I've seen some baseball writers and editors complain that the collective bargaining agreement still hasn't been finalized and published for public consumption, and now I understand their pain, because I'm not positive what the White Sox's options are with Hanser Alberto.
MLB.com's site says teams must pay a retention bonus of $100,000 to keep Article XX(B) free agents through June 1, but an Evan Drellich article from a few days ago says the former system has been altered in favor of another opt-out date halfway through the previous arrangement.
Previously, certain free agents had retention bonuses they had to be paid if a team held on to them late in spring training. That system is gone, but those players now have uniform opt-out dates: five days before Opening Day, May 1 and June 1.
Five days before Opening Day would be Saturday, and Alberto has made that particular day a concern by leading the White Sox in Cactus League production. He's 14-for-29 with two homers, a triple and four doubles, good for a .483/.500/.897 line and superior to any other utility option in camp.
Leury García: He's hitting .200/.259/.400 with a homer, two doubles, two walks and six strikeouts. He's also stolen a base.
Romy González: He's hitting .167/.286/.400, although he did hit his second homer of the spring on Tuesday. The 11 strikeouts over 35 plate appearances is the bigger concern.
Alberto's closest competition -- if there is even a competition -- is fellow non-roster invitee Erik González, who is hitting .387/.424/.516 over 33 plate appearances. Unlike Alberto, González didn't qualify as an Article XX(B) free agent under the previous guidelines, as he hasn't yet accrued six years of service time.
I'm not seeing any clear precedents thus far when searching for opt-outs, retention bonuses, and all related phrases. The Royals signed Mike Mayers to a minor-league contract, and MLB.com reporter Anne Rogers said that his opt-outs don't arrive until June 1, followed by one on July 1. Luke Voit supposedly had an opt-out date of March 16 with the Brewers, which was then pushed back.
The most instructive NRI case might be Ehire Adrianza, whom the Braves chose to add to their 26-man roster while optioning Vaughn Grissom and Braden Shewmake because Adrianza reportedly would've been able to opt out. Like Alberto, Adrianza has cleared six years of service time, and with even more room to spare (he's at eight and counting).
It's worth debating because there's no reason to think Alberto's spring is anything more than a mirage. He's a career .272/.294/.380 hitter over seven seasons and 458 games. He's never posted a season with a league-average OPS, even in a small sample.
But there are reasons to think he could stick. Alberto played for Pedro Grifol's Royals in 2021, and Grifol liked the cut of his jib:
“He’s doing what he does,” Grifol said Saturday of Alberto’s contributions. “He’s a leader, he’s high-energy, he’s a swinger, he has a knack for hitting, for situational hitting, he secures the baseball. This is not like (just) a spring training thing for him. This is who he is.
“I could probably tell you I’m impressed but I’m not. I’ve seen him play before. I’ve seen him play against us, and we’ve been on the same team (with the Royals). This is who he is.”
And while his production with the Dodgers was replacement-level in 2022, he made an impression in the clubhouse. Dave Roberts liked him because Alberto was willing to make 10 appearances on the mound to save a reliever, and Mookie Betts offered high praise from a peer.
And you can find evidence of such relationships with a little bit of tweet-searching:
So it's not out of the question that the White Sox would prefer to keep Alberto, and it could be fine, even welcome. I just don't like the idea of the White Sox carrying both Alberto and García on the bench, just like I didn't care for the idea of García and Romy González on the same bench before Alberto became a factor. A player whose calling card is versatility becomes less valuable when he's joined by a second player whose calling card is versatility.
Of course, the Sox have hinted at García not being a given despite the two years and $11 million remaining on his contract. It'd just be strange to see the White Sox cut that kind of money when there isn't a clear indication of which player has more to offer.
Here's where Adrianza becomes interesting again, because he shares traits between the two Sox candidates. Like García, he was lousy in 2022, hitting .175/.264/.206 over 37 games with the Nationals and Braves. Like Alberto, he's having fun this spring (.296/.441/.519 over 34 plate appearances). The Braves have a pretty good track record when it comes to building a roster, and they're rolling with recency in their attempts to retain the best depth possible.
Perhaps Alberto is the 2023 version of Pablo Ozuna, who won a spring training job in 2005 as a 30-year-old NRI by hitting .527. The subsequent numbers didn't impress, but because he was the only utility guy on the bench, the Sox made the most of his 0.4 WAR and 70 OPS+. They also could've probably found similar production if Ozuna never got on that heater, so I'm not sure it matters which specific utility guy these White Sox roll with as long as he's healthy, and the only one.
