All White Sox draft picks are signed; 5 players released

All five of the White Sox's 2020 draft picks have agreed to contracts. Their second-round pick, right-handed pitcher Jared Kelley, signed for $3 million, which as expected was overslot. Fifth-round pick Bailey Horn, a left-handed pitcher, agreed to sign for $150,000, which as expected was underslot.

Kelley basically got late first-round money. By way of comparison, his bonus matches the money received by another high school pitcher, Nick Bitsko, who was selected 24th overall by the Tampa Bay Rays. Kelley was the No. 47 overall selection.

Here's the final rundown on Sox draft picks and the money they signed for:

First round: Garrett Crochet, LHP, $4,547,500 ($4,547,500 slot)
Second round: Jared Kelley, RHP, $3,000,000 ($1,582,000 slot)
Third round: Adisyn Coffey, RHP, $50,000 ($733,100 slot)
Fourth round: Kade Mechals, RHP, $10,000 ($517,400 slot)
Fifth round: Bailey Horn, LHP, $150,000 ($386,600)

All total, the Sox spent $7,757,500 of their bonus pool. That is $7,300 less than their maximum allowed total of $7,764,800.

Five players released

Major League Baseball ended its roster freeze Friday, and the Sox released these five players: Caleb Frare, Zach Putnam, Matt Skole, Matt Tomshaw and Ramon Torres.


Remember spring 2019? We used to think Frare could be a viable left-handed reliever out of the bullpen, but he forgot how to throw strikes and hasn't seen the bigs since posting a 10.13 ERA in five April appearances last year.

Putnam was a pretty good reliever for the Sox from 2014-17. He appeared in 130 games with the South Siders and posted a 9-6 record with a 2.71 ERA and six saves over that time span. But, he had Tommy John surgery in 2017 and has never made it back to the majors. It's possible he's thrown his last professional pitch.

Skole, a left-handed hitting first baseman, somehow managed to get added to the 25-man roster in both 2018 and 2019. He batted .217/.290/.277 with one home run in 31 games and 93 plate appearances over those two seasons with the Sox.

Tomshaw and Torres? Well, I don't have much to say about them. Tomshaw is a 30-year-old lefty pitcher who was decent at Double-A, but he got hit around every time he was promoted to Triple-A. Torres, a utility infielder, was last seen playing for the Kansas City Royals in 2018. There's no reason to believe he would have had any role in the Sox organization.

White Sox sign James McCann to one-year deal, clear more roster space

James McCann

The White Sox on Monday agreed to terms with catcher James McCann on a one-year, $5.4 million contract.

McCann, 29, had the best season of his career with the Sox in 2019. He batted .273/.328/.460 with 26 doubles, 18 home runs, 60 RBIs and 62 runs scored in 118 games. McCann made the All-Star Game for the first time in his career, and Sox right-hander Lucas Giolito credited McCann's leadership and game preparation in helping him have a breakout season on the mound.

While McCann played well, that didn't stop Sox management from signing Yasmani Grandal to a four-year, $73 million contract last month. With the addition of Grandal, the Sox are guarding against any regression that McCann may have in 2020 -- McCann is a lifetime .247/.328/.460 batter.

With this move, you figure the Sox are set at catcher. For the first time in a long time, they have two competent players ready to man the position.

McCann will become a free agent when the 2020 season ends.

Here are the tender/non-tender decisions

The Sox on Monday also tendered contracts to utility player Leury Garcia and pitchers Carlos Rodon, Alex Colome and Evan Marshall.

Second baseman Yolmer Sanchez and pitchers Caleb Frare and Ryan Burr were non-tendered. Pitcher Thyago Vieira was granted his release, so that he can pursue an opportunity to play in Japan.

These moves reduce the Sox's roster from 40 to 36, and hopefully, a couple of those spots will be used on free agent starting pitchers in the weeks to come.

White Sox set eight-man bullpen for Opening Day

Nate Jones

The White Sox's 25-man roster isn't in full focus yet, but we have a pretty good feel for who will be on the pitching staff when the season opens Thursday.

The Sox announced the eight members of their bullpen Sunday, before they concluded the Cactus League schedule with a 7-3 win over the Cleveland Indians.

The bullpen will be:

Right-handers: Alex Colome, Nate Jones, Kelvin Herrera, Ryan Burr, Dylan Covey
Left-handers: Jace Fry, Caleb Frare, Manny Banuelos

Five summarizing thoughts:

• Colome will get first crack at closing. Duh. He led the American League with 47 saves for the Tampa Bay Rays two years ago, so he's a logical choice.
• Jones is fortunate he has a track record. His spring ERA is an unsightly 12.71, and he's had a ton of injuries the past few seasons. His velocity is down to 94-95 mph. He used to sit at 97-98 mph. He doesn't have much deception in his delivery, so I'm wondering if he can be an effective late-inning reliever if the velocity doesn't come back.
• Burr made the team on the basis of a strong spring -- 15 strikeouts and no walks over 10.1 innings pitched. He also allowed only nine hits. That's how you earn a roster spot.
• Covey also was good this spring, a 2.45 ERA and only 12 baserunners allowed in 11 innings. He only struck out four, but maybe he's the guy the Sox bring in when they need someone to induce a double-play grounder in the sixth or seventh inning. His sinker has been working. Covey and Banuelos both are stretched out enough to give the Sox two options who can pitch multiple innings.
• Frare recovered from a terrible start to the spring to beat out Aaron Bummer for the LOOGY role. Frare's 7.88 spring ERA doesn't impress, but that number was at 16.20 after his first three spring appearances. He's been spotted against left-handed hitters in recent spring outings -- that's his role when the season starts -- and he has gotten the job done.

It also appears the Sox will carry only four starting pitchers to start the season. There are off-days March 29, April 2 and April 5. The Sox do not need a fifth starter until April 10, which means Ervin Santana will stay in Arizona to continue to get his work done. Starting pitchers Carlos Rodon, Reynaldo Lopez, Lucas Giolito and Ivan Nova will come north with the team.

This means the Sox will have 13 position players on the roster for the first few series of the season. If one of those players is going to be Eloy Jimenez (and I don't see why not), someone will have to go on the disabled list to create a spot for the top prospect, because he was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte earlier this spring.

Nicky Delmonico already has been optioned, so the guess here is Daniel Palka or Jon Jay will come down with some sort of minor ailment that will cause a trip to the injured list.

White Sox reliever Caleb Frare: Right idea, bad execution

Jason Kipnis

The White Sox lost, 4-1, to the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday night, after Jason Kipnis hit a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning.

That's not news -- the Sox are 0-8 at Progressive Field this season. However, they could have had a 1-0 victory if relief pitcher Caleb Frare had followed through with good execution after he had the right idea of what play to make in a bunt situation.

Cleveland had runners on first and second with nobody out in the ninth after Josh Donaldson's infield single and Yandy Diaz's ground ball with eyes.

The next hitter was Melky Cabrera, and he popped up a bunt right back to Frare at the pitcher's mound. The runners had to freeze -- there is no infield fly rule protection on a bunt -- so Frare dropped the ball and threw to third base for what he hoped would start a double play, and potentially a triple play.

Frare didn't make the best throw to third, but that's neither here nor there, because umpires signaled the play dead, called Cabrera out and sent the runners back to their bases.

Why? Because Frare touched the ball and intentionally dropped it. Had he just let the popped-up bunt fall without touching it, he would have been well within his rights to throw to third for a force, and give his team an opportunity to record multiple outs on the play.

Instead, Frare's actions allowed the umpires to invoke little-used Rule 5.09(a)(12), which says an infielder cannot drop a popup intentionally to start a double or triple play:

"An infielder intentionally drops a fair fly ball or line drive, with first, first and second, first and third, or first, second and third base occupied before two are out. The ball is dead and runner or runners shall return to their original base or bases;

"In this situation, the batter is not out if the infielder permits the ball to drop untouched to the ground, except when the Infield Fly rule applies."

So Frare had the right idea. At some point, it must have flashed through his mind, "Don't catch this popup. Get multiple outs." That's the correct thought process, but it wasn't the right execution. He's got to let the ball fall untouched there, and then pick it up and make a throw. The umpires aren't going to let an infielder cheat the system with an intentional drop.

And, of course, after that play went astray, we all know what happened next. Ian Hamilton enters the game, beans Yan Gomes with a pitch to load the bases, and then throws a meatball for Kipnis to hit into the seats.

Another rough loss for the Sox in a season full of them.

Why are the White Sox using Jeanmar Gomez in high-leverage situations?

Jeanmar Gomez

It doesn't matter much that the White Sox lost, 4-3, to the Kansas City Royals on Monday night. And, it doesn't matter much that they lost in a stupid way, with reliever Jeanmar Gomez making a throwing error on a bunt play in the bottom of the 10th inning that allowed Kansas City to score the winning run.

What bothers me is the fact that Gomez was on the mound in the first place. Why is a 30-year-old veteran who is not part of the Sox's future and barely part of their present being allowed to pitch in a high-leverage situation when there are a host of younger, more interesting options available?

The Sox got seven innings out of Lucas Giolito on Monday, and left-hander Jace Fry was the first man out of the bullpen. That's fine, because Fry is a 25-year-old who is under evaluation for a possible long-term relief role.

Once Fry got four outs with the score tied 3-3, the next guy who came in was Gomez. That is inexplicable in September with expanded rosters.

Several relief pitching prospects have been called up from the minor leagues. Right-handers Ian Hamilton, Ryan Burr and Jose Ruiz all are on the roster. So are left-handers Aaron Bummer and Caleb Frare.

With the Sox on a six-game losing streak and hopelessly behind in the standings, these September games are essentially an early jump on spring training 2019.

The fight for bullpen jobs for next season should be underway, and it should not include Gomez. It should, however, include all of the young pitchers mentioned above.

So, put one of them on the mound in the 10th inning of a 3-3 game and see how that pitcher reacts. Even if the guy loses the game, at least we will have learned something.

All we learned last night is something we already knew: that Gomez is washed up and doesn't belong on the 2019 roster. Stop pitching him in high-leverage spots, please.

Palka ties White Sox record

Outfielder Daniel Palka hit his 22nd home run of the season in Monday's loss. He now shares the Sox's team record for most home runs by a left-handed hitting rookie with Pete Ward, who hit 22 home runs in 1963.

Palka might end up leading the 2018 Sox in homers. He and Jose Abreu are tied for the team lead going into Tuesday's play. There are 18 games left in the season.