White Sox claim Tayron Guerrero

It’s not exactly Taijuan Walker or Steven Souza Jr., but the White Sox filled spot No. 37 on the 40-man roster on Friday by claiming right-handed fireballer Tayron Guerrero off of waivers from the Miami Marlins.

What the Boston Red Sox taketh away — claiming Josh Osich earlier this offseason, as the White Sox attempted to create some 40-man space — Miami has given back, in the form of a serviceable bullpen arm for 2020.

It is probably too broad a stroke, but Guerrero reads like a replacement for Thyago Vieira, who signed with the Yomiuri Giants of the NPB earlier in the week. Both struggle with control, although Guerrero has an even stronger arm (see above, fastest average fastball in the majors) and threw 63.4% of his first pitches for strikes in 2019.

In the latest edition of Coop’ll Fix ’Em, the pitching coach will have to find a way to reduce Guerrero’s 7.0 BB/9 down to something serviceable in the major leagues.

Guerrero has appeared in 113 career games from 2016-19, with San Diego and Marlins. He finished sixth in the NL with nine wild pitches in 2019. He carries a career -1.9 bWAR and 5.77 ERA into 2020.

Guerrero came over from the Padres to Miami as part of one of sneaky-cheat GM A.J. Preller’s naughty double-meds deals, back on July 29, 2016. He’s still making the minimum MLB salary and will see arbitration for the first time in 2021.