The White Sox Sign the Palatine Pounder???

I was fingering my trustee laptop late Monday evening when I saw this tweet from friend of The Au Jus, Scott Merkin come through the ole Twitter machine.

The White Sox have signed Mike Tauchman, journeyman outfielder from the Chicagoland area. A major league deal, apparently, as was later noted by the White Sox collective beat. Earlier this off-season the Cubs had non-tendered Tauchman and at that moment I advocated for the White Sox signing him.

To me, a signing like this, for a team like the White Sox seems like a bit of a no-brainer. The 2024 White Sox had a generationally poor offense. An offense that posted a .278 OBP which is a top ten worst mark in a full season in MLB, and hasn’t even been approached since the New York Mets posted a .277 in 1965. Tauchman has a career .344 OBP, with his .357 mark in 2024 in the low run scoring environment of 2024 being downright excellent. Queue the Billy Beane meme

Mike can pick up a glove in all three outfield positions and not totally embarrass hisself, so that’s a plus for a team that often goes long stretches without it’s blue chip center fielder and hasn’t had a steady positive right field presence in over a decade. Lastly, he has a nickname that seems to be right out of our long-time 108 podcast segment, “Baseball Player or Porn Star“….The Palatine Pounder!!

The Palatine Pounder!!

What Does This Mean?

I saw our fearless GM Chris Getz being mocked again in public for this signing. The Palatine Pounder is a perfectly useful player for a team in the position the White Sox are in currently. Truthfully, he’s a totally reasonable player for many MLB teams. It’s as if we learned nothing from the Rick Hahn GM era. One of Teflon Hahn’s biggest faults was rarely being able to find valuable players at the ends of the roster and I for one am glad Getz is getting plenty of reps to sharpen up this skill.

What’s more interesting to me though is that this deal might signal something additional. The White Sox already went out in the market place and grabbed Austin Slater (Ryan Fuller’s first foray into player acquisition as a White Sox, ALLEGEDLY) who, in theory could be the right handed caddy to Tauchman’s left handed competence. But that’s not it. Including this signing, below is the list of Outfielders that the White Sox are currently carrying on their 40 man roster.

Luis Robert Jr.

Andrew Benintendi

Dominic Fletcher

Zach DeLoach

Corey Julks

Oscar Colas

Austin Slater

Mike Tauchman

That’s 8 fucking outfielders out of 38 spots that are filled on the White Sox 40 man. That seems like way too much. Is the rumored Andrew Benintendi trade on the horizon? Have teams warmed up to Luis Robert Jr.’s market price? Has Oscar Colas finally FULLY worn out his welcome? The Rule 5 draft is Wednesday, with a chance for the White Sox to add even more, will they? We got a couple days of winter meetings left, but the goddamn stove appears to be piping hot.

-BeefLoaf