The White Sox announced a series of roster moves this morning, highlighted by the club selecting the contract of veteran right-hander Brad Keller. Right-hander Deivi Garcia was designated for assignment to make room for Keller on the 40-man and active rosters. Additionally, Chicago announced that right-hander Jonathan Cannon had been optioned to Triple-A Charlotte. Right-hander Prelander Berroa was recalled to take Cannon’s place on the active roster.
The news leaves Keller poised to make his White Sox debut in the coming days as he likely steps into the rotation in Cannon’s stead. The 28-year-old signed a minor league deal with Chicago in early March after lingering on the free agent market throughout the offseason following a difficult 2023 campaign. Keller was limited to just 45 1/3 innings of 4.57 ERA baseball last year due to shoulder surgery and a thoracic outlet syndrome diagnosis, which MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand noted last month necessitated its own surgery back in October.
Surgery to correct TOS has rarely seen players return to the majors and enjoy success, with Stephen Strasburg and Chris Archer among the arms who have seen their careers impacted by the procedure in recent years. One example of a player who has returned effectively is Arizona right-hander Merrill Kelly, who stands as a prime example of the fact that not all types of TOS have the same long-term outlook. It’s not clear which type of TOS Keller went under the knife due to, though his decent 4.50 ERA in 16 innings of work at the Triple-A level across three starts this season gives reason for optimism that he could return to form as a viable back-of-the-rotation option in the majors.
Making room for Keller on the 40-man roster is Garcia, who will celebrate his 25th birthday next month. The right-hander was once a top prospect in the Yankees’ farm system and made his big league debut at just 21 years old during the shortened 2020 season, which saw him post a 4.98 ERA and 4.15 FIP across six starts in New York. Unfortunately, Garcia then struggled badly in the minor leagues over the next two seasons, with ERAs north of 6.80 in both campaigns. Garcia’s time with the Yankees came to a close in 2023, when he was designated for assignment after struggling through two relief appearances in the majors.
The White Sox took a chance on Garcia and claimed him off waivers from New York before installing him in the club’s bullpen. While he posted a strong 2.04 ERA in six appearances with the club down the stretch last year, Garcia walked more batters than he struck out and posted an ugly 6.04 FIP during that same timeframe. While Chicago retained Garcia on its roster through the offseason, the results began to match the peripherals in 2024 as the right-hander surrendered 16 runs (11 earned) in just 14 innings while walking 16.2% of batters faced.
Those major struggles were evidently enough for the White Sox to pull the plug on Garcia, who they’ll now have one week to either work out a trade for or attempt to pass through waivers. If they’re successful in the latter, they’ll have the opportunity to outright the youngster to the minor leagues where he can serve as non-roster depth going forward.
Also departing the club’s active roster is Cannon, a 23-year-old rookie who has made three starts in the majors for the White Sox so far this year. That first taste of big league action hasn’t gone particularly well for the youngster, as he’s posted a brutal 7.24 ERA in 13 2/3 innings of work despite a solid 4.04 FIP. Cannon figures to return to the Triple-A rotation and wait for his next opportunity in the majors.
In the meantime, his roster spot will go to Berroa, who figures to replace Garcia in the club’s bullpen. The 24-year-old right-hander was acquired from the Mariners in the deal that sent Gregory Santos to Seattle back in February and has just 1 2/3 big league innings under his belt to this point in his career. He’s struggled mightily to this point at the Triple-A level this season, with an 8.74 ERA across 11 appearances. Nonetheless, he’ll look to contribute to the White Sox bullpen during the middle innings alongside the likes of Jordan Leasure and Dominic Leone.
Lloyd Emerson
Things will definitely start to click for the White Sox now!
Aiden Awe
Hopefully Tommy Pham saves the season.
Dumpster Divin Theo
Theyre on a heater
Prunella Vulgaris
If only they could win a game every time they made a transaction.
YankeesBleacherCreature
Need another today/tmw to maintain their two-game winning streak.
CluHaywood
They are 2-0 in the Tommy Pham era…
Dumpster Divin Theo
3 and oh.
Pants Rowland
nice 🙂
Hotdog 2
Every Yankee is supposed to be a future star
damancash
and every star is supposed to be a future yankee
Dumpster Divin Theo
I see what you did there
10centBeerNight
Old enough to remember Garcia being a future NYY star
mlb fan
“Legendary” bat speed Clint Frazier on line 1.
lesterdnightfly
Two in a row! Two in a row!
Domination instead of Damnation!
“Break up the White Sox!”
Dumpster Divin Theo
Three in a row! Three in a row! Don’t stop now boys!
Atlanta Jack
We have more Royals from last year than they do. Now if we could get George Brett we’d be real contenders.
Blue Baron
Rearranging furniture on the Titanic.
Acoss1331
That’s all they can do, literally throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks.
User 4245925809
Would say Archer returned to the game after TOS is about it. Pitcher with a HOF calibre mouth and strutted around the mound like a peacock while at his best being a mediocre pitcher and that being only a couple of years.
Seemed to enjoy starting disagreements with top players in the game, few future HOF’ers in particular who don’t need to be named.
Dumpster Divin Theo
You mad, bro? How does Arthur Treacher feel?
keysox
Now with a two game winning streak, fire Pedro and Getz on Monday.
Aiden Awe
Getz isn’t going to get fired anytime soon.
nrd1138
Yeah, Getz is likely around still.. Im not a fan of keeping the last guy in the building that knew ‘The Chairmans’ name around just cause he was too lazy to actually look outside the org (or more likely knew any self respecting GM would demand autonomy, and Reinsdorf showed with his LaRussa power move that is not going to happen). However, its still possible that the moves Getz has made pan out, I mean the guys he traded for still are working in the minors, his org hirings also needs more than 1 off season to show if they were the right guys for the job. and that likely buys him at least 3 years (rightly or wrongly)…
Grifol, on the other hand, should have been gone after last season if not only for not knowing that his locker room was leaderless for basically 2/3rds of the season and reportedly only found out as it was called out by outgoing players.
Aiden Awe
White Sox interviewed Getz, Mike Rizzo and Dan Evan’s for the “closed” interview GM process.
Acoss1331
We need to see the fruits of all the moves Getz made first. The team was going to tank we all knew that, but let’s see what young talent translates to first.
Aiden Awe
Yes I agree. If Getz doesn’t turn around the team by 2026-2027 he fails as a GM.
Dumpster Divin Theo
Thorpe looks like the real deal. Pitching staff showing signs. Let’s just wait for Robert and Yoyo to come back.
nrd1138
Thank god, whenever the Sox wanted to lose they would put Garcia in to blow a lead.. Its amazing it took them this long to 86 him
Emilia
I disagree in the sense that Leone is the biggest dumpster fire on the team. Yet, Grifol is madly in love with him.
ski44
What’s the MLB record for most player appearances in a single season by one team? The Good Guys are trending in that direction.
LFGMets (Metsin7) #ConsistentlyBannedBaseballExpert
Surprised the WhiteSox are giving up on Deivi Garcia. Why didn’t they try to trade him for Corbin Carroll or Bryce Harper? Yankee fans were saying he was untouchable years ago. The usual Yankee bust
Yankee Clipper
I don’t recall Garcia being untouchable. He was very highly touted as a prospect, but many are. Just look at all the top prospects on all the teams in MLB that have consistently failed each year; many of them have been ranked higher than Garcia. This includes the Mets who have had some notable fails….like first-rounder, Gavin Cecchini.
Well Hung
Deivi should have been developed as a bullpen piece from the beginning, what little value he had was wasted, doesn’t have the stuff for more than once thru the batting order
Acoss1331
Deivi needs to go to Cleveland, Seattle, Tampa or the Dodgers. Any of those teams can turn him into a viable bullpen arm.
DeepDownSouth
Not 1 single positive post here. Yall are the guys that know your wife is cheating on you & your boss at your miserable job has your termination slip under his desk calendar waiting for the right moment to crush yall little egos. At least yall complain on MLBTR and not at yall wife or boss. Weak People, do weak things
Lloyd Emerson
Well aren’t you just a ray of sunshine?
Dumpster Divin Theo
Speaking of Ray of sunshine, no sunshine for Ray, who just got broomed