Worried about the White Sox bullpen? Of course you are. What Sox fan isn't?
It's anybody's guess which pitchers will make up the team's relief corps in 2018, but general manager Rick Hahn made a move Thursday that could pay dividends as soon as next season.
The Sox acquired right-hander Thyago Vieira from Seattle in exchange for $500,000 in international signing bonus pool money.
Vieira, 24, made one appearance with the Mariners last year and retired all three batters he faced with one strikeout Aug. 14 against the Baltimore Orioles.
He went 2-4 with a 4.00 ERA, four saves and 46 strikeouts in
41 appearances and 54 innings between Double-A Arkansas and Triple-A
Tacoma in 2017. He limited right-handed hitters to a .194 average. Vieira also was
selected to compete for the World Team at the All-Star Futures Game last summer.
While this pitcher's numbers might not be eye-popping, his stuff is. He has an 80-grade fastball that consistently sits between 97 and 100 mph, and tops out at 102. His second-best pitch is a 55-grade curve that showed improvement the second half of last season.
Vieira was ranked as the eighth-best prospect in the Seattle farm system. The Sox's farm system is deeper, so Vieira is now checking in as their 20th-rated prospect.
If Sox pitching coach Don Cooper can harness Vieira's control -- he's walked 4.6 men per nine innings in his minor league career -- this is a potential high-leverage reliever that the Sox acquired for nothing more than cash considerations.
Why, you ask, would Seattle be willing to give up one of its top-10 prospects and receive no players in return?
Well, the Mariners are going to make a run at signing Japanese free agent Shohei Ohtani. The additional international pool money aids them in that quest.
As for the Sox, count Vieira among the young pitchers who will contend for a roster spot when camp opens in the spring.
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