On January 29: The Sox officially announced their two-year, $20MM deal with Domínguez today, adding that it includes a $1MM signing bonus and a matching 2028 option. Infielder Bryan Ramos designed for assignment as a complementary movement.
January 23rd: White Sox and right-hander Seranthony Domínguez agreed to a two-year, $20MM deal, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports. Passan added that Epitome Sports Management is expected to be close to the Sox. Chicago has a full 40 man roster and will need a consistent move to make this official.
Domínguez, 31, has been a successful person in his career. He made his debut for the Phillies in 2018 and pitched 58 innings with a 2.95 earned run average. His 9.5% walk rate was a bit high but he struck out 32% of the batters he faced while striking out 55.7% of the balls in play.
He missed most of the next three seasons due to injuries, including Tommy John surgery in 2020. Over the past four years, he’s gotten back on track and his production has been consistent with his 2018 season. He threw at least 50 innings in four of those campaigns. Combined, he threw 222 1/3 innings for the Phillies, Orioles and Blue Jays with a combined ERA of 3.60, a 27% strikeout rate, a 10.7% walk rate and a 41.9% groundball rate. He collected 24 saves and 55 holds.
In 2025, he changed his arsenal. He still pitched a four-seamer and a sinker in the upper 90s with a sweeper as one of his breaking balls, but he changed his changeup with a splitter slider and curveball. That led to a career high 13.8% walk rate but his 30.3% strikeout rate was the best in a full season since his rookie debut. He was one of the top guys in Toronto’s bullpen, making 12 regular season appearances as part of that team’s run to the World Series. He had a 3.18 ERA in those, though he had more walks than strikeouts.
It is a variable profile but things are amazing and his results have been very good. Coming into the winter, there was a clear top class of free agent closers to cover Edwin Díaz, Devin Williams again Robert Suarez. Domínguez was in the next category of tough guys, incl Tyler Rogers, Luke Weaver, Brad Keller and others. MLBTR projected Domínguez to a two-year contract worth $18MM and came up with a hair over that.
Domínguez has been linked to clubs such as the Red Sox and the Twins in reported rumors but may have had interest from other clubs as well. The White Sox are an interesting destination for him. The club is clearly in rebuilding mode, having just finished its third consecutive 100-loss season. However, a few of their prospects had good breakout seasons in 2025, including Colson Montgomery again Kyle Teel.
The Sox responded with a somewhat effective season. They strengthen their circulation by giving Anthony Kay $12MM over two years as well Sean Newcomb $4.5MM on a one-year contract. Munetaka Murakami he seems to have fallen into their lap when no one else wanted to give him a long-term deal, so they signed him for $34MM over two years.
And they really took it out Luis Robert Jr. this week, I’m trading him to the Mets Luisangel Acuña and the opportunity to think Truman Pauleybut the general manager Chris Getz he said the money saved from that agreement will be reinvested in the group. Robert had planned to make $20MM in salary this year, with a $2MM buyout of the $20MM 2027 option. If we assume that Domínguez’s contract is spread equally over the two seasons, then he will be taking part of the amount that was planned for Robert’s salary in 2026.
No one is going to pick the White Sox to win the Central this year but the club is at least trying to make the roster respectable, which is admirable. Maybe there’s a situation where things are going really well and they’ve been running the race for a few months. Otherwise, all of their pickups have been for one or two years, which keeps a long-term salary open whenever they return to contention. Of the signees, anyone who plays well could be on the trade block this summer if the Sox are in the back of the pack.
For Domínguez, he may have preferred a surer opponent but coming to Chicago gives him a chance to close. As mentioned earlier, he has had a few saves in his career but has always been a setup guy. If he does well in ninth inning work, maybe that will help him land a trade candidate and could help his earning potential when he returns to the open market two years from now.
He quickly becomes the most experienced arm in the bullpen. Newcomb, who will get a chance to get a swing job, is the only other on the roster to serve three years in the big leagues.
Last year, eight different pitchers recorded a save for the Sox. Jordan Leisure led the pack by seven, followed Grant Taylor and six. The two have living arms but are still inexperienced. They could work setup roles with Domínguez in the ninth. If the younger guys take a step forward or Domínguez ends up being traded, then the roles could change over the long term. It’s also possible the Sox could make another move if Getz still has dry powder.
With Domínguez now off the board, the help market becomes a little barren. Díaz, Suarez, Williams, Rogers, Weaver, Keller, Ryan Helsley, Emilio Pagan, Kyle Finnegan, Raisel Iglesias, Phil Maton, Pete Fairbanks, Kenley Jansen, Gregory Soto and others all left the board. The boy band is still available to put together Danny Coulombe, Justin Wilson, Andrew Chaffin, Evan Phillips, Scott Barlow and more.
Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro, Mitch Stringer, Imagn Images
