The White Sox today informed catcher Omar Narváez and infielder Chase Meidroth that they would not be making the Opening Day roster. The news was relayed by James Fegan of Sox Machine. Meidroth, a prospect not on the 40-man roster, will start the season at Triple-A Charlotte. Narváez is a veteran who was in camp on a minor league deal. He had an opt-out in that deal and has now been released, though Fegan suggests it’s possible he re-signs on a new minor league deal.
Narváez, 33, has had some good seasons but is coming off a rough two-year stretch. He signed a two-year, $15MM deal with the Mets going into 2023 but that pact went south quickly. He suffered a significant left calf strain in the first season of the deal. He only got into 49 games and hit just .211/.283/.297. To start 2024, he put up a line .154/.191/.185 and was released in early June. A minor league deal with the Astros didn’t get him back on track, as he hit .196/.325/.304 for their Triple-A club down the stretch.
For what it’s worth, his numbers have been more respectable in camp with the White Sox. He had a .250/.400/.333 line in 30 spring plate appearances. However, the Sox are going to roll with Korey Lee and Matt Thaiss as their catching duo, which squeezed out Narváez.
He’ll now have a chance to see what opportunities are available to him in the next few days. He had a solid track record prior to that ill-fated Mets deal, with a .251/.334/.374 career batting line and 96 wRC+ through the end of the 2022 season. His defense wasn’t well regarded when he first made the big leagues but became stronger as his career progressed. Several clubs in the league are dealing with catcher injuries, so he might get a few calls, but it also seems possible he returns to the Sox to give them some non-roster depth.
As for Meidroth, he was just acquired from the Red Sox as part of the Garrett Crochet deal. He spent last year at Triple-A and hit .293/.437/.400 over 122 games. That perhaps gave him a chance to crack the big league roster out of camp but he hit just .154/.313/.179 here in the spring.
That will get him sent back to the Triple-A level to start the year but a midseason promotion should be attainable with a good stretch of play. He has spent a lot of time at the three infield spots to the left of first base and the Sox don’t have a lot of certainty in their middle infield right now, with guys like Jacob Amaya and Lenyn Sosa seemingly slated for a lot of playing time.
Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images
I mean, statistically speaking it’s almost impossible for the White Sox to be as bad as last year, and not for lack of trying…
Nobody predicted the Wsox losing 121 games last season, I think most ppl knew they were a normal bad team but not historically/recording breaking bad.
Well combine that with little if any leadership, coaching, and a culture of ‘meh’ and you get 121 losses.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I do believe they will lose more than 122 games this year. They suck.
They’ll only improve bc of the law of averages and or regression.
Strauss: Agree.
Odds are astronomically against that, but go place a bet. The house loves taking your cash.
You can’t win if you don’t play.
This team is worse than last years.
The pitching staff looks worse.
The only player worth anything on the 2024 whitesox is gone
Soooo 130 L this yr?
Released Narvaez. Time served.
50-112 feels right. Still awful, but new manager and establishing some motivation/accountability helps vs no one respecting Grifol from day 1. Bottom 3 to help ’26 lottery ping pong ball odds pretty much a given.
I agree that they will be in that range. About 110 losses.
Why was Grifol so disrespected? Was he really that bad?
Yes he was that bad.
Imagine how bad you think he was, and multiply it by 1000.
Total assclown.
Almost no reason to go see this team early season. If/When Meidroth, Teel, Quero, Montgomery, Schultz, Smith come up there may be a SLIGHT bump in entertainment value but this Opening Day roster… WOOF!!
Maybe time to really look for a Robert trade with Cincy as soon as he hits a hot stretch.
Most of those players will not be up at all in 2025 and the others just a bit.
WhySox: Why single out Cincy? There are 29 teams to trade with?
Mr. Reinsdorf please sell the team. Terrible brand of baseball from ownership to low minors, ask the Southside. More going on in parking lot than the field.
To be fair, there is a lot going on in the stands too. Might get shot by a accidental discharge of a weapon via a woman who smuggles a gun in her fat rolls (allegedly). Only for the league, team and city to sweep it under the rug.
Jerry Reinsdorf is 89 years-old and will likely sell the White Sox soon and leave the Bulls to his son Michael. Chicago based billionaire Justin Ishbia pulled out his chance to own the Twins and upped his minority stake in the White Sox which gives him a path to purchase the team in the near future.
The White Sox minor league teams are on the rise. They now have a consensus top-5 farm system. Their AA team in Birmingham won the Southern League championship last season while their A- club in Kannapolis were runners-up after losing a winner-take-all third game for the Carolina League title.
Sapoznik: At 89, he’s more likely to die soon.
Blue Baron Either way is fine, as long as he’s gone.
I disagree here. Meidroth and Colson could be up May/June. Teel/Quero might be up June/July. The pitchers might be held down to go after rookie award compensation in 2026 though.
Those guys will likely not be up this season, Heck they will be lucky if they do enough in the minors to warrant a call up (especially with the witless ‘instructional coaches’ the Sox org has). This is a rebuild, and it will be painfully slow at that, as the Mummy ain’t going to pay anyone extensions this time. Would not be surprised to see Thorpe traded before the ‘rebuild’ shows any rewards. I fail to see the Sox trying this season to be better, but only trying to get the top 10 pick they missed last season by being so godawful after being godawful the year prior..
I think the only way this rebuild speeds up is if the mummy sells, or kicks the bucket, and a more competent owner shows up and appears to want to win.
You don’t think any of those guys will be up this season?? Ok…
The mummy? Or did you mean Mommy and just mistype. As in maw. Meatloaf!!
The White Sox might be making a mistake by letting go of Omar Narváez and sending Chase Meidroth to the minors. Narváez has been bad lately, but he was good before, which means he’s unpredictable—he could be terrible or great. Meidroth, on the other hand, is steady but not amazing. Teams usually pick players based on what they’re expected to do, like their average stats. But what if mixing unpredictable guys like Narváez with steady ones like Meidroth is smarter? Over a long season, the ups and downs could balance out to something better than just picking safe, middle-of-the-road players like the Sox are doing with Lee and Thaiss. If Narváez gets hot with another team, the Sox will look dumb for not taking that cheap chance.
Uh. Wot?
@Dumpster Divin Theo
Basically, I’m saying the White Sox might be playing it too safe. Narváez is a wild card—could flop or could suddenly hit like he used to. Meidroth’s more predictable, just solid, not flashy. Sticking with safe bets like Lee and Thaiss is fine, but if you mix a risky guy with a steady one, you might get a bigger payoff over 162 games. Like, if Narváez goes off for someone else, Sox fans are gonna be pissed they didn’t roll the dice on him for cheap.
I see. They cant be worried about 30 somethings like Narvaez or Drury going off- when it comes to the 40 man roster tho. What’s the upside? Flip him for something middling? Or just grab someone interesting now that they see who’s younger with upside, like their recent Rule 5 claims? Think as Fegan notes, with a lot of other NRIs, which have the boilerplate clause that they get released if not starting opening day, lot of these deals get renegotiated as straight minor league deals once the season starts. And i could see Omar, all things being equal, returning to a club where he had some success, especially after cashing that Mets check. Fans get easily stressed when they see someone getting cut thinking some other team will swoop in, but forget that every other team is dealing with 40 man roster decisions. Lot of risk analysis goes into final roster cut downs
This team is still run by idiots. Meidroth has nothing left to prove at AAA and the team is going to be absolute crap anyway, so why isn’t he getting acclimated to the bigs?
Is the service time clock still a thing?
Don’t see the rush. Give him a few weeks in your system. Won’t have to show much to advance. Also gives them a chance to evaluate the likes of Vargas and Sosa
But agree there are idiots amuck. Both can be right.
Hey, maybe the Sox do really well and ‘The Mummy’ can fire Venable and bring the zombie of LaRussa back as manager to ruin another rebuild.