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Alex Speas

Twins Sign Alex Speas To Minor League Contract

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The Twins have signed right-hander Alex Speas, as initially announced by Speas’ agency, Munger English Sports Management (X link).  Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star Tribune confirmed that it is a minor league deal, and SKOR North’s Darren Wolfson adds that Speas will get an invitation to the Twins’ big league Spring Training camp.

Minnesota becomes Speas’ sixth different MLB organization within the last 14 months.  A second-round pick for the Rangers in the 2016 draft, Speas spent his entire pro career with Texas until October 2023, when the White Sox claimed the righty off waivers.  The A’s traded for Speas last April, and he subsequently went to the Astros and then the Red Sox on other waiver claims after being designated for assignment.  Boston DFA’ed Speas as well and outrighted him off their 40-man roster in August, and Speas finished out the season pitching with Triple-A Worcester.

Speas’ transactional whirlwind resulted in just a single game at the Major League level, as he tossed two relief innings for the Astros on May 31 (in a 6-1 loss to his new team, the Twins).  Speas’ overall MLB resume consists of four games, as he first reached the Show with three appearances for Texas during the 2023 season.  Speas has a 9.00 ERA in that small sample size as a big leaguer, and an 8.69 ERA in 58 career innings at the Triple-A level.

Those struggles can be directly traced to a garish 23.05% walk rate, as Speas’ inability to find the plate has left him unable to claim any sort of foothold in the majors.  Since Speas has a 28.13% strikeout rate at Triple-A and a fastball in the 100mph range, it is easy to see why teams keep taking chances on Speas, and the Twins will become the latest club to see if it can harness Speas’ control and turn him into a useful relief pitcher.  Speas turns 27 in March, so it isn’t too late for him to break out if he can deliver even a passable walk rate.

Minor MLB Transactions: 7/30/24

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Catching up on some minor transactions from around the league…

  • Guardians right-hander Spencer Howard has elected free agency after being designated for assignment last week. The right-hander was acquired by Cleveland in a trade with the Giants earlier this month after he had been DFA’d in San Francisco. A second-round pick by the Phillies in the 2017 draft and a former consensus top-40 prospect in the game, Howard has struggled badly at the big league level throughout his career. In parts of five seasons with the Phillies, Rangers, Giants, and Guardians, the righty sports a 7.00 ERA in 144 innings of work with a 5.63 FIP and a 19.9% strikeout rate. In recent seasons, his struggles in the majors have extended to his time at Triple-A, where he now sports a career 4.83 ERA in 143 1/3 frames.
  • Pirates left-hander Josh Fleming elected free agency after being designated for assignment last week. Fleming signed a split contract with the club back in February and was outrighted off the club’s roster in May, though he was selected back to the roster last month. Though he struggled in his first stint with the Pirates, he’s looked quite good in 12 1/3 innings of work since returning to the big leagues with a 1.46 ERA, though he’s only notched four strikeouts in that time. Still, teams on the hunt for lefty bullpen depth could consider turning to Fleming on the back of that solid recent work and his strong 58.4% career groundball rate.
  • Red Sox right-hander Alex Speas was outrighted to Triple-A after being designated for assignment to make room for catcher Danny Jansen on the club’s 40-man roster. Speas, 26, never appeared at the big league level for Boston after being claimed off waivers from the Astros late last month. Since making his MLB debut with the Rangers last year, the right-hander has just four big league appearances under his belt over which he owns a 9.00 ERA and matching 30% strikeout and walk rates. He’s struggled badly at the Triple-A level for four different organizations this year with a collective 11.47 ERA in 24 1/3 innings of work between the Astros, A’s, White Sox, and Red Sox affiliates.
  • Mets right-hander Shintaro Fujinami was outrighted to Triple-A after being designated for assignment to make room for the return of Kodai Senga from the injured list last week. Fujinami boasted impressive strikeout rates in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball but paired that high-octane stuff with control issues. He signed with the A’s during the 2022-23 offseason but struggled badly with them as he pitched to an 8.57 ERA with a 13% walk rate. His 4.85 ERA and 4.13 FIP with the Orioles were more palatable, leading the Mets to sign him to a one-year deal, but he’s struggled to a 10.95 ERA at the Triple-A level this year without pitching in the majors.

Red Sox Acquire Danny Jansen

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The Red Sox turned to a division rival to upgrade behind the plate. Boston announced the acquisition of Danny Jansen for a trio of prospects: infielders Cutter Coffey and Eddinson Paulino and pitcher Gilberto Batista. Boston designated reliever Alex Speas for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Jansen is the second impending free agent traded by Toronto in as many days. They sent righty reliever Yimi García to Seattle yesterday.Yusei Kikuchi is a lock to move by next Tuesday, while Trevor Richards, Justin Turner and Kevin Kiermaier could go as well. The Jays have thus far been resistant to trading key players whom they control beyond this season.

The 29-year-old Jansen is the top impending free agent catcher. He once seemed to be running away with that title and looked on track for a three- or four-year deal. That’s not the case anymore, as his bat has wilted over the past couple months. Jansen carried a robust .287/.371/.535 slash line into June. He’s hitting .134/.232/.196 in 112 plate appearances since that point. His walk and strikeout rates are right around average, but he only has one home run and four extra-base hits over the past two months.

Jansen’s overall .212/.303/.369 slash is seven percentage points below league average, as measured by wRC+. That’s fine output for a catcher but below Jansen’s typical level. He was an above-average hitter in all three seasons from 2021-23, combining for a .237/.317/.487 mark in 754 trips to the plate. At his best, Jansen blends a patient approach with good contact skills and double-digit homer power. He’s amidst one of the worst stretches of his career but clearly has the talent to perform better than he has over the past couple months.

Before his recent slump, the biggest knock on Jansen was his lack of availability. He has been on the injured list seven times over the past four seasons due to hamstring, oblique, groin, and hand injuries. Some of those were fluke occurrences suffered on a hit-by-pitch, including a season-opening IL stay this year due to a right wrist fracture sustained in Spring Training. Nevertheless, the injuries have dealt a hit to his value. Jansen has only once reached 90 games in a season. His career high sits at 107 games played and 384 plate appearances back in 2019.

The Red Sox have had one of the more productive catching groups in baseball. They entered play today with a .280/.349/.407 slash at the position. That’s almost entirely because of a breakout year from Connor Wong, who’s hitting .299/.362/.440 in 77 games. Backup Reese McGuire owns a .209/.280/.295 mark over 53 contests. McGuire is out of options and could eventually be squeezed off the roster. Boston will otherwise need to carry three catchers.

Jansen is a quality defender who could split time between catcher and designated hitter. He’s also a right-handed hitter, a stated goal for Boston chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, though he’s been more productive against same-handed pitchers than southpaws over the past few years. The Sox may still look for a more traditional lefty masher who could rotate through the outfield.

The Jays and Jansen agreed to a $5.2MM salary for his final arbitration season. Boston will take on roughly $1.8MM. RosterResource calculates their competitive balance tax number just shy of $220MM. Pushing near $222MM still leaves them with roughly $15MM before reaching the base threshold, so the front office should have plenty of financial margin for future pickups.

Toronto continues its look towards the future. Coffey, a right-handed hitting infielder, was a second-round pick out of high school two seasons ago. The 20-year-old has spent the entire year in High-A, where he owns a .238/.321/.463 slash line. Coffey has drilled 14 homers and 12 doubles in 61 games. He’s walking at a solid 10.3% clip against a slightly elevated 24% strikeout rate. He has played mostly third base with some action at both middle infield spots.

Paulino, 22, ranked 18th on Baseball America’s most recent update of Boston prospects. The native of the Dominican Republic is hitting .263/.349/.391 in 69 games at Double-A Portland. He only has three homers but has decent walk (10.4%) and strikeout (21.6%) numbers. Like Coffey, he has spent the majority of his time at third base and handled all three infield spots to the left of first. He’ll be eligible for the Rule 5 draft next offseason. Batista is a 19-year-old rookie ball pitcher who signed out of the Dominican Republic during the 2022-23 international period.

Speas has kicked around the waiver wire all season. Boston grabbed the hard-throwing righty from the Astros at the end of June. He has spent most of the year in Triple-A, where he’s allowing more than 11 earned runs per nine innings. A former second-round pick of the Rangers, Speas has four major league games under his belt. He runs his fastball into the triple digits but he’s walking more than a batter per inning in the minors. The Sox will likely try to sneak him through waivers in the next few days.

Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic first reported the Jays and Red Sox were in serious discussion on a Jansen deal. Jeff Passan of ESPN confirmed a deal was in place and was first to report Coffey’s inclusion. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com added that the Jays were receiving three prospects in total.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Red Sox Claim Alex Speas From Astros

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The Red Sox have claimed right-hander Alex Speas off waivers from the Astros.  Speas was designated for assignment by Houston last week.

A second-round pick for the Rangers in the 2016 draft, Speas didn’t really start to live up that prospect status until the 2023 season, when he had a 2.86 ERA over 56 2/3 combined innings (28 1/3 frames each) at the Double-A and Triple-A levels.  It was a comeback season for Speas, who missed virtually all of 2019-20 recovering from Tommy John surgery, and he stepped away from baseball entirely in 2022.  Speas’ minor league performance earned him his MLB debut, as he had three appearances and two innings with the Rangers last July.

Texas designated Speas for assignment in late September, and the White Sox quickly snapped him up on waivers.  This started a run of frequent trips to DFA limbo and the waiver wire for Speas, who was designated by Chicago and then dealt to the A’s in early April, and designated again by Oakland at the start of May before Houston made another claim.  This latest stint with the Astros did result in one more big league game for Speas before he was again DFA’ed and now finds himself as a member of the Red Sox organization.

It is easy to see the appeal in Speas, whose fastball sits in the high 90’s and has been known to hit the 100mph threshold.  The tremendous velocity has helped Speas post a 32.73% strikeout rate across his 165 1/3 career innings in the minors, yet his whopping 18.24% walk rate provides an easy answer to why the 26-year-old has yet to gain a solid foothold in the big leagues or even in the upper minors.  Over 21 2/3 combined Triple-A innings this season, Speas has a 10.38 ERA, and bouncing between three different teams provides only a limited excuse considering that Speas has more walks (22) than innings pitched.

The Sox are the latest team to see if they can solve Speas’ control problems, or at least make them passable enough so he can be a viable Major League hurler.  Boston’s pitching development system has been overhauled under new chief baseball officer Craig Breslow with some improved results already showing at the MLB level, and Breslow himself knows a few things about harnessing and managing control issues from his own days as a pitcher.

Astros To Select Bryan King, Designate Alex Speas

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1:45PM: Right-hander Alex Speas was designated for assignment to create a 40-man roster spot for King.  Speas was claimed off waivers from the Athletics last month, and threw two innings in his lone MLB game in an Astros uniform (Houston’s 6-1 loss to the Twins on May 31.)

The hard-throwing Speas’ only other Major League experience came in the form of three appearances for the Rangers in 2023.  A second-round pick for Texas in the 2016 draft, Speas has a big 32.73% strikeout rate over 165 1/3 career minor league innings, but also a 5.01 ERA and an ungainly 18.24% walk rate.

12:13PM: Bloss will indeed be placed on the 15-day IL due to shoulder discomfort, manager Joe Espada told the Houston Chronicle’s Matt Kawahara and other reporters.

8:38AM: The Astros will select the contract of left-hander Bryan King from Triple-A, MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart reports (X link), and righty Luis Contreras has also been called back up to the 26-man roster after being optioned to Triple-A on Thursday.  Houston optioned right-hander Nick Hernandez to Triple-A, and Contreras’ quick return would indicate that another player is being placed on the injured list, since Contreras wouldn’t have otherwise been eligible for another call-up within 10 days of his demotion.

The injured player is likely Jake Bloss, as the right-hander’s MLB debut was cut short in the fourth inning yesterday due to shoulder discomfort.  Bloss described the injury to McTaggart and other reporters as “a little tweak” and that “it doesn’t feel like anything that serious,” but the Astros’ subsequent transactions indicate that a trip to the 15-day injured list could be looming.  It makes for a bittersweet birthday present for Bloss since he turns 23 tomorrow, coming on the heels of allowing two runs over 3 2/3 innings in his first game in the Show.

Assuming that Bloss does need to miss time, he’ll join nine other pitchers on Houston’s injured list, as the Astros’ pitching depth has been badly depleted all season long.  To cover innings, 26 different players have taken the mound for the Astros this season, and King will be the 27th once he makes his Major League debut.  The Astros will need to make another transaction to open up a 40-man roster spot for the 27-year-old King.

The Cubs made King a 30th-round selection in the 2019 draft, and he has a 2.77 ERA over 123 2/3 career minor league innings, all as a reliever.  King’s time on the mound has been limited by both the canceled 2020 minor league season and by a Tommy John surgery that sidelined him for the entirety of the 2023 campaign.  Fortunately, it seems as though King has returned from rehab in fine form, posting a 1.87 ERA, 51.9% grounder rate, and 29.9% strikeout rate in 33 2/3 innings for Triple-A Sugar Land this season.

A 3.86 xFIP and an 82.9% strand rate indicate some level of good fortune in King’s numbers, and a 10.2% walk rate is still a little high, if an improvement over greater control problems the southpaw endured earlier in his career.  That said, if King can show he can hang at the majors, he could get an extended look both because the Astros simply need healthy arms, and because Houston’s bullpen is short of left-handed depth.  With Bennett Sousa done for the season due to thoracic outlet syndrome surgery, closer Josh Hader is the only southpaw in Houston’s bullpen.

Astros Claim Alex Speas, Designate Corey Julks

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The Astros have claimed right-hander Alex Speas off waivers from the Athletics, per an announcement from the A’s. Oakland had designated him for assignment earlier this week. The Astros opened a roster spot by designating outfielder Corey Julks for assignment, per Chandler Rome of The Athletic. Speas has been optioned to Triple-A already.

Speas, 26, is capable of getting into triple-digit territory with his fastball. However, as if often the case for pitchers with that kind of power, controlling it has been an issue. He started last year at the Double-A level in the Rangers’ system. He tossed 28 1/3 innings at that level with a walk rate of 11.3%, but was able to work around that by striking out 40.9% of batters faced, leading to an earned run average of 0.64.

Moving up to the higher levels, he found it more challenging to overcome the lack of control. He tossed another 28 1/3 innings at Triple-A, but walked 19.2% of batters faced. His 29.2% strikeout rate was still strong but his ERA was 5.08. He also tossed two innings in the majors, striking out four batters but walking five.

He was nudged off the Texas roster in September of last year and has bounced around a bit since then. The White Sox claimed him off waivers in early October last year but designated him for assignment in early April. He was claimed by the A’s and is now changing clubs via waivers yet again.

Between the Sox and the A’s, he’s thrown 12 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level this year. He has struck out 17 opponents but walked nine, leading to rates of 26.6% and 14.4%, respectively. Those free baserunners have led to him being burned by four home runs, which is why he has a 12.08 ERA so far this year.

Despite the rough results so far in 2024, the Astros are taking a bet on the stuff. In addition to averaging 98.9 miles per hour on his fastball during his brief MLB debut last year, Statcast also lists a 91.9 mph cutter and 87.7 mph sweeper as pitches he threw for the Rangers. He still has a couple of options, so the Astros can keep him in the minors to see if he gets a better handle on that arsenal in the future.

In order to take a chance on Speas, the Astros are risking losing Julks. The 2018 eighth-rounder had a strong season at Triple-A in 2022, hitting 31 home runs and stealing 22 bases. His .270/.351/.503 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 108 in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.

He cracked Houston’s Opening Day roster last year but didn’t immediately thrive in the majors and ended up back in the minors a couple of times. He finished the year with a .245/.297/.352 line in 93 big league games, translating to a wRC+ of 80. He still performed well in Sugar Land, drawing walks in 18.6% of his plate appearances and slashing .240/.388/.462 for a 110 wRC+.

Here in 2024, he was sent back to the Space Cowboys and has taken a slight step back. His 12.8% walk rate is still good but an obvious drop from last year. He currently has a .266/.358/.444 line and 97 wRC+ for the year.

Julks clearly has some skills but is now 28 years old and the Astros have a decent crop of outfielders ahead of him. Kyle Tucker, Yordan Alvarez, Chas McCormick, Jake Meyers, Mauricio Dubon, Joey Loperfido and Trey Cabbage are each on the 40-man and all are on the active roster except for the injured McCormick.

The Astros will now have a week to trade Julks or pass him through waivers. Given his strong numbers on the farm and two remaining option years, it’s possible he will garner interest from clubs looking for more outfield depth.

Athletics Announce Several Roster Moves

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1:15pm: Hernaiz has a “severe” left ankle sprain, per Martín Gallegos of MLB.com. He’s going to see a specialist today.

11:23am: The A’s on Wednesday announced announced that they’ve recalled catcher/first baseman Tyler Soderstrom from Triple-A Las Vegas and also recalled righty Osvaldo Bido to serve as the 27th man for today’s doubleheader. Oakland also selected the contract of lefty Easton Lucas. Meanwhile, infielder Darell Hernaiz was placed on the 10-day IL with a left ankle injury, lefty Hogan Harris was optioned to Las Vegas, and minor league righty Alex Speas was designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot for Lucas.

A slate of transactions on the heels of a 15-8 blowout loss yesterday and a doubleheader today seemed inevitable. Bido will start the second game of today’s twin bill against the Rangers. He’s in his first year with the A’s organization after becoming a minor league free agent but nevertheless signing a major league contract this offseason. He’s excelled through his first six appearances (five starts), pitching to a 2.59 ERA in 31 1/3 frames with a 30% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate. The 28-year-old made his MLB debut with the Pirates last season and pitched 50 2/3 innings with an unsightly 5.86 ERA.

Swapping out Harris for Lucas will give the A’s some length in the bullpen, as Lucas has tossed 15 2/3 innings in 11 appearances this season, pitching two or more innings on four occasions. He’s delivered solid results in that role, posting a 2.87 ERA — albeit with a less-inspiring 13-to-8 K/BB ratio (plus another hit batter).

Soderstrom’s call to the big leagues will give the A’s another look at the former first-rounder and top prospect. The 2020 No. 26 overall pick debuted as a 21-year-old last summer but looked overmatched, hitting just .160/.232/.240 with a 31.2% strikeout rate in 138 plate appearances. The lefty-swinging slugger has had a nice start to the season in Triple-A, hitting for a pedestrian .245 average but reaching base at a hearty .353 clip while slugging .529 in 119 plate appearances. Soderstrom, who is touted for his plus-plus raw power, has already drilled seven homers and collected eight doubles on the young season. He’s fanned at a 26.1% clip, but strikeouts are likely always going to be part of his game — and he’s at least helped offset some of those whiffs with a healthy 10.1% walk rate.

It’s not yet clear how the A’s will divide up playing time with Soderstrom now in the big leagues. Starting catcher Shea Langeliers has struggled mightily at the plate but continues to play strong defense. Backup Kyle McCann has raked at a .393/.485/.750 clip, but that’s come in a minuscule sample of 33 plate appearances.

Soderstrom has plenty of experience at first base as well, given that there are significant questions about his defensive skills behind the plate. Oakland recently optioned Opening Day first baseman Ryan Noda, but early-season pickup Tyler Nevin has hit well since Noda was sent down. Nevin has spent the bulk of his time at first base but has experience at all four corner positions. In all likelihood, there will be plenty of mixing and matching, which is to be expected from an A’s team that entered the season with few set-in-stone starting players and is actively evaluating potential long-term options at multiple spots. The majority of Oakland’s roster can and has played multiple positions — many with other clubs — while trying to carve out permanent MLB roles.

The A’s only acquired the 26-year-old Speas on April 6, sending cash to the White Sox for him following a DFA in Chicago. The flamethrowing righty sits in the 99-100mph range with his heater and can run it up to 102-103mph. Predictably, that’s led to both eye-popping strikeout totals and alarming walk rates in the minors. He pitched 10 1/3 innings for the Athletics’ Las Vegas affiliate but was tagged for 13 runs in that time, due in no small part to a 13.2% walk rate and three homers allowed.

Speas pitched two innings with the Rangers in the majors last summer but split the remainder of the season between Double-A and Triple-A, where he punched out a combined 34.7% of his opponents but also issued walks at a 15.5% clip. He walked six of his 26 opponents with the White Sox during spring training. There’s no doubting the electricity of Speas’ raw arsenal, but he’s walked more than 18% of his opponents in pro ball. He’s in the second of three minor league option years.

Now that he’s been designated, Speas will spend up to a week in limbo while awaiting his fate. The A’s can use that window to find a trade partner, attempt to pass him through outright waivers, or release him.

A’s Acquire Alex Speas From White Sox

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The A’s announced this afternoon that they have acquired right-hander Alex Speas from the White Sox in exchange for cash considerations. Speas had been designated for assignment by the Sox yesterday. To clear space on their 40-man roster for Speas, they’ve designated right-hander Zach Jackson for assignment.

Speas, 26, was a second round pick by the Rangers in the 2016 draft and made his big league debut with the club last year. His first cup of coffee in the majors did not go well, as he surrendered three runs on five walks and two hits while striking out four in two innings of work. Those difficulties at the big league level were reflective of his work at Triple-A with the Rangers last year, as he posted a 5.08 ERA with a 19.2% walk rate in 28 1/3 innings at the level. With that being said, his work at Double-A last season was nothing short of phenomenal as he punched out 40.9% of batters faced en route to a 0.64 ERA across 23 appearances.

The right-hander was designated for assignment by Texas at the tail end of the 2023 campaign and claimed off waivers by the White Sox in early October. He lasted through the offseason on the club’s 40-man roster, but his tenure with the club ended after just two appearances at the Triple-A level with the club. His brief stint with the club’s affiliate in Charlotte went poorly, as he allowed four runs on two walks and two hits, including a home run, while striking out just two. His time with Chicago came to an end yesterday when he was designated for assignment to make room for veteran outfielder Robbie Grossman on the club’s 40-man roster. Now, Speas will return to the AL West as a member of the A’s organization. He’s been optioned to Triple-A to begin his time with the club but could factor into the Oakland bullpen miss later this year alongside the likes of Michael Kelly, Austin Adams, and Lucas Erceg.

He’ll take the 40-man roster spot of Jackson, the Blue Jays’ third-round pick from the 2016 draft who made his way to Oakland via the 2020 Rule 5 Draft. Jackson pitched for the A’s since making his debut in 2022, with a 2.86 ERA in 66 innings, but was limited to just 20 frames by a flexor tendon strain last year and struggled badly both this spring and in three appearances at Triple-A so far this year. The A’s will now have one week to trade, waive, or release Jackson. Should he be passed through waivers successfully, the club will have the ability to assign him outright to the minor leagues, where he can act as non-roster depth going forward.

White Sox Select Robbie Grossman, Designate Alex Speas

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The White Sox on Friday announced that they’ve placed Eloy Jimenez on the 10-day injured list with an adductor strain, selected the contract of veteran outfielder Robbie Grossman, and designated right-hander Alex Speas for assignment in order to open a roster spot for Grossman. Jimenez’s IL placement is retroactive to April 2.

Sox GM Chris Getz suggested earlier this week that Grossman, 34, could soon be added to the big league roster. The veteran switch-hitter spent the 2023 season with the World Series champion Rangers and batted .238/.340/.394. He’s been an average or better hitter in six of the past eight seasons, collecting 3552 plate appearances and delivering a combined .245/.350/.387 batting line. Grossman is a career .282/.381/.426 slash against left-handed pitching (126 wRC+). He’s been below-average, albeit not egregiously so, against right-handed pitching.

Grossman has played a bit of center field in his career, but the vast majority of that experience came back in 2013. He’s primarily a corner outfielder and designated hitter, with the bulk of his outfield work coming in left field. He played 553 innings on the grass for Texas last season but turned in well below-average defensive marks. He can offer the Sox a veteran bat to step in for the injured Jimenez at designated hitter and could also spell left-handed-hitting corner outfielders Andrew Benintendi and Dominic Fletcher against left-handed starting pitchers on occasion.

Speas, 26, joined the White Sox via waiver claim last October. The flamethrowing righty sits 99-100 mph with his heater and can climb higher than that. As one would expect, that’s led to some prodigious strikeout totals in the minors, but Speas struggles to command his power arsenal and has alarming walk rates in the upper minors. He pitched two big league innings for the Rangers last year but split the bulk of the season between Double-A and Triple-A. Speas fanned a ridiculous 41% of his Double-A opponents and nearly 35% of his Triple-A opponents, but he also walked a combined 15.5% of his opponents.

Speas was with the Sox during spring training and walked six of his 26 opponents. He’s begun the season in Triple-A Charlotte, where he was tagged for four runs in two innings as he walked another two of the 11 batters he’s faced there. The 2016 second-round pick has electric stuff but has walked more than 18% of the opponents he’s faced in pro ball. The White Sox will have a week to trade Speas, attempt to pass him through outright waivers or release him.

Jimenez exited the White Sox’ game back on Sunday due to soreness in his adductor muscle and hasn’t played in a game since. He’s out to a 2-for-11 start on the season, with both hits being singles. The 27-year-old slugger has shown at times that he has the upside to be one of the game’s most dangerous hitters. Jimenez belted 31 homers as a rookie in 2019 and as recently as 2021, he slashed .295/.358/.500 with 16 homers in just 84 games.

Injuries have been far too frequent for the Dominican-born slugger, however. He’s been on the injured list due to ankle, elbow/forearm, and hamstring injuries (twice), in addition to the current adductor strain and a 2023 appendectomy that kept him out for about three weeks. Jimenez has never topped the 122 games he played as a rookie, and that 2019 season is the only one of his career in which he’s reached 500 big league plate appearances.

White Sox Claim Alex Speas

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The White Sox announced this afternoon that they have claimed right-hander Alex Speas off waivers from the Rangers. Speas had been designated for assignment by Texas earlier this week to make room for right-hander Matt Bush on the club’s 40-man roster. To clear space for Speas on Chicago’s own 40-man, outfielder Tyler Naquin was released.

Speas, 25, made his major league debut for the Rangers back in July. He ultimately made just three appearances with the club, during which he allowed three runs on two hits and five walks while striking out four. Speas’s control issues were immediately apparent in his cup of coffee this summer, and a look at his numbers in the minors quickly reveals it’s been a persistent issue throughout his career. His 15.5% walk rate in the minors this season was actually the lowest of his career. Still, it’s easy to see why the White Sox were interested in taking a chance on Speas given his big-time stuff, including a four-seam fastball that touches 100 mph along with a mid-90s cutter and a low-90s slider.

As for Naquin, the 32-year-old outfielder appeared in just five games in the majors this season, ultimately striking out in seven of his eight plate appearances with the White Sox in 2023. Still, Naquin has now appeared in each of the past eight big league seasons, posted a decent .257/.317/.408 slash line at the Triple-A level this year, and was a roughly league average contributor in the big leagues as recently as last year, when he slashed .229/.282/.423 in 105 games split between the Reds and the Mets. Naquin’s recent history of big league success should leave him with little trouble finding a job ahead of the 2024 campaign, though it’s fair to expect that he’ll once again have to settle for a minor league deal and the opportunity to earn a roster spot during Spring Training.

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