The White Sox have signed right-hander Juan Then to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He’s been assigned to Triple-A Charlotte for now but could perhaps receive an invite to major league Spring Training.
Then (pronounced “Ten”) will be turning 24 on Wednesday, so it’s a bit of an early birthday present for him. The righty made his major league debut with the Mariners last year, getting into nine games and logging 11 innings, allowing six earned runs. He only struck out five opponents but also only gave out two walks, while 63.4% of the balls in play he allowed were on the ground. He was outrighted by the Mariners in August and was able to elect free agency at season’s end.
Originally an international signing of the Mariners, he was traded to the Yankees in 2017 for Nick Rumbelow but then came back to the M’s via the 2019 Edwin Encarnación trade. Primarily a starter in his earlier years, the Mariners added him to their 40-man roster in November of 2020 to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He then struggled in 2021 and was mostly injured in 2022. He was heading into his final option season last year, so the Mariners moved him to the bullpen.
In addition to the aforementioned major league work, he tossed 36 1/3 innings in the minors with an ERA of 8.92. That’s obviously an unpleasant number to look at, but it appears worse than it is. His .411 batting average on balls in play and 54.3% strand rate were both on the unfortunate side, which is why his FIP was more than three runs lower than his ERA at 5.87.
That FIP still isn’t terribly exciting, but Then is still quite young and he was considered the Mariners’ #17 prospect as recently as two years ago. FanGraphs still considered him that club’s #28 prospect as of July of 2023. Most of the results were poor last year but he had a ground ball rate higher than 50% at Double-A, Triple-A and the majors. For the White Sox, there’s no harm in bringing him into the organization in a non-roster capacity. Given his age and 27 days of MLB service time, there’s long-term upside if things break right, as he could theoretically be cheaply retained beyond this campaign.
The Sox’ bullpen has seen plenty of turnover in the past year, with Kendall Graveman, Reynaldo López, Aaron Bummer, Keynan Middleton and Joe Kelly all traded since last summer. Liam Hendriks had his 2024 option declined as he’s recovering from Tommy John surgery. The club is also planning to stretch out Garrett Crochet as a starter to see how that goes. The Sox have added Tim Hill and John Brebbia via free agency, while Rule 5 pick Shane Drohan is in the mix, but there could be a path for a non-roster player like Then to carve out a role. However, he is now out of options and will face a challenge in holding a roster spot even if he gets one.
Alright Then.
When?!
Just then!
Then throws a strike.
Who?
Then!
Who throws a strike?
No, Who’s catching.
What?
….this is Stouffer’s
And Then there’s Maude.
Juan deserves to be added to a few “Who’s on first?” skits.
This thread gets a ten.
ANNNNNND THENNNNNNNNN????
We need more adverb players.
Evidently
Dave Here
But he’s a numbers player (Ten).
Go to Lolly’s.
Indubitably.
And Then there was Juan.
Soon to be replaced by Juan Now.
All these casual comments that don’t know it’s pronounced “ten” and not “den”.
Got to be at least then of them by now
@Reynaldo
Shouldn’t his jersey number be TEN?
Nope that translates to Diaz.
Caramba!
Okay, then. Juan and Bo Derek are perfect Thens.
So Juan Then on the digital clock is fifty minutes before two?
Not to be confused with wonton.
The white Sox are Chicago’s real stadium and real baseball team and real history.
Only in crime statistics
Well…go Juan then
@Alvo Sumatro
They’re both garbage teams. 6 championships between two teams in over 130 years span? That’s pretty bad. Would have preferred if MLB relegated them to AAA or something.
Old Troll.
@Larryj
What’s trolling about it? I provided my reasoning. What’s your argument?
@OldYork Love of the team runs very very deep.
Makin’ moves!!
True!!! Adding depth shouldn’t be seen as a bad thing.
Annnnnnndddddd then?
NO MORE AND THEN!!!
Just stopped by for jokes about his name, was not disappointed.
We need some Wilmer Font news.
“White Sox sign Juan Then”
Don’t leave me hanging… then WHAT?
Never a bad thing to add extra pitchers nor depth no matter the position.
Wonder if there’s a player out in the world somewhere named Denim for his last name. Denim can hit (then um)
25 walks in 36 minor league innings last year with an ERA close to 9. What’s not to like? As Hannibal from the A Team used to say, I love it when a plan comes together.
Well then..
When does the game start? First pitch by Juan Then
No and then!
How many white Sox players does it take to screw in a light bulb?
just Juan
He also had a twin brother named Amal but his mom only shows everyone pics of Juan. When asked why she said, if you’ve seen Juan you’ve seen Amal. Ahahaha!
I am confused. Article says they signed Juan, Then what? They never finished the sentence. Maybe it is wonton, not sure.
And then?
And then what. No and then.
Can someone please talk about his talent as a baseball player and real stats rather than the same joke?
hey buzzkillington can’t you let us have this one? It just needs to get out of our systems.
I’m guessing they’re going to invest their international $ on a guy called Soo Long
Then/Then
His friends call him John Entonces
Not just dumpster diving but now dumpster bottom scraping. 9 era at triple A. This isn’t a Getz but a favor to a refuse company for taking out the worst from the bin.
Then what?
Congrats to Juan and To.
Not a terrible signing by the White Sox with this minor league deal of Juan Then. He could get a shot with that bullpen. Then does get some GB’s and may even strike out a few. If I’m a White Sox fan I’d be more worried about a bottom of my lineup that could include Kevin Pillar, Nicky Lopez, Paul DeJong, and Martin Maldonado.
Kevin Pillar and Nicky Lopez(an upgrade over TA) can be decent at hitting at best. The bottom 2 your correct. Maybe Paul Dejong or Brandan Shewmake split SS while Lopez plays 2B. Lopez alone doesn’t solve the never ending nightmare at 2B.
The White Sox probably don’t want to move in this direction because of money, Aiden Awe, but Whit Merrifield at the keystone makes sense. But then again, he would make sense for a lot of teams. I miss the days of Nellie Fox.
I don’t want to see Whit in a sox uniform. Your correct about the keystone and needs for lots of teams. But he has negative bat value with ok defense at best. I would rather have Randal Grichuk to be starting RF.