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Daniel Palka

Mets Sign Daniel Palka To Minor League Deal

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The Mets signed first baseman/corner outfielder Daniel Palka to a minor league contract yesterday, according to an announcement from their Triple-A club in Syracuse. He’ll join their top affiliate there.

Palka, 31, is familiar with the New York organization. He spent the 2022 campaign in Syracuse on a minor league pact, hitting .263/.344/.506 with 26 longballs over 109 games. The Mets never gave him a big league look. He returned to minor league free agency last offseason and caught on with the Red Sox on a non-roster pact.

Through 314 plate appearances with the Sox’s top affiliate in Worcester, Palka hit .233/.309/.410 with 12 home runs. Boston released him towards the end of July. A month later, the left-handed hitter makes his return to Syracuse. He’ll have a little over a month to try to play his way onto the big league roster.

Palka’s only MLB experience to date came with the 2018-19 White Sox. He appeared in 154 games over those two seasons, roughly one full campaign’s worth of work. He blasted 29 home runs and slugged .433, but he struck out in nearly 35% of his trips. His .218 average and .277 on-base percentage reflected his trouble consistently putting the ball in play.

That hasn’t been as big a problem at the Triple-A level. Palka’s strikeout rates there have hovered between 21-24%, roughly league average rates, over the past three seasons. Yet he didn’t hit for his typical level of power in Worcester, as his .410 slugging mark there is the lowest he’s posted in any of his seven Triple-A campaigns.

Red Sox Sign Daniel Palka To Minor League Deal

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The Red Sox announced Friday that added first baseman/outfielder Daniel Palka has been added to camp as a non-roster invitee (thus indicating he’s inked a minor league deal with the team). He’ll add some left-handed pop to their bench mix.

The 31-year-old Palka has spent parts of two seasons in the big leagues, smashing 27 home runs as a rookie with the 2018 White Sox while hitting .240/.294/.484 along the way. Palka’s 34.1% strikeout rate, however, was a major red flag, and he fanned at an even higher 37.6% clip in 2019 while hitting just .107/.194/.179 in 93 plate appearances before losing his spot on the roster. He struggled through a tough season in the KBO in 2020 before rebounding with the Triple-A clubs for the Nats and the Mets over the past two seasons.

Palka’s big league success is limited, but he’s a .261/.349/.486 hitter in parts of six Triple-A seasons and, as evidenced by his 27 homers in 449 plate appearances as a rookie, has plus raw power. He’s graded out as a sub-par defender in the outfield corners, and the Mets played him more at first base than in the outfield in Triple-A last year.

The Red Sox are set with Masataka Yoshida and Alex Verdugo in the outfield corners, Triston Casas at first base and Justin Turner at designated hitter. However, they’re thin on first basemen in the upper minors, unless Bobby Dalbec is optioned, so Palka will provide an option in that regard while also hoping to play his way into a bench role this spring.

Mets, Daniel Palka Agree To Minor League Contract

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The Mets have agreed to a minor league contract with first baseman/corner outfielder Daniel Palka, according to Palka’s transactions tracker at MLB.com. The left-handed hitter has appeared in a pair of major league seasons, suiting up with the White Sox from 2018-19.

The bulk of Palka’s playing time came in the first of those years. He tallied 449 plate appearances with the South Siders in 2018 and popped an impressive 27 home runs, showcasing big power potential that had made him an interesting prospect coming up through the Diamondbacks’ and Twins’ systems. Yet he also struck out in 34.1% of his trips to the dish, and his resulting .240/.294/.484 slash line was only a touch above the league average.

Palka’s strikeout troubles continued the following year, and he was eventually outrighted off Chicago’s 40-man roster. The South Carolina native signed with the KBO’s Samsung Lions in 2020 but hit just .209/.272/.367 over 217 plate appearances there. He returned stateside last winter, signing a minor league deal with the Nationals.

Assigned to Triple-A Rochester, Palka had an impressive showing in 2021. He hit .256/.364/.472 with 18 homers in 420 attempts. That was the latest quality minor league showing from Palka, owner of a .260/.350/.480 line over five seasons at the minors’ top level. Yet the Nationals never gave him a big league look, and he elected minor league free agency after the season. He’ll now try to crack the roster of the division-rival Mets, although New York already has a strong group of corner bats (Pete Alonso, Dominic Smith, J.D. Davis, Brandon Nimmo, Mark Canha, etc.) due for regular playing time, barring trades.

KBO’s Samsung Lions Close To Deal With Daniel Palka

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The Samsung Lions of the KBO League are closing in on a deal with outfielder Daniel Palka, according to DKTV’s Daniel Kim (Twitter link).  The White Sox still control Palka’s rights, though since he was outrighted off their 40-man roster last November and wasn’t included on the team’s 60-man player pool this month, Palka doesn’t appear to be in Chicago’s future plans.

Palka burst into the majors in 2018 and finished fifth in AL Rookie Of The Year balloting on the strength of his 27 homers in 449 plate appearances, though his overall batting line (.240/.294/.484) didn’t hint at much beyond raw power.  A brutal start to the 2019 season led to a pretty quick demotion to the minors for Palka, and he didn’t receive much more extended playing time until September, finishing with an ugly .372 OPS over 93 PA for the season.

There’s a lot of swing-and-miss in Palka’s game, as he struck out 188 times over his 542 Major League plate appearances, though he has shown considerable more promise at the plate during his minor league career.  Over 2287 PA in the farm systems of the Diamondbacks, Twins, and White Sox, Palka hit .269/.349/.500 with 136 homers.  A move to South Korea and the hitter-friendly KBO League could be just what Palka needs to get his career back on track and perhaps improve his stock for a future contract with a North American club.

Palka would be taking the roster spot left open by another former big leaguer in Tyler Saladino, who is out of action with a back injury.  Kim notes that Saladino has been sidelined since July 14, and the fact that the Lions are already lining up a replacement would seem to indicate that the injury could be serious.  Performance-wise, Saladino has an impressive .280/.411/.477 slash line through 163 PA in his first KBO season.

Saladino signed with the Lions last winter, coming on the heels of 326 MLB games with the White Sox and Brewers from 2015-19.  By coincidence, Saladino and Palka were both members of the 2018 White Sox, though Saladino was already off to Milwaukee before Palka made his big league debut.

Winter Meetings Previews: Royals, White Sox

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In advance of the winter meetings, let’s take a moment to quickly preview a couple teams from the American League Central…

  • The Kansas City Royals will look for value buys on the free agent market, per Lynn Worthy of The Kansas City Star. Given the sale of the team and the managerial transition underway, the Royals have more justification than usual for patience this offseason. With Kansas City, however, there’s often a sense that internal valuations of the talent on hand differs from those of the general public. The Royals continue to present the idea that they are happy with their core, an impression bolstered by the “moon, sun, and stars” type packages the Royals are demanding for players like Whit Merrifield, Danny Duffy and Ian Kennedy. Senior VP of Baseball Ops & GM Dayton Moore refined his fence-walking trick recently while saying both, “…we’re very encouraged with where we are based on how our players performed individually last year,” and also, “I think we’ve got to upgrade everywhere, really.” Pitching is definitely a target, and Moore has been active in trade discussions already, enough to have a sense of where trades might happen – though from Moore’s comments, it seems the Royals are disinclined to be major players on the trade market unless opposing GMs become more amenable to Moore’s ask(s). They do have four open spots on the 40-man roster and should be active in the Rule 5 draft, per The Athletic’s Alec Lewis.
  • After being spurned by Zack Wheeler, the White Sox remain in the hunt for starting pitching, per MLB.com’s Scott Merkin. Chicago was also among the teams in on Jordan Lyles before the righty signed with the Rangers, tweets the MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. Their rotation candidates are currently made up of high-ceiling but largely-unestablished youngsters, fronted by 2019 breakout superstar Lucas Giolito. Speculatively, Dallas Keuchel fits nicely from a culture perspective as the perennially-attention-starved White Sox have already added Yasmani Grandal from the nobody-believes-in-us free agent pool – and they like playing with a chip on their shoulder on the southside. As for position players, Chicago boasts close to a full house now that Grandal and Jose Abreu are officially on board. With prospects Luis Robert and Nick Madrigal expected to play a large portion of 2020 in the big leagues, they have one of the more intriguing groups on that side of the ball. Still, there’s definitely room to tinker around the edges, especially in the outfield, where Luis Alexander Basabe, Daniel Palka, Leury Garcia, Adam Engel, and Luis Gonzalez make up the flexible collection of candidates to join Eloy Jimenez and Robert in the outfield.

White Sox Outright Daniel Palka

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The White Sox announced today that they have outrighted outfielder Daniel Palka (via MLB.com’s Scott Merkin, on Twitter). He was designated recently to clear roster space for the signing of Yasmani Grandal.

Palka, 28, turned in a solid showing at the plate in his 2018 debut. While he went down on strikes 153 times in 449 plate appearances and ended with a .294 on-base percentage, he delivered enough power (27 home runs, .484 slugging percentage) to be an above-average overall performer with the bat.

Trouble was, Palka wasn’t up to the task in the outfield, where he graded quite poorly. He needed to make further strides in one or both areas to lock up a roster spot. Instead, he struggled badly in limited MLB chances in 2019, posting an awful .107/.194/.179 slash in 93 trips to the plate.

Some team will still gladly offer the powerful Palka a non-roster invitation on a minors deal. Notably, he showed improved plate discipline during his time at Triple-A in 2019. Offense was up everywhere, so there’s no reason to get carried away with the .900 OPS and 27 dingers he delivered at Charlotte. But Palka has never before managed a K/BB mix like the 109 strikeouts and 72 walks he tallied in 471 plate appearances.

White Sox Sign Yasmani Grandal

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The White Sox announced that they’ve signed free-agent catcher Yasmani Grandal to a four-year contract. He’ll be guaranteed a hefty $73MM, the team announced, which will be paid out evenly at $18.25MM per year.  As per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (Twitter link), Grandal’s deal includes a full no-trade clause in 2020 and partial no-trade protection for the remaining three seasons.  To make room on the 40-man roster, the White Sox designated outfielder Daniel Palka for assignment.

Readers will recall that the 2018-2019 offseason marked a much more frustrating pass through the free agency turnstiles for the now-31-year-old Grandal. After spurning a reported four-year, $60MM offer from the Mets last winter, the former Hurricane bet on himself by agreeing to a one-year, $18.25MM deal with the Brewers.

That gambit appears to have paid off handsomely, with Grandal parlaying his fantastic 2019 into a larger long-term guarantee from Chicago. At $73MM, this contract represents the largest guarantee in White Sox history, surpassing the six-year, $68MM outlay secured by Jose Abreu in advance of the 2014 season.

Yasmani GrandalFrom any vantage, that guarantee should provide the club with one of the very best catchers in the game. Since entering the majors with San Diego in 2012, Grandal has posted a cumulative 118 wRC+ figure, second only to Buster Posey among all catchers with more than 3000 plate appearances in that time frame. Similarly, his .348 OBP is tops among catchers since 2012, while his 141 homers since ’12 rank second only to Brian McCann’s 145. Grandal’s never been a world-beater in the batting average department, but he’s been a consistent source of power and on-base ability for the bulk of his career.

Though his offensive prowess is evident from even a cursory glance at his career numbers, any Grandal evaluation would be remiss to exclude his sterling defensive reputation. Grandal recorded a 20.1 figure in Baseball Prospectus’ Fielding Runs Above Average metric during the 2019 campaign, good for third among catchers in the bigs behind Austin Hedges and Roberto Perez; that the White Sox press release regarding Grandal’s signing made mention of his pitch framing abilities should come as no surprise.

For the Pale Hose, the signing of such a multi-dimensional, high-profile player makes it abundantly clear that their long-running rebuild has come to an end. Last offseason saw the club make a run at third baseman Manny Machado, in a bid that was likely intended to symbolize a similar rallying cry of competitiveness. Though this past season ended up marking their seventh consecutive losing campaign, Grandal’s addition should go a long way toward supplementing a core that showed real promise in 2019.

Though it was White Sox pitchers like Carlos Rodon, Lucas Giolito, and Michael Kopech who were previously thought to be the club’s primary strength, 2019 yielded encouraging breakouts from a handful of South Side swingers. Shortstop Tim Anderson, for one, exploded en route to the 2019 batting title, logging a .335/.357/.508 slash and 3.5 fWAR across 518 plate appearances; 24-year-old infielder Yoan Moncada announced his presence with a .315/.367/.548 line with 25 home runs, ultimately garnering a down-ballot MVP vote in his second campaign of extended MLB action; rookie outfielder Eloy Jimenez was pretty decent, too–all he did was hit 31 home runs in his first 122 games at the sport’s highest level. And this is all before accounting for the impending arrival of uber-prospect outfielder Luis Robert.

All of that said, catcher didn’t, at first glance, appear to be the team’s most glaring need going into this offseason. Incumbent starter James McCann’s 109 wRC+ and .273/.328/.460 slash in 2019 did indeed compare favorably to other catchers around the league, but a deeper look shows why executive VP Kenny Williams and GM Rick Hahn may have been unable to resist Grandal’s well-rounded allure. Firstly, McCann’s numbers were largely the result of a scintillating first half, as his .226/.281/.413 line after the break would demonstrate; add in McCann’s .359 BABIP on the year, while providing for the defensive upgrade Grandal represents, and it’s easy to see how club leadership saw today’s signing as a necessary investment.

The White Sox fielded an Opening Day payroll of $88.92MM in 2019; the club’s ten-year highwater mark for payroll came back in 2011 when owner Jerry Reinsdorf green-lit a $127.78MM outlay. In addition to Grandal, the Sox will have Abreu ($17.8MM), Kelvin Herrera ($8.5MM), and Anderson ($4MM) under contract with significant guarantees next season, while a considerable number of players will either draw raises in arbitration or find themselves non-tendered. Impact contributors like Giolito remain under affordable club control, so there may yet be some wiggle room to make other improvements around the roster.

Regardless of their moves from here forward, the decision by White Sox brass to bring in Grandal may come at an opportune time. The Twins, despite having retained starter Jake Odorizzi, face uncertainty in their rotation, while the rival Indians continue to endure trade speculation surrounding star shortstop Francisco Lindor and lingering questions about the health of several pitchers, including Corey Kluber. Grandal’s addition to Chicago’s blistering young core should make those teams slightly more uncomfortable with regard to their standing in the AL Central.

With Grandal off the board, the free agent catching market is now likely headlined by Travis d’Arnaud, with Robinson Chirinos and Jason Castro representing something of a third tier. While those players offer varying combinations of offensive and defensive ability to interested teams, there’s little doubt that Chicago acted decisively today in securing itself the most complete backstop on the market.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

White Sox Select Contract Of Danny Mendick

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The White Sox announced today that they have selected the contract of infielder Danny Mendick. He’ll be joined on the active roster by a trio of other September call-ups: righty Dylan Covey, catcher Zack Collins, and outfielder Daniel Palka.

Mendick is a 25-year-old who is capable of playing short, second, or third base. He just wrapped up his first full season at the Triple-A level, where he slashed .279/.368/.444 with 17 home runs. That’s not quite the big season it might appear to be at first glance, but it does equate to a sturdy 109 wRC+.

White Sox Place Tim Anderson On IL, Select Ross Detwiler

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4:04pm: Anderson could miss four to six weeks, according to general manager Rick Hahn (via Scott Merkin of MLB.com).

2:37pm: The White Sox announced that they’ve placed shortstop Tim Anderson on the injured list due to a right ankle sprain, recalled outfielder Daniel Palka from Triple-A Charlotte and selected the contract of left-hander Ross Detwiler from Charlotte. The team’s previously reported DFA of Yonder Alonso is now also official.

There’s still no official word on how long Anderson will be sidelined, though he was wearing a walking boot earlier this week when it became apparent that an IL stint was quite likely. The 26-year-old shortstop is in the midst of a his best season, having batted .317/.342/.491 with 11 homers and 15 steals in 281 plate appearances. The free-swinging Anderson is still loath to take a walk (2.5 percent) and has benefited from a .373 average on balls in play, but he’s also made dramatic improvements in his hard-hit rate and average exit velocity, per Statcast.

Detwiler, 33, will start tonight’s series opener against the Twins. The journeyman left-hander opened the season with the York Revolution of the independent Atlantic League but quickly landed with the White Sox and has thrown 43 innings of 3.89 ERA ball thus far in Triple-A (albeit with a 6.21 FIP and 4.75 xFIP). The longtime Nats hurler has bounced around the league since being cut loose by Washington — most recently appearing in one big league game for the Mariners in 2018. Detwiler has a career 4.36 ERA with 5.5 K/9, 3.3 BB/9 and a 46 percent ground-ball rate in 584 big league innings.

Spring Injuries: Davis, Palka, Mesa, Sandoval

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With Spring Training games underway, we’ll use this post to track some of the minor aches and pains as they flare up around the game…

  • A mild left calf strain has kept Khris Davis on the shelf for the beginning of Spring Training, per MLB.com’s Jane Lee. There’s not much cause for concern, but the A’s don’t want to rush Davis until he is back at full strength. He’s listed as day-to-day for now, though the issue has flared up a couple of times since the start of camp. Shutting down all baseball activity is the prudent move for Davis, who is of course a central piece for Oakland’s offense. The 31-year-old DH hit exactly .247 in each of the last four seasons, while his slugging has increased year-over-year, from .505 in 2015 to .524 in 2016 to .528 in 2017 to .549 last year. Davis is a key contributor in just about any scenarios that has the A’s challenging Houston for the AL West crown. 
  • White Sox right fielder Daniel Palka was pulled from a Spring Training game in the second inning today with left hamstring tightness, per Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune. Palka was hitting cleanup for the White Sox, who lost their first two spring contests in a pair of split-squad games on Saturday. Palka became a fan favorite while slugging 27 home runs for the Southsiders as a 26-year-old rookie last year, but he’ll need to develop other parts of his game to survive Chicago’s rebuild. His overall slash line of .240/.294/.484 combined with subpar defense in the outfield corners leaves much to be desired. 
  • Highly-touted Cuban prospect Victor Victor Mesa left Sunday’s Spring Training game with a right hamstring strain, per Wells Dusenbury of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. The Marlins 22-year-old outfielder left the game after running out a grounder. He will return to Jupiter to be re-examined, though it would not appear to be a serious injury. He’s listed as day-to-day. Hamstring injuries can linger, of course, and the Marlins will want to be extra cautious with their prized acquisition as they prepare him for his first professional season stateside.  
  • Pablo Sandoval tweaked a side muscle, though it does not appear to be anything serious. The Giants will hold him back a day or two, but rest appears the only course of action as of now, per Henry Schulman of the SF Chronicle (via Twitter). Sandoval isn’t the player he once was, but he did rebound at least a little bit from his horror show days in Boston. Last season, Sandoval hit .248/.310/.417 across 252 plate appearances, which is production the Giants will take given their minimum salary commitment. 
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