The White Sox have claimed right-handed pitcher Enyel De Los Santos off of waivers from the Yankees, the team announced. The club also recalled right-hander Gus Varland from Triple-A Charlotte and placed fellow right-hander Steven Wilson on the 15-day injured list with a lower back strain. In addition, the White Sox transferred righty Mike Clevinger to the 60-day IL. The veteran underwent season-ending neck surgery in July. Transferring Clevinger to the 60-day IL frees up a space for De Los Santos on the 40-man. However, the White Sox will need to make an additional transaction in order to add him to the 26-man roster.
De Los Santos, 28, started the 2024 season with the Padres, who acquired him over the winter in exchange for Scott Barlow. Across 44 games for San Diego, De Los Santos pitched to a mediocre 4.46 ERA, giving up 21 runs (20 earned) on 39 hits over 40 1/3 innings. His underlying numbers were a little more promising (3.22 SIERA, 3.91 xFIP), and he was solid for the Guardians from 2022-23, putting up a 3.18 ERA and 3.57 SIERA over 120 appearances. Nonetheless, the Padres ran out of room for him after acquiring several new relievers at the trade deadline, so they flipped him to the Yankees alongside pitching prospect Thomas Balboni Jr. in exchange for minor league outfielder Brandon Lockridge.
The Yankees quickly soured on De Los Santos, however, designating him for assignment earlier this week. Funnily enough, the final straw for De Los Santos in the Bronx might have been his outing against the White Sox on Monday, when he gave up seven earned runs to his future team in 1 2/3 innings of work.
At this point in the season, the White Sox are simply looking for live arms to help them get to the finish line. They rank last in the AL with a 5.03 bullpen ERA, and their relief corps has been even worse as of late, pitching to a 6.17 ERA since the All-Star break. De Los Santos should be more than capable of providing the White Sox with innings over the final weeks of the season, and he could prove to be quite a smart pickup for Chris Getz and Co. if he rediscovers his 2022-23 form. He will be eligible for arbitration in 2025 and ’26, should the White Sox choose to keep him around.
The White Sox claimed Varland, 27, off of waivers from the Dodgers earlier this month. Neither his Triple-A numbers nor his MLB stats are particularly inspiring, but he can serve as additional bullpen depth for Chicago. Varland has a career 5.81 ERA and 5.45 SIERA across 26 1/3 innings with the Brewers and Dodgers over the past two years. Meanwhile, he has a 7.47 ERA and 5.00 FIP in 37 1/3 innings at Triple-A this season.
Wilson, 29, joined the White Sox this offseason as part of the trade that sent Dylan Cease to the Padres. Although he put up solid numbers during his two seasons in San Diego (3.48 ERA, 4.20 SIERA in 106 IP), he has had a difficult year in Chicago. Not only is this his second stint on the injured list with back troubles, but he has a 5.71 ERA and 5.38 SIERA in 40 appearances. According to Win Probability Added (WPA) and FanGraphs WAR, he has been one of the ten least valuable relievers in the AL this season.
Welcome, Enyel.
Are you prepared to suffer?
(I feel so bad for anybody going to South Side.)
He’s ready to help break the all-time losing record. Excellent addition to this team’s goal!
That Balboni kid that the Yankees received in the trade appears to be another Nuke LaLoosh. 60 k’s in 34.1 innings.
I may be by myself, but count me in on the Chris Getz fan club. Enyel is a no-brainer. Excellent turnaround candidate to flip next year. Give Getz some credit with Garret Crochet. He passed on River Ryan from the Dodgers earlier this year all because of medical concerns. Getz also avoided the D.L. Hall debacle currently being dealt with by the Brewers from the Corbin Burnes deal. Next step, is the get Miguel Gonzalez to start hitting the damn ball.
Hall wasn’t the main part of the Burnes deal…
Joey Ortiz was a top 100 prospect and now he is a quality big leaguer with potential
So far it’s still a win-win trade
You didn’t want to get more back than just a dude who looks like an average major leaguer??? Hall was the arm that was supposed to make losing Burnes not hurt so much.
@Barry, ROFL.
Noah Schulz looks like are next left-handed pitching stud. Hagen Smith is coming right behind him. Drew Thorpe pitched like a guy who is gonna be in the rotation the next several years. Jairo Iriarte also came over the deal for Cease, and he continues to look like a future rotation piece. Edgar Quero will be behind the plate at some point next year. Got him for Giolito. We may not have a lot of wins, but have what appears to be a pretty solid rebuild underway with Chris Getz.
Just need a whole new infield and a whole new outfield.
They lack hitters not named Quero though.
Hey Barry – – you left out the beloved, Colson Montgomery! Isn’t he the next superstar at the doorstep of 35th Street? That’s been the word for the last 2 years. How’s he doin? How you doin?
@Barry, not sure who Miggy Gonzalez is, is he a Sox prospect up and coming yet buried in the Getz purgatory like Ramos and Colas,….?
Well whomever Miggy Gonzo is, let’s hope he hits. Sox need some.
Speaking of hitting, did people see the report/nugget out of AZ DBacks beat writers that back in winter for that Mena’ trade Getz had option of Fletcher or McCarthy? What?? Wtf, Getz and his awful Scouts blew that one,
NOBODY with a brain who has watched any AZ ball (90% of this forum would even choose Jake over Dom) would have passed on a jake McCarthy in that scenario.
Another in long list of Getz gaffes, Getz obviously cannot scout, so he needs new scouting directors, blow it up, and where was Barfield in that decision? Barfield came from AZ, just turrible.
Thank you Yankees for the prospect
He’s been pitching in the majors since 2018. But GL to him!
YankeesBleacherCreature,
What he meant to say is, thank you Yankees for accelerating our awful season!
Going from playoff contenders to the White Sox, oof. Hopefully he pitches well, rebuilds some value, and gets flipped to a better team.
Grady has them playing at a sexy .333 pace and now this. The rebuild has begun!
Future Immaculate Grid legend!
Good claim by the White Sox. This guy managed to fetch a former closer in Barlow last offseason, and was still fetching some value a month ago. If he turns it around you can flip him either this offseason or next deadline for some young help. This is the exact sort of gamble you should be taking at this point.
He was going to be claimed by some team, multiple teams actually, and looks like the first team that could claim him did. The Yankees really didn’t want to DFA him either, but it was a numbers game. A decent turnaround candidate.
Hopefully they can rebound next season and win a well deserved WS for Jerry.
Good move. A little upside and practically no risk.
Wait until Cashman trades for him during the off-season by sending two prospects, then, to make room on the 25/40, waives a third one who’s also a prospect.
Good riddance !
DeLos is a great low leverage relief pitcher (eats innings, doesn’t give up a ton of runs), so he’ll have plenty of work with the Pale Hose.
sox traded 3 pitchers at the deadline and have placed 4 on the IL since about the same time.
.good thing they can call guys up in September.
Because the White Sox claimed him, do you they pay his full remaining salary and not just the minimum? Does anyone know how much the difference is? Thanks.
He’s making $1.6MM so the Padres paid the most. Yankees were due to owe the remaining of that now minus the prorated minimum the White Sox pay him.
The Sox claimed him. So, they assume the contract and will pay him at the $1.6MM level for the rest of the year, not just the minimum. If he had been released and signed as a free agent, then they would pay at the minimum.
I stand corrected.
Sox’ logic was probably, “We love this guy. We scored like crazy when he was pitching.”
Congrats, Enrel. You can grow your beard back.
May as well. If he pitches well, try to reach a deal instead of arbitration. If not, nobody will remember him.