White Sox news that doesn’t involve Manny Machado

Here’s your Morning Mandatory Manny Machado Mupdate:

Michael Kopech isn’t involved, which was a relief to him:

If you’ve exhausted your capacity to care about a longshot rental, here are a few other items.

Avisail Garcia

The Cardinals tried their damndest to land Giancarlo Stanton, and when Stanton instead made a Yankees trade happen, St. Louis put the outfielder market in motion by acquiring Marcell Ozuna from the Marlins. Then, to alleviate their sudden glut, the Cardinals traded Stephen Piscotty to Oakland (for a very worthy reason).

St. Louis has been the epicenter of outfield activity, and the rest of the league has been slow to catch up. As the winter meetings came to a close, Avisail Garcia’s name finally made its way into the ring.

The Giants have been fumbling for outfielders, and the Blue Jays are caught in between tearing it down and giving it one more shot with Josh Donaldson, so it’s hard to tell just how committed either would be to investing a whole lot in a guy with one good season to his name. From the Giants’ end, Grant Brisbee called the trade “probably a bad idea.”

Rule 5 draft

The White Sox made a selection with the fourth overall pick by selecting Philadelphia outfielder prospect Carlos Tocci, but they traded him to the Rangers for cash considerations. Apparently, Rick Hahn had two players in mind, but...

I’m guessing the former was Nick Burdi, who was taken by the Phillies at No. 3 and traded to the Pirates for international pool money. We were so close to having dangerous levels of Downers Grove in the White Sox (or Charlotte) bullpen, even if both Burdi Bros are rehabilitating from Tommy John surgery.

The Sox did select Yermin Mercedes in the minor-league round. The 24-year-old catcher hit .276/.340/.455 over 110 games in 2017, the last 12 his first at Double-A. He’s also had a nice 24 games in the Dominican Winter League. The report from Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper:

The big news is that the White Sox didn’t lose anybody in the draft. Guys like Jordan Guerrero and Jake Peter looked like realistic poachees, and Hahn said he anticipated losing somebody, but he had reasons for leaving players unprotected. After considerable sturm and drang, all depth is still on hand.

A.J. Pierzynski

While in Orlando for the winter meetings, Chuck Garfien made a trip to A.J. Pierzynski’s house, where he talked to the newest ambassador and one of the team’s oldest, Hawk Harrelson. The latter shared a story from 2006, saying he wanted to went down to the clubhouse in an attempt to confront Vicente Padilla after Pierzynski was drilled twice.

This is a funny story on its surface, but it’s also kind of an unhealthy one, given how much Harrelson’s internalization of the game has been to the viewers’ detriment. And I still think the Sean Tracey Game had a chilling effect on Ozzie Guillen and his pitching staff over the next several years.

More ambassadors

The White Sox seemed intent on waiting to announce the newest rank of team ambassadors until after the winter meetings, but Pierzynski broke his own news, and Hahn spoiled the addition of Jose Contreras.

The Sox did save one from themselves. Today, they’re hosting a conference call with Contreras and the other newest ambassador, Tim Raines.

More shilling

Hey, it’s your last chance to get a “2005 Happened” t-shirt before the holidays. They’re 15 percent off at Breaking T with the code MLBPA15, there’s free shipping on all orders, and the company is guaranteeing all orders arriving by Dec. 23.