García returns to the affiliated ranks after sitting out the 2023 campaign. He was released by the White Sox at the end of Spring Training and spent the rest of the year in free agency. That ended a decade-long run in Chicago. García has never been much of an offensive contributor but endeared himself to multiple Sox coaching staffs with his defensive versatility.

He leveraged that into a three-year, $16.5MM contract when he hit free agency during the 2021-22 offseason. That always seemed a high price for a light-hitting utility player. It didn’t work out at all as the Sox had envisioned. García hit .210/.233/.267 in 97 games during the first season. He was cut loose before the start of year two.

García will make $5.5MM next year, his age-33 campaign. The White Sox are on the hook for that money. If García cracks the Braves roster at any point, Atlanta would only be responsible for the $740K league minimum for whatever time he spends in the majors. That makes this a no-risk flier to add multi-positional depth in exhibition play.

A switch-hitter, García owns a .253/.293/.350 batting line in over 2400 major league plate appearances. He has played everywhere aside from catcher and first base, seeing the plurality of his time in center field. García also has plenty of experience in the corner outfield and at both middle infield positions. Public defensive metrics have graded him around average at every spot.

Even at a relatively quiet portion of the season, there remain a handful of notable players on the free agent market. Gary Sánchez just came off the board on a minor league deal last week, for instance. Which other players — many of whom are late-career former stars — could still find interest as depth options, particularly if they’re amenable to a minor league contract?

Miguel Sanó

Sanó had a disastrous 2022 season. Right knee troubles kept him to 20 games and 71 plate appearances, in which he hit .083/.211/.133 with only one home run. That ended his time with the Twins, who made the obvious call to buy him out of a club option, but he’s only a year removed from hitting 30 homers. Sanó has topped 25 longballs on four occasions in his career. He won’t turn 30 until next month, making him one of the younger players who didn’t sign over the offseason. Sanó reportedly held a showcase for scouts in early February but there was no publicly reported interest from any teams thereafter.

Chris Archer

Like Sanó, Archer spent the 2022 season in Minnesota but was bought out at year’s end. He tossed 102 2/3 innings across 25 outings, posting a 4.56 ERA with a modest 19.2% strikeout rate and an elevated 11% walk percentage. It was the most hittable Archer has been in his career, but he still averaged 93 MPH on his four-seam and 88.7 MPH on his slider. He’s clearly not the upper mid-rotation arm he was when he made two All-Star games during his time with the Rays, but he’s probably the top unsigned starting pitcher. Archer hasn’t been substantively linked to any team since being cut loose by Minnesota in November. Last month, Joel Sherman of the New York Post wrote that Archer had conducted a showcase for teams, though it isn’t clear when that workout occurred.

Darin Ruf

Released by the Mets earlier this week, Ruf is a right-handed hitter who has typically been an effective platoon first base/corner outfield option of late. He mashed at a .271/.385/.519 clip two years ago. At last summer’s deadline, he was carrying a .216/.328/.373 line over 90 games for the Giants. New York acquired him for a four-player package including J.D. Davis and Thomas Szapucki. Ruf’s production cratered in Queens but he’s not far removed from being a well-regarded offensive player.

Stephen Piscotty

Piscotty has tallied over 2800 MLB plate appearances split between the Cardinals and A’s. An above-average hitter through his first four seasons, he’s struggled significantly in the last four years. Piscotty was released by Oakland last summer and didn’t return to the majors after signing a minor league deal with the Reds. He caught on with the Giants and collected eight hits in 25 at-bats (.320/.370/.440) but didn’t land a job out of camp. San Francisco granted him his release on Opening Day.

Zack Britton

Britton was arguably the sport’s most dominant reliever during his halcyon days in Baltimore. He remained an elite ground-ball artist for much of his time with the Yankees, excelling in high-leverage innings through 2020. Poor health has intervened in the last two years. Britton spent time on the injured list with elbow concerns in 2021, struggling when able to take the mound. He eventually required Tommy John surgery, which wiped out virtually all of the ’22 season. Britton returned at the tail end of the season but couldn’t find the strike zone and was shut back down. He’s thrown multiple showcases in recent months.

Ken Giles

Much of what applies to Britton is also true of Giles. They’re different pitchers stylistically — Giles is a right-hander whose best days were fueled by huge strikeout tallies instead of grounders — but he’s also a formerly elite reliever who has fallen on hard times from a health perspective. Giles also required Tommy John surgery. His procedure came late in 2020 and cost him all of the ’21 campaign. He returned to the majors with the Mariners last summer and was let go after five appearances. Giles also worked out for clubs late in the offseason but has yet to put pen to paper.

Corey Knebel

Continuing with the run on relievers, Knebel is a former All-Star closer in his own right. He wasn’t as dominant as either Britton or Giles at his peak, and his career has frequently been interrupted by injury. Knebel was very productive as recently as 2021, when he posted a 2.45 ERA in 25 2/3 innings for the Dodgers. That earned him a $10MM deal with the Phillies, which was sidetracked by shoulder problems. He finished the year on the injured list after tearing his shoulder capsule.

Leury García

García spent a decade with the White Sox in a utility capacity. Never much of an offensive threat, he nevertheless endeared himself to multiple coaching staffs based on his defensive flexibility. García signed a surprising three-year deal with Chicago over the 2021-22 offseason. He had a dreadful ’22 campaign and was off to a rough start in Spring Training. The White Sox cut bait in spite of the two remaining years on his contract. García’s an affordable utility option elsewhere.

Mike Minor

Minor made 19 starts for the Reds last season, allowing a 6.06 ERA. He was hampered by shoulder issues at times and struggled significantly with the home run ball. Minor has allowed more than five earned runs per nine innings for three consecutive seasons, though his strikeout and walk rates were solid up until 2022. He held a showcase in February and drew some reported attention from the Cubs last month.

Dallas Keuchel

A former Cy Young winner who was effective for the White Sox during the shortened 2020 season, Keuchel has been hit hard over the past couple years. He played for each of Chicago, Arizona and Texas last season and was tagged for a 9.20 ERA across 14 starts. Keuchel was excellent over four Triple-A outings in the Ranger organization. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported a couple weeks ago that the Phillies had expressed loose interest in the two-time All-Star, though Philadelphia apparently didn’t put a formal minor league offer on the table.

Others of note: Archie Bradley, Kole Calhoun, Robinson Canó, Kyle Crick, Didi Gregorius, Michael Pineda, Garrett Richards, Aníbal Sánchez, Andrelton Simmons, Jonathan Villar

None of the transactions come as a surprise. Chicago GM Rick Hahn had more or less confirmed these decisions over the weekend. It finalizes the end of García’s nine-plus year tenure on the South Side. Initially acquired from the Rangers back in 2013, the switch-hitting García carved out a long-term bench role on the strength of his defensive flexibility. He never made a huge offensive impact but endeared himself to a few different coaching staffs.

García had the best season of his career in 2021, when he posted a .267/.335/.376 line over 474 plate appearances. Headed to free agency for the first time that winter, García returned to the South Side on a very surprising three-year deal. The Sox guaranteed him $16.5MM, seemingly committing to him as a versatile bench piece for the extended future.

That turned out disastrously, as García was among the worst hitters in the game last year. He managed only a .210/.233/.267 line in 97 contests. Continued struggles in Spring Training led the Sox to eat the $11MM remaining on his contract. They informed him over the weekend he wouldn’t be part of the Opening Day roster. Once he clears release waivers — an inevitability considering the amount of money remaining on his deal — he’ll be free to explore opportunities elsewhere.

Alberto secures a depth infield role in his stead. Signed to a minor league deal over the winter, the righty-hitting Alberto is a high-contact hitter who’s best deployed against lefty pitching. He almost never walks and rarely hits for power but he puts the ball in play and can play throughout the infield. Alberto hit .244/.258/.365 in 73 games for the Dodgers last year.

Colás is one of the organization’s top prospects. He’s expected to see the bulk of right field playing time and is now positioned to make his MLB debut. The 24-year-old hit .314/.371/.524 over three minor league levels last season. Despite a relatively modest .258/.279/.424 showing this spring, he earns a look in the right field rotation alongside Gavin Sheets and Romy González.

That’s certainly not a guarantee that Hendriks will return within the season’s first two months, but the fact that the Sox are leaving themselves open to the possibility is encouraging. Hendriks will still open the season on the 15-day injured list, and if the White Sox need a 40-man roster spot at any time prior to his activation, he can be transferred to the 60-day IL without penalty. (The 60-day term is retroactive to the original IL placement and does not reset when a player is moved from the 15-day to the 60-day.)

More on the South Siders…

• Manager Pedro Grifol has not yet announced who’ll get the first start of the year in right field, though it’s expected to be one of Oscar Colas, Eloy Jimenez or Romy Gonzalez. Colas, one of the White Sox’ top prospects, will play in right field frequently this season even if he doesn’t get the Opening Day nod, Grifol tells the White Sox beat (Twitter link via Scott Merkin of MLB.com). The 24-year-old Colas hit .314/.371/.524 across three minor league levels in 2022, improving his production at each stop (albeit with just seven games in Triple-A). Jim Callis of MLB.com takes a look at what the Sox can expect from Colas in 2023, writing that despite a two-year layoff from competitive games, he arrived in Chicago’s farm system as a more advanced hitter than anticipated in 2022. Colas hit .262/.273/.431 with three homers, two doubles, a walk and nine strikeouts in 66 spring plate appearances.
• Reports emerged over the weekend that Chicago was moving on from utilityman Leury Garcia. That came as a bit of a surprise considering the Sox still owe Garcia $11MM over the next two seasons under the terms of an ill-fated three year free agent contract. Hahn addressed the situation this afternoon, saying that owner Jerry Reinsdorf “was clear that we need to go with the best 26 to put us in the best position to win this year” (link via James of the Athletic). “Even if in the end, as was the case with Leury, it wound up with us having to eat some sunk cost on the contract there.” There’s no question Garcia will go unclaimed on waivers, as no team will assume the remainder of his contract. He’ll hit free agency — either via release by the Sox or rejection of an outright assignment — and seek out other opportunities in the coming days. Gonzalez and Hanser Alberto are likely to assume the utility role Garcia has played in recent seasons, with the Sox widely expected to select Alberto’s contract tomorrow morning.

2:57 PM: The White Sox continue to shape their roster in advance of Opening Day, and according to reporter Francys Romero (Twitter link), outfielder Oscar Colas has been told by the team that he will break camp.  In a more surprising development, Leury Garcia will not be part of the 26-man roster, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times reports (via Twitter).

Garcia was initially acquired from the Rangers in an August 2013 trade, and has since become a longstanding roster staple.  Used mostly as a bench player over his 10 seasons with the White Sox, Garcia’s ability to play all over the diamond has made him a solid backup and fill-in option, as he has logged many games at all three outfield positions, shortstop, third base, and second base.  This versatility has helped offset Garcia’s lack of offense, as he has only a .253/.293/.350 career slash line over 2402 plate appearances.

When Garcia entered the free agent market last winter, the Sox re-signed him to a three-year, $16.5MM deal that stood out as relatively steep for a 30-year-old career backup.  The decision to retain Garcia became even more questionable when his offense declined even further in 2022, as he hit a meager .210/.233/.267 over 315 PA.  Garcia’s 39 wRC+ was the lowest of any player in baseball last season with at least 300 plate appearances, and he was a sub-replacement -1.1 fWAR player overall.

In terms of other utility options, minor league signing Hanser Alberto has had a strong camp, and Romy Gonzalez is something of a utilityman-of-the-future down at Triple-A (plus, Gonzalez has already had a taste of the big leagues).  Since veteran shortstop Elvis Andrus is returning to the White Sox as their new second baseman, manager Pedro Grifol hinted yesterday to reporters (including The Athletic’s James Fegan) that Andrus’ presence made Garcia somewhat redundant.

“Our backup shortstop plays second base for us every day,” Grifol said.  “So, it’s not really a pressing need to have a utility player on our bench that is a shortstop.  We are not pressed to do that.  Would it be of value?  Yeah, maybe.  Not of great value, but of some value.“

It remains to be seen if Garcia would accept an assignment to the minor leagues, or if his omission from the roster is the beginning of the end of his time in the organization altogether.  The Sox would be eating the remaining $11MM on Garcia’s contract in the event of a release, and a trade or a waiver claim seems pretty unlikely since teams won’t want to absorb that salary.

As for Colas, there was little doubt that he would be heading north to the Windy City, and the 24-year-old now seems set to make his MLB debut on Opening Day.  Colas signed with Chicago for a $2.7MM bonus when the 2022 international signing period opened, and he hit a combined .314/.371/.524 with 23 homers over 526 combined PA at the high-A, Double-A, and Triple-A levels in 2022.

While Colas has only had okay numbers throughout Spring Training, his minor league dominance and his past track record in the Cuban National Series has indicated that he is ready for MLB competition.  Colas is expected to get the majority of work in right field, with Eloy Jimenez (when he isn’t at DH) and Gavin Sheets also in the mix.  Between the debuting Colas and the newly-signed Andrew Benintendi, Chicago’s outfield will have a new look, with Luis Robert returning as the incumbent in center field.

The club’s first move was letting José Abreu depart, thus allowing Andrew Vaughn to come in off the grass and take over at first base. Reports emerged in October that this was the course the club was considering, and Abreu signed with the Astros the following month. Vaughn was a huge part of those terrible defensive numbers, as he personally posted a -14 DRS, -16 OAA and -10.5 UZR last year. Now that he can return to his natural position, that could allow the club to deploy a more traditional outfielder in his place, depending how the situation plays out.

The other move the club made was signing Andrew Benintendi to a five-year, $75MM deal. Defensive metrics are somewhat split on his glovework, with OAA considering him subpar while both DRS and UZR are much kinder. Despite that disagreement, it still seems fair to expect the Sox to get better defensive results this year. Vaughn will be on the infield while Jiménez, who is also graded poorly on the grass, seems to be lined up to be the club’s primary designated hitter this year. With Benintendi in left and Robert in center, the club should at least have two competent everyday players in the mix. The question left to be resolved is who will be in right field. The club also lost AJ Pollock when he turned down a player option and signed with the Mariners, in addition to non-tendering Adam Engel, who then signed with the Padres. The right field job has been left open as a battle this spring, so let’s take a look at the candidates.

Oscar Colas

“Oscar Colas is going to be given every opportunity to see if he can become our right fielder on a daily basis,” manager Pedro Grifol said in an interview a few weeks ago. The prospect has a short track record in affiliated ball and is not yet on the 40-man roster, but it seems the team wants to leave a path open for him to seize a job once he proves himself ready for it.

Now 24 years old, Colas played in Cuba when he was younger, serving as both a hitter and a pitcher. Though some liked to call him the “Cuban Ohtani,” he only logged 3 1/3 innings in Cuba when he was 19 and the comparison never seemed truly appropriate. After spending some time in Japan, Colas was eventually declared a free agent and agreed to terms with the White Sox in 2021. That deal didn’t become official until January of 2022 when a new international signing period began, delaying his debut in affiliated ball until last year. Colas now has one season in the minors under his belt and there’s no denying that it was impressive. He began in High-A before jumping to Double-A and Triple-A, getting 526 plate appearances in 117 total games. He hit 23 home runs in that time and produced a batting line of .314/.371/.524 for a wRC+ of 137.

Those results certainly suggest Colas has earned a shot in the big leagues, but there are also concerns. His work at Triple-A was only a seven-game stint as the season was winding down, and though he hit .387 in that time, he also struck out at a 36.4% rate while walking just 6.1% of the time. It’s a small sample, but plate discipline is the primary red flag on his profile. His strikeout rate wasn’t quite as drastic at the lower levels but increased as he moved up the ranks. Scouting reports from both Baseball America and FanGraphs raise concerns about his propensity for chasing.

He’s not considered a strong enough defender for center field or a burner on the basepaths, with scouts agreeing he makes more sense in right field. He could still be an above-average fielder there, especially because his arm is considered an asset. But corner outfielders are generally expected to produce more offense than center fielders, putting a bit more pressure on his bat. Though the power seems to be legit, the strikeouts could potentially be an Achilles heel. It seems the Sox are open to letting him take a job with a hot spring but he could also warrant a bit more time on the farm after not playing in 2021 and a quick run through the minors last year.

Gavin Sheets

Sheets, 27 in April, has shown some solid work at the plate in his career so far. He debuted in 2021 and launched 11 home runs in 54 games, leading to a .250/.324/.506 slash line and a 124 wRC+. He got his first extended stretch of playing time last year but couldn’t quite maintain that torrid pace. He hit 15 home runs over 410 plate appearances and hit .241/.295/.411 overall for a wRC+ of 100, or exactly league average.

The defensive side of his game hasn’t been graded well, however, as Sheets has a -10 DRS, -7 OAA and -6.0 UZR in the outfield so far. He’s only been in the majors a short time but the profile appears limited, supplying power but not much else since he doesn’t run well or get on base at an especially high rate. He seems like the frontrunner to hold down the job until Colas is deemed ready.

Eloy Jiménez

Jiménez, 26, certainly provides value with his bat. Despite missing over two months with a hamstring strain last year, he still hit 16 home runs and finished the season with a .295/.358/.500 batting line for a wRC+ of 144. But his defense has been a liability in his career, leading to tallies of -15 DRS, -17 OAA and -8.2 UZR. It seems the club will try to utilize him as a DH for the most part, though not entirely.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing Eloy in right field,” Grifol said recently. “I’m not talking about seeing him there every day, but I’m talking about maybe seeing him there a day or two a week if possible and keeping him athletic and keeping him working on the defensive side, because I know that helps on the offensive side as well.”

Regardless of who’s getting the regular right field reps, it seems Jiménez will be rotated in there a bit. That’s a fine enough plan but situations could always arise where he has to jog out there more often. Last year, for example, Bryce Harper was diagnosed with a torn UCL that kept him from taking the field but allowed him to continue hitting. That forced the Phillies to put Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos out on the grass more often than they initially planned. That’s an extreme example in the sense that Harper was such a good hitter that the Phils had little choice but to allow him to clog up their DH slot for most of the year. However, it still shows that an injury can sometimes throw off a club’s designs for its ideal alignment, and it’s possible such a scenario arises and leads to an extended stretch in the field for Jiménez.

Leury Garcia

Garcia, 32 in March, is a candidate to help out with Chicago’s unsettled second base position as well as here in right. In his many years with the club, he’s served a super utility role, playing everywhere except first base and catcher. His glovework in the outfield is considered to be around average, though he doesn’t provide much at the plate, with a career batting line of .253/.293/.350. That amounts to a wRC+ of 74, indicating he’s been 26% below league average for his career. He was well off that pace last year, getting into 97 games but hitting just .210/.233/.267 for a wRC+ of just 39. He’s likely to be bouncing around the diamond to fill in wherever he’s needed. That could include some time in right field, but if he’s getting an extended run here it likely means something has gone terribly wrong.

Victor Reyes/Jake Marisnick/Billy Hamilton/Adam Haseley

None of these outfielders are currently on the roster, but they will be in camp as non-roster invitees. In the case of Haseley, he was outrighted in November while the other three were brought aboard on minor league deals. Marisnick and Hamilton are both glove-first veterans who will be 32 years old this year. They could make their way onto the roster as a fourth outfielder at some point, but it will be difficult to earn an everyday role unless there’s a cascade of injuries to other players. Haseley, 27 in April, was once a top-100 prospect with the Phillies, but his bat seems to have stalled out once he got to the game’s upper levels. He has a .262/.323/.364 batting line in 380 MLB plate appearances for a wRC+ of 82. His Triple-A work isn’t impressive either, coming in at .241/.308/.389. His defense is well-regarded and he’s yet to reach arbitration, so he could theoretically carve out a meaningful role if he can take a step forward at the plate. Reyes, 28, is fairly similar, having hit .264/.294/.379 in his career for an 83 wRC+. He has over four years of service time but still has an option remaining.

External Addition

There are still some names available in free agency, such as Jurickson Profar, David Peralta, Tyler Naquin, Ben Gamel, Robbie Grossman and others. Convincing any of them to sign as a placeholder or a part-time player could be difficult, though an injury during Spring Training or the World Baseball Classic could quickly change the whole picture. The club isn’t close to the $233MM competitive balance tax threshold, with Roster Resource currently pegging their number at $205MM. They are, however, getting pretty close to their franchise spending record. Per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, the club ran a $193MM figure on Opening Day last year, smashing their previous record of $129MM. Roster Resource has them at $187MM right now, just shy of last year. They could seemingly afford to make an addition if they wanted, but it’s possible they simply don’t want to block Colas and the remaining free agents feel they could probably find better opportunities elsewhere.

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Though the Sox seem capable of having a better outfield this year, the overall depth does seem to be lacking at the moment. If Colas comes into spring and looks great, then things are probably in good shape. But if he looks a little shaky and goes back to the minors, then Sheets and Jiménez are likely handling things, with both of those guys being defensive liabilities. One injury would suddenly vault Garcia or one of the non-roster guys into an everyday role. More than one injury would really create a problem.

Lopez, 28 in March, has spent his entire career with the Royals. He reached the majors in 2019, hitting .240/.276/.325 in 103 games as a rookie. He had a similarly rough offensive showing during his second season but earned elite marks for his second base work. Lopez’s +9 defensive runs saved during the shortened season tied for the league lead at the position, earning him another look in 2021.

The left-handed hitter looked to have taken a step forward offensively that season, at least on the surface. He posted a .300/.365/.378 line over 565 trips to the plate, with that offense checking in a hair above league average. That required a lofty .347 batting average on balls in play which he never seemed likely to sustain, and his batted ball metrics weren’t much different than those of his first two seasons. Lopez’s production indeed fell back last season, as he hit .227/.281/.273 without a home run in 480 trips to the plate.

Lopez was one of two hitters (Myles Straw being the other) who tallied 450+ plate appearances without connecting on a home run. He and Straw tied for the game’s second-lowest slugging output, narrowly topping that of Geraldo Perdomo, while ranking in the bottom 10 in hard contact. That lack of power makes him very reliant on turning grounders into singles to drive his offensive profile. That happened in 2021, but his overall .252/.309/.321 career line checks in 27 percentage points below league average as measured by wRC+.

The White Sox, of course, are eying Lopez for other reasons. While he has only slightly above-average pure speed, he’s an instinctive baserunner who has successfully stolen 36 bags in 40 attempts over the past two seasons. That skillset could take on a bit more value in 2023, as the league is introducing limits on the number of pickoff attempts/step-offs a pitcher can deploy in an at-bat.

More importantly, Lopez has shown the potential for excellent infield defense. DRS bizarrely graded him as eight runs below average at second base in 2022, but that’s an anomaly compared to his strong career marks. Statcast estimated him as three runs above average at the keystone and 5 runs above par through 406 innings of shortstop work last season. Both metrics pegged him as a quality defender at each middle infield spot in previous years.

Chicago obviously views Lopez as a potential target for their uncertain second base mix. Tim Anderson and Yoán Moncada will cover the left side of the infield. Second base is far less settled. Romy González and Lenyn Sosa look the present favorites for reps, with veteran utilityman Leury García also in the mix. Lopez doesn’t bring a ton of offensive upside but would raise the floor with his glove and baserunning.

The Royals have a somewhat questionable second base mix of their own, though, apparently lessening their desire to part with Lopez. Michael Massey is the top option after hitting .243/.307/.376 over 52 games as a rookie. That was a fine but hardly overwhelming debut showing, leaving the possibility that K.C. pivots back to Lopez if Massey scuffles. The Royals already thinned out their overall infield depth this morning by dealing Adalberto Mondesi to the Red Sox.

Lopez and the Royals agreed to a $3.7MM salary to avoid arbitration earlier this offseason. He’s under club control for three years, including the upcoming campaign.

One position the White Sox haven’t addressed thus far is second base. The keystone was a question mark last year, with five players logging at least five appearances there. Josh Harrison and Danny Mendick are gone, with Chicago declining a club option on the former and non-tendering the latter. That leaves a trio of last year’s options who stand as the top in-house candidates for reps.

• Romy González (26): González made his MLB debut in 2021 with 10 appearances, and he got into 32 more games last season. Between those two years, he’s mustered just a .241/.261/.350 line through his first 142 MLB plate appearances. The right-handed hitter has connected on two home runs with well worse than average strikeout and walk numbers. He’s walked in just 2.1% of his trips against a 35.2% strikeout percentage. It was a fairly similar story with Triple-A Charlotte last year, where González punched out a third of the time en route to a .198/.281/.339 line over 33 games. He’d hit better in Double-A the year before, connecting on 20 homers in 78 contests in a pitcher-friendly environment — albeit with a 28.2% strikeout rate. González has some power upside but serious contact concerns against upper level pitching.
• Leury García (32): García is an organizational favorite who’s headed into his tenth season with the club. He’s defensively versatile and has clearly endeared himself to multiple coaching staffs and the front office, culminating in a surprising three-year free agent deal last offseason. The switch-hitter has just a .253/.293/.350 career line at the big league level, though. Things were even worse in 2022, as he hit .210/.233/.267 over 315 trips to the plate. It’s hard to envision a win-now club counting on him as an everyday player, although he figures to play a multi-positional role off the bench.
• Lenyn Sosa (23): Sosa has almost no MLB experience. He earned his first big league promotion in June and wound up appearing in 11 games the rest of the way. The Venezuela native is coming off an excellent season in the high minors. He hit well at both Double-A and Triple-A, combining for a .315/.369/.511 line with 22 home runs through 536 plate appearances. While Sosa only walked at a modest 7.3% clip, he kept his strikeout rate under 16%. One can’t be certain he’ll continue at that pace against MLB arms until he proves it at the highest level, of course. Sosa ranks 10th among White Sox prospects at Baseball America and may have the most upside of this trio, though there’d be plenty of risk for a team hoping to compete for a division title in turning the keystone over to him immediately.

The Sox have a few other infield options on the 40-man roster but none seems likely to step into the second base void. Chicago has toyed with the idea of playing Jake Burger at the keystone. He’s a better fit for the corner infield and only saw five innings of MLB action at second base last season. Jose Rodriguez and Bryan Ramos were each added to the 40-man after the 2022 season to keep them out of the Rule 5 draft; neither has any MLB experience to date. Yoán Moncada has played second base in the past, but the White Sox have deployed him exclusively at third base for the past four seasons. It doesn’t seem they’re considering moving him back to the middle infield.

Given the lack of an obvious internal solution, it’s unsurprising the club is open to bringing in help from outside the organization. General manager Rick Hahn told reporters yesterday the club could add at second base, though he indicated they were confident enough in González and Sosa they don’t consider that a necessity (via Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times). Their early-offseason activity has seemed to align with that expressed confidence, since they’ve watched the free agent middle infield market mostly dry up.

The remaining options on the open market are headlined by Elvis Andrus, who closed out the 2022 campaign with the White Sox after being released by the A’s. The veteran has only ever played shortstop in his MLB career, as he filled in there with Tim Anderson injured late last season. Perhaps Andrus is uninterested in moving to second base, though it stands to reason he’d be able to handle the position if willing to kick to the other side of the bag. Harrison is probably the next-best unsigned middle infielder. The Sox presumably don’t view him as a notable upgrade over their in-house options considering they declined to retain him on what amounted to a $4MM decision at the start of the offseason.

If not Andrus, that’d probably leave Hahn and his staff looking to the trade market. Any specific trade targets for the Chicago front office aren’t publicly known, although a few players stand out as speculative possibilities. The Blue Jays have a number of second base options and might be amenable to parting with Cavan Biggio or Santiago Espinal. The Marlins have relegated Joey Wendle and Jon Berti to utility duty after signing Jean Segura. If the Mets indeed finalize their deal with Carlos Correa, maybe they’d deal old friend Eduardo Escobar somewhere with a clearer path to playing time.

The A’s would presumably consider offers on Tony Kemp. That’s likely also the case for the Cubs and former White Sox Nick Madrigal, who lost his starting job after they signed Dansby Swanson to push Nico Hoerner to the keystone. Longer-shot trade candidates include Ha-Seong Kim and Gleyber Torres, although the White Sox might have to dip further than they feel comfortable into a shallow farm system to land either of those players. The same is true of Nolan Gorman, who debuted for the Cardinals last season but could be available in a deal that lands St. Louis immediate MLB help in another area. That’s not an exhaustive list but highlights a few players the Chicago front office could check in on.

Figuring out second base is presumably the top priority for Hahn and his group. Even if the front office genuinely is confident in González and/or Sosa to step up, adding a veteran complement as insurance for that unproven duo makes sense. The organization might not have much more spending capacity after the Benintendi signing. None of the remaining free agent options should break the bank, though, while a player like Espinal or Berti projected for a fairly modest arbitration salary shouldn’t be difficult to fit onto the books.

This is the second hamstring-related IL stint of the season for Moncada, who missed 10 days due to a strain in his right hamstring back in June. That absence followed a longer IL stint at the start of the season due to an oblique strain, which delayed Moncada’s 2022 debut until May. All of these injuries have contributed to a miserable season for the third baseman, who has only a .197/.269/.313 slash line over 324 plate appearances.

The White Sox in general have been hampered by injury absences all year long, and Moncada joins other regulars in Tim Anderson and Yasmani Grandal as current members of the IL. Garcia’s return will help make up some of that depth in the infield, though Garcia is himself struggling through a mediocre year at the plate. Garcia, Josh Harrison, and rookie Romy Gonzalez now figure to split duties between third and second base.

Díaz, 32, is having a nice season, serving as a super utility option for Houston. He’s played all four infield positions and also the outfield corners, hitting .252/.303/.417 for a wRC+ of 108. Given that versatility, his absence will cut into the club’s depth pretty much everywhere around the diamond, except for center field and behind the plate. Injuries have become something of a recurring theme for Díaz, as this is now the fifth straight season where he’s landed on the IL.

Mauricio Dubón, who has played everywhere except first base and catcher this season, will now be the club’s primary utility option. The club hasn’t indicated how long they expect Diaz to be out of action. He is slated to reach free agency at the end of this season.

Some other IL moves from around the league…

• The White Sox announced that their own utility player, Leury Garcia, has been placed on the 10-day IL due to a lower back strain. Infielder Romy Gonzalez was recalled to take his place on the active roster. Garcia, 31, has certainly provided the Sox with versatility, having played every non-pitching position except for catcher and first base. However, unlike Díaz, he’s not having a strong campaign. In 288 plate appearances this year, he’s batting .212/.238/.275 for a wRC+ of just 44. He is in the first season of a three-year, $16.5MM contract that he signed with Chicago prior to this year. It’s unclear how long the club expects him to be out of action.
• The Dodgers announced that infielder Edwin Ríos has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City. The club had a vacancy on its 40-man roster, so no corresponding move was required. Ríos, 28, suffered a hamstring tear in early June and had been out of action until beginning a rehab assignment in late July. Prior to landing on the IL, he had a nice showing in 27 big league games, hitting .244/.293/.500 for a wRC+ of 119.

TODAY, 12:57AM: Garcia receives a $16.5MM guarantee, Heyman reports.

NOVEMBER 30: The White Sox have agreed to re-sign infielder/outfielder Leury Garcia, reports MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). It’ll be a surprising three-year commitment for MDR Sports Management client.

Garcia, 30, tallied 474 plate appearances with the South Siders in 2021 — the second-highest total of his career — and posted a .267/.335/.376 batting line with five homers, 22 doubles, four triples and six stolen bases (in eight attempts). Dating back to 2017, when Garcia established himself as a fixture on the White Sox’ roster, he’s batted .273/.317/.388 while seeing time at second base, shortstop, third base and all three outfield spots.

Despite a need for an everyday second baseman in Chicago, it seems Garcia’s role won’t change much on his new contract. The Athletic’s James Fegan tweets that Garcia will continue as an oft-used backup around the diamond and, when injury necessitates, a temporary everyday option.

The ChiSox already have Yoan Moncada installed at third base, Tim Anderson at shortstop, Eloy Jimenez in left field and Luis Robert in center. Andrew Vaughn and Gavin Sheets saw some time in the outfield this year but are better suited at first base — where Jose Abreu is locked in — and/or designated hitter. Garcia is a competent backup just about anywhere, with 200-plus innings at every position other than first base, catcher and (of course) pitcher. It still seems likely that Chicago will make an addition at second base, and an upgrade in the outfield is also quite possible.

It’s uncommon, albeit not unprecedented, to see a free-agent bench player of this nature receive a deal of three or more years in length. Ben Zobrist landed four years as a free agent with the Cubs, and the general expectation is that reigning super-utility star du jour Chris Taylor will eclipse Zobrist’s $56MM guarantee. Both Zobrist and Taylor, however, hit the market as above-average hitters with everyday upside; that hasn’t been true of Garcia. The deal is in some ways reminiscent of the Padres’ three-year contract with Jurickson Profar, though Chicago will hope for better results than that deal provided for San Diego in year one.

Due to the nature of concussion symptoms, it isn’t known how much time Garcia could miss.  The Sox do have a bit more of a timeline lightly sketched out for Carlos Rodon, however, as manager Tony La Russa suggested to reporters (including MLB.com’s Scott Merkin) that Rodon might pitch during Chicago’s four-game series against the Blue Jays that runs from August 23-26.  Rodon’s 10-day IL placement due to shoulder fatigue retroactively began on August 8, and though La Russa said at the time that Rodon would likely be out of action beyond the 10-day minimum, a return against Toronto would still represent a relatively quick comeback for the left-hander.

More from around the AL Central…

• Adalberto Mondesi will visit with the Royals medical team after feeling tightness in his left oblique.  Mondesi has been out of action since June 21 due to an oblique strain, and due to a right oblique strain and a hamstring strain earlier in the season, Mondesi has played in just 10 games in 2021.  Royals manager Mike Matheny told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters that the idea of shutting Mondesi down for the season “hasn’t been talked about,” and the team is for now seeing this issue as just “a little bit of a setback” until more information is known.  Mondesi had already been on a Triple-A rehab assignment for much of August.
• Both Shane Bieber and Aaron Civale are set to throw on Tuesday as the two Indians starters continue to work their way back from injury.  Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer (Twitter link) was among those to report that Bieber tossed a bullpen session yesterday and will throw another bullpen on Tuesday.  Civale’s outing Tuesday will be a two-inning simulated game, and if all goes well, Civale could begin a rehab assignment.
• Tigers right-hander Julio Teheran was throwing with low velocity while tossing a live batting practice session, and was shut down.  As Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (including Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free Press), Teheran “hasn’t been able to generate the arm speed that’s going to be needed for him to step into a rehab assignment.”  The veteran righty made just one start for Detroit before a shoulder strain put him on the 60-day IL back in April, so multiple rehab starts will be necessary for Teheran to ramp back up.  Since it is already mid-August, however, “we’re running out of time,” Hinch said.  “We’re going to have to determine what’s the next step for him if he’s going to make any part of the rest of the season.”

Retaining Encarnacion would have cost the White Sox $12MM, but they’ll move on from him without having to pay a buyout. Conversely, Gonzalez will receive a $500K buyout in lieu of the $7MM salary he could have earned next season. These are hardly surprising decisions by Chicago, as both Encarnacion and Gonzalez disappointed after joining the White Sox in free agency last offseason.

While Encarnacion is one of the most prolific sluggers in recent memory, having totaled eight straight 30-home run seasons before 2020, this year was a nightmare for him. He continued to show above-average power (10 home runs, .220 ISO), but Encarnacion limped to a .157/.250/.377 line across 181 plate appearances. Considering he brings no defensive value to the table and will turn 38 before next season, it was surely an easy call to cut the cord for the White Sox.

Like Encarnacion, Gonzalez fell well short of his career-long track record as a member of the Sox. The 35-year-old has eight seasons of 30-plus starts under his belt, but he spent most of this campaign in the bullpen. Gonzalez wound up with four starts in 12 appearances and a 4.83 ERA/5.50 FIP with 9.66 K/9 against 5.4 BB/9 over 31 2/3 innings.

The White Sox could have bought out Garcia for $250K, but they’ll instead keep the versatile 29-year-old. While Garcia had an abbreviated season because of a thumb injury, he did slash a respectable .271/.317/.441 with three homers and a 14.3 percent strikeout rate in 63 trips to the plate.

Now, lest we spend the entire evening on the postseason alone, let’s check in on a team that hopes to have these kinds of decisions to make in years to come…

• The White Sox have some options pending after their most successful season in over a decade, and the Athletic’s James Fegan provides a rundown. One of the easier calls will be declining the $12MM club option on designated hitter Edwin Encarnación. It’s true that Encarnación didn’t exactly dazzle this year with a triple slash of .157/.250/.377, but more telling is GM Rick Hahn’s comment about #3 overall draft pick of the 2019 draft: Andrew Vaughn. Per Fegan, Hahn said, “Given his makeup and given his tools, it’s hard to look at him and rule him out of being able to help a team in the not too distant future.”
• Like ships passing in the night, just as one #3 pick could soon embark on his White Sox career, another in Carlos Rodon could be nearing an end. The big lefty will be due at least a nominal raise on his $4.45MM contract, and there’s a decent chance that’s too rich given his inability to stay healthy. The White Sox will be looking for stability for their rotation now that their contention window has firmly opened. With that in mind, it’s likely they decline Gio Gonzalez’s $7MM option as well.
• Perhaps the most surprising tidbit in the group is Fegan’s suggestion that Nomar Mazara is heading for a DFA. Not so shocking when considering his 42-game .228/.295/.294 line he put up across 194 plate appearances this year. But taking the long view, this certainly isn’t where the 25-year-old appeared to be heading when he made his debut in Texas as a 21-year-old.

Garcia hasn’t played since August 10, as a severed thumb ligament required surgery.  The 29-year-old was off to a pretty nice start, hitting .271/.317/.441 over his 63 regular season plate appearances, getting a lot of action at shortstop (due to Tim Anderson’s own IL stint) and second base (before Nick Madrigal was called up to the big leagues).  Garcia has been known more for his versatility than his switch-hitting bat over his eight MLB seasons, and his ability to play all over the diamond will make him a nice bench piece for the Sox during their postseason run.  As a member of the White Sox organization since 2013, this playoff appearance surely feels extra sweet for Garcia after seven losing seasons.

McRae only appeared in two games for Chicago this season, tossing three scoreless innings.  The right-hander signed a minor league deal with the White Sox last winter after spending his first six pro seasons in the Pirates organization.  McRae saw Major League action in both 2018 and 2019, posting a combined 8.18 ERA, 6.5 K/9, and 1.14 K/BB rate over 33 innings for Pittsburgh.