The White Sox have agreed to a minor league contract with infielder Tim Beckham, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). The Wasserman client will receive a $1.35MM base salary in 2021 if he makes the roster.
Technically teams are still in the period of exclusive negotiations with their own free agents, but Beckham was unsigned for the 2020 season and thus free to negotiate with any club. He was hit with an 80-game PED suspension back in Aug. 2019. He’s already served a portion of that ban but will presumably still need to serve the remainder before he’s eligible to suit up for a big league club.
Beckham was the No. 1 overall pick of the Rays in the 2008 draft, and while he has had his moments since then,it has largely been a disappointing career. Now 30 years old, Beckham has combined for a .249/.302/.431 with 63 home runs and 31 stolen bases over 1,751 trips to the plate with the Rays, Orioles and Mariners. During his most recent action, he batted a similar .237/.293/.461 and smacked 15 HRs across 328 PA.
Defensively, Beckham has seen plenty of action all over the infield and even some in the corner outfield. So, if he does make the White Sox, Beckham could serve as insurance behind the likes of Yoan Moncada, Tim Anderson, Nick Madrigal and Eloy Jimenez.
Didn’t really think they needed more infield depth, but if it’s a minor league deal, then doesn’t really matter.
You can never have enough depth I suppose.
Which ML ready SS other than Tim Anderson do the White Sox have?? Depth is still very important in today’s game. You could argue the White Sox did a poor job of not having a real backup SS when Tim and went down.
They have Leury Garcia. How many backup shortstops did you want them to have?
Danny Mendick who was a Gold Glove finalist at 2B this past season, played the majority of his White Sox minor league career at SS. Mendick has manned 2B, SS and 3B in his brief MLB time with the White Sox. Mendick also had some reps in LF during his last minor league season at AAA Charlotte as the White Sox began his conversion from mostly SS to a more versatile utility player.
I remember this guy. Just another in a very long line of got caught cheating and it must’ve been a mistake how it ended up in my body….
Dan Roan saw this coming
Looks like Roan really knew.
Beckham is Tim Anderson before 2018. That’s not worst thing as a backup. Good depth signing.
Not a bad signing but Beckham is 30 years old and a much worse defender at SS.
I’m curious to see how Spring Training will look next season. It’ll be interesting to see if Arizona and Florida will be used as a preseason bubble since all the teams are really close to each other.
Tim Beckham: A really good player for the first two weeks of 2019, and former No 1 pick!
If he was a pitcher he’d throw a great curveball, because no one can bend it like Beckham.
Tony La Russa must have commented on that .306 batting average (!!!) that Beckham had with the Orioles in 2017.
La Russa probably as unconcerned as ever about PED users, too.
Perfect-PED abuser with a manager who turns a blind eye to PED use. This should end well.
I’m coming on this thread to give my take on LaRussa’s signing, since there’s over 200 posts on that thread and it looks like 9 out of 10 posts are from trolls laughing at the signing. Plus, this Beckham signing is just another low risk–dare I say it–dumpster dive.
I cringed when I saw the Sox went with LaRussa. All I can hope is it somehow works out, or at the very least, the Sox win in spite of him as manager. Hopefully I’m wrong, but I think he’s been away from the dugout too long, and I agree with those who say he’s out of touch with the younger players.
This is not on Hahn–this is a Jerry signing. Since I can’t sit on here all night, I’ll anticipate any comments about Hahn being a yes man and having no backbone with this: those who say this have either never worked a day in their lives or are floating from one dead-end job to another. Those who has ever held anything resembling a promising job knows when the boss wants something done, you do it.
I assume this is Hahn’s dream job. If Jerry wants to sign LaRussa, Hahn at best could offer an alternative or a mere suggestion why LaRussa might not be ideal, but if Jerry says do it anyway, there is only one correct answer from Hahn: “Yes, sir, I’m right on it.” Otherwise, Jerry will replace him with someone who will hire LaRussa, even if he thinks it’s a dumb idea. Business 101 right there.
As you can tell from my tone, this was not my ideal choice as manager. All I can do is hope it somehow works out.
If I was Hahn, I would walk. Someone else will hire him.
I was hoping LaRussa would be flattered but decline any offer to manage the Sox.
@ChiSox_Fan
You’re right, I’m sure someone else would hire Hahn if he walked, but the rebuild is his creation, his baby. That would be hard to walk away from.
I know St. Louis fans who said LaRussa fought with the younger players during his last year as a manager. Bodes poorly since so much of our team is young. Maybe he will be arrested again for drunk driving only this time in Chicago. Then it becomes important as to who is the bench coach.
And who will be the pitching coach now that Duncan has said no?
I always get him and Tim Anderson confused. This doesn’t help.
From the declining of options, it looks like the teams are not doing big spending this offseason.