The White Sox announced that right-hander James Karinchak was signed to a minor league deal. Karinchak’s contract contains an invitation to Chicago’s big league Spring Training camp.
Shoulder problems kept Karinchak on the shelf for almost the entire 2024 season, as his only game action came in the form of seven appearances and 6 2/3 innings with the Guardians’ Triple-A affiliate. It broke a string of five straight seasons of big league work for Karinchak, who has a 3.10 ERA and a huge 36.3% strikeout rate over his 165 2/3 career innings in the Show, all with Cleveland from 2019-23.
Despite those impressive numbers, Karinchak’s ability to miss bats came with the cost of missing the strike zone, as he also has a 14.1% career walk rate. While it initially seemed as though Karinchak was going to be the latest success story for Cleveland’s pitching factory, his propensity for walks made him unreliable, and the Guardians sent to Triple-A on a few occasions to see if he could sort out his control. Karinchak also started to get a bit homer-prone in 2021, and he missed half of the 2022 season while recovering from a teres major strain.
The Guardians outrighted Karinchak off their roster after the season and then allowed him to enter free agency, which was essentially an early non-tender (Karinchak was projected for a $1.9MM arbitration salary). Karinchak is arbitration-eligible through the 2026 season, so the White Sox have two years of control over his services. It’s not a bad flier to take on a pitcher who, despite his struggles and the caveat of his .248 BABIP, has still enjoyed quite a bit of bottom-line success at the MLB level.
As a division opponent of the Guardians, the White Sox saw plenty of Karinchak as an opponent, and the team will now get a first-hand look at him in camp to see what he can offer heading into his age-29 season. Karinchak’s 174 big league games make him one of the more experienced players within an overall young pitching staff, and there’s naturally plenty of opportunity for Karinchek to win a bullpen job on such an unsettled roster. While Karinchak’s top priority is naturally to show that he’s healthy and can still be effective against big league hitters, he might project as a trade deadline candidate for the rebuilding Sox if everything goes well.
I don’t see why he would have to settle for a minor league deal when he is better than 60% of the leagues current relievers. You can’t convince me that someone like Dylan McCovey can get a major league deal but Karinchak can’t
Yeah what the heck, isn’t this guy really nasty?
That’s what I was thinking, wasn’t he a pretty dominant setup guy for Clase in the not too distant past?
Yeah…no. This guy is essentially a modern day Nuke Laloosh. He was generally a low leverage reliever, not at all a top set up guy. And the reason for that is the “ten cent head” to go along with the million dollar arm.
Still a decent pickup, but there’s a reason no other MLB teams had interest in this guy.
I think he missed all of last season due to an injury so he’s a bit of a risk. That said, his talents seem wasted on the White Sox.
He wont. He’ll be good trade bait at an unbeatable salary at the trade deadline. An actual good move with no downside by Getz.
He was nasty until they started buckling down on tacky substances. He is very frustrating to watch. He will walk the bases loaded and then strike out the next three.
You got it wrong. He’s really goofy. .As in head case.
He’s a victim of the pitch clock. Can no longer run his fingers through his hair, toss the rosin bag, and then flick the ball in the air multiple times.
yeah, he did NOT do well with the pitch clock.
also, pretty sure his stuff took a REAL steep dive when they started cracking down on foreign substances a few years ago…
@DGreenfield The crackdown had so, so much to do with it.
First off, his spin profile pretty much confirmed he was a habitual user of the stuff prior to the crack down. To the point where after the rule change he was specifically targeted by umps and even once an opposing manager. His effectiveness notably dropped off, too.
Once he lost a couple ticks on his fastball, he became incredibly mediocre. And last year in the minors he was never able to get above the low 90s in rehab appearances. So unless he’s healed, he’s cooked.
The pitch clock did get to him. Couldn’t cope afterward and messed with his head. Missed all of last year with a tired arm. If they can get him back in form it would be a steal for the Sox
Injuries are an issue but he doesn’t have control of his stuff. Definitely worth a shot on a minors deal though.
On top of that he is arguably a headcase. Hard to get all 3 of those things on track at the same time.
I’m sure it is because of his lifelong dream to be on the worst team in the history of Major League Baseball. Or, maybe…. You are wrong about his abilities.
He doesn’t have to included on the 40 man roster with a minor league contract. Let’s see what he does during spring training.
White Sox all in on another 100 plus loss season.
Super valuable post from cub fan. Good work.
I actually pull for the White Sox. Not a Cub fan, Sox hater. I want to see them do well, but is there any reason to think they will?
@cubfan Just not value add. What is your point, coming to a decent pickup and ripping on the Sox? Do u think we don’t know they’re awful?
@cubfan you ask if there’s any reason to think they will do well. I say somewhat yes and here’s why. Luis Robert wasn’t healthy last season and if he returns to form, he will be a force until July 30th for the south side. on top of that, there are a lot of young kids who will be playing their butt’s off trying to make an impression and earn playing time and not just go through the motions as many vets did the last 1.5 seasons. Benetendi also improved later in the year. I think their defense will be better which will help. With all that said, I see them doing better than last year, being competitive in more games but still losing 100+ games.
You should look at the Cubs comment threads. Sox fans utterly polluting those every single time.
Bronyaur, how bout obsessing over your own team’s efforts to navigate a one and done? Or are you more fixated on perceived slights to carry on an intelligent baseball conversation?
You’re probably right cubfanforever, but in the grand scheme, how is a 60 win season while rebuilding the farm system noticeably different than faux competing to get to 82 wins and missing the playoffs? Ask the Rays, Orioles, Astros and even Theos Cubs for references. Last year’s tank doesn’t help them unlike say the Astros and Os consecutive 60 hm seasons, but the Sox farm system has gone fron bottom third to consensus top 5.
Thank you Captain Obvious, I had no idea that the White Sox would lose 100 games. So informative!
Pierzynski and Buehrle were both heavy boozers and Buehrle is now getting a statue so it’s obvious they don’t care anymore.
Buehrle was a terrific pitcher and a fan favorite, but “they don’t care anymore” because he liked beverages? What is going on in this comment section lately?
Sends a wrong message to kids that you’ll be rewarded for alcohol abuse. They did the same thing when Ozzie was the manager, showing kids it’s okay to yell and be belligerent to people in authority. They have issues in that organization. That’s a fact man
Buehrle was awesome. A great pitcher, a great teammate, and a favorite of about 90% of Sox fans. The perfect person to have a statue. I honestly had no idea about his drinking prowess until your post, so im guessing “the children” you are worried about didn’t either.
90% of White Sox fan have drinking problems so the math adds up. Yeah Mark was a good pitcher and well liked but a statue should be reserved for HOFers or dead people.
Ok, so someone apparently did not get the autograph they wanted from one of these guys as a kid…
Where exactly is the ‘alcohol abuse’? I mean cite specific examples please. Same with the ‘its OK to yell and be belligerent’.
I mean if you are going to ‘load’ a comment with ‘that’s a fact man’ you better be able to back it up and not just with your opinion of something.
Look it up fella. And anyone that has ever seen Ozzie Guillen manage shouldn’t need proof of his yelling. Good god.
He pitched drunk in the World Series. But nah. That’s not a problem or anything. Get a life
Guillen has a WS win, he got more out of that team in 05 than was expected. He made a A LOT of players better. So again what is your beef, are you like Kenny William’s kid or something?
As for Buehrle, I presume you are referring to game 3 (as that is the only reference I have seen for him drinking during the WS), where he was not expected to pitch that night, he offered to help if needed and the bullpen was basically done. He was not drinking every game..So you are either a Cubs fan who once again gets their ‘facts’ wrong, or you have some personal grudge against these guys for whatever reason.
So, basically, get a clue and stop embarrassing yourself.
It’s well known here that I’m not a Cubs fan.
Fact is he pitched drunk in the World Series. That is a fact. Needed or not, he was drunk in a major league uniform. That’s like saying it’s okay for a cop to be drunk as long as he or she is on desk duty until they are needed in a high speed chase. Dumb.
Tell me this, if Ozzie was so good why hasn’t he EVER worked again?????? Why????
Just stop with your BS. You imply Buehrle did it like he always did that and, in your words, was a ‘heavy boozer’, he was not.. It was a unique situation. Its a thing called ‘context’. For example, just because your comments are inane (like comparing a baseball player to a cop or using one situation to paint the guy as a ‘heavy boozer’) does not necessarily make you inane. Why? sorry Ill answer like you… “Why??????…?????..??? (I hope that’s enough question marks for you). Because of context.
As for Ozzie he made a stupid comment about Cuba and Castro, that’s the main reason. Does he have an ego? Yeah, but he also was fairly successful for the Sox considering having to deal with Kenny Williams. Was he perfect? No But neither is 100% of the rest of the populous (including me and you, champ).
Sure. I’m sure the one and only time he was drunk during a game just happened to be a World Series one. Yeah right. If he does it then, he’s doing it on a Tuesday in June vs the Royals. A hot Thursday in August against the Twins just to cool down. Maybe an Irish coffee on a crisp September Saturday afternoon game too. Wake up. Your hero has issues. Hope he gets help
LOL.
First, People can have a drink, or even 3 beers, and not be a ‘heavy boozer’ or an alcoholic. I mean do a little research before again making inane comments. You can have your fantasies about them having an irish coffee or a beer after a game, but that your deal and again makes you look silly.
Second, he is not my ‘hero’, No one should have ‘heros’ especially if they are celebs or MLB players. Its sounds like you do/did and you feel that these guys ‘let you down’ and, if so, that’s a ‘you’ issue and you should keep it to yourself otherwise you just come off as silly exposing your baggage.
Drinking on the job is wrong. You can try to justify it all you’d like by putting a number in front of it but it’s wrong. You can’t be that dense.
…or maybe you can be.
So he was really drinking and sometimes drunk in the clubhouse while games were going on? If so I agree with your comments. I had never heard this about Buehrle. That’s the kind of stuff I thought went on more in the old days with boozers like Ruth and Hack Wilson.
Pinky thinks he has the stinky on Buehrle, but other than one supposed example, he hasn’t given much reason to believe that.
It’s so stupid how alcohol is allowed to be sold over the counter and yet other drugs are “controlled substances.”
pinkie: Lots of players, some of which are in the HOF, drank heavily. Grover Cleveland Alexander (HOFer) had to be dragged out of a bar and brought to the park on the days he pitched. You don’t like people who drink,vfine. You’re entitled to your opinion. But yelling at players, that’s going to traumatize the youth of America? All Ozzie’s yelling did was win us a world series. I doubt that decimated the players’ psyche. You sound like a religious nut case who can’t see any way but your own.
Don’t forget Guilliani, Kudlow and now Hegseth – some people can climb the ladder – if you work for the right guy.
@Pinklepink, Who is the dense one here? I clearly noted there is context in the ONE example you labelled Buehrle as a ‘heavy boozer’ as you said. You are implying that Buehrle is a drunkard and has been doing this during games his whole career. Prove it or its just slandering a player for some unforeseen reason (other than you are putting these guys on some sort of pedestal and you feel slighted by them)?
Should people get drunk? No (duh)
Should people be drinking on the job? No (duh) but then again you have offered no actual proof of Buehrle being a ‘drunk’ or ‘ heavy boozer’ as you said earlier or was even ‘drunk’ during that situation in the WS..
Is Pinky the new BlackPink pseudonym? Sounds just as argumentative and downright silly…
Buerhle is one of the most fan friendly and endearing guys in the game. Some of the best in game stories are how he never believed in jinxes- and was as relaxed as they come. During his no hitter and perfect game when it’s custom for players to avoid the pitcher, he’d saddle up to everyone and mention, hey, you realize there’s a no hitter going on? Better story is when a buddy of his was celebrating a bachelor party in one of the stadium suites. When the Sox were up to bat, his buddy hears a knock at the door, opens it, and it’s Mark, wishing his buddy well and making the rounds. His buddy is like “aren’t you still in the game, as the starting pitcher?”
Oh and Buerhle was at SoxFest last night and bought a round for everyone in attendance
Pinkie pink are you making a blanket statement about the White Sox tendency to draw larger shares of people of color, African Americans, Latinos and Asians, or the team’s huge outreach to students? As in 90% of minorities and students are drunk? Or the professionals who live in the city who tend to go to Sox games, because they, uh work in the day? Maybe you’re misremembering which team in Chicago is famous for the cup snakes and $25 beer bats, and after paying $75 for bleacher tickets to see and be seen, leave after the 7th inning stretch. Seems doubtful you’ve left the friendly confines of your nana’s utility closet to undertake your uh, sociological research.
Karinchak is definitely worth a shot. Shoulder and control issues, but when right he is unhittable.
Hopefully he’s in good form, could be a nice trade chip at the deadline.
Ehh its a fine deal, I know the Wsox don’t need pitchers but adding pitching depth can’t hurt them.
They could be stashing high-ish risk/high upside guys to flip at the deadline. Karinchak is a good bullpen arm when he’s right.
Let’s not go crazy. If he was anything he wouldn’t be grasping for straws by signing a minor league White Sox contract.
Man those 2022 guardians were so fun
The big 3 of clase Stephan and karinchak flamed out quickly (except for clase)
And Plesac too!
Good. If he comes up Rocco Baldelli can still mess with him for fiddling with his hair.
kubel2009: Hey, we dealt with Clevinger’s odd rocking motion before throwing a pitch, we can handle a hair flinger.
Great another ‘scrapheap’ deal. I mean I get it, the Sox are not likely doing anything this year (if not being just as painful as last year was) but this fantasy that they are going to flip any of these guys for a diamond in the rough is a bit much, teams know what these guys are worth. They are not giving up top talent for middling returns. The White Sox typically are the only team to do that, so I guess they think others do as well?
That and I do not trust Getz to be a master talent evaluator either considering he was in player development before his current role and we have seen the lack of returns from that period.
Scrap heap is their best way to attempt to be competitive. No decent free agent will sign with them. Their farm system is weak. The culture was so bad most of their players from last season need to be let go.
Actually their farm system is a bit better than the past few seasons.
It should be if you trade all of the ‘A’ listers for prospects, but even then those guys need to translate to the majors. To be fair, Im not talking about the pitchers. The one thing I can give the Sox system credit for is they always seem to find pitchers, but its equally as frustrating to see that they never can develop hitters over that same time.
Especially LHP which they have a crop of. Eder, Bush, Schultz, Smith to list a few. Though Bush and Eder started in different orgs.
A future potential one two punch of Eder/Bush.
Sorry, couldn’t help myself.
Flip side to the Cubs, who develop position players but not pitchers
For those of you confused why a guy with such electric stuff is on a minor league deal with the White Sox, it’s because this guy completely fell apart after the sticky stuff crack down and simply couldn’t handle the pitch clock. He’s a nutcase. He was unable to repair himself with Cleveland’s pitching staff, so I’m skeptical he can do it anywhere else.
I’ve heard this a lot, but what are the actual numbers supporting this? I’ve never seen these claims substantiated.
That’s what I remember also.
Great get, underrated player. He’ll be one of their BP’s best players I’d wager.
NEWWWWWWBURGH
Ugh hope he fails. Such an easy player to hate. He talked so much crap and then his rpm took the biggest hit of any player after they cut down on the sticky stuff
I love him. I especially like his views on certain “issues,” lol.
Pinkiepink sure sounds like the fun police. Don’t be jealous the White Sox just got Ricky Vaughn 2.0!
Quit being a KAREN and .99 cents beer nights are back!!!
I’ll drink what you’re drinking. Yeah, fun. Get the punk Rocker or just punk Plesac too, the dude who partied out with Clevinger with his buddies from NW Indiana when the team was under Covid quarantine and got sent back to Ohio in an uber
The Chisox pick up Karinchak at NO RISK. Nothing ventured, a lot to gain if he works out.
There is no downside.
Even if he doesn’t work out, it’s the definition of a good move.
Karinchak, WHEN HEALTHY, was maddening to watch, but had good overall results.
Unlike Cleveland, that has MLB quality relievers backed up to AA, Chicago has a dearth of relievers, and therefore the innings for him to work back into shape and attempt to fix his problems.
Optimistic to see what Bannister-Katz do to fix him up. Fills the void left when little boy Getz let Kopech go for next to nothing. Doesn’t Getz strike the pose of some little Richie rich wearing a blue sailor suit and exclaiming “pa pa, I want to run baseball team. And I want a pony too”
Karinchak needed Spider Tack to be successful.
Guardians fan here. There’s a reason he was available on a minor league deal, but he’s a gamble worth taking.
He throws hard and has a good fastball/curve combo, strikes guys out in bunches, and I’m a firm believer that most teams need at least one late-inning reliever who’s just batshit crazy on the mound. He has the type of demeanor I love in a bullpen guy.
But he’s also had huge problems staying healthy and to say he can struggle with his command would be putting it mildly. He’ll go through extended phases of not being able to throw strikes at all. And that’s to say nothing of how much different he’s been since the crackdown on sticky stuff and the start of the pitch clock.
But at his best he’ll blow an upper 90s fastball right past you and then drop a 12-6 hammer at your knees. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s closing games for them at some point this season, and it’s not just because of their lack of bullpen depth either.
Yes, but it would also not be surprising if he were out of baseball completely by June.
That wouldn’t surprise me either. He’s a high-variance reliever but worth a cheap gamble, especially on a minor league deal with a team that needs talent anywhere they can find it
Once crossed up his signs and broke his catchers hand (and ended his season). Dude throws two pitches. Two, Utah, two.
Mr. Reinsdorf please sell the team. Terrible brand of baseball from ownership to low minors. Ask the Southside.
Likey likey