On the day all White Sox players reported to spring training, I was tempted to use the headline, "White Sox spring training underway; Oscar Colás optioned to minor-league camp," but the joke didn't seem worth the risk of potentially complicating James Fegan's time at Camelback Ranch.
I can at least take comfort in the idea that the gag would've held up, because Colás was among the White Sox's first cuts of the spring on Friday. That briefly knocked the number of players in major-league camp down to 58, until a late non-roster invitee bumped it back up to 59.
Both events reflect the Chris Getz administration's new way of doing business.
Colás, who was the Plan A for right field during the last season of Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams, was in the first group of players sent to minor league camp, and none of his companions on the journey maintained anything close to his previous standing:
- Optioned to Charlotte: Colás, Davis Martin, Sammy Peralta, José Rodríguez
- Optioned to Birmingham: Josimar Cousin, Jake Eder
- Reassigned to minor-league camp: Ky Bush, Fraser Ellard, Adam Hackenberg, Edgar Navarro, Edgar Quero, Lane Ramsey
Getz and Co. had been steadfast in their desire to have Colás start the season in Triple-A to resume development, hence the joke up top. The demotion doesn't surprise, but their unwillingness to let anybody harbor any illusions stands out. Colás received more plate appearances (18) than the other three position players combined (11), but his fate was just as predetermined.
Pedro Grifol, who helicopter-managed Colás last spring, offered nothing but encouraging words. Perhaps it's because Colás won't be his responsibility for the next several weeks, if not months.
“He really didn’t do much that was wrong,” Grifol said of Colás, who was 3-for-16 with one double this spring. “We saw improvements on every facet of his game. We are happy where he is right now. I explained to him, thoroughly, that he had a good camp.
“Numbers within the numbers. And we are happy with his progression. He’s still in the plans for this organization. He’s powerful and athletic. We are going to do everything in our power to unleash that the right way and continue to develop him so he can be someone who helps us down the road.”
Perhaps he will. Perhaps he won't. The same can be said for Brad Keller, who joined the White Sox on a minor-league deal and will report to big-league camp.
Keller is probably the most White Sox pitcher who isn't already on the White Sox because:
- He played for the Royals when Grifol was there.
- He doesn't throw strikes.
His walk rates tended to float toward 10 percent even in better days, when he had the kind of sinker that allowed him to lead the league in double plays induced, but thoracic outlet syndrome was more than he could absorb, and he ended up walking 45 batters over 45⅓ innings for the Royals during a miserable 2023 season.
Beyond the standard ex-Royal fare, Keller was the pitcher who threw at Tim Anderson back in 2019, because he didn't care for the way Anderson celebrated a no-doubt homer by throwing his bat and screaming towards his dugout. Keller threw at him his next time up. Yost and Keller both denied it was intentional, until both independently admitted that of course it was intentional.
Anderson used the phrase "weak-ass" to describe Keller, and when revisiting the footage, aftermath, and the fact that those Royals went on to lose 103 games, that assessment aged pretty well.
Unfortunately, none of the players involved did. It's just weird that, when looking at the three guys involved in the dispute, Maldonado and Keller are now with the White Sox, and Anderson is not. It's one of those signings that, in all likelihood, won't end up mattering, but most minor-league signings don't register at all. This one just feels like the opposite of fan service at a moment when nothing else they're doing holds all that much appeal.
