Yasmani Grandal

Which Players Could White Sox Make Available Closer To The Trade Deadline?

By Steve Adams | May 1, 2023 at 11:59pm CDT

I wrote about the calamitous White Sox start on Friday, and over the weekend the team went 1-2, snapping a nine-game losing streak with a stunning seven-run bottom half of the ninth inning, walking off the Rays in the process. Even if that win sparks some momentum for a listless South Side club, the Sox are already nine back in the AL Central. They’d need to play at an 82-51 pace (.617) to get to 90 wins. It’s not even clear that’d be enough for a division win, with the Twins playing at a 95-win pace.

Early May is pretty early to be doing any forward-looking breakdown of what a team might have to offer at this year’s trade deadline, but the current state of the White Sox is a bit more dire than usual. Their playoff odds at FanGraphs have plummeted from 30.5% prior to the season to just 4.2% now. PECOTA has their playoff odds at just 3.2%. They have MLB’s second-worst run differential (-65) and are already battling myriad injuries with some glaring depth issues.

One of the most frequently asked questions over the past week in the chats we host at MLBTR has been one of who could be available if the Sox sell this summer. With that in mind and with an obligatory “it’s still only May 1” caveat, here’s a quick rundown of the possibilities and how they’ve begun the season.

Rental Players

The most obvious candidates to change hands if the Sox do indeed end up selling, all of these players are set to be free agents at season’s end anyhow. There are a couple of qualifying offer candidates within the group, so the Sox would need to feel they’re getting more than the value of a compensatory draft pick back in those instances.

Lucas Giolito, RHP, 28, $10.4MM salary

Giolito won’t turn 29 until mid-July and stands as one of the potential top arms on next offseason’s free-agent market … if he can round back into form this season and put an ugly 2022 campaign behind him. From 2019-21, the former first-round pick was one of the American League’s top arms, making the All-Star team in ’19 and securing Cy Young votes in all three of those seasons — including sixth- and seventh-place finishes in 2019 and 2020, respectively. During that stretch, Giolito logged a collective 3.47 ERA with a huge 30.7% strikeout rate and solid 8% walk rate.

The 2022 season was another story. Giolito’s fastball dropped from the 94.2 mph it averaged during that three-year peak down to 92.7 mph. His strikeout rate fell to an above-average but still-diminished 25.4%. His walk rate crept up a bit, to 8.7%. His opponents’ average exit velocity jumped from 87.8 mph to 88.8 mph, and his hard-hit rate rose from 34.5% to 39%. None of those are awful numbers, but everything went the wrong direction for Giolito in ’22. A huge .340 BABIP surely contributed to some of his struggles — being a fly-ball pitcher with the worst outfield defense in baseball isn’t fun — but it wasn’t a great season regardless.

Giolito’s picked some velocity back up early this season. His 23.1% strikeout rate isn’t near its peak, but his 4.1% walk rate is far and away a career-best mark. If the White Sox sell, Giolito will likely be one of the best and most in-demand starters on the market. He’s out to a decent start, and with his track record, age and upside, a qualifying offer seems likely, barring a disastrous collapse. The Sox would need to feel they got more value than they’d net in the form of a compensatory draft pick.

Reynaldo Lopez, RHP, 29, $3.625MM

Lopez has had a terrible start to the season, with an 8.76 ERA and five home runs allowed in just 12 1/3 innings (3.65 HR/9). He was very good in the ’pen in 2021-22, however, notching a 3.07 ERA with an above-average 24.8% strikeout rate and a 5.3% walk rate. In 2023, Lopez is sporting a career-best 33.3% strikeout rate, and he’s averaging a career-high 99.2 mph on his heater. His 14.6% swinging-strike rate is excellent. If Lopez who allowed just one home run in 55 2/3 innings last year, can get past this bizarre home run spike, he still has obvious late-inning potential and is the type of affordable power arm who’d appeal to other clubs.

Mike Clevinger, RHP, 32, $12MM

Clevinger technically has a 2024 option on his contract, but mutual options are almost exclusively accounting measures and are exercised by both parties with only the utmost rarity. He’s still just 32 years old, by Clevinger’s halcyon days feel like they were a lot longer ago than 2017-20. He missed the 2021 season following Tommy John surgery, came back with a diminished fastball and middling peripherals in ’22, and hasn’t looked much better in 2023, with a 4.60 ERA, below-average 19.3% strikeout rate and ugly 11.1% walk rate in 29 1/3 innings. Clevinger has gained some but not all of the life on his heater back, and his current 8.1% swinging-strike rate is both well below the league average (11.1%) and easily the lowest mark of his career. He’s pitching like a fifth starter right now, and not a particularly cheap one.

Elvis Andrus, 2B/SS, 35, $3MM

Andrus was great with the White Sox in place of an injured Tim Anderson down the stretch in 2022 (.271/.309/.464, nine homers, 11 steals) and has been the opposite so far in 2023, hitting .206/.274/.245 in 113 plate appearances with well below-average quality of contact, per Statcast. He can still play defense and has now shown a willingness to log some time at second base, so another club could look at him as a slick-fielding utility option. He’ll need to hit more than he has in the season’s first month, though.

Hanser Alberto, INF, 30, $2.3MM

Alberto has typically been a solid defender at three infield spots with good bat-to-ball skills, a bottom-of-the-barrel walk rate and minimal power. This season, however, he’s made some glaring misplays at third base and batted just .211/.211/.368 in 19 plate appearances before hitting the IL with a quad strain. It’s a tiny sample, but he needs to get healthy and play better to even make it to the trade deadline on the big league roster.

Yasmani Grandal, C, 34, $18.25MM

The switch-hitting Grandal has bounced back at the plate with a .241/.323/.446 batting line (114 wRC+) and three homers in 93 plate appearances. His 8.6% walk rate is well down from its career 14.5% level, and his once-vaunted defensive ratings have fallen below average at 34. Given his considerable salary, Grandal is only changing hands if the ChiSox eat a good portion of the bill.

Signed/Controlled for One Extra Year

Moving anyone from this group would signal a more aggressive seller’s standpoint from the front office, but the Sox would generally be able to retain their core players while also unlocking larger returns than they’d be land for their generally modest collection of rentals.

Tim Anderson, SS, 30 | $12.5MM in 2023, $14MM club option for 2024

Anderson batted above .300 in four straight seasons from 2019-22, turning in an overall .318/.347/.473 slash that was 23% better than league average, by measure of wRC+. The two-time All-Star is a regular threat for 15 to 20 home runs and 15 to 25 steals. Defensive metrics are mixed on his work at shortstop, but his only across-the-board below average season per DRS, UZR and OAA came in 2022, when he was hobbled by a groin strain. Anderson is a well above-average regular with All-Star potential and a highly affordable salary through the 2024 season.

The White Sox’ top prospect is 2021 first-rounder Colson Montgomery, who has become one of the game’s top-ranked shortstop prospects. He opened the season on the shelf with an oblique strain but could be ready for a big league look in 2024 after reaching Double-A as a 20-year-old in 2022.

Lance Lynn, RHP, 36 | $18.5MM in 2023, $18MM club option for 2024

Lynn, 36 next week, hasn’t been himself so far in 2023. His 10.1% walk rate is his highest since 2018 by a wide margin, and he’s allowed a jarring 2.20 homers per nine frames. The 94.4 mph he averaged on his heater in 2019-21 is down to 92.6 mph in 2023, and while he’s still missing bats in the zone and off the plate, Lynn has allowed too much hard contact when opponents do connect. Hitters posted just a .192/.238/.335 slash against Lynn’s four-seamer as recently as 2022, but they’re hitting .283/.365/.587 when putting the pitch in play this year. The 2019-22 version of Lynn is well worth that 2024 option price, but he needs to solve his home run woes.

Liam Hendriks, RHP, 34 | $14MM in 2023, $15MM club option for 2024

Hendriks hasn’t pitched this season but recently announced that he’s cancer-free after battling non-Hodgkins lymphoma for the past several months. Hendriks is one of the game’s best relievers, and the priority is simply getting back on the field. If he looks like himself, he’d garner interest.

Joe Kelly, RHP, 35 | $9MM in 2023, $9.5MM club option for 2024

Kelly has been on the IL three times since signing a two-year, $17MM deal with the White Sox prior to the 2022 season. He also has a 6.26 ERA and a 12.6% walk rate with the South Siders. He’s still missing bats, racking up grounders and has had improved command in his tiny 4 2/3 inning sample this season. The Sox might have to eat some money to move him even if he’s pitching decently.

Kendall Graveman, RHP, 32 | $8MM in 2023, $8MM in 2024

Graveman is still throwing hard and missing bats at a solid clip, but his sinker isn’t getting grounders anywhere near its prior levels. He’s sitting on a 38.7% ground-ball rate in ’23 after living at 54% in 2021-22 and 52.1% in his career prior to the current season. On a surely related note, he’s giving up homers at a career-worst rate (2.38 HR/9). Graveman’s first season in Chicago was solid, but he’s at risk of becoming another high-priced bullpen misstep.

Jake Diekman, LHP, 36 | $3.5MM in 2023, $4MM club option for 2024

The White Sox acquired Diekman from the Red Sox at last year’s trade deadline even though he’d walked 17.5% of his opponents in Boston, and the command has only gotten worse. Diekman has walked a whopping 13 of his 58 opponents (22.4%) in 2023 while posting a 7.94 ERA. Command has always been a weak point, but this current rate just isn’t tenable. If he can’t right the ship, it’s hard to imagine him lasting on the roster until the trade deadline.

Longer Term Players

Moving anyone from this bunch is tougher to envision, as it would effectively signal a larger-scale rebuilding effort. While the Sox could still move one or even multiple players from this group without necessarily embarking on a full-scale rebuild, these moves would represent a clear step back from contending not only in 2023 but likely in 2024 at the very least — quite possibly longer.

Dylan Cease, RHP, 27 | $5.3MM in 2023, arb-eligible in 2024-25

Trading Cease would amount to waving a white flag not only on this season but on the entire rebuild that the Sox went through from 2016-20. Cease finished runner-up to Justin Verlander in American League Cy Young voting last year and was so dominant — 2.20 ERA, 30.4% strikeout rate, 6.4 bWAR in 184 innings — that he might’ve won in another year where he wasn’t chasing a historic comeback effort from a future Hall of Famer.

Cease’s velocity, strikeout rate and swinging-strike rate are all down a bit this season, but not in glaring, concerning fashion. He’s sporting a 4.15 ERA, though practically all the damage against him came at the hands of the Rays last week when the hottest team in baseball tagged him for seven runs. Cease won’t turn 28 until December. He’s a power-armed, bat-missing monster with two years of arbitration remaining after the current season. Pitchers like this almost never get traded, and it’s extra-tough to see the White Sox biting the bullet and making a move, since doing so just feels like a giant concession. If they do reach that point, Cease could generate one of the biggest hauls in recent trade deadline memory.

Michael Kopech, RHP, 27 | $2.05MM in 2023, arb-eligible in 2024-25

It’s been a poor start for Kopech (7.01 ERA in 25 2/3 innings) thanks to wobbly command that has manifested in a career-high 11.1% walk rate and, more problematically, a career-worst 2.81 HR/9 mark. Still, he’s a 27-year-old who once ranked as the sport’s top pitching prospect and as recently as 2021-22 logged a combined 3.53 ERA, 26.7% strikeout rate and 10.4% walk rate in 188 2/3 innings.

Kopech spent nearly all of the 2021 season in the bullpen as he worked back from Tommy John surgery and fanned a gaudy 36.1% of his opponents in that role. He’s a high-upside arm and has already seen his average fastball creep up from 95.1 mph in 2022 to 96.2 mph in 2023. Teams would love to get their hands on Kopech right now, and if he can cut back on the walks and homers, his value will only increase. This trade wouldn’t necessarily be the white flag that the Cease trade would be, but it’s hard to see Kopech going unless the Sox are pessimistic about their chances in the next couple of seasons as well.

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There are other names to consider, though each comes with plenty of red flags. Yoan Moncada is signed through 2024 and controllable through a 2025 club option, but he’s been neither healthy enough nor consistently productive enough to make the remaining $43.1MM in guarantees on his deal feel palatable for a trade partner. Luis Robert Jr., Eloy Jimenez, Andrew Vaughn and Aaron Bummer are all signed or controlled through at least 2026 (2027 in Robert’s case), which lessens any urgency to move those players. As it stands, the Sox would be selling low on anyone from that group of talented players. No one from that group feels likely to be a serious trade candidate this summer.

Of the three buckets listed above — “rental,” “one extra year” and “longer-term” — the rental pieces are the likeliest to go. Selling anything beyond that point, particularly a face of the franchise like Anderson or a controllable Cy Young-caliber talent like Cease, would likely signal a step back and longer-term rebuilding effort just two years after the Sox sought to emerge from their prior rebuild. Owner Jerry Reinsdorf is as loyal as they come, but one can imagine that the current meltdown could test even his patience; GM Rick Hahn candidly acknowledged last week in public comments that his job is likely on the line.

The White Sox still have a couple months to try to turn things around, but if things don’t improve in a hurry, then many of the names listed above will the most frequently discussed players on the 2023 summer rumor mill as contending teams look to beef up their rosters in advance of a postseason push.

AL Notes: Lorenzen, Taylor, Grandal

By Darragh McDonald | August 22, 2022 at 6:54pm CDT

Angels righty Michael Lorenzen began a rehab assignment yesterday, throwing 47 pitches over three innings for the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees. He went on the injured list July 7, retroactive to July 4, due to a shoulder strain. He was eventually transferred to the 60-day IL, meaning he isn’t eligible to be activated until September 2.

The return of Lorenzen won’t be terribly significant for the Angels, since they are 13 1/2 games out of a playoff spot and won’t be in competition during the final weeks of the season. However, it will be an important stretch for Lorenzen personally as he will be heading back into free agency in a few months.

During his time with the Reds, he was frequently deployed as a reliever. But when he reached free agency, he went looking for an opportunity to return to starting, which he found with the Angels. Signed to a one-year, $6.75MM deal, Lorenzen’s return to the rotation went well for a few months. He had a 3.45 ERA through mid-June, having made ten starts. Unfortunately, he allowed 16 earned runs over his next three, ballooning his ERA 4.94. At this point, one could argue that Lorenzen proved himself a capable starter that was just waylaid by an injury, while a pessimist could say he proved he’s better suited to shorter stints out of the bullpen. Teams on the lookout for pitching this winter will keep an eye on how he fares in the coming weeks, with Lorenzen surely hoping to tip the scales with a strong finish to the campaign.

Some other notes from around the Junior Circuit…

Astros lefty Blake Taylor is being pulled off his rehab assignment, tweets Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. General manager James Click says that Taylor is dealing with “posterior elbow discomfort.” Taylor’s been on the IL since June due to elbow discomfort. Click tried to downplay the update, but the fact that the rehab is being paused is noteworthy. With just over six weeks remaining in the season, there’s not much time left to restart a rehab and get back to the team. The club has been shorthanded in terms of left-handed relief all year, with Taylor’s 16 innings leading the team. Deadline acquisition Will Smith is currently the only southpaw in the bullpen. However, it seems the team can probably do just fine regardless, as lefties have hit just .217/.299/.299 against Houston’s bullpen overall this year.
White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal left Saturday’s game with an obvious injury, having to be helped off the field. With only about six weeks left on the schedule, some folks were understandably worried that his season might have ended right then and there. Thankfully, it’s been nothing but good news since. Yesterday, the club announced that further testing revealed no serious damage and that Grandal could return to action in 10-14 days. Today, Grandal is walking around the clubhouse as if the injury never occurred, tweets Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times. Manager Tony La Russa says that Grandal is getting treatment but also swinging in the cage already. The backstop is having a down year, particularly in the power department. He only has three homers on the season, after hitting more than 20 in each of the previous five full seasons. But he still walks in 12.4% of his plate appearances and could be a difference maker if he can quickly return to health and rediscover his power stroke.

Yasmani Grandal To Miss 10-14 Days With Knee Injury

By Mark Polishuk | August 21, 2022 at 1:25pm CDT

Aug. 21: The White Sox announced that further testing revealed “no acute damage to the ligaments, tendons or cartilage around the knee.” They diagnose the issue as “inflammation caused by the hyperextension of the knee” and say that Grandal should return to action in 10-14 days.

Aug. 20, 10:58PM: Grandal will be going on the injured list and Perez will be called up from Triple-A, manager Tony La Russa told reporters (including Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times).

10:27PM: The White Sox announced that Grandal left the game due to left knee discomfort, and the catcher is still being evaluated.

10:18PM: White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal left Saturday’s game with an apparent left leg injury after a play at the plate. After Elvis Andrus singled in the seventh inning, Grandal was thrown out trying to score from second base, and seemed to hurt his knee on an awkward attempt to avoid the tag. Grandal had to be helped off the field, and didn’t return to the game.

More will be known about Grandal’s status after the game, yet it would certainly appear as though the veteran catcher will miss at least some time. Considering the calendar, anything beyond a minor injury could put the rest of Grandal’s 2022 season in jeopardy.

Grandal already missed five weeks due to back spasms earlier this season, and another significant injury would only add to a nightmarish year for the 33-year-old backstop. Limited to 287 plate appearances over 73 games, Grandal is hitting only .202/.307/.258, career lows in all three slash-line categories. His once-notable power has completely declined, with an Isolated Slugging statistic of only .056 (miles beneath the .211 ISO he carried over his first 10 seasons). While Grandal still has one of the league’s best walk rates, his lack of other production at the plate has made him a sub-replacement player, with a -0.2 fWAR.

As rough as Grandal’s season has been, the White Sox won’t be helped by the possible loss of their starting catcher as the team continues to battle for a playoff spot. Chicago dealt defensive specialist Reese McGuire to the Red Sox at the trade deadline, leaving Seby Zavala as the primary backup and now potential starter down the stretch. Zavala (who turns 29 later in August) has posted big numbers at Triple-A this season and has an above-average 108 wRC+ in 142 PA in the majors this season, hitting .281/.329/.398.

Nick Ciuffo and Raudy Read are the only other catchers in Chicago’s farm system with MLB experience. Neither are on the 40-man roster, and neither is Carlos Perez, a longtime member of the White Sox farm system who is hitting .259/.317/.448 with 17 homers for Triple-A Charlotte this season. In the event that Grandal misses some of all of the season, the Sox would have to turn to one of these options, or perhaps seek out the waiver wire or minor league trade route to land more catching depth.

White Sox Select Carlos Pérez

By Darragh McDonald | August 21, 2022 at 9:31am CDT

The White Sox announced they have selected the contract of catcher Carlos Pérez. Fellow backstop Yasmani Grandal has been placed on the 10-day injured list on the heels of last night’s injury, which created room for Pérez on the active roster. Grandal’s injury has been described as a left knee strain. To open a spot on the 40-man, right-hander Kyle Crick has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.

Pérez, not to be confused with the Carlos Pérez who is catching in the Rockies’ system, is a 25-year-old who has been in the White Sox organization for his entire career so far. He made his professional debut in rookie ball back in 2014 and has been working his way up the minor league ladder since. He has never been a highly-touted prospect, though he has frequently been an honorable mention on FanGraphs’ lists of top White Sox farmhands, with those reports noting his bat-to-ball skills and strong arm but lack of power.

This year, he’s played 91 games in Triple-A, trying his best to get rid of that lack-of-power reputation. He’s hit 17 home runs on the year after only hitting 20 total long balls in his seven previous minor league seasons. He’s also struck out in just 8.2% of his plate appearances, which is barely one third of the 22.3% MLB average. That’s led to a batting line of .257/.319/.446, wRC+ of 101, a hair above league average.

Pérez will make his MLB debut as soon as he gets into a game. It’s possible that he sticks around for a bit, joining Seby Zavala as the club’s catching tandem. Those two and Grandal are the only three catchers currently on the White Sox 40-man roster.

As for Crick, this won’t affect his timeline since he’s already been on the injured list for over 60 days. It was June 15 when he was first placed on the IL due to elbow inflammation, with no indications he’s close to returning.

White Sox Notes: Robert, Grandal, Bummer, Bullpen

By Anthony Franco | July 22, 2022 at 9:30pm CDT

The White Sox placed center fielder Luis Robert on the 10-day injured list due to blurred vision before tonight’s contest with the Guardians. The placement is backdated to July 19, meaning he’ll first be eligible to return a week from now. He’s been dealing with lightheadedness for the past week, and the team will give him a bit more time to work through the issue.

It doesn’t seem to be a huge concern, as general manager Rick Hahn told reporters (including Vinnie Duber of CHGO Sports) the team was hopeful he could return after a week. Even if he’s back when first eligible, Chicago will have to go a couple pivotal series without arguably their top position player. Robert is hitting .301/.334/.461 with 12 home runs and 11 stolen bases across 323 plate appearances.

In a corresponding move, the Sox reinstated backstop Yasmani Grandal from the IL. Lower back spasms cost the switch-hitting catcher around five weeks. Now that he’s back to health, Grandal will try to get on track after struggling through arguably his worst couple months as a major leaguer. He carries just a .185/.294/.237 line through 201 plate appearances, a shocking downturn for a player who hit .240/.420/.520 last season.

In other injury news, reliever Aaron Bummer told reporters this afternoon he remains about three weeks from getting back onto a mound (via James Fegan of the Athletic). Bummer, who has been out since the second week of June due to a lat strain, is hoping to return to the major league club at some point in early September. That makes it a virtual lock he’ll be transferred to the 60-day injured list whenever Chicago needs a 40-man roster spot, and his still faraway return timeline will play a role in the team’s deadline approach.

Hahn told reporters that, in light of Bummer’s injury, relief pitching is “probably the most obvious need” for his club (via Jesse Rogers of ESPN). The Sox have invested heavily in the bullpen in recent seasons, signing Liam Hendriks, Kendall Graveman and Joe Kelly to multi-year free agent deals (in addition to a lengthy contract extension for Bummer). They’ve nevertheless been a middle-of-the-pack group this year, checking in 17th in ERA (3.90) and 13th in strikeout/walk rate differential (14.9 percentage points). That’s partially due to injury, as Bummer, Hendriks and Kelly have all spent time on the injured list.

Chicago has gotten strong work from both Hendriks and Graveman, as well as former starter Reynaldo López. Along with Kelly, that’s a formidable group of right-handers, but the Sox are down to Tanner Banks as their top southpaw with Bummer on the shelf. Banks has a respectable 3.05 ERA through 38 1/3 innings, but he’s only generating swinging strikes at an 8.4% clip and has a subpar 20.9% strikeout rate.

A southpaw feels like a logical target for Hahn and his staff over the next week and a half. The division-rival Tigers could market Andrew Chafin, who’s likely to decline his player option and hit free agency at the end of the season. Detroit also has hard-throwing Gregory Soto, but he’s controllable through 2025, so the Tigers probably aren’t keen on dealing him to a division rival. Other left-handed relief trade candidates include Joe Mantiply (D-Backs), Steven Okert and Richard Bleier (Marlins) and Matt Moore (Rangers). The Angels Aaron Loup could also draw some interest, although he’s playing on a $7.5MM salary in both this season and next, as well as having a $2MM buyout on a 2024 club option. That could make him a tough fit for a Chicago team running a franchise-record payroll even if the Halos were willing to move him.

White Sox To Activate Eloy Jimenez In Coming Days

By Anthony Franco | July 5, 2022 at 6:45pm CDT

The White Sox have been without Eloy Jiménez for two and a half months, as the slugging outfielder tore a tendon in his right hamstring on April 23. He’ll soon return to the lineup, however, as various reporters (including Jesse Rogers of ESPN) noted that he’s reported to the major league team after wrapping up a rehab assignment with Triple-A Charlotte yesterday. Jiménez won’t be active for tonight’s game against the Twins, but manager Tony La Russa said he’ll be reinstated within the next few days — perhaps as soon as tomorrow (via Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times).

Jiménez’s impending return should be a boon for a lineup that has underwhelmed this season. The defending AL Central winners entered the year with one of the league’s more imposing rosters, but they carry a 38-40 record into play Tuesday night. Offensive struggles have been a key reason, as Chicago hitters carry a .254/.309/.377 line as a unit. They’re 19th in MLB in on-base percentage and 23rd in slugging output, while their 98 wRC+ indicates they’ve been two percentage points worse than a league average offense. That places them 20th leaguewide.

Left field has been one of a handful of problem areas, as the Sox have received a meager .250/.292/.387 showing out of the position. Jiménez contributed to that somewhat with a rough 11 games to start the season, but the bigger factor has been a down year from Spring Training acquisition AJ Pollock. The veteran outfielder did have a decent June after a dismal first two months of his White Sox’s tenure, and Jiménez’s activation should afford Chicago the freedom to plug Pollock into right field regularly as they’d intended to open the season.

Gavin Sheets has seen the bulk of the right field playing time of late. The left-hander has hit .227/.296/.372, production that has been superior to Pollock’s but still below-average. He’s also rated poorly in the eyes of public defensive metrics, not surprising given that he’s spent the vast majority of his professional career playing first base.

Jiménez has missed notable chunks of each of the past two seasons. He was limited to 55 games last year after rupturing his pectoral tendon during Spring Training. That delayed his debut until late July, and he had a fairly disappointing .249/.303/.437 showing during the year’s final couple months. The 25-year-old showed the potential to be a middle-of-the-order presence over his first two big league seasons, though, combining for a .276/.321/.527 showing with 45 homers in 175 games from 2019-20.

Activating Jiménez will require a 40-man move, as Chicago’s roster is currently full. That’s largely a formality, since infielder Danny Mendick will be transferred from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list after suffering a season-ending ACL tear last month.

Chicago also seems set to welcome back another injured regular in the relatively near future. Yasmani Grandal told reporters (including James Fegan of the Athletic) that he’s joining Double-A Birmingham tomorrow to start a rehab stint. Out since June 12 due to back spasms, Grandal will ease back into game action as a designated hitter before getting behind the plate. The veteran backstop suggested he’s hoping to return shortly after the All-Star Break, where he’ll look to rebound from a rough .185/.294/.237 showing through the season’s first couple months.

White Sox Place Yasmani Grandal On Injured List, Activate Lance Lynn

By Anthony Franco | June 13, 2022 at 3:24pm CDT

The White Sox announced they’ve placed catcher Yasmani Grandal on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to June 12, due to lower back spasms. Coming off the IL to take his active roster spot is starter Lance Lynn, who is in line to make his season debut. In order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Lynn — who had been on the 60-day IL — the club has placed reliever Ryan Burr on release waivers.

Grandal missed yesterday’s game against the Rangers because of a left hamstring issue, but the back spasms diagnosis comes as a surprise. Chicago selected Seby Zavala to the MLB roster yesterday as insurance, and he figures to back up Reese McGuire for as long as Grandal is out. The two-time All-Star will be eligible to return by the middle of next week, but the team has yet to provide any sort of timetable for his recovery.

Even prior to the injury, the 2022 campaign has been a nightmare for Grandal. Typically one of the game’s best offensive catchers, the 33-year-old has had a very rough first couple months of the season. Over 201 plate appearances, he’s hitting .185/.294/.237 with just a pair of home runs. Grandal is still drawing walks at an excellent 13.4% clip, but he’s collected only five extra-base hits all year as his batted ball quality has plummeted. It’s a rather shocking downturn for a player who hit .240/.420/.520 in 93 games last season, and the IL stint will perhaps afford Grandal an opportunity for a mental reset as he searches for his previous form.

McGuire, acquired from the Blue Jays just before Opening Day, hasn’t made much of an offensive impact either. He’s hitting .235/.280/.286 in 110 trips to the plate in a Chicago uniform, a step back from the .253/.310/.343 mark he posted in Toronto last year. A left-handed hitter, he’ll pair with the righty-swinging Zavala to form the catching tandem for manager Tony La Russa for now.

Lynn is listed as the probate starter for tonight’s game against the Tigers. La Russa suggested yesterday he’d likely be activated on Tuesday, but he’ll take the ball for the first time a day earlier than anticipated. The 35-year-old righty has been out all season after undergoing right knee surgery in April, but he’s now ready to get back on the hill. That should be a notable boost for a Chicago team that owns a disappointing 27-31 record, as Lynn has been one of the game’s most effective arms over the past couple years. He tossed 157 innings of 2.69 ERA ball last season, earning a two-year contract extension in the process.

Burr, meanwhile, could be seeing his time in the organization come to a close. A Diamondbacks draftee, he was acquired by the ChiSox as a minor leaguer in 2017 and reached the bigs a season later. He’s suited up at the MLB level in each of the past four years, making 66 appearances. The righty has a 4.08 ERA across 75 innings, including an excellent 2.45 mark through 36 2/3 frames a season ago. However, he’s posted a mediocre 20.6% strikeout rate and an elevated 12.2% walk percentage during his MLB tenure.

It seems the primary impetus for Burr’s release, however, is a health issue. The 28-year-old has been on the minor league injured list for the past couple weeks with an undisclosed injury. Players on the MiLB IL still count against a team’s 40-man roster, but injured players cannot be placed on outright waivers. To take Burr off the 40-man roster, Chicago either had to release him or recall him and place him on the MLB 60-day IL. The latter course of action would’ve required paying him a major league salary, however, and the Sox have decided they’d rather expose him to waivers.

While Burr hasn’t missed many bats at the MLB level, he’s induced grounders on more than half the balls in play against him and averaged around 95 MPH on his fastball. That could intrigue another team enough to grab him and stash him on their 40-man roster or major league injured list. If Burr clears waivers, he’d be a free agent.

Injury Notes: Grandal, Muncy, McCullers

By Darragh McDonald | October 20, 2021 at 8:19pm CDT

Yasmani Grandal recently underwent knee surgery, as the catcher himself relayed on Instagram, and passed along by The Athletic’s James Fegan. Fegan also says the club expects him to be ready to go for spring training.

Grandal spent almost two months on the IL this year due to a torn tendon in his knee, although it didn’t seem to hamper him at the plate at all. In 93 games, he hit .240/.420/.520, for a wRC+ of 159, easily the highest of his career. His defensive numbers trended downward in 2021, though that’s not terribly surprising given how important healthy knees are for a catcher. The switch-hitter is guaranteed $36.5MM over the next two years, making his recovery from this procedure incredibly important for the White Sox as they look to build on back-to-back postseason appearances.

More injury notes…

Max Muncy brought out the lineup card for tonight’s NLCS game four matchup against Atlanta and didn’t appear to be wearing a brace on his injured left elbow, according to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. This would seem to indicate at least some superficial progress, given that Muncy was using the brace even while sleeping as recently as three days ago. The narrative around Muncy’s return figures to continue for as long as the Dodgers’ season is still alive. He hit 36 home runs this year, a personal best, on his way to slashing .249/.368/.527. His wRC+ of 140 on the campaign placed him in the top 15 among qualified hitters in all of baseball. He has missed the entirety of the playoffs so far after being injured in a collision with Jace Peterson on the final day of the regular season.
Similar to Muncy, the status of Lance McCullers Jr. figures to be an ongoing question as long as the Astros are still playing. The latest update comes from MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, who says McCullers is “seen as not likely” to pitch in the World Series, should the Astros qualify. Since this bout of elbow tightness put the righty on the shelf, the Astros’ rotation has been shaky in his absence. Through the first four games of the ALCS, no Houston starter lasted longer than 2 2/3 innings. However, game five saw Framber Valdez turn that ship around by throwing eight innings of one-run ball. McCullers threw 162 1/3 excellent innings this year, with an ERA of 3.16, 27% strikeout rate and 56.4% ground ball rate. He then threw 10 2/3 innings in the ALDS with an ERA of 0.84 before landing on the shelf.

AL Central Notes: Grandal, Keller, Twins

By Steve Adams | August 27, 2021 at 12:17pm CDT

The White Sox announced Friday that they’ve reinstated catcher Yasmani Grandal from the 10-day injured list and optioned fellow backstop Zack Collins to Triple-A Charlotte. Grandal missed nearly two months following surgery to repair a tendon tear in his left knee, during which time Chicago leaned on Collins and Seby Zavala to shoulder the workload behind the dish. It’s been an odd season for Grandal, who has walked at an astonishing 24.4 percent pace through 246 trips to the plate and matched his career-high in isolated power (slugging percentage minus batting average). But Grandal is also batting just .188, thanks in large part to a .189 average on balls in play. The end result is a nonconventional .188/.388/.436 batting line that still translates to a 134 wRC+ because of that enormous on-base percentage and Grandal’s considerable power. Notably, Grandal’s 26 percent strikeout rate isn’t a huge increase over his 24 percent career mark, and he’s sporting career-highs in hard-hit rate and exit velocity (by a wide margin). There’s good reason to think the batting average and overall batting line can tick upward — provided he’s back to full strength.

White Sox Place Carlos Rodon On 10-Day Injured List

By Steve Adams | August 11, 2021 at 10:30am CDT

The White Sox announced Wednesday that they’ve placed lefty Carlos Rodon on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Aug. 8, due to left shoulder fatigue. Right-hander Matt Foster is up from Triple-A Charlotte to take his spot on the active roster. Chicago also announced that catcher Yasmani Grandal, who’s been out since early July after undergoing surgery to repair a torn tendon in his knee, will begin a minor league rehab assignment with Double-A Birmingham.

Rodon, 28, had been lined up to start tomorrow’s Field of Dreams game against the Yankees, but that start will now instead go to righty Lance Lynn. The South Siders haven’t provided a firm timeline for Rodon’s recovery, but manager Tony La Russa tells reporters he expects it to be longer than a minimum stint on the IL (Twitter link via ESPN 1000’s Connor McKnight). Notably, Rodon has a history of shoulder troubles. He underwent shoulder surgery back in 2017 and missed most of the 2020 campaign with shoulder pain as well.

The ChiSox have had the American League Central more or less wrapped up for quite some time now, so there’s little sense in rushing Rodon back. His absence won’t seriously hinder the team’s commanding 10.5-game lead in the Central, and the team’s focus is surely on making sure he’s at full strength to close out the regular season and play a pivotal role in the postseason rotation.

Rodon serving as a key to the Sox’ postseason starting staff would’ve seemed far-fetched, to say the least, not long ago. The White Sox non-tendered Rodon last December after a pair of injury-ruined seasons in 2019-20 that saw Rodon combine for a grisly 5.74 ERA in 42 1/3 frames.

That non-tender looked to end Rodon’s time with the Sox, but just shy of two months later, he returned on a one-year, $3MM deal. It wasn’t the most well-received signing in recent memory among White Sox fans, but Rodon has proved any naysayers wrong by not only rebounding to previous levels but instead rising to new heights entirely, as recently explored by MLBTR’s Anthony Franco.

The 2021 version of Rodon has been the overpowering ace that the Sox perhaps hoped he’d eventually become when selecting him with the No. 3 overall draft pick back in 2014. Through 19 starts this season, Rodon has pitched 109 2/3 innings of 2.38 ERA ball while fanning an outstanding 36.2 percent of his opponents against a very tidy 6.8 percent walk rate. He’s bumped his average fastball velocity to a career-high 95.8 mph, fanned 10 or more hitters on five occasions and thrown a no-hitter that was very nearly a perfect game.

Along the way, Rodon has cemented himself as one of the team’s frontline starters, joining the aforementioned Lynn among the league’s more dominant hurlers. Rodon’s ERA is sixth-best among pitchers with at least 100 innings thrown — Lynn leads the way at 2.04 — and no pitcher in baseball has whiffed a higher percentage of his opponents (again, min. 100 innings pitched).

The injury shouldn’t impact the White Sox’ chances of reaching the postseason. However, Rodon himself would be best-served with a quick return to full strength, as he’s set to return to the free-agent market this winter. The dominance he’s shown to date should already position him for a hefty multi-year contract, but a lengthy absence may give teams some pause — particularly given the deep free-agent class and the number of alternative options on the market. He’ll already be viewed much differently than when the Sox cut him loose back in December, but a quick return and healthy finish would make for an even more bullish outlook.

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