In his first season as general manager of the Chicago White Sox, Chris Getz is still active.
The New York Post’s Jon Heyman announced on Tuesday that Paul DeJong, a veteran shortstop, is being signed by the White Sox. The team is going to offer the 30-year-old DeJong an MLB contract.
The announcement was made a few weeks after Chicago made the decision to cut ties with veteran shortstop Tim Anderson. Former AL batting champion and two-time All-Star Anderson has been the White Sox shortstop since 2016. However, he had his worst-ever 2023 season, hitting.245 with a dismal.582 OPS. Chicago would then decline Anderson’s $14 million 2024 team option as a result.
DeJong is a seasoned former All-Star who was selected for the 2019 Midsummer Classic while playing for the St. Louis Cardinals. However, one could argue that DeJong is currently even worse than Anderson. In 328 combined at-bats with St. Louis, Toronto, and San Francisco in 2023, he hit.226 with 103 strikeouts. Less than 20 days after the Blue Jays traded for DeJong to replace Bo Bichette due to a short-term injury, he was waived.
There is a bright side, though: DeJong will probably cost a lot less than the $14 million the White Sox would have paid for Anderson. Getz, whose hiring was met with criticism, is keeping occupied in his first offseason. Getz recently dealt reliever Aaron Bummer to the Atlanta Braves for a pretty impressive multi-player haul, in addition to the successful Anderson-for-DeJong trade.
