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With the exception of last November, when Rick Hahn signed Zach Duke and Adam LaRoche, the White Sox are typically pretty quiet when it comes making moves. Outside of signing players to minor league contracts, the previous November that Chicago signed free agents intended for the 25 man squad was in 2009 , when Kenny Williams signed Omar Vizquel (November 23rd) and Andruw Jones (November 25th). Should note, that the White Sox signed Jose Quintana in November 2011, but he was assigned to the minors.
Despite the lack of rumors about White Sox aiming for certain free agents or working on possible trades, doesn't mean the front office isn't busy. December has always been the busiest off-season month in terms of trades and free agent signings. Those deals don't happen overnight and its safe to assume Hahn is already working with other general managers after being under the same roof for three days. Remember, its only November 12th and Winter Meetings are 25 days away. Action will be coming.
Only major news coming out of Boca Raton this week was the White Sox announcing Rick Renteria as bench coach. Both Renteria and Robin Ventura hosted a conference call to reporters yesterday to recap how the hiring took place. A bit surprising was that the courtship started last year. Ventura reached out to Renteria and offered him a position on his staff when the Cubs hired Joe Maddon as manager.
Other news from the GM Meetings:
Scott Boras is happy with the White Sox
CSN Chicago's, Dan Hayes, got an opportunity to speak with agent Scott Boras regarding his client, Carlos Rodon.
Scott Boras thinks Carlos Rodon proved he was the top player in the 2014 draft this season. Hard to argue. #WhiteSox https://t.co/MdkyM3VDrK
— Dan Hayes (@CSNHayes) November 11, 2015
Sure, if we ignore how well Kyle Schwarber performed for the Cubs this season. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad the White Sox drafted Rodon and I believe they don't have any regrets doing so. However, if the league had a re-do on the 2014 draft, would the Houston Astros select Rodon or Schwarber first overall? Not so sure that Rodon would be a slam dunk first overall pick. Especially at the cost he came at compared to Schwarber. (Podcast programming note: Dan Hayes will be a guest on the next SSS podcast, airing on Nov. 16th)
AJ Pierzynski won't be in the White Sox TV booth
That's because he decided to keep playing baseball at the ripe age of 39.
Pierzynski gets $3M from #Braves, as @JonHeymanCBS said. $1M signing bonus, $2M base salary plus chance to earn another $1M in incentives.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 12, 2015
Pierzynski turned down more money from other clubs to re-sign with #Braves, source says. Spends spring training at home in Orlando.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 12, 2015
If you need to speculate, one of those clubs bidding on Pierzynski was probably Minnesota, not Chicago. The Twins found themselves a catcher anyways, by trading outfielder Aaron Hicks to the New York Yankees for catcher John Ryan Murphy.
White Sox will play exhibition games in San Diego
Spring Training schedule has been released and tickets are on sale now at whitesox.com/spring. Just 112 days away before the Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers face off in Glendale. After Spring Training, the Sox will play two exhibition games in San Diego on April 1st and 2nd, before traveling north to Oakland for Opening Day 2016 on April 4th.