that he can sign with Japan’s Yomiuri Giants, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand tweets.
This run of moves opens multiple 40-man spots and trims some marginal relief depth from the Chicago roster. For a club that has made clear its designs on improving in the standings in 2020, there’s good reason to hope those slots can be put to more productive use.
Burr was a good draw.
Suddenly I crave milk
How come we dont see more of these moves a couple weeks ago when the deadline to protect prospects from the rule 5 draft occurred?
Great question. Maybe the answer is because Kenny Williams is still involved. Plus they will need players like this to call up , when they go into their annual ‘tank mode’ in late July.
Perhaps they were hoping to work out a deal? Ultimately, the question is did they lose any prospects because they didn’t protect them? If not, they simply held them as long as they could
Nobody else worth protecting. A few of the guys hey did add weren’t in danger of being selected as it was.
Exactly. What would be the point of filling up the 40 man with prospects anyway? You’d have to DFA somebody to make any kind of addition.
The White Sox haven’t been particularly active recently in selecting Rule 5 players. I believe their most recent selection(s) were traded during the same draft. I think Dylan Covey was the last player the White Sox selected and kept, back in December of 2016 when they had just commenced their rebuild during the same winter meetings that saw them deal Chris Sale and Adam Eaton for a boatload of prospects. In the 2013 Rule 5 Draft, the White Sox selected and kept Cuban C Adrian Nieto on their 25-man active roster for the 2014 season.
They are gonna want some relief pitching depth for when Bummer and Fry regress.
Fry hopefully more of a bounceback candidate after so many walks.
Wait are we sure Caleb Frare Thyago Viera aren’t Star Wars villains
Hope this foreshadows another pending move.
Don’t understand Burr as much. Frankly, he is more effective than Fulmer.
he had Tommy John surgery in the last few months I think so he’s likely out for the year.
Ryan Burr had TJ surgery late last June. He began throwing for the first time since the procedure about two weeks ago. He probably won’t be available to pitch for an affiliate until late next summer, potentially as a White Sox on a minor league deal since they are already familiar with him.
Didn’t know Japan had E.D. issues.
Oh wait, … it says ‘Vi— e-r —ra’.
My bad.
The White Sox are getting Gerrit Cole, Yasiel Puig and Edwin Encarnación this offseason. Look for a blockbuster trade too from the Sox. Hahn making moves baby.
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If I’m right, you must change your name to “ChiSoxCity’s little buddy”. I have spoken.
I actually picked the White Sox to sign Yasiel Puig and Edwin Encarnacion as ‘hedge’ picks in the MLBTR FA contest in case they didn’t acquire a RF or DH in a trade. At this point in time I am more confident in Puig becoming a White Sox assuming Hahn fails to land the White Sox future core RF in a trade. Puig would be a nice fall back gamble since he could probably be had with a relatively inexpensive short term FA contract, perhaps a one year deal with a team, mutual or vesting option.
I feel less confident in the Encarnacion pick now in light of the Yasmani Grandal signing along with the White Sox adding slugging ‘catcher’ Yermin Mercedes to their 40-man roster recently to keep him out of the Rule 5 Draft next week. Some combination of Grandal, Mercedes, Zack Collins and James McCann will likely fill the White Sox DH black hole from last season.
A Gerrit Cole signing would be fantastic but is far more likely to be a pipe dream. I had Zack Wheeler as the White Sox top SP free agent signing and also chose Dallas Keuchel as my ‘hedge’ fallback option. I do expect the White Sox to sign two veteran FA’s this offseason but not Wheeler AND Keuchel. It is far more likely they sign one TOR to a multi-year deal and the second veteran to a one year deal as a backend rotation insurance policy,
Thus far I am two-for-two with my White Sox picks. It was easy to select Jose Abreu to return to the fold but I also picked Grandal to become the White Sox core catcher going forward. I’d rather see Hahn swing a trade for a core RF like the Dodgers Alex Verdugo but would be content with Puig as a low cost/high ceiling fall back for 2020. It’s possible that a Verdugo trade could develop into an even bigger ‘blockbuster’ like you alluded to. Other outside possibilities for such a trade could potentially develop with teams like the Mets and Ranger, along with a Mookie Betts or Francisco Lindor ‘blockbuster’. The last two would also fall under the pipe dream category but it is the holiday season where wishful thinking is allowed.
It would be a “pipe dream” if the Sox didn’t have the financial flexibility to sign Cole. We both know the Sox can afford him though. My sources say it will happen, but I digress.
Hard pass on Betts and Lindor. They’re both rentals with no control and too much trade capital required. The Sox should not give up on Anderson at SS (high ceiling and under club control).
My version of a “blockbuster” has the Sox moving Lopez and/or some minor league depth for quality relief arms. Obviously signing Cole makes Lopez somewhat expendable.
I doubt Cole is even on the team’s radar. It’s pretty clear they plan to strike fast this offseason and go after second-tier guys, which is fine if the can spread the money for multiple players.
They GM have too many needs to go after Cole, unless the Cole your are talking about is Hamels.
I can’t really see Hahn pulling off a big trade. The Major league team doesn’t have much depth and the most of the prospects are part of the core going forward, have seriously under-performed or, are recovering from serious injury. They just don’t have any pieces to trade: they’d be trading low or Lopez or Collins to ship them at this point. Having signed Grandal, the Sox could, should they sign Wheeler, MadBum, or some other near top-tier starter, fill the hole in right-field with a short term signing of Puig, Calhoun or Dickerson. Adolfo, BRuth or Steel Walker should be knocking on the door in a year or two.
The Sox have minor league depth at OF they can add to a Lopez trade. Also, aside from another TOR pitcher and RFer, not sure what other pressing needs you’re referring to. You can never have too much relief pitching, but there aren’t any obvious holes in the Sox’s pen. They should be able to add $60MM-$70MM comfortably, which would only put them just below the league average payroll $133MM.
Also forgot to mention their depth at Catcher.
They don’t have much depth.
Other than Steele Walker and maybe Basabe, no one wants the White Sox outfielders. And Collins won’t fetch much either, as he is still a work in progress behind the plate and at the plate.
The best they can do is offer a deal featuring Steele Walker and a pitcher, with one of the guys who didn’t do well last year (Collins most likely). That might get you Starling Marte. But if they are thinking about getting a controlled stud, they don’t have the capital.
The only way they make a “major” trade is to include one of the top 100 prospects, and that is unlikely, given that they all fill needs and all frankly should break camp with the team, outside of Vaughn. And there is no way they are trading Vaughn.
Also, with these moves, the team has almost closed the book on the many smaller “flip” deals or cash deals they made over the last several seasons.
They pretty much have nothing to show out of these deals.