Back in June, I suggested the White Sox should offer Lance Lynn a three-year, $55 million contract extension. During the All-Star break, the White Sox and Lynn agreed to an extension that maxed out for those years and dollars after a team option.
Back on Saturday, I floated the idea of trading for Cleveland's Cesar Hernandez to solve the White Sox's issues at second base. This morning, the White Sox did just that, sending Double-A lefty Konnor Pilkington to the Future Guardians.
There were a couple reasons I thought Hernandez could be available at a reasonable price: He's hitting only .231/.307/.431, which makes his $6 million club option for 2022 not all that appetizing for a cash-crunched Cleveland front office that didn't rush to retain him for $5 million for this season.
There were also a couple of reasons why I liked the fit for Hernandez and the White Sox. He's a switch-hitter with 18 homers, which would tie José Abreu for the White Sox team lead, and he also won the Gold Glove last year for good reason.
There are just a couple wrinkles to iron out:
His offense: Hernandez carried a .355 OBP the last six seasons, five of which were with the Phillies. He gave Cleveland exactly that in 2020, which made him a credible fit in their top-heavy part of the order. He inflicted a lot of damage on Sox pitching from there, hitting .364/.462/.545 over nine games.
This year, that OBP is down to .307, in large part because of problems against righties.
- vs. RHP, 2021: .239/.307/.389
- Last 6 years: .275/.355/.394
Maybe he's selling out for power and it's affecting the rest of the game, or maybe he has positive regression in store. I'll be looking into it today, but a .268/.337/.561 performance in July hints at the latter.
The defense: While the metrics called him a worthy Gold Glover last year, they're down on him this year:
| Season | DRS | UZR | OOA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 6 | 3.8 | 4 |
| 2021 | -6 | 1.9 | -3 |
Fortunately, the White Sox have the American League's worst defense at second base without him, at least according to Defensive Runs Saved, so even if they're not getting the best version of Hernandez, he should be able to help. If his glovework wants to regress toward greatness as well, so much the better. If it doesn't, they basically traded for Eduardo Escobar there after all.
The cost is appropriate. Pilkington has produced for a deep Birmingham rotation, with 71 strikeouts against 21 walks and a 3.48 ERA over 62 innings. Like every Birmingham pitcher, he's been limited to a cap of five innings per start after the lost season of 2020, so it's hard to know how much of a horse he can be.
UPDATE: The White Sox made it official, and opened up a spot on the 40-man roster by releasing Tyler Johnson.
“César Hernández provides our club with a valuable combination of a power bat in the middle infield and Gold-Glove quality defense,” said Rick Hahn, White Sox senior vice president/general manager. “Adding a player like César gives Tony a strong and proven option at second base for the stretch run of the season and hopefully into October.”
As for Johnson, well:
Johnson was on the injured list, and teams can't put injured players on outright waivers, which is why he was released. We've previously seen the White Sox do this with Ryan Burr and Nicky Delmonico, both of whom were re-signed.
(Photo by Erik Drost)
