Finally tying up a loose end from a decade ago, the White Sox formally announced Edwin Encarnación to their roster on Thursday.
We did learn a couple things we didn't know before, such as which player the White Sox would remove from the 40-man to accommodate Encarnación. That turned out to be Kodi Medeiros, the lefty starter/reliever acquired from Milwaukee for Joakim Soria two years ago. Medeiros couldn't figure out how to throw strikes as a starter, and his arsenal isn't especially suited for a league with a three-batter minimum.
We also learned that Encarnción is a polite fellow:
“From the other side, what I see is they’re very smart hitters," Encarnacion said of the Sox during a conference call. “They have a great idea of what they’re doing at the plate."
Everything else is as initially reported and deduced.
Contract: Encarnación is on a one-year, $12 million deal for 2020, with a $12 million club option for 2021. There is indeed no buyout, which seems odd for that size of a salary.
Role: Encarnación will serve as the primary DH, and he'll also be the first in line to back up Jose Abreu. That combination will make it harder for James McCann to get playing time, but Rick Hahn made it sound like McCann is staying put.
“Having quality depth is a positive thing on good clubs, and it’s part of what makes good clubs able to withstand the unexpected,” he said. “We view James as potentially playing a role on a championship club and that hasn’t changed since the end of last season to today.”
The concept of roster depth is foreign to the White Sox, who generally aren't concerned about blocking productive talent. McCann is indeed unlucky, but if this Jon Heyman tweet from a few days ago indicates a diversion from the norm, it's possible he's taking the inferences about his framing to heart.
Update: Because James Fegan anticipates my needs, here's a full article on McCann's offseason work.
“Up to this point in my career I’ve never really had anyone who was able to explain to me why the scoring worked the way that it did as far as the framing metrics go and how to improve,” McCann said. “I’ll definitely be monitoring it closer than I ever have. It’s something that I’ll stay up to date with. I’ll be in contact with Jerry throughout the year and just continuing to pick his brain and whatever wisdom he can pass on to me.”
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At least McCann removed the possibility of hearing about the shortcomings that prompted the White Sox to usurp him with Yasmani Grandal by already agreeing to a $5.4 million contract for 2020 back in early December.
The White Sox also resolved a couple other cases with extreme prejudice. They outrighted Josh Osich and Ryan Goins before the 40-man roster additions,, and they sidestepped Yolmer Sánchez's number by outrighting him before the non-tender deadline.
The remaining four incumbent cases are pending as the deadline to exchange numbers arrives today, and the Sox also picked up a fresh case via trade:
- Alex Colomé: $10.3M
- Nomar Mazara: $5.7M
- Carlos Rodón: $4.5M
- Leury García: $4M
- Evan Marshall: $1.3M
That their cases are still open at this point doesn't reflect anything in particular at this point. After a contentious arbitration situation two years ago, the White Sox resolved all the remaining numbers with Colomé, Sánchez, Rodón and Jose Abreu on deadline day last year.
