Just when you thought it was safe to log off Twitter, the White Sox have made another move, signing veteran reliever Steve Cishek away from the Chicago Cubs.
Reliever Steve Cishek and the Chicago White Sox are in agreement on a one-year, $6 million deal, sources familiar with the agreement tell ESPN. The contract includes an option that could take the deal to a second year at $12 million total.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 7, 2020
With most quality bullpen arms already off the free agent market, Cishek may have been the best remaining option. Over a nine full seasons in the big leagues, Cishek has been worth 12.3 bWAR -- pretty dang good for a non-elite reliever. In 2019 the sidearming righty posted a sub-3.00 ERA for the seventh time, and his 132 career saves provide a bit of insurance should Alex Colome struggle in 2020.
So why did he come so cheap? Well, despite the shiny surface numbers Cishek's peripherals took a big step back last season. His K-rate dropped by nearly 6% while his walk and home run rates ticked upward, leading to a 4.54 FIP and a 4.95 xFIP. Because of the underlying numbers, Fangraphs's Steamer projections see him as a replacement level player next year.
Still, at one-year and $6 million gauranteed it's a low-risk venture for Rick Hahn and Co. They only need one of Cishek, Kelvin Herrera, Evan Marshall, or Jimmy Cordero to step up and provide a righthanded 7th/8th inning complement to lefty Aaron Bummer. It's also perhaps even more indicative than any move yet that the Sox have designs on competing in 2020. The bullpen was a much less obvious hole than any Hahn has filled so far, so you can forgive Sox fans for feeling disoriented by all the actual major league players who project to be on the team come Opening Day.
