On Sunday, the Chicago White Sox made a move to bolster their starting rotation, signing veteran right-hander Mike Clevinger to a one-year, $12 million contract.
Clevinger joins a rotation that already features Dylan Cease, Lance Lynn, Lucas Giolito, and Michael Kopech.
The right-hander made his return from Tommy John surgery and went 7-7 with a 4.33 ERA in 2022.
But one stat from this year seems to have some White Sox fans concerned.
Clevinger posted just a 0.4 fWAR.
One White Sox fan pointed out a key problem on Twitter, wondering why the White Sox didn’t offer Carlos Rodon an $18.4 million qualifying offer last winter after he posted a 4.9 fWAR, but gave Clevinger $12 million after a 0.4 fWAR season.
Carlos Rodón off a 4.9 fWar yr entering his age 29 season wasn't worth $18.4M for 1 Yr to White Sox
Mike Clevinger off a 0.4 fWar yr entering his age 32 is worth $12M for 1 Yr to White Sox
Sound Process
— MLBExecutiveBurner (@HotStoveintel) November 28, 2022
White Sox Fan Criticizes Front Office Hypocrisy
While signing Clevinger is not a bad move by any stretch of the imagination, one has to wonder why the White Sox were willing to pay the right-hander almost as much as they would have paid for Rodon if they had extended him a qualifying offer.
Rodon has emerged as an ace and posted a 2.88 ERA with the San Francisco Giants in 2022.
The left-hander is once again a free agent and is also somebody who the White Sox could have potentially targeted this offseason.
But it’s easy to see why fans are confused by these decisions.
Having Rodon would have helped soften the blow of losing both Lynn and Giolito for extended periods of time.
The 29-year-old could have been the anchor of the rotation.
Now, White Sox fans are left wondering why such decisions were made and what could have been had they kept Rodon around.
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