Chicago pads their bullpen and lineup depth with two acquisitions
Heading into their first of two Crosstown Classic series, the Chicago White Sox added utilityman Vinny Capra and reliever Miguel Castro to their roster.
Claiming Capra off of waivers from Milwaukee on Thursday was one of the most questionable moves the Sox have made this season. He slashed an underwhelming .074/.121/.130 and went 36 at-bats without a hit in Milwaukee, tying the third-longest hitless streak in franchise history. Capra’s four-year career has jumped off of the page — disappointingly. Imagining Will Venable starting or pinch-hitting Capra over Miguel Vargas, Lenyn Sosa, Brooks Baldwin, Josh Vargas, or even (wince) Andrew Vaughn would be odd, but no longer surprising after a year of shenanigans.
Today, the Sox traded for Houston’s Miguel Castro in exchange for international signing bonus pool money. Castro signed a minor league deal with the Astros in December and has been dominating with Triple-A Sugar Land Space Cowboys. He has a 2.29 ERA and 1.17 WHIP with 20 strikeouts in 19 ⅔ innings. He has restricted opponents to six runs in 17 games and has converted on five of six save opportunities. Castro joins a bullpen that always has room for improvement. While Steven Wilson and Mike Vasil have looked good this month, it’s helpful to have an additional arm to balance out Jordan Leasure and Cam Booser’s volatility.
To make room for them, the Sox DFA’d Jacob Amaya, who is batting worse than .100, and optioned Jared Shuster back to Triple-A, for the second time this season.