White Sox learn the same hard lesson the Cubs did and DFA Gage Workman

On April 26th, the Chicago White Sox took a chance and made a trade with the crosstown rival Chicago Cubs for rookie infielder Gage Workman. 

Workman, 25, was selected by the Cubs in the Rule 5 Draft and played his way onto the big league roster during Spring Training. 

While Workman’s 3-for-14 start at the dish was not awful on paper, additional context shows how much he was struggling. Two of Workman’s three MLB hits came on April 12th against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Cubs won that game 16-0 and Workman got two hits while a position player was on the mound. 

HIs final hit with the Cubs was an infield single on April 15th against San Diego…Not exactly textbook offensive production. 

In addition to being out of rhythm at the plate, Workman’s defense left a lot to be desired. He looked sharp in Spring Training, but made two costly regular season errors at third base for the Cubs, who no longer had the patience to keep him on the 26-man active roster. 

Workman appeared in just nine games before the Cubs cut ties and designated him for assignment. That’s when the White Sox entered the conversation and swung a trade for Workman. It didn’t take long for the White Sox to get burned in the same ways the Cubs did. 

Workman with the White Sox 

Workman only appeared in three games with the White Sox before landing on the Injured List. 

His first appearance came as a defensive replacement for Miguel Vargas against the A’s back on April 26th.

On April 29th, Workman was brought in as a pinch hitter for Jacob Amaya and flew out to center field. 

On April 30th, Workman was in the White Sox starting lineup for the first time. He made a costly error in the first inning while playing third base that surrendered a run and forced Shane Smith to throw 10+ more pitches in the inning. 

In the bottom of the second, Workman struck out looking with the bases loaded and nobody out. He was later removed from the game for Bobby Dalbec. 

Costly errors and a lack of quality at-bats. All the things that caused the Cubs to DFA Workman were immediately hurting the Sox as well. Workman landed on the Injured List after that nightmare performance against the Brewers. On Monday, the Sox activated Workman and designated him for assignment. 

The White Sox are opting to keep Jacob Amaya on the roster while he is hitting .102 over Workman. That says a lot about how disappointed the team was with his performance.

Time will tell if Workman lands back with the Sox in Triple-A Charlotte or gets picked up by another team. But if someone throws him on their big league roster, I’m not sure he’s going to break these habits anytime soon.