Grandal agrees to team-record deal with White Sox
Yasmani Grandal saw a young team stocked with promising pitchers and hitters. He envisioned a bright future for the Chicago White Sox, and he chose to be part of it.
No longer burdened by draft-pick compensation, Grandal found the multiyear contract he failed to get last offseason. The AllStar catcher agreed Thursday to a $73 million, fouryear contract with the White Sox.
“There’s a lot of young talent,” Grandal said. “The way I looked at it, this team could be a dark horse in the next year or so.”
Grandal turned down a $17.9 million qualifying offer from the Los Angeles Dodgers last November. A team signing him during the 2018-19 offseason would have lost a top amateur draft pick and he found a slow market. He agreed in January to a deal with Milwaukee that guaranteed $18.25 million: a $16 million salary for 2019 and a $16 million mutual option for 2020 with a $2.25 million buyout.
Selected for the All- Star team for the second time, the 31-year- old hit .246 and had career bests with 28 homers and 77 RBIs. He declined to exercise his part of the option and became a free agent again.
Chicago’s deal will pay him $18.25 million annually.
“Unlike last year around this time, where the market was kind of completely nonexistent, this year was just slightly different,” Grandal said. “It seemed like there were several teams that were working hard within their limits to be able to compete. There were several teams that were really interested. The one thing that kind of stood out the most for me is the White
Sox. I love their professionalism, their preparation and the direction of the program.”
The switch hitter has had four straight seasons with more than 20 home runs. He leads major league catchers with 117 homers since 2015 and ranks third in that span with 322 RBIs.
Grandal is looking forward to joining a team he believes has a bright future with promising young pitchers and hitters. Another plus for him was manager Rick Renteria, his bench coach in San Diego. BASEBALL OWNERS APPROVE JOHNSON AS GIANTS’
CONTROL PERSON » Greg Johnson was approved by the major league clubs as the new controlling owner of the Giants.
Following the decision Thursday at the owners meetings in Arlington, Texas, Giants president and CEO Larry Baer still will represent the club at the meetings, along with Johnson and Rob Dean, who had been handling leadership duties since March. Baer was suspended without pay from March 4 through July 1 after a video showed him in a physical altercation with his wife.
Johnson is the son of Charles Johnson, part of the group including late managing partner Peter Magowan that bought the Giants in 1993 and kept them from relocating to Florida. Greg Johnson will be chair
man and Dean the vice chairman, and both will be managing members, the team said in a statement. SHERMAN APPROVED AS NEW CONTROLLING OWNER
OF ROYALS » John Sherman was approved as the new controlling owner of the Kansas City Royals, and his group plans to close its deal to purchase the last-place team from David Glass and his family next week.
Major League Baseball owners voted unanimously to approve the deal, which was announced Aug. 30 and was expected to be worth about $1 billion. Sherman and his local co-investors will become only the third owners since Ewing Kauffman founded the club ahead of the 1969 season.
MLB PROBING ASTROS BACK TO 2017 » Major League Baseball has widened its investigation of alleged sign stealing by the Houston Astros and will probe activity by the team over the past three seasons.
After the conclusion of owners meetings, baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said MLB will “investigate the Astros situation as thoroughly as humanly possible.” The probe includes the team’s firing of an assistant general manager during the World Series for clubhouse comments directed at female reporters, behavior the club at first accused Sports Illustrated of fabricating.
“That investigation is going to encompass not only what we know about ‘ 17, but also ‘ 18 and ’ 19,” Manfred said. “To the extent we are talking to people all over the industry, former employees, competitors, whatever. To the extent that we find other leads, we’re going to follow these leads.”
Manfred has said for now the Astros are the only team being investigated for cheating allegations.