Right-hander Dylan Covey has rejected an outright assignment from the White Sox and is now a free agent, Vinnie Duber of NBC Sports Chicago tweets. Chicago designated the 28-year-old for assignment last week.
Covey has appeared in part of three seasons with the White Sox, showing promise at times but struggling on the whole. In 250 1/3 big league innings, he’s pitched to a 6.54 ERA with 6.2 K/9, 4.1 BB/9, 1.62 HR/9 and a 50 percent ground-ball rate. The 2013 fourth-rounder (Athletics) was Chicago’s Rule 5 pick in 2016, so a rough rookie campaign was always to be expected. But Covey impressed to begin the 2018 campaign, notching a 3.45 ERA and 3.54 FIP with a whopping 60 percent ground-ball rate through his first eight starts. Things went south from there, and the sinkerballer will now look for a new club in 2020.
That Covey went unclaimed on waivers means he’ll likely latch on elsewhere on a minor league deal. He does have a minor league option remaining, so anyone who signs him can shuttle him between Triple-A and the big leagues in 2020 if he’s ever selected to the big league roster. To his credit, Covey has been terrific at both the Double-A (1.84 ERA in 29 1/3 innings) and Triple-A levels (2.63 ERA in 95 2/3 innings).
Pirates signee
He would be a good fit for the Angels!
This dude is so Eppler. Jesus.
If you think this is Eppler, then you have no idea what Eppler looks for.
Velocity and gb%
GB% Sure, but look at swinging strike rate. Look at Strike Zone contact.
If you have those three things, then command bridges it all together. For command look at K – BB pct.
The Angels Ohtani, Canning and Heaney are very talented. And even Sandoval has talent. The only issue is health, . Which is why Eppler picked up Teheran and Bundy.
I would have loved the Angels to have added another option, but the Angels have plenty of pitching, the question is do they have enough healthy pitching?
Is your default setting to dispute anything that might be negatively Angel related? The guy didn’t say he’d be your #2 starter.
Johnny, My default setting is to dispute hyperbole and ignorance.
Given all the pitchers Eppler has traded or DFA’d, Covey wouldn’t be bad minor league depth. I don’t think that statement deserved that kind of escalation.
Goodbye
good news
he gone..
Miracles do happen. Amen
Hey! Show some respect Nick O, they named the Covey Cove after this guy!
Originally drafted by the Brewers, he has an option remaining…David Sterns will certainly kick the tires and I’m guessing will make him an offer.
Could see the Blue Jays inking him to a minors deal. lots of upside with a 28 year old
Not sure the Sox would have kicked a guy to the curb if he had “lots of upside”.
Sox added like 5 or 6 guys to the 40 man roster this offseason and that means some guys had to go to make space. Covey is one of them. Still has some upside for another club I think.
Must not have watched any white Sox baseball last year. The guy was garbage and would consistently get shelled. I would be shocked if he has an above average career anywhere.
@ whitesox33, just because a pitcher is trash for one organization that doesn’t mean he will be for another one. They have these people called pitching coaches that are all different and sometimes one pitching coach will see things differently than others do and can help a pitcher improve. When Leo Mazzone was the Braves pitching coach he turned many trash pitchers into very good pitchers.
Astros please.
Seems like a good bullpen candidate.
Onetime Rule 5 draftee in real need of a career reset. Curious to see whether anyone will give him the half-season or more in AAA and the winnowing of his arsenal it will require to make him a productive MLB bullpen arm.
So he won’t be at SoxFest?
Only if he buys a ticket.
Soxfest sold out!
Truthfully, the worst pitcher I have ever seen at the Major League level in 30+ years of watching baseball.
I think watching Jose Canseco trying to pitch was the worst…. lol
Reynaldo Lopez is a close 2nd. And he will be starting.
Man, ReyLo would almost 100% be an insane bullpen piece, yet the Sox still see him as a starter, which, I personally disagree with. Dude is massively inconsistent when he starts., but for a couple innings only, he’s not bad at all
I’m not familiar with him, but he sounds like a typical player whose career trajectory was ruined by rule 5.
Teams pluck unprotected players from single or double A ball, those guys for the most part get to the bigs and play like minor leaguers, then get DFA’d or buried in the minors when the season’s over.
Literally any team could want to sign this guy. No risk at all with that minor league option
Brewers now plz
i take it you are a Cards, Cubs, or Reds fan, no?
He was originally a Brewers draft pick that didnt get a contract due to a health issue. I’d love to see them give him a chance in the minors and reset from the probable hell that is being a Rule 5er at the end of a bench getting inconsistent work.
I’d like to see the Brewers take a chance on Covey, too.
right. He turned down a Brewers first round… or the Brewers turned him down? Not sure how that worked. It was literally the pick right before or right after Chris Sale. Can’t remember which. But it was Sale-adjacent.
Then he went to college and was drafted his Junior year in I think the 4th round.
At his physical, it was found he had diabetes. Brewers low balled him (understandably) so he went back to school and took the time to get his diabetes under control. That being said, he was awful with the Sox
Dumpster divin Theo here he comes
This has Scrap Heap Scoopin’ Theo written all over it
Sounds like the orioles 4th starting pitcher
#2 for the Tigers
Future ace for the Marlins or Royals.
Best news of the day.
Best news of the day! He was terrible for us! Go get em Theo! I hope he goes to the cubs and gets lit up there! Go Sox
Not the Indians or maybe the twins? Ah yes the ol stepchild syndrome that Sox fans have.
I believe that ship has sailed. At least you have ricketts and the Marquee network
Wouldn’t you rather see him to an AL Central team so you could face him if he’s so bad? The White Sox don’t have to hurdle the Cubs to go anywhere, but they do have to beat the Twins/Royals/Indians/Tigers to be playoff relevant.
Shhh, most Sox fans have very low iq’s and stepchild syndrome. We just want to have a better record than the Cubs and maybe win that crosstown cup
Best case, he comes out of the BP to face RHHs only for a bottom of the barrel MLB bullpen. Worst case, this is the last time you hear his name and major league baseball in the same sentence. White Sox fans should be thanking Covey. Without him they don’t have Madrigal or Vaughn.
He definitely helped us tank but we would’ve gotten Madrigal and Vaughn regardless. 100 losses doesn’t happen because of just one pitcher.
I wish him the best and hope he somehow figures it out enough to become a passable BP arm somewhere else. That said, I’m very happy he’ll no longer be pitching for the Sox. It was painful the vast majority of the time.
He’s a quality batting practice pitcher. Thats about all he’s good for. You want him pitching to your batters not the other teams batters.
Angels on it
Chicago was a bad fit.
I wish him luck.
Indians, Cards, ‘Stros, Rays or A’s are his best hope.
Here comes Theo scoopin up the White Sox garbage!
We get it guys: he’d be perfect for ______ team on a minor league deal. The question is really who has the weakest pitching depth right now. If he can provide “3.45 ERA and 3.54 FIP” for even 5 starts then he’d provide about a month’s worth of productive support to a club. And when he drops off a cliff just be ready to put someone else in instead of keep throwing him out there every fifth day.
Are you up on spin rate and that stuff? I am not. Look at the coaching hires- everyone is trying to be cutting edge. Who knows- some 26 year old physiologist could have noticed his delivery impacts a nerve and his follow through.
There may be some new cutting edge way of viewing his stuff. The way you describe him is he should look for a team with an advanced pitching department to work on his pitching. I don’t think 29 is old for a pitcher so I think his potential upside with the ML option makes him more appealing than you give him credit for.
Na, na, na, na, hey hey, goodbye
Na na, na, na, na, na, na, na, hey hey, goodbye.
Come back to A’s, his groundball tendencies backed up by a great infield defense should help
Best for Covey and the Chisox.
I do think there’s a chance he gets picked up in the next couple of years as a lottery ticket, but c’mon people. He *cleared waivers* which means, not a single team was jumping at him. His stats are among the worst in the history of the game, and he can hardly be considered “young” (he turns 29 this year)
I don’t think clearing waivers matters. Why would a team make a claim when they know they could get him for free on a ML deal? If a team traded for him they would have to give him a roster spot. Any chance he gets will involve working is way up beginning as minor league depth. We are two weeks from Spring training- rosters are essentially filled. Almost every FA is going to have to take a minor league deal and play their way back to the bigs.
It means no team was willing to give up a 40 man roster spot for him.
This would be a smart move for the Yankees. Keep him at AAA, until you need an emergency starter- which is bound to happen. The Yankees strength the last few years was their depth and this is a nice depth move. A proven guy who can handle AAA but also has an upside.
If the Yankees were going to throw money around they would have resigned DiDi for a year. After Cole there will not be anymore big expenditures. If anything they will trade Happ necessitating the need for more pitching depth. They will only get that depth via minor league deals and this guy is a good candidate.
It looks like an early Festivus miracle for us White Sox fans!
On a serious note, Covey pitched two or three games last year then hurt his elbow where he went on the DL and it downhill for him. Best of luck to Covey.
To people who keep calling him trash. Keep in mind it was Hahn who failed to find adequate starters for three years, which forced them to keep putting a two-pitch sinkerballer in the rotation.
If you think he is trash, what does that say about the team that couldn’t find a replacement for three years, either internally or externally?
@maximumvelocity
Good point, though in Hahn’s defense the Sox were tanking while he was there, so he wasn’t in a huge hurry to find someone to replace Covey, other than the dumpster dives he grabbed while Covey was injured.
Could Hahn have tried harder to find capable pitching? Sure, but the final result would’ve been dropping a few slots in the drafts they grabbed Madrigal and Vaughn. So it might’ve been worth it to just tank with the bad pitching to have both fall in Hahn’s lap.
Covey did show promise once in a while, so the Sox had the luxury of having a ton of patience with him during their rebuild to see if he could ever display any consistency (which obviously he never did).
Still, very valid point on your part.
Dude, they were tanking and Covey fit the scheme perfectly as a guy with promise who might develop and yet if he didn’t would help propel the team to a better draft pick.
Hope the Twinkies sign him, that will neutralize the Donaldson signing.
It appears the Dylan Covey era is over on the Southside of Chicago, little wonder with an astronomically high 6.54 ERA split over 3 seasons that covered 251-1/3 innings pitched for the White Sox.
The KBO, NPB, Baltimore, and Kansas City are all good options for Covey.
This is a guy who is so obviously going to eventually put it all together and be a valuable contributor out of the pen — it really hurts to lose him from the Sox after investing all this time in him when we still have Fulmer and Ruiz on the 25 man and Seby Zavala on the 40.
Just going by ZiPS projection, Covey was more valuable than like nearly half the other guys on the Sox 40-man for 2020.
I know he has had his rough times. A LOT of rough times. But we put the work in with him. And he has the *stuff* to be good. But our pitching depth was always so terrible we never were able to give him a chance to work out of the pen exclusively. If we let him work out of the pen full time and his sinker picked up another couple MPH he could have been a righty version of Bummer.
Oh well. He probably goes to the As or something and is worth 1.2 WAR next year.