Last off-season, the Chicago White Sox made the very strange decision to sign Mike Clevinger. They needed a starter after Johnny Cueto was clearly leaving but they went with Clevinger who has been injured a lot and has a questionable past.
Well, he made it even worse when it came out that he was being investigated for off-the-field issues. Eventually, nothing came of it but there are plenty of questions about his character.
He pitched much better than anyone would have thought this year. He was their best pitcher in the starting rotation in a year that they weren't very good in that department.
Regardless of his good production, the White Sox showed what they actually think of him when they put him on waivers during the later stages of the season. Nobody claimed him which is also pretty telling. Do you mean to say a guy pitching that well wasn't needed by a contender?
Mike Clevinger won't be coming back to the Chicago White Sox in 2024.
We'll see if another team takes a shot at him in free agency as the White Sox announced on Friday that he is not picking up his option for 2024.
The #WhiteSox announce four roster moves: pic.twitter.com/a4vPSN5FRg
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) November 3, 2023
In order to buy him out, they have to give him $4 million. That is a lot cheaper than the $12 million that they would have had to pay him if he came back to pitch next year. Letting him go is honestly a smart move no matter what the status of the team is going forward.
In addition to making this announcement, they announced that they weren't picking up the option of Liam Hendriks. We knew that one a bit earlier in the day but the White Sox announced it officially with all of these roster transactions.
Clint Frazier and Trayce Thompson are also being sent down to AAA. After all of these moves, the White Sox 40-man roster is now down to 36. We'll see what they do with these spots going forward. Clevinger is gone though and that is good news.