White Sox trade catcher Omar Narvaez to Seattle for pitcher Alex Colome

Omar Narvaez

The White Sox on Friday made a trade that I didn't see coming.

Catcher Omar Narvaez has been dealt to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for relief pitcher Alex Colome.

I can't say I mind this trade. The Sox's defense behind the plate has been terrible the past few years, and Narvaez's questionable framing and blocking skills were a big part of the problem.

However, Narvaez made significant strides with the bat in 2018, finishing with a .275/.366/.429 slash line with nine home runs and 30 RBIs in 97 games. He was one of the few Sox hitters who took his walks, and his power took a significant leap forward. Narvaez's slugging percentage was 89 points higher last season than it was in 2017.

When Kevan Smith was lost on waivers to the Los Angeles Angels, I assumed the Sox would go into 2019 with Welington Castillo and Narvaez as their catching combination, with Seby Zavala as a fallback option.

Evidently not. Is Zavala a candidate to make the team out of spring? Not sure. Or is there another move to come?

I'm good with the addition of Colome, a 29-year-old veteran reliever with 243 career appearances and 96 saves on his resume. In 2017, he had a league-high 47 saves for the Tampa Bay Rays.

This past year, Colome struggled in Tampa Bay. He went 2-5 with a 4.15 ERA and 11 saves over 23 appearances. He was dealt midseason to Seattle, where he regained his form.

In 47 games with the Mariners, Colome went 5-0 with a 2.53 ERA, one save and a 1.036 WHIP. If that's the pitcher the Sox are getting, he will look good in a bullpen that is young and short on experience in high-leverage situations.

Slow start to the offseason, huh?

Josh Donaldson

It's only Nov. 29. The winter meetings haven't happened yet, but still, I'd say the free agent market is off to a slow start this year.

I was looking at the recent transactions on mlb.com, and there are only three of them that I would say are significant or even somewhat notable:

• Josh Donaldson signed a one-year, $23 million contract with the Atlanta Braves.
• Brian McCann signed a one-year, $2 million contract with the Braves.
• Lonnie Chisenhall signed a one-year, $2.75 million contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Yeah, that's about it. Two of these three are not even that interesting.

McCann is 34 years old and coming off an injury-plagued season in which he batted .212. He lost his starting job with the Houston Astros, and as far as I can tell, he's going back to the place where he had his best seasons -- Atlanta -- to finish up what has been a respectable career.

Chisenhall is a platoon corner outfielder who likely will have some utility for the Pirates as a left-handed bat off the bench. He's not a bad role player, but not a huge difference-maker, either.

Donaldson's signing easily is the most interesting of the three. He's three years removed from his MVP season of 2015, and he had a three-year stretch of brilliance from 2015-17 in which he hit 33 or more home runs in each season and posted an OPS of .939, .953 and .944, respectively.

However, injuries hit hard for Donaldson in 2018. He was limited to 52 games, and the Toronto Blue Jays traded his expiring contract midseason to the Cleveland Indians. Finally healthy down the stretch, Donaldson appeared in 16 games for Cleveland, posting a .280/.400/.520 slash line with three home runs and seven RBIs.

Donaldson will turn 33 years old in about a week, so that combined with his injury history depressed his market to where he was willing to take a one-year deal. It's a very lucrative one-year deal with the defending NL East champion Braves, mind you, but a one-year deal nonetheless.

The Braves are getting a great hitter if Donaldson is healthy, but there's an increased risk of injury with this player going to the National League. The DH is not an option in Atlanta, so Donaldson will need to play third base every day.

I have no doubt the guy still can play. It's just a question of whether he can stay on the field.

White Sox claim Ian Clarkin off waivers from Cubs -- LOL

Remember my last post? I noted that left-handed pitcher Ian Clarkin had been claimed off waivers by the Cubs, and thus he was no longer a part of the White Sox organization.

Well, only six days later, the Cubs placed Clarkin on waivers, and the Sox claimed him Monday.

Clarkin now is back in the Sox organization and on the 40-man roster, which sits at 39.

Welcome back, Ian!

Dylan Cease, three other prospects added to White Sox 40-man-roster

Some White Sox roster moves to catch up on:

Pitchers Dylan Cease, Jordan Stephens and Kodi Medeiros and catcher Seby Zavala were added to the 40-man roster Tuesday. The moves protect each of these players from being selected in the upcoming Rule 5 draft.

Cease was the most obvious addition. With Michael Kopech out for 2019 with an elbow injury, Cease is the top-rated healthy pitching prospect in the Sox's system. He finished the season at Double-A Birmingham, where he went 3-0 with an 0.94 ERA in his last nine starts. If Cease remains healthy and continues on a positive development path, we could see him in Chicago during the second half of the 2019 season.

Medeiros, a 22-year-old lefty, was acquired in July in the trade that sent relief pitcher Joakim Soria to the Milwaukee Brewers. Combined between the two organizations, Medeiros appeared in 27 games (22 starts) at the Double-A level and went 7-7 with a 3.60 ERA.

Stephens, 26, is a right-hander who is reaching that pivotal point where he either makes it to the big leagues and fades away. He split time between Birmingham and Triple-A Charlotte in 2018, going 8-10 with a 4.23 ERA over a combined 28 starts at the two levels.

Zavala, 25, becomes the third catcher on the roster behind Welington Castillo and Omar Narvaez, and he figures to be the guy to get the call should either of those two incumbents get injured or falter in 2018. Zavala was a Southern League All-Star at Birmingham before earning a midseason promotion to Charlotte. He hit .258 with 13 home runs and 51 RBIs in a combined 104 games at the two levels. He also threw out 32.7 percent (18 for 55) of attempted basestealers.

Left-handed pitcher Ian Clarkin, who was acquired from the New York Yankees in the 2017 trade involving David Robertson, Todd Frazier and Tommy Kahnle, no longer is with the Sox organization after he was claimed off waivers by the Cubs.

Of note, pitchers Spencer Adams and Jordan Guerrero were not added to the 40-man roster, which makes them vulnerable to be chosen in the Rule 5 draft. It's clear from these decisions that the Sox believe Stephens and Medeiros are more likely as middle tier prospects to make contributions at the major-league level moving forward.

Right now, the Sox have three starting rotation spots filled (Carlos Rodon, Reynaldo Lopez, Lucas Giolito). The other two spots seem likely to be addressed through free agency or trade, but if not, Stephens and Medeiros would have an inside track over Adams or Guerrero in competing for a job.

After these moves, the Sox's roster stands at 38. So, for those of you dreaming -- and you are dreaming -- that the Sox could sign BOTH Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, there are two roster spots open.

Happy Thanksgiving from The Baseball Kid

2005 White Sox heroes Jon Garland, Freddy Garcia among first-timers on Hall of Fame ballot

Jason Bauman (left) and Jon Garland. (Oh, is it obvious that I'm at left?)

The Baseball Hall of Fame and the Baseball Writers Association released the 2019 Hall of Fame ballot Monday, and there are some new names familiar to White Sox fans.

Most notably, half of the 2005 World Series champion rotation now is eligible for induction: My guy, Jon Garland, and Freddy Garcia, the man who got the win in the 1-0, championship-clinching victory.

While both of these guys had nice careers, obviously, neither of them has a chance in hell of induction into the Hall. However, I'll always be a fan of Garland. I remember him being described as a "fifth starter" coming into that 2005 season. I knew he was better than that, and he proved it that year, leading the Sox with 18 wins and making the All-Star team.

Who among the first-timers on the ballot will get elected? Former New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera. He might not be the only one, but I'd say he's the one guy who is a lock.

Other top eligible first-timers include the late Roy Halladay, Todd Helton, Lance Berkman, Roy Oswalt, Andy Pettitte and Miguel Tejada.

(Are you noticing a theme of guys who played in the 2005 World Series? Berkman, Oswalt and Pettitte all are former Houston Astros.)

Garland, Garcia and former Sox players Kevin Youkilis and Juan Pierre likely are one-and-done on the ballot, along with others such as Placido Polanco, Travis Hafner, Derek Lowe, Vernon Wells, Ted Lilly, Michael Young, Jason Bay, Darren Oliver and Rick Ankiel.

None of those guys were necessarily great players, but they all were good enough to have long careers and be placed on the ballot, and that should be considered a respectable accomplishment. A lot of players make the bigs, but only for a short time, and they never qualify to have the chance to get 1 percent of the vote from the Hall electorate. There's no shame in having that kind of career.

Is new Yankees left-hander James Paxton really an "ace" or a "star"?

James Paxton

There is a difference between being an ace and having ace stuff.

Case in point, left-hander James Paxton, the starting pitcher the New York Yankees acquired Monday from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for three prospects.

Let me preface this by saying I would take Paxton on my team. He was 11-6 with a 3.76 ERA in 28 starts for the Mariners in 2018. His fastball sits at 95-98 mph, and he's got a four-pitch mix that also features a cutter, a curve and a changeup.

That is ace stuff, no question about it, and he's got two years left of team control.

But I found myself disagreeing with a couple headlines I saw this morning: "The Yankees Now Have a Second Ace" on Fangraphs, and "Yankees acquire star pitcher James Paxton in trade with Mariners" on Yahoo Sports.

Paxton, for all of his good stuff, is entering his age 30 season, yet he's never made as many as 30 starts in a year, and his 160.1 innings pitched in 2018 represent a career high. Before this past season, he had never pitched more than 136 innings in a year.

Can you really be an "ace" or a "star" when you've been plagued by injuries throughout your career? The days of starting pitchers throwing 200-plus innings might be gone, but for me, 180 innings is the new 200. Paxton has never approached that, so despite his fantastic stuff, he's going to have to show me that he's reliable for a full season, plus playoffs, before I believe that he's the missing piece for the Yankees.

New York will slot him No. 2 in its rotation, behind Luis Severino and ahead of Masahiro Tanaka. The Yankees also have CC Sabathia, but he's just a fifth starter at this point in his career. I expect New York to make another move to add a starter, likely in free agency, as a hedge against the possibility that Paxton gets hurt again.

As for the Mariners, it looks as though they are changing directions and going young. They acquired the Yankees' No. 1 pitching prospect, Justus Sheffield, in this deal. Sheffield is a 22-year-old lefty with a fastball that tops out about 97 mph. Right-handed pitcher Erik Swanson, 25, and outfielder Don Thompson-Williams, 23, also are headed to Seattle.

With Paxton gone, I assume the Mariners are listening to offers on Dee Gordon, Robinson Cano, Kyle Seager and Jean Segura, as well. I expect an active offseason in Seattle.