The White Sox have some potential starters for a long time. Kyle Teel again Edgar Quero each were highly regarded prospects who showed promise as rookies. Teel was very good after being called up in early June.
Teams have inquired about Chicago’s willingness to trade one of those two early in the season. It doesn’t seem like the talks got very far. Teel and Quero now seem certain to start the season with the White Sox. That leaves them with the decision to make on the third player Corey Leeeven a former first-round pick may be out of the picture.
Lee has exhausted his final minor league option in 2025. The Sox need to keep him on the MLB roster at this point. Teel and Quero have options but are not in danger of being sent down. Teel hit .273/.375/.411 over his first 78 MLB games. Quero hit .268/.333/.356 over 111 contests.
Manager Will Venable spoke of plans to hold on Monday. “I think it’s really going to take care of itself,” the second-year captain told reporters (including Scott Merkin of MLB.com and LaMond Pope of the Chicago Tribune). “We know we like Kyle to catch and hit righties. We know Edgar can DH. We’re going to have a couple of guys cover that DH spot with righty pressure.”
Teel, a left-handed hitter, hit .290/.388/.448 against righties. The Sox gave him 52 plate appearances against southpaws, where he hit .186 with no home runs while striking out 20 times. Quero is a switch-hitter whose numbers were best from the right field. He hit .357/.394/.457 against lefties compared to a .220/.301/.301 line while hitting lefties.
Venable indicated that the Sox will use Quero more often behind the plate when the opposing lefty is on the mound. That will allow them to spell Teel against southpaws, although the manager added that it won’t be a strong team. The Sox are still rebuilding and don’t want to firmly lock any player into a platoon role during their first two seasons in the big leagues.
Does that leave room on Lee’s roster? Many teams prefer not to carry three catchers if they mainly use a bench of four players. Assuming Quero sees a decent amount of runs as a DH against righties, holding third will give Venable more game flexibility. If they wanted to pinch Teel at tight lefty, they could plug Lee behind the plate instead of moving Quero there (which would lose the DH). There’s also the possibility that another team will claim Lee if the Sox try to trade him at the end of camp.
Lee didn’t get many looks last season, only making 40 plate appearances in 25 MLB games. He put up a solid .255/.313/.405 showing in Triple-A but it’s a career .193/.234/.321 hitter against big league blasts. Lee had a strong defensive reputation as a prospect. Statcast didn’t look good on his pitching career in the majors, but he has a solid arm and seems to work well with pitching staff.
The Padres were said to be interested in Lee last summer. They finished trading Freddy Fermin from Kansas City instead. San Diego’s already thin pitching depth has been plagued by injuries, but they may be better served signing a veteran to a minor league deal. Their backup catcher Luis Campusano is also out of options, so they will need to consider Lee as a sure-fire upgrade to put Campusano on waivers.
Hypothetically, Lee’s former team in Houston could look for a backup catcher after the loss Victor Caratini in free agency. The Rays, Rockies or Mariners are other possible fits to develop the #2 catcher spot on the depth chart.
