The White Sox announced that they have claimed first baseman Ryan Noda off waivers from the Red Sox and optioned him to Triple-A Charlotte. Boston had designated him for assignment a few days ago. Outfielder Joshua Palacios has been designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot. Infielder Brooks Baldwin has been recalled to take the active roster spot of Palacios. There was also a swap on the pitching side, with left-hander Tyler Gilbert reinstated from the injured list and righty Owen White optioned as the corresponding move.
Noda, 29, has an extreme profile. He strikes out a lot but also draws plenty of walks and has some pop. He has done that all throughout his minor league career and then showed it at the big league level in 2023 after the A’s grabbed him from the Dodgers in the Rule 5 draft. He got into 128 games and stepped to the plate 495 times. He struck out in 34.3% of those plate appearances but also walked at a massive 15.6% clip and hit 16 home runs. That all added up to a .229/.364/.406 line and 122 wRC+.
Last year, he got out to a rough start and ended up getting optioned to the minors for most of the year. The A’s put him on waivers at the end of the season, with the Angels putting in a claim. He was designated for assignment about a month ago and got flipped to the Red Sox in a cash deal. Both the Angels and the Red Sox kept him on optional assignment.
His minor league numbers have continued along with Noda’s usual style. Dating back to the start of last year, he has 655 Triple-A plate appearances with 29 homers, a 20.2% walk rate and a 30.4% strikeout rate.
The White Sox came into this year with Andrew Vaughn as their primary first baseman. He struggled badly enough to get optioned to the minors a few weeks back. Earlier today, the Sox flipped him to the Brewers for Aaron Civale and cash. Tim Elko has been getting a lot of the playing time at first lately but is hitting .155/.222/.379. If that continues, perhaps the Sox will make a switch.
Palacios, 29, signed a minor league deal and then was added to the roster in April. He has 145 plate appearances so far this year with a .203/.292/.305 line. That now gives him a career .223/.287/.349 batting line and 75 wRC+.
Since he’s out of options, he can’t be easily sent down to the minors. He’ll now be in DFA limbo, which can last for at most a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Sox could take five days to try to line up a trade. He cleared waivers back in March and hasn’t done much to improve his stock since then, so the level of interest should be low. If he clears waivers, he will have the right to elect free agency.
Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images