Now that the trade deadline has passed — with a whimper, in Chicago, at least — the only help that the White Sox can get is in Charlotte or possibly Birmingham. So it is a good time to check in on the status of the guys on the Knights’ squad who are on the 40-man roster.
The Hitters
Jake Burger was returned to the Knights on Tuesday to open a roster spot for Luis Robert. In early July, he went on the IL with a hand bruise. And then on the day he was set to begin a rehab (the weekend before the All-Star break), he became ill and went back on the shelf, until finally returning to the lineup last week.
Adam Haseley was the Knights’ hottest hitter when he was called up to the White Sox in mid June, before returning to the Knights about two weeks later. He went 5-20 in the brief call-up. Haseley continued to hit well upon his return until a 7-42 stretch cratered his stats, though he still seems to be swinging the bat well, as evidenced by home run #12 on Tuesday night and #13 last night. He’s also 14-15 in stolen bases.
Lenyn Sosa found his way onto the 40-man after a surprise call-up from Birmingham in late June. Five days later, he was sent to Charlotte, where he started 7-18 and looked like quite the star. But he has since cooled, with a slash line of .228/.278/.310 and minimal power, with just seven extra-base hits, six doubles and one homer, which he hit last night.
Romy Gonzalez is the last non-pitcher in Charlotte on the 40-man. It has been a lost season thusfar for last year’s sensation, as illness rather than injury has hampered the middle infielder. But he had his tonsils out just before the All-Star break, and then went to Arizona, where he continues working out to get back into game shape. He could return to the lineup this week.
The Pitchers
There are four relievers on the 40-man: Yoan Aybar, Anderson Severino, Bennett Sousa and Tobias Myers, and it hasn’t been particularly pretty for the quartet this season. Myers was picked up Tuesday by the Sox after he was released by the Giants, added to the 40-man and assigned to Charlotte. Severino and Sousa, meanwhile, have shown great promise, but 40-man spots are valuable, and relievers tend to be most vulnerable. (And Jose Rodriguez, Bryan Ramos and Yolbert Sanchez are among those needing spots this off-season.)
Jason Bilous is the newest member of the 40-man roster to join the Knights, getting a promotion on Tuesday. A starter in Birmingham, Bilous is a welcome addition to a staff that routinely trots out seven, eight or even nine relievers a night. A 13th round draft pick of the Sox in 2018, Bilous earned a 40-man spot after demonstrating improved control in 2021 in Birmingham. His best pitches are a mid-90s fastball with ride and a low-80s slider, as well as a curve and change-up. He makes his Knights’ debut tonight.
The Others
They’re not on the 40-man, but a here’s a quick look at a handful of other guys worth noting.
First up is is the Knights’ sparkplug, Mark Payton. He leads the team in batting average (.284) and extra-base hits (38), and is second in runs (52) and home runs (13).
Pacing the team in runs (54) is swiss-army-knife Zach Remillard, who has played first, second, third, short and left so far this season. Remillard leads the team in OBP (.363) and is second on the team with 13 stolen bases. Remillard flies under the radar but is one of the Knights’ most clutch hitters, with a batting average of .306 with runners in scoring position.
Yolbert Sanchez, meanwhile, appears to be still adjusting to Triple-A pitching. Through 71 games, he’s got a slash line of .266/.316/.331, with three homers and nine doubles.
Yet another player who was promoted this year to Charlotte from Birmingham, Tyler Neslony, also continues to find his footing in Charlotte. He’s 6-39 so far with no extra-base hits.
One Knights’ reliever also worth noting is Hunter Schryver. Opponents are hitting just .178 and he has a WHIP of 1.17.
Roster News
It was a busy day on Tuesday in Charlotte.
–Burger was assigned to Charlotte to clear a roster spot for Luis Robert.
–Vince Velasquez began a rehab assignment with a hitless inning of relief.
–Lane Ramsey was activated off the IL and pitched an inning, giving up two hits and an earned run in his return.
–Bilous was promoted from Birmingham.
–Myers was picked up and assigned to Charlotte. Drafted by the Orioles in 2016, Myers was traded to the Rays a year later, where he showed promise before being traded this year to Cleveland. He was released, picked up by the Giants, released again, and now becomes yet another project in Matt Zaleski’s bullpen.
–Struggling reliever Yacksel Rios was released.
–On Tuesday night, the Knights played their 100th game of the season, falling to Gwinnett in Charlotte, 6-3, for a record of 36-64.
Of all of the misallocated resources this year, the least defensible from an “unforced error” point of view was starting Sosa’s clock on the 40-man roster.
That was pretty much to placate the pitchfork crowd, soon the cost of that will be felt.
Why?
Why did they have pitchforks? Idk exactly but I think it had to do with dissatisfaction with Leury and Josh.
No, why will the cost of bringing up Sosa soon be felt?
Options burned and 40 man spots underutilized/preventing moves or losing him completely like Luis Gonzalez.
Luis González was on the 60-day IL after shoulder surgery when the Sox tried to pass him through waivers. Every team passed on him until the Giants with their great record. The Giants then non-tendered him in the off-season but signed him as a free agent.
I think there’s a lot of 20-20 hindsight involved in giving the Sox grief over González. Trying to sneak a 26-year-old who projected as a 4th outfielder and who had just had labrum surgery through waivers is a move I didn’t complain about at the time and not many others did either because it was a pretty standard baseball move.
If Gonzalez hadn’t of been on the 40 man he wouldn’t have been on the 60 day and thus exposed.
When he’s added to the 40-man roster, you need to use an option to send him to the minors after spring training. He’s still 4 years younger than the AAA league average, so it’s not impossible that he needs more time in the minors than 3 option years will allow.
If he needs to spend 3 years in AAA then I don’t think he’s good enough to warrant that much hand-wringing. A competing team should bring up whoever they think can help him and not concern themselves with options 3 years down the road. And I don’t think the opinions of fans had anything to do with it.
I don’t disagree, but the point of my OP stands. It’s not the biggest waste of resources; it was the least necessary waste of resources. If the Sox thought Sosa could contribute – GREAT! bring him up. But they apparently didn’t think he could contribute or at least didn’t think it was necessary for him to contribute because he didn’t really play and they didn’t keep him on the 26-man roster any longer than absolutely necessary. If they just needed someone to sit on the bench and play one game at second, they could’ve brought up Remillard or some other career minor leaguer and let Sosa continue on his normal progression. Starting the clock for Sosa wasn’t a fatal flaw, but it was completely unnecessary and valueless. In the grand scheme of things it probably won’t amount to much of anything, but it’s just another indication that the organization doesn’t know how to maximize it’s position based on resources available.
If this was 3 years ago I would have agreed with you, but when your stated goal is to win the World Series (I know, I know), your entire infield gets hurt and you need someone to come up for a week, I would rather bring up the guy who has the best chance of making a difference. At that time, I think it was reasonable to try to get that from Sosa over someone like Yolbert or Remillard.
The Dodgers just started the clock on a 22-year old prospect called up from AAA. I doubt that there are any Dodger fans complaining that they are wasting their resources.
https://www.mlb.com/news/miguel-vargas-has-2-hits-2-rbis-in-mlb-debut-with-dodgers
Let’s see how the rest of the circumstances work out before we make that comparison. One difference is that Vargas is playing. Another might be that he stays up the rest of the season.
Again, starting the clock isn’t the sin. Starting the clock unnecessarily when there was no clear/agreed-to path within the organization for Sosa contribute is the sin.
I admittedly don’t know anything about Vargas, but it looks to me like he’s probably only there because Turner went on the IL. When Turner comes back it seems like he’d be behind Turner, Turner, Freeman, Lux, Muncy and maybe Alberto on the infielder depth chart. We’ll see.
Lennyn Sosa is a nice surprise, but the concern of having his clock started should be minor. It is not like we are talking about Tatis Jr. here
If it was a Tatis Jr-esque it would be no problem as he’d be heading towards the 26 man very soon. If it’s more Luis Gonzalez-esque well then you may be needing to be near San Fran to see him in the majors. Otherwise, it’s options burned and 40 man spots underutilized/preventing moves.
Yep; not a big deal. Indeed, not even a deal. The risk is with respect to injury while on the major-league roster—-like Kopech—–where you lose substantial time of control. With respect to Sosa, he did not get injured and there are plenty enough minor league options available.
To be fair to he person who started this conversation about Sosa…they have already conceded…perhaps multiple times…that it was not a big deal.
I am unfamiliar with a relationship between a “clock” and the 40-man roster.
There is none
https://www.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/minor-league-options
I was a little hazy on this, so I googled the 40-man requirements. From mlb.com:
Players signed at age 18 or younger need to be added to their club’s 40-Man roster within five seasons or they become eligible for the Rule 5 Draft. Players who signed at age 19 or older need to be protected within four seasons.
If eithe Grandal or Seby go down they are going to have to open up a 40 man spot for Carlos Gomez. Plus, will they bring up Sosa for the 2-3 games TA is suspended? Probably have to go short in the bullpen for those games if they do. maybe Foster. Maybe he can get it to 2 gamnes and it can be the DH TUesday and they can bring up Sosa as the 27th man.
It seems like one of those 4 relievers on the 40-man mentioned in the op should clear waivers. Probably all of them.
Carlos Gomez would be interesting to watch donning the catcher’s gear.
I remain confused why the Sox haven’t given Haseley a longer look this.
He ran into Mendick and now Tony hates him and refused to ever put him into a game.
Except that he did so maybe it wasn’t Tony afterall.
I think he got two total PA’s after the collision, and they were almost 3 weeks later So, sure, I guess he “played him”.
If Engel, Sheets, or Pollock were hurt for a while, he’d be the one called up for sure. But the first two have been healthy if not terribly effective, and Sheets has been hitting basically exactly how he did last year since coming back from Charlotte. Haseley meanwhile is hitting decent but not great for AAA (115 wRC+) and has an option year remaining. He’s good depth for RF/CF, but the “call up in case of injury” kind of depth more than “underperforming dude will get DFA’d for this guy” depth.
I wonder what the offense/defense tradeoff would be with Haseley vs Sheets. But the Sox seem content to ride things out with Sheets.
Given their issues w RHP, related to Grandal & Moncada’s power dissipating, I think his lefty pop is much needed
I am still thinking Conforto—not seriously, but thinking.
Why hasn’t he signed with anybody? Still injured/Boros effect/other?
Surprised more hasn’t been rumored since the initial reports. Possible he isn’t healthy enough to interest anyone. But if he is, he will require some time to ramp up so can’t drag it out forever if he wants to play this season
Boras initially said the shoulder injury was season-ending and then later walked that back. I’m doubtful that he is healthy enough to ramp up and contribute by the playoffs.
Last I read, Boras was touting him as an option for this season. But I can certainly believe that isn’t the case.
If he actually was, I’d think he’d have been signed soon after the draft, no?
Who needs to see what Zack Remillard can do when you have Leury?
I don’t need to see what Zack Remillard can do.
Tony is that you?
So now we’re clamoring for Zack Remillard? What on earth?
Zach Remillard’s Baseball Reference Page
The sooner we add him to the 40-man roster, the sooner we can start complaining it was a mistake because we could find ourselves having to let him go in 2025 (when he’ll be 31 years old) just before he finally puts it all together.