Austin Slater Signed to MLB Deal

[Snopek]

I’m sure this will go over well

 

[Kyyle23]

Yay for bench depth?

[PaleAleSox]

He's played a little first base but is primarily an outfielder. Isn't very good, but hopefully is taking Sheets' place even though he is right handed. New hitting coordinator must see something in him still? 

[Dick Allen]

I’m calling the Sox and buying season tickets. This guy checks all the boxes. No power, doesn’t get on base, is over 30. Just what the team needs.

[EloyJenkins]

dumpster diving before the dumpster is even full. The Getz effect! 

[Bob Sacamano]

27 minutes ago, PaleAleSox said:

He's played a little first base but is primarily an outfielder. Isn't very good, but hopefully is taking Sheets' place even though he is right handed. New hitting coordinator must see something in him still? 

He's always hit better against lefties it looks like. Platoon/4th OF option.

[Y2Jimmy0]

Fuller has talked a lot about being a place for bounceback candidates in Baltimore and I'm sure he'd like to do the same here. Slater was pretty decent for a years in San Francisco. 

[fathom]

Before last season, he was very good in his platoon role.

[Lyle Moooton]

This is just so Soto will be able to take a break vs tough lefties. 

[PaleAleSox]

8 minutes ago, fathom said:

Before last season, he was very good in his platoon role.

Yeah outside of last year (which it looks like he had surgery at the end of 2023?) He seems serviceable. 

[Bob Sacamano]

7 minutes ago, PaleAleSox said:

Yeah outside of last year (which it looks like he had surgery at the end of 2023?) He seems serviceable. 

Yeah, he's a fine bench piece on this team.

[WhiteSox2023]

56 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

I’m calling the Sox and buying season tickets. This guy checks all the boxes. No power, doesn’t get on base, is over 30. Just what the team needs.

The Sox like Sheets so much they wanted to pair him with the right-handed version of Sheets.

Slater is turning 32 in a month.  Guys don’t get better at that age, so I wouldn’t bet on him getting back to his good Giants days.

This is the caliber of dumpster diving Getz is all in on.

Edited 4 hours ago by WhiteSox2023

[wegner]

4 hours ago, PaleAleSox said:

Yeah outside of last year (which it looks like he had surgery at the end of 2023?) He seems serviceable. 

Not the greatest tagline but an improvement:

Your 2025 Chicago White Sox.....they seem serviceable and we've still got those great shakes!!!

Edited 44 minutes ago by wegner
New Year....New You

[bmags]

I'm gonna put $5 on him being DFA'd by June.

[Quin]

3 minutes ago, bmags said:

I'm gonna put $5 on him being DFA'd by June.

Yeah, he screams "guy that will start the season with the team and end up on a Sporcle quiz."

[southsider2k5]

Austin Slater is English for Rafel Ortega.

[hogan873]

11 minutes ago, bmags said:

I'm gonna put $5 on him being DFA'd by June.

Then another team will sign him and he'll have a two-week streak of good hitting and then the board will melt down.

[The Mighty Mite]

The Getz modus operandi hasn’t changed a bit.

[JoshPR]

Who?

[Balta1701]

Just in general, it's still odd to be signing guys like this to contracts that are:

1. Big league contracts rather than minor league deals with spring training invites

2. Contracts so early in the offseason. This uses up one of those 40 man roster spots if he's actually signed to a big league contract, before the Rule 5 draft happens.

[nitetrain8601]

4 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

Just in general, it's still odd to be signing guys like this to contracts that are:

1. Big league contracts rather than minor league deals with spring training invites

2. Contracts so early in the offseason. This uses up one of those 40 man roster spots if he's actually signed to a big league contract, before the Rule 5 draft happens.

Someone get this over to Chris Getz. I agree with this overall. The only thing I can possibly think is that Getz is so adamant about signing these players and the only way they come here is with a guarantee, so he gives it to them. Otherwise, if your Austin Slater and know you're going to get a minor league deal, why bother signing with the White Sox over anyone else? Heck, why sign with the White Sox over going overseas and starting there?

[Bob Sacamano]

11 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

Just in general, it's still odd to be signing guys like this to contracts that are:

1. Big league contracts rather than minor league deals with spring training invites

2. Contracts so early in the offseason. This uses up one of those 40 man roster spots if he's actually signed to a big league contract, before the Rule 5 draft happens.

Yeah, this seems like it probably could have been a minor league deal with a promise of adding him to the active roster Day 1 of the season.

[Balta1701]

3 minutes ago, Bob Sacamano said:

Yeah, this seems like it probably could have been a minor league deal with a promise of adding him to the active roster Day 1 of the season.

If you really wanted this guy and liked this guy, I'd probably still say "Wait until after the rule 5 draft you don't know what will develop as teams assemble rosters". If you signed this guy to a big league deal on December 20th, at least you know what has been available in the roster shuffle. 

Plus, this limits the type of guys you could get back in a Crochet deal too, because it's another roster spot.

It's not as bad of a move as others we've seen, but it's also an unnecessarily negative one, even if the player works out well. 

[Bob Sacamano]

6 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

If you really wanted this guy and liked this guy, I'd probably still say "Wait until after the rule 5 draft you don't know what will develop as teams assemble rosters". If you signed this guy to a big league deal on December 20th, at least you know what has been available in the roster shuffle. 

Plus, this limits the type of guys you could get back in a Crochet deal too, because it's another roster spot.

It's not as bad of a move as others we've seen, but it's also an unnecessarily negative one, even if the player works out well. 

There's definitely guys still here that we can non-tender, DFA though. Justin Anderson, Enyel De Los Santos, Ron Marinaccio (who?), Pen Murfee, Gus Varland, Chuckie Robinson, Jacob Amaya, Braden Shewmake, Corey Julks, Gavin Sheets are easily guys that can be cut and no one would care about. And someone who some seem to think could be a candidate to be non-tendered like Vaughn.

Edited 2 hours ago by Bob Sacamano

[Balta1701]

5 minutes ago, Bob Sacamano said:

There's definitely guys still here that we can non-tender, DFA though. Justin Anderson, Enyel De Los Santos, Ron Marinaccio (who?), Pen Murfee, Gus Varland, Chuckie Robinson, Jacob Amaya, Braden Shewmake, Corey Julks, Gavin Sheets are easily guys that can be cut and no one would care about. And someone who some seem to think could be a candidate to be non-tendered like Vaughn.

How many guys need added to protect them though? Usually even with a bad organization there's guys you want to protect who take up some of those spots, that usually brings teams up to like 37-38 with no problem, and then they'll leave a spot or two open for the Rule 5 if they want to add someone. For the White Sox, it could get tougher if they trade Crochet for 2 or 3 guys who are close to the big leagues.