The White Sox continue to remain active in the free agent market by making a very interesting signing. According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the organization and free agent outfielder Jon Jay have agreed to a one-year, $4 million deal pending a physical. The two sides were originally rumored to be in serious discussions by The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Robert Murray earlier Monday night.
The #Whitesox have agreement with free agent outfielder Jon Jay. He must complete physical for it to become official. So the Sox now have Manny Machado’s brother in law, Yonder Alonso, and close friend, Jay, on the team as they have offer on table for Machado.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 8, 2019
Jon Jay will receive $4 million on his one year deal with the #Whitesox once he passes his physical
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 8, 2019
The team made the deal official on Thursday afternoon, and designated outfielder Charlie Tilson for assignment to make room on the roster.
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) January 10, 2019
In 2018, Jay split time between the Kansas City Royals and Arizona Diamondbacks. In 59 games with the Royals, he slashed .307/.363/.373 with 1 HR and 18 RBI. After swapping teams, he saw his offensive numbers slip as he slashed just .235/.304/.325 in 84 additional games. Defensively, Jay continued to have another rock solid year by staying error-free, earning himself a spot as a Gold Glove Award finalist.
For the White Sox, Jay is a nice veteran addition to a team that has a relatively young outfield in guys like Engel, Delmonico, Palka, and eventually Jimenez. The 33-year-old owns a career .996 fielding percentage and has committed only eight errors in his nine Major League seasons. Despite not playing there much in 2018, Jay has spent the majority of his career in centerfield, which is a nice plus. This gives Rick Renteria the flexibility to platoon between him and Engel in center or simply shift Jay to a corner outfield spot. Additionally, adding a left-handed contact hitter with a career .285 average to mix things up in the lineup proves to be another positive.
Now, why is this move really interesting? Jon Jay just so happens to be very close friends with newly acquired Yonder Alonso and free agent superstar Manny Machado. In fact, the three of them were featured in an article that appeared on The Players’ Tribune where each player talked about their close relationship with each other and baseball in their native Miami. Here’s a quote from that article that was made by Jay:
The three of us all come from the similar backgrounds. I’ve known Yonder since he was 10. And we’ve both known Manny since he was a young kid coming up. We’re from the same neighborhoods, the same culture, so its just natural for us to stick together.”
Will the three of them unite on the diamond as members of the Chicago White Sox? Only time will tell, but it sure doesn’t hurt for the South Siders to pull out all the stops in the time being.
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Featured Photo: G-Form
