Thus, the non-tendering of four players–Al Alburquerque, Jake Petricka, Zach Putnam, and Alen Hanson–weighs in as the update of the moment.  Taking each of these in turn, my thoughts are as follows:

• Alburquerque has been good in the past, but this caliber of pitcher is basically always floating around.  He was picked up for free and you don’t necessarily need to cling to those guys;
• Petricka threw 144 solid innings from 2013-2015 after the White Sox selected him in the second round of the 2010 draft.  2016 and 2017 were riddled with injuries and ineffectiveness. Even for someone with plus velocity, the Pitch To Contact profile can often leave you with a very thin margin for error, and Petricka may not be able to stay above that line anymore;
• Putnam is coming back from Tommy John surgery and may miss most of 2018, but unlike Petricka he has at least been extremely effective in between his stints on the disabled list; and
• In a universe where the White Sox aren’t protecting Jake Peter and have a crowded depth chart of utility players, Hanson got squeezed out.

Some, all, or none of these guys could return on minor league deals and even make the 25-man roster out of camp next year depending on what other moves the team makes over the course of the winter.  Hahn & Co. may have identified more than one target they like in the Rule V draft, which could suddenly make things quite crowded, and with these moves, the 40-man roster sits at 36. To my mind, Putnam was the only close call, and that depends on how his rehab is going, when he looks like he’d be able to pitch again, and whether or not they can work something else out such that he’s back in the organization at such time as he is healthy.  Or, it could be that Tommy John took enough out of him that he’s not the same pitcher anymore, which would be a shame, as he was a fairly unique guy.

And so the calm before the storm continues, but with Tyler Chatwood getting plucked up by the Cubs and the Winter Meetings rapidly approaching, some activity is due sooner or later.  And, even if you don’t see the move coming, as the Castillo acquisition shows, you never know when you might get surprised.

In the BPSS Slack chat we’ve brought up on a number of occasions which player will be most commonly missed 4-5 years from now in the Sporcle quiz where you need to name every player who suited up for the 2017 White Sox. There are a good number of candidates, but Al Alburquerque is undoubtedly one of the favorites. The White Sox began the season with a really good bullpen. Too good, really, for a team with no notion of contending. Rick Hahn did just as he should, of course, and traded every single reliever with any semblance of value. The White Sox, by rule, are required to have players on their roster capable of taking the mound and throwing baseballs in the direction of home plate, and Albuquerque did just that for all of eight innings, striking out five and allowing one run. Alburquerque was once more than an afterthought of a reliever; he was actually quite good with the Tigers back in 2014. Relievers are a confusing bunch. There’s a non-zero chance Alburquerque throws meaningful innings for a team again somewhere down the road, but chances are it won’t be with the White Sox.

Cody Asche is the exact type of player who would’ve drawn the ire of White Sox Twitter had he been employed during a season in which the White Sox were expected to contend. A failed prospect makes sense as a flier on a rebuilding team, however. Still, it didn’t take long for the White Sox to figure out that Matt Davidson was at least good in the dinger department while Asche wasn’t good in any department. The former Phillie made the White Sox out of Spring Training and promptly hit .105/.177/.175 in 62 plate appearances before being jettisoned to Triple-A Charlotte, never to be seen again. He actually played quite well for the Knights, putting up a .887 through the rest of the season, but that merely serves as yet another example of the difference in competition level between Triple-A and the majors.

Quick: Guess who threw the most relief innings for the White Sox in 2017. Give up? Well, it’s Chris Beck with 64. Since he was drafted in 2012, Beck’s fastball has always been lively enough to envision a world in which he could become an asset in the bullpen. But his emergence as an innings eater for the White Sox this season came more out of necessity than productivity, as he posted a 6.47 ERA in those 64 innings pitched. There were only 11 pitchers in baseball this season who threw as many innings as Beck with a worse ERA. The problem? The same as it’s always been with Beck: Too many walks. He’s now tossed 95 1/3 innings in his professional career and has a BB/9 of 5.0. Beck is an organizational soldier, if nothing else. After all, someone had to throw those innings. But at 27 years old and with nearly 100 below average innings under his belt, the chances of him turning into a bullpen asset look increasingly slim.

In 2012 veteran journeyman Dan Johnson got a late season call from the White Sox and recorded 31 plate appearances, hitting .364/.547/.818 fueled almost entirely by a 3 homer game on the last day of the regular season. Rob Brantly’s 2017 line won’t look quite as impressive, but in 36 plate appearances he put up a .290/.389/.516 line that … probably means nothing in the long run. Catchers are eternally weird, and the offensive threshold is such that there’s a chance Brantly could stick around as a backup during the next couple of years of the rebuild, but there’s certainly no guarantee he’s even on the team for next year.

Lead Photo Credit: Ray Carlin-USA TODAY Sports