3 veteran catchers the Chicago White Sox should pursue in free agency

While the future at catcher seems set for the Chicago White Sox, it does not mean the front office wants to rush making it the present.

SoxMachine.com's Josh Nelson told me in October on Locked on White Sox that the front office wants to add a veteran catcher through free agency.

It makes sense to bring in a veteran backstop.

The White Sox's second-best hitting prospect, Edgar Quero is a top-100 prospect and is getting close to making his big-league debut. It does make sense to wonder why the Sox would bring in a veteran catcher, especially since Korey Lee established himself as an MLB catcher this season.

If the team is saying improvement will come from the young players, it would be a good idea to get Quero on the opening-day roster.

The front office does not need to rush Quero to the big leagues since he is still 21. Plus, his season ended prematurely with a back injury.

He also got just 95 at-bats at Triple-A, so it makes sense to want to give Quero another month or two at Triple-A before having him take on big-league pitching.

Hopefully, the veteran the Sox add provides some value where last offseason's addition, Martin Maldonado did not. He was so awful that he hit under .100 for most of the three-and-half months he was with the team.

Another good idea is to add a catcher with some ties to some of the new leaders the White Sox have hired.

It would be better to tap into the connections new manager Will Venable has since the Texas Rangers won the World Series in 2023. It would not be a bad idea either to go with a catcher that new bench coach Walker McKinven knows, especially since the Milwaukee Brewers have done a great job at improving catchers defensively.

It cannot hurt to even bring in a player with a relationship to the new director of hitting Ryan Fuller. Fuller is coming to the White Sox from Baltimore and the Orioles know how to hit.

The reason to go that route is how bad things went in 2024 when general manager Chris Getz and former manager Pedro Grifol tapped into their Kansas City Royals ties. Why do you think a bad player like Maldonado was brought to the Southside?

Going with players from the Kansas City Royals who were either well past their prime or were never part of the Royals when they were competitive was a reason this club was set up for historical failure.

That is why it would be better to go with ties to Venable, Fuller, or McKinven because at least they can help recruit players from winning organizations.

There are three veteran catchers the White Sox could pursue with ties to Venable, Fuller, or McKinven.

Gary Sanchez

He only caught 28 games for the Brewers, and he is not exactly the best defensive backstop. He would still be a good addition because he can still provide some value as a designated hitter.

He can also play a little first base.

This would be more of a backup catcher signing and trying to have his power bat in the lineup when he is not catching by being a DH. He has hit double-digit home runs in every big league season he has played in except the brief two games where he had a cup of coffee with the Yankees in 2015.

Also, he would come cheap as Spotrac projects he would get a one-year deal at $3 million.

Carson Kelly

He is an excellent framer and has a good arm to throw out would-be base stealers. Pop time is his only weakness in his defensive game.

He briefly played for the Rangers this season after being traded to Texas from Detroit. It is not like he has strong ties to Venable, but his numbers are good enough to warrant looking into having him come to the Southside.

He has a career .812 OPS and a .348 on-base percentage against left-handed hitters. He finished 2024 with a 1.8 fWAR. He has hit just 18 home runs over the past three seasons.

Kelly would be a solid backup catcher who can provide some production against lefties in a platoon with Korey Lee. He projects to cost $2.2 million next season per Spotrac.

James McCann

He had a great career on the Southside during last decade's rebuild. McCann made his only All-Star team in 2019 when he was with the White Sox.

He also established a great relationship with Lucas Giolito and managed the pitching staff well.

His defensive ability is no longer great. He is still good enough to be a decent backup catcher. If you had to put him up against Chuckie Robinson, you would take McCann every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

His decline has not been startling enough to indicate he should have retired, much like Maldonado's decline was so rapid that Martin should have retired in 2022.

McCann is still productive enough that he did a nice job backing up Adley Rutschman in Baltimore. He is projected to earn $2.8 million in 2025 according to Spotrac.