Report: White Sox Made Offer to Korean 1B Ji-man Choi
By Matt Manetti
Ji-Man Choi’s agency says the White Sox were among 13 teams that made offers to their client. The 26-year-old spent last season with the Yankees.
The first bit of news regarding the Chicago White Sox in 2018 may not be what you expected. According to Jee-Ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, the Sox were among 13 teams to extend offers to free agent Ji-Man Choi. This according to Yoo was from his agency.
Choi spent last season with the Yankees. In six games, he hit .267 with two home runs and five RBIs at the big-league level. He hit .288 in 87 games with their Triple-A affiliate.
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The White Sox do have experience with Asian born players, so that could be why they have interest in him. He’s also a left-handed bat, which they desperately need. The thinking could be he could potentially platoon at the bigs or maybe even serve as a designated hitter. However, it’s more likely Matt Davidson fill the DH role if he doesn’t play in the field.
If the reports are true and the Sox are one of 13 teams in on Choi, then it will be very competitive. And there’s no guarantee he’ll pick Chicago. But there’s no downside to trying to sign someone like Choi. He hasn’t really done anything in the league, so you can sign him for cheap. If it doesn’t work out you won’t have a big commitment and it would be easy to release him. You could even just throw him in as a ‘player to be named later’ in a trade.
Choi isn’t exactly what this team needs but it’s good to see the White Sox are at least active. Since the Manny Machado rumors things have been quiet on the South Side. We knew going into the offseason they wouldn’t be in on any of the top free agents, they rarely are. But I thought we’d at least see them being aggressive with free agent pitching. They have a lot of holes to fill in the bullpen and some in the rotation, as well. Because of that, I thought they would be talking to a lot of pitchers.
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We’ll see what the plan is for Choi but my guess is he’s just someone to add more depth to their system. But who knows, it’s possible he’s someone who contributes in the future. Whatever the case, though, I would prefer to see them talking to some veteran pitchers than to a guy who even if they signed him, may not even be in their long-term plans.