UPDATE: The White Sox have made the signing official. Velasquez is set to make $3 million on the one-year deal.
The White Sox are keeping the stove warm with another move, albeit this one much smaller in nature compared to the pair we saw on Saturday.
The team and free-agent pitcher Vince Velasquez are reportedly in agreement on a deal, pending a physical, according to FanSided’s Robert Murray. The Athletic’s James Fegan also chimed in, saying this would be a major league contract once done.
Velasquez, 30, made 21 starts between the Phillies and San Diego this past season. He finished the 2021 campaign with a combined 3-9 record, 6.30 ERA (66 ER/94.1 IP), 101 strikeouts, 2.06 K/W, and 1.484 WHIP. Unfortunately, the right-hander hasn’t trended in the right direction for a long-time, making this somewhat curious for a major league deal. If it were a minor deal with spring training invite, then most fans probably wouldn’t think much of it.
As for now, we don’t know any specifics regarding financials or the club’s intentions for Velasquez’s role. We should also point out the White Sox have a lot of fringe arms since there aren’t many great options in the upper minors. With expanded rosters for the first month still be discussed, this has the looks of your typical low risk, some type of reward experiment to allow for depth in the early going. If things don’t pan out, it will be easy for both parties to cut ties and move on.
Unless additional moves for starting pitching depth aren’t made, don’t read too much into this or get overly worked up just yet. We’ve stressed patience before, and we’ll continue to beat that drum again.
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Featured Photo: Phillies/Twitter
This guy looks terrible!