The White Sox traded Paul DeJong, but nobody will have to pay for shipping, because all he has to do is walk across the field.
The Sox have dealt DeJong to the Kansas City Royals for minor league reliever Jarold Rosado. Since the Royals are in town and preparing to play the second of three games at Guaranteed Rate Field, DeJong was able to report immediately, as you can see in the photo above.
Rosado will have to travel a little bit further to join the White Sox organization. He's a 21-year-old right-handed reliever who had been pitching for Low-A Columbia in the Carolina League. He has a 1.85 ERA and peripherals to match -- 45 strikeouts to 42 baserunners over 39 innings.
Three of those scoreless appearances have come against the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers, including one where he struck out all five batters he faced, although one was on a pitch-timer violation.
Rosado will report to those same Cannon Ballers, the White Sox announced in the press release.
DeJong ultimately delivered on the one-year, $1.75 million contract he was happy to sign because it was a major league deal, although in a slightly different shape. He was supposed to offer good defense and some pop, and he instead offered good pop and some defense. He led the White Sox with 18 homers in just 363 plate appearances, which leads the team by six and could stand the rest of the season. The rest of his offense profile was typically fraught -- .228 average, .275 OBP, 14 walks to 112 strikeouts -- but the sizable disparity in his plate-discipline numbers didn't undermine the rest of his production this time.
The defense was the iffy part. Both leading metrics graded him in the red; Outs Above Average had him at -1 Outs Above Average, while Baseball Info Solutions had him at -8 Defensive Runs Saved, and he made enough rookie-looking mistakes to tilt toward the harsher grade. Both OOA and DRS disliked the limited amount of playing time he accrued at third, as well they should. The White Sox have may have a harder time replacing his offense than his defense, although you can't count out this particular team from coming up short on both.
As for replacement infielders, Miguel Vargas is in the building, and Lenyn Sosa is in town as well. The White Sox may need two infielders if they're able to Nicky Lopez before 5 p.m.
