The White Sox nudged Dylan Covey toward the door when they outrighted him after acquiring Steve Cishek. Covey seemed to close it when he opted for free agency instead of a minor-league assignment, but given Covey's tendency to return, I wouldn't blame you for wanting further confirmation in writing.
If you accept his wife as a credible source, she posted the news on Instagram: The Coveys are heading to spring training with the Tampa Bay Rays.
At the moment, the only way Covey will make a start for the White Sox in 2020 is via kidnapping. Even then, that game probably wouldn't count.
Just like the White Sox's tanking days, we can now say that the Dylan Covey era is over. We'd just run the risk of saying the same thing twice. Covey could not survive the White Sox rebuild because he was the White Sox rebuild.
Covey came to the Sox in December 2016 as a Rule 5 pick during the same Winter Meetings that Rick Hahn traded Chris Sale and Adam Eaton. By definition, Covey was the supposed-to-be-bad player on a supposed-to-be-bad team.
He eventually shed the Rule 5 label, but he never stopped struggling to tread water. It didn't help that every time the White Sox fished him out of the deep end, they threw him back in before he regained his breath.
Covey the person seemed like a perfectly nice guy who was trying his best at a job he was never properly trained for. After so much overexposure, Covey became less of a person to fans and more of a concept, a "CHECK ROSTER" light. If Covey was on the roster, something terrible happened, and it was probably going to cost you.
The White Sox knew this, but they couldn't fix it themselves. After two failed attempts to make Covey a feasible starter, the Sox tried to bury him in 2019 with Carlos Rodón and Ervin Santana and Manny Bañuelos.
They still came calling for Covey. In early May.
As a result, Covey's White Sox career was one long rake gag ...
... and his numbers look every bit the part. Covey left a mark as a pitcher covered in them.
Over three years with the White Sox, Covey went 6-29 with a 6.54 ERA. Opponents hit .288/.363/.476 off him. His numbers were basically the same whether starting or relieving, but the Sox never genuinely explored Covey in smaller doses because he started nearly three-quarters of his MLB appearances.
There are a lot of ways to contextualize the quantity/quality imbalance. Covey's winning percentage of .171 is by far the lowest of any White Sox pitcher with at least five wins:
| Pitcher | Year(s) | G | W-L | WP% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dylan Covey | 2017-19 | 63 | 6-29 | .171 |
| Todd Ritchie | 2002 | 26 | 5-15 | .250 |
| Bob Weiland | 1928-31 | 45 | 5-15 | .250 |
| Steve Rosenberg | 1988-90 | 77 | 5-14 | .263 |
| Roy Wilkinson | 1919-22 | 78 | 12-31 | .279 |
Similarly, he has the highest ERA of any pitcher to make at least 30 starts in a White Sox uniform:
| Pitcher | Year(s) | GS | W-L | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dylan Covey | 2017-19 | 45 | 6-29 | 6.54 |
| Jesse Jefferson | 1975-76 | 30 | 7-14 | 6.35 |
| Jaime Navarro | 1997-99 | 87 | 25-43 | 6.06 |
(Covey went full Navarro. You never go full Navarro.)
At this point, adding a third "worst-ever" chart would seem excessive, but there's one that shows why he made so many appearances the last three years.
The lowest ERA+ for any White Sox pitcher with more than 50 appearances:
| Pitcher | Year(s) | G | ERA | ERA+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dylan Covey | 2017-19 | 63 | 6.54 | 66 |
| Ronald Belisario | 2014 | 62 | 5.56 | 68 |
| Chris Beck | 2015-18 | 97 | 5.94 | 72 |
| Kelvin Herrera | 2019 | 57 | 6.14 | 75 |
All the pitchers on this list are from Hahn's rebuilds, and Covey overlapped with two of them.
There's the saying during a blowout or doubleheader-laden dog days that some pitcher is going to be the one who has to wear it. Well, Covey had to wear it for three years, first as a Rule 5 pick who was required to remain on a major-league roster, and then as the guy who always managed to look like the best of what was left.
Covey posted a 2.63 ERA over 22 games and 96 innings in Charlotte, including a 2.82 ERA over 51 innings while pitching with a rocket ball on the moon last year. It's entirely possible that his 95-mph sinker is the perfect pitch for the quintessential Quadruple-A pitcher of today.
Because he's going to the Rays, it wouldn't surprise me if they figured out how to extract MLB production out of that profile. They overachieve by putting limited players in position to succeed. Covey fits the bill of the first part of that sentence, but he's seldom experienced the latter. I've long thought that Covey's best shot to stick would take the form of an opener, and he's going to the team that made that a thing. Maybe they'll make Covey a thing as well. I suppose that still renders him an object, but it's the good kind this time.
The Rays showed last year what a roster looks like when Avisaíl Garcia production is a bonus, not a necessity, so I'll put the possibility of another valuable simulation on my list of the most intriguing non-Sox. In the meantime, the White Sox still have to figure out their best extra-starter bets beyond Michael Kopech, but at least they won't have to ask a guy who desperately needed to try something and some place else.
