Pollock’s departure removes another corner option from the calculus.
#CHICAGO WHITE SOX FREE#
The club is reportedly leaning towards letting Jose Abreu depart in free agency, opening things up for Vaughn to return to first base. He had a nice season at the plate but was one of the worst defensive outfielders in the league by most measures. Andrew Vaughn has been playing on the grass a lot despite being a natural first baseman. If any team has interest in Pollock for a platoon role, he would have less value since there are fewer lefties for him to play against.įor the White Sox, this removes one option from an outfield that’s in flux for 2022. Pederson also has strong platoon splits for his career, but could play fairly regularly against right-handers since he hits from the left side. Joc Pederson was coming off a somewhat similar down year in 2021 when he had to settle for a one-year, $6MM deal with the Giants for 2022. Whether that’s enough for Pollock to come out ahead in the end remains to be seen. 11 of his 14 home runs came against lefties despite getting only about a quarter of his plate appearances against them. 286/.316/.619 against southpaws, leading a wRC+ 161 compared to a 69 against northpaws.
That split was even more pronounced in 2022, with Pollock hitting. 285/.335/.533, leading to a wRC+ of 129, compared to a 107 against righties. His career batting line with the platoon advantage is.
If there’s one thing Pollock has going for him is that he still mashes lefties. Advanced defensive metrics like Defensive Runs Saved, Ultimate Zone Rating and Outs Above Average also considered him to be average or below in the field this year. However, his last time getting into two-figure territory was 2018 and he only swiped three bags here in 2022. He’s racked up double-digit steals in multiple seasons, including 39 in 2015. He also seems to have lost a step, which isn’t surprising as he’s about to turn 35. The Dodgers traded him to the White Sox for Craig Kimbrel going into 2022, which precipitated a downturn at the plate. That production was 25% above league average, as evidenced by his 125 wRC+. Since Pollock got to 527 plate appearances on the year, he added $3MM to his potential total, though it ended up being a moot point since he is taking the buyout.įor the first three years of that deal, Pollock was excellent at the plate, hitting 52 total home runs and producing a batting line of. That $10MM salary could be increased by $1MM for Pollock hitting 400, 450, 500, 550 and 600 plate appearances in 2022, maxing out at $15MM. Going into 2019, he and the Dodgers agreed to a four-year, $60MM contract that came with a $10MM player option for 2023 or a $5MM buyout. The decision comes as something of a surprise since Pollock is coming of a noticeable down year in 2022. White Sox outfielder AJ Pollock is declining his $13MM player option, per Buster Olney of ESPN, instead taking the $5MM buyout and returning to free agency. Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2023.
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