The White Sox are reportedly in settlement with right-hander Chris Flexen on a one-year, $1.75M assure. There are a further $1M in incentives obtainable for the O’Connell Sports activities Administration shopper.
Flexen lands a big-league deal regardless of a irritating 2023 marketing campaign. The 29-year-old opened the season in lengthy reduction with the Mariners, beginning 4 of 17 appearances. He couldn’t discover any rhythm, battling important house run points en path to a 7.71 ERA in 42 innings. The M’s designated him for task in early July, buying and selling him to the Mets alongside reliever Trevor Gott.
New York solely needed Gott from that deal, agreeing to imagine the almost $4M remaining on Flexen’s $8M contract within the course of. The Mets instantly launched him. Flexen signed a minor league take care of Colorado and returned to the majors after two begins in Triple-A.
Making seven of 12 begins at Coors Discipline is a troublesome task for a pitcher on the lookout for a rebound alternative. Flexen continued to wrestle (each at house and in his 5 highway outings), posting a 6.27 ERA over 60 1/3 innings as a Rockie. Between Seattle and Colorado, he allowed a 6.86 ERA by 102 1/3 frames. Amongst pitchers to succeed in 100 innings, solely Adam Wainwright and Joey Wentz allowed earned runs at the next fee. The lengthy ball was the largest contributor, as his 2.20 house runs per 9 was the best within the majors.
Flexen returned to free company at season’s finish regardless of having lower than six years of MLB service. That’s frequent for gamers who signal a significant league deal after a stint in a overseas professional league, as he did through the 2020-21 offseason after one yr within the Korea Baseball Group. Flexen might be a free agent once more subsequent winter regardless of nonetheless not reaching the six-year threshold.
It’s troublesome to seek out many positives in Flexen’s 2023 efficiency, however he was an efficient pitcher for Seattle over the previous two years. Initially signed to a two-year, $4.5M assure by Seattle, Flexen mixed for a 3.66 ERA whereas beginning 53 of his 64 appearances. His 16.5% strikeout fee over that stretch was nicely beneath common, however he restricted walks and did a significantly better job retaining the ball within the park. Flexen seemed like a serviceable back-end starter two seasons in the past.
The Sox will take a low-cost flier on a rebound, persevering with an offseason of cheap depth pickups for first-year common supervisor Chris Getz. The Sox have additionally signed Tim Hill and Paul DeJong to one-year offers and agreed to phrases with Martín Maldonado on a $4M pact. Chicago rolled the cube on veteran catcher Max Stassiin a commerce that paid his wage right down to the league minimal. Their solely multi-year pickup to date was a two-year, $15M deal for KBO returnee Erick Fedde.
Fedde has a rotation spot safe. Dylan Cease could be the Opening Day starter if the Sox don’t commerce him this offseason. Michael Kopech and Michael Soroka undertaking for middle-of-the-rotation roles, whereas Jared Shuster, Jesse Scholtens and Touki Toussaint might battle for jobs on the again finish. Flexen steps into that fifth starter/lengthy reduction competitors.
Chicago’s payroll is as much as roughly $150M, in accordance with Roster Resource. That’s nowhere close to final yr’s $181M Opening Day mark, though the Sox won’t match that spending stage as they rework the workforce. The 40-man roster is at capability, in order that they’ll have to make two corresponding strikes once they finalize the unofficial pickups of Flexen and Maldonado.
Bob Nightengale of USA Today first reported the White Sox and Flexen had agreed to a one-year deal. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported the $1.75M assure and $1M in efficiency bonuses.