On the Fourth of July, let's take a second to acknowledge what the White Sox did on the Second of July.
Still limited to a $300,000 maximum bonus as they serve the second year of their penalty for blowing out their budget signing Luis Robert, the White Sox signed five players. MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez relayed the dollars...
- Luis Pineda, catcher, Venezuela -- $300,000
- Bryan Ramos, third baseman, Cuba -- $300,000
- Harold Diaz, shortstop, Cuba -- $300,000
- Alberto Lemay Bernal, first baseman, Cuba -- $250,000
- Anthony Espinoza, shortstop, Venezuela -- $250,000
... and a few details, referring to Ramos as "power-hitting," Pineda as "hard-hitting," Bernal as a "first baseman with power" and Espinoza as "slick fielding." The White Sox said Diaz will join their Dominican Summer League affiliate this season, while the others are under contract for 2019.
The White Sox had $4,983,500 to spend, so they could have $3.5 million to trade if there are no more major signings on the way. The Sox were reportedly in on Miguel Tejada Jr., but the guy who broke the Welington Castillo suspension brought similar bad news:
BREAKING NEWS: Son of former MLB player Miguel Tejada, tested positive for steroid Stanozolol. Player was about to sign a with Chicago White Sox, but the team decided not to sign Tejada JR due to positive test.
— Héctor Gómez (@hgomez27) July 4, 2018
(Vía @williamaish / @_acelado)#ZDeportes @z101digital @ZDeportes
Depending on the ages of the Cubans, it could be a continuation of last year's strategy, where the Sox sign a handful of players for six figures and trade the money they don't/can't use. I bring up age because one of their $300,000 signings last year was Camilo Quinteiro, who is currently running a league-best.526 OBP in the Arizona Rookie League as a 21-year-old in his pro debut.
Over the last year, the White Sox traded pool money to acquire Yeyson Yrizarri from Texas, Ryan Burr from Arizona, Thyago Vieira from Seattle and Ricardo Pinto from Philadelphia. None of those guys is particularly exciting, but the Sox could get a couple of relievers out of it, especially if Yrizarri decides to give pitching a try.
