The White Sox will need to reshape their bullpen after releasing Daniel Webb and declining their option on Matt Albers. Webb pitched only one inning while Albers struggled all season.
The Chicago White Sox continued their offseason moves. According to MLB Traderumors, the team declined their option on reliever Matt Albers an also released reliever Daniel Webb. Robin Ventura relied heavily on Albers during the season. Webb on the other hand appeared in just one inning for the team before going down with injury. He ultimately underwent Tommy John surgery in June.
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The White Sox held a $3 million option on Albers but ultimately will pay his $250,000 buyout according to SN Nation’s Chris Cotillo. The right hander logged 51 1/3 innings but had a 6.31 ERA for the season. Paying him $3 million just didn’t seem like the right move and the organization can spend that money somewhere else.
Albers turned 34 in January, so he is definitely towards the tail end of his career. He had a pretty productive 2015 for the team and was very productive out of the bullpen in his career. From 2012-2015 he had a 2.32 ERA. He relies heavily on getting batters to hit ground balls, but his ground ball rate dipped to 48.6 percent in 2016. Last season, it was 58.6.
Webb only logged one inning after going down with an injury. That culminated in him having Tommy John surgery in June. However, he did have a 3.99 ERA in 2014. Another right hander, Webb always had great velocity on his fastball and logged 67 2/3 innings that season.
The injury is clearly what turned the Sox off of Webb. He is only 27 and could still have a bright future ahead of him. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him picked up by another organization and have a decent season. I wouldn’t rule out this team possibly looking to resign him on a minor league deal, once they see how his rehab goes.
It’s clear they will need to do something with this bullpen after releasing two guys. Webb wasn’t a part of it this season, but before his injury, they were relying on him to be productive for them. The front office said once the offseason starts, their direction would become more clear. After the Sox recent offseason moves, it just seems like they’re getting rid of guys, who weren’t productive. I have no issue with that, but it’ll be interesting to see how they progress as time goes on.
Next: White Sox Season Review: Grading the Bench
Stay tuned, I’m sure there are more moves coming. Hopefully they continue making moves to improve the team and we’ll see them contending next season.