Officially, one of the Chicago White Sox’s top remaining free agent objectives has been lost to them.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic announced late on Wednesday night that right-handed pitcher Michael Lorenzen has reached an agreement to sign a deal with the Texas Rangers. With an additional $2.5 million in incentives, the one-year deal’s maximum value will reach $7 million from its $4.5 million base.
Once word spread that the White Sox were trying to sell ace Dylan Cease before Opening Day, Chicago was considered one of Lorenzen’s most likely destinations. Lorenzen was able to join the team in Cease’s stead after the latter was dealt to the San Diego Padres.
In addition, the New York Yankees were considering Lorenzen instead of trading prospects for Cease or shelling out a lot of cash for Blake Snell.
Lorenzen made sure teams had him in mind with the regular season quickly approaching by throwing a 70-pitch simulated game in front of scouts last weekend. But Lorenzen ultimately chose the Rangers over the Yankees and White Sox.
The 32-year-old Lorenzen made his Cincinnati Reds starting debut in 2015, but he has spent the bulk of his career as a bullpen pitcher. After that, he worked out of Cincinnati’s bullpen for six seasons.
In 2022, Lorenzen began 18 games as a starter for the Los Angeles Angels; the next year, he did the same for the Detroit Tigers. At the trade deadline in the summer of last year, he was sent to the Philadelphia Phillies, where he went on to start seven more games before striking out no one on August 9.
Lorenzen has a 40-38 record, a 4.11 ERA, a 1.325 WHIP, and a 9.4 WAR for his career. Over the past two seasons, he is 17–15 with a 4.20 ERA, 1.237 WHIP, and 3.0 WAR. In 2023, he made his debut as an All-Star.
In Lorenzen’s absence, Garrett Crochet, Erick Fedde, Michael Soroka, Chris Flexen, and Nick Nastrini are anticipated to make up the White Sox rotation. Only 22 MLB starts were made by the five-man bunch combined in 2023, which makes it one of the league’s most interesting rotations.
