The White Sox have outrighted right-hander Tayron Guerrero and left-hander Kodi Medeiros to Triple-A, the team announced (hat tip to The Athletic’s James Fegan). Guerrero and Medeiros each cleared waivers after being designated for assignment since the start of the new year.
Guerrero was claimed off waivers from the Marlins in early December following a season that saw the righty post a 6.26 ERA over 46 innings out of Miami’s bullpen. The hard-throwing Guerrero has yet to harness his 99mph fastball into a consistent force at the MLB level, as while he has a 9.4 K/9 over his 106 career big league innings, he has also issued a lot of free passes — a 7.0 BB/9 last season, boosting his overall career BB/9 to 5.7.
Control has been a persistent issue for Guerrero throughout his decade-long professional career, as he also has a 5.8 BB/9 (with a 4.02 ERA and 9.0 K/9) over 346 2/3 minor league innings. Guerrero just celebrated his 29th birthday two days ago, so while he’d count as a late bloomer, there’s still time for him to become a useful relief weapon if the White Sox can get him on track.
Selected 12th overall by the Brewers in the 2014 draft, Medeiros has yet to reach even the Triple-A level through six seasons in pro ball. Medeiros has a 4.77 ERA, 8.6 K/9, and 1.82 K/BB rate through 545 minor league frames (starting 91 of 139 games). The southpaw came to the White Sox in July 2018, as part of the trade package in the deal that sent Joakim Soria to Milwaukee.
Medeiros’ first full year in Chicago’s farm system was far from a success, as he had a 5.10 ERA over 83 innings for Double-A Birmingham. However, Medeiros saw much more work as a reliever than in the past, starting only nine of 28 games, and he fared much better out of the bullpen — a 2.55 ERA over 42 1/3 relief innings, as opposed to a 7.75 ERA over 40 2/3 frames as a starter. This could hint at a new direction for Medeiros, who is still just 23 years old.
Bring back the downvote!
Couple walk machines no matter. Real question for WSox fans: If Madrigal is offered 25mil extension (realize he got 7+ from draft) to be opening day 2B, does he accept or roll dice and wait to be called up a few weeks into the season?
accept. but he ain’t getting one.
@cws2019
I’d love to see it get done, but right now I think the odds are against it happening. But Hahn’s been full of surprises so far this Winter, so we’ll see. I have a feeling if it happens, it will be just before the season starts. I think they want a good long look at Mendick (along with Madrigal) in ST before any decision is made.
ST games are only 6 weeks away, and OD is 10 1/2 weeks. It will be here before we know it.
Numerous evaluators are split on Madrigal. His exit velocities suggests he swings a wet newspaper. The plan for him will be known soon.
Don’t shake the tree if the fruit ain’t ripe.
Madrigal only has 134 AAA plate appearances, which is about 100 less than Robert had. He also had 64 fewer AA plate appearances. He hasn’t dominated like Robert did at either level although he is going to derive value differently in MLB. Madrigal has only 163 games of professional baseball total. I think they anticipate him being in AAA for a couple of months while they get by with Mendick and Garcia at 2B. I bet they want him to force the issue and are likely to put up with below average offense from that spot since they upgraded so much in other spaces in the lineup.
“Madrigal didn’t dominate at AA like Robert did” — @MikeS2
Robert at AA 155 wRC+
Madrigal at AA 150 wRC+
You’re right, that extra 5% of domination makes all the difference.
Madrigal also batted 331 in AAA and with basically a 400 OBP.
It was an identical stat line to his AA numbers, except a couple fewer doubles because the ball parks were smaller.
It was super obvious he didn’t have anything left to learn from AA or AAA pitching. And he won the minor league gold glove. So clearly doesn’t have anything to learn on the fielding side.
He was the best hitter in the 2018 draft, it’s not a big surprise he moved quickly through the system.
He should be up opening day if we can extend him. Or he should be up the exact day we have secured his 7th year otherwise.
7 million is irrelevant after what we saw with Robert where the same thing was said about him.
How about just let out him on the opening day roster, stop worrying about 2026, and let him go through the arbitration process?
He is a great defender, but if he doesn’t consistently hit 310 or above, he pretty much profiles as an average player.
Signing players to extensions before they even play is a bad habit that will come to bite the team in the behind.
We haven’t signed a single bad extension so far ever and several of the extensions we have signed have been tremendously valuable for us. (Sale, Q, Eaton, Timmy).
So this comment seems pretty wrong.
Hahn should extend anyone who will let him. Moncada, Giolito, Kopech, Cease, Lopez, Madrigal, Vaughn, Stiever, Bummer. [roughly in that order and size]
Obviously they don’t all deserve the same size extensions or the same number of years, but all of those guys should be approached before opening day.
Even if one or two of them end up bad, extensions are like casino gambling. In the aggregate, the house always wins.
This
Apples and oranges considering those other players actually had track records before signing deals.
I just don’t see the point of extending someone who may struggle to post an OPS+ over 110 even while hitting 300.
Madrigal is a nice piece but not the beast Eloy or Roberts may be. No need to extend him. See what he does after a year in the bigs and MAYBE go down this road if he sets the world on fire. He does sound like a tremendous clubhouse, lead by example guy too.
He hasn’t earned an extension….. he’s shown zero power….. even with his great contact rate, some power needs to develop
If he doesn’t develop power he will HAVE to be glove caliber but I don’t think he will disappoint on that.
Playing a full year younger than his average competition at AA last year, Madrigal had a 150wRC+. That means he was batting literally 50% better than average for the league.
You don’t need to hit that many homeruns if you can bat 310 and have nearly as many doubles per season as strikeouts. He averaged one stolen base every 3 games.
Combine that with the fact that he is going to earn 1.5 WAR in pure gold glove defense just by default, and you’ve got yourself a potential 4 win second baseman.
That’s just as valuable as Albies and probably an all star behind only Merrified and Altuve in the AL.
A reasonably priced team-friendly extension with an extra option year or two at the end for Madrigal would be in the White Sox best interest 100x over.
Please bring Ivan Nova back!!!
Too early to explore a guy like Nova. He is a guy you look at if spring training has started and he hasn’t signed and you can get him for $3 to $5mil.
We have no need for him, no place for him, and we are too good for him.
Our 5th starter is Mig Gio who is better than Nova.
@bearsfan49055
I don’t see there being any room for Nova. I wouldn’t put Lopez or Cease in the pen to make room for him, and they already have Fulmer and Covey (for now) as their potential long relievers. Granted those two aren’t great options by any stretch, but why pay millions to Nova when you can pay either Fulmer or Covey the minimum (I’m sure Nova will want more than the minimum).
And even if Fulmer and Covey prove to be turds yet again, there are cheaper (and better) options than Nova.
You can cross Nova off the list. Tigers just signed him.
It’s funny that we were just talking about him today. I already forgot about him until I read your post this morning.
Fans are home run and strikeout obsessed! Madrigal doesn’t need to hit homers. He gets on base. He steals bases. Surely someone could drive him in. Defense? He already has a minor league gold glove. There are plenty of other things to worry about aside from Nick’s ability to hit the long ball.
@Jim Carter
Amen to that! I’d rather have 9 Ty Cobbs in my lineup than 9 HR or nothing guys. HR’s are important, but you have to figure out other ways to score when the HR stroke isn’t there.
Something people don’t think about, just because Madrigal has no power now doesn’t mean he’ll never develop any power as he ages. He’ll never be a 20+ HR guy at his peak, but it’s not impossible for him to hit 10, maybe even 15 HR’s a year when he reaches his peak. The guy is going to turn only 23 in ST, he’s got time to develop some power to go with the rest of his skill set.
Even if he never develops power, if the rest of his game doesn’t dip at all, he’ll be fine, and well worth the price of an extension if given one before OD. He’s not worth the gamble of Robert’s or Eloy’s extension, but I would gamble if it were the same as TA’s extension.