Here’s hoping you sneak through waivers, Charlie. (Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports)
In order to make room on the 40-man roster for Tyler Greene, the White Sox released Charles Leesman, which exposes him to waivers. The White Sox clearly have a greater need to find competent major league infielders. One could argue this was always a need, but it was certainly exacerbated by the injury to Gordon Beckham.
With teams like Colorado, Houston, Milwaukee, Minnesota, and Cleveland so desperate for pitching, it would be surprising to see him make it all the way through waivers, but there’s a chance he will. Leesman looks like he’s ready to be a competent reliever, or at least, worth a shot above some of the dregs of guys floating around in the majors. He’s a big lefty who keeps the ball on the ground, and has maintained a pretty ERA at AAA for over 100 innings. In fact, Leesman was ranked the White Sox’ #11 prospect following the 2012 season.
It could be that the White Sox are less optimistic on his health as he recovers from a knee injury that he suffered at the end of last year – or perhaps, that the injury will be enough to discourage other teams from claiming him. Given the state of the White Sox bullpen, which has been excellent (1.77 ERA so far this year), and deep, it is fair to say that Tyler Greene is more likely to help the team than Charlie Leesman is. Still, Leesman seemed like a candidate to be a major league-ready 5th starter, and those of us who lived through the era of Felix Diaz and Arnie Munoz know how valuable that can be. Here’s hoping this doesn’t come back to bite them.
And really, the odds are against the White Sox really competing this year. Is the marginal value of Tyler Greene over whoever else they would shove in that spot really worth the risk of losing multiple years of control of Leesman? It’s hard to say.