White Sox claim Noesi off waivers from Rangers
CHICAGO -- With the third-worst bullpen ERA in baseball, the White Sox are taking help wherever they can get it, even from a reliever they recently pummeled. The club claimed Hector Noesi off waivers Friday, which means the right-handed reliever will be on his third team of the season.
The Sox beat up on the Rangers on Sunday, scoring seven runs off Noesi in the ninth inning of a 16-2 win. He started the season with Seattle, but was traded to Texas for cash considerations on April 12. Noesi, 27, made two scoreless appearances for the Rangers before the rough outing against the White Sox, and has a 14.21 ERA.
White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said Noesi will report on Saturday and throw for pitching coach Don Cooper. Noesi is out of options, so Hahn "suspects" Noesi will be added to the active 25-man roster.
"He's a guy who obviously was available because he has struggled mightily as we saw first-hand last weekend, but he's a guy we've like for some time who has some upside," Hahn said. "There are two specific things that we think we can improve that he's been doing that has hampered his success. So we'll see if we're effective in being able to make those adjustments in the near future, and if not, adjust accordingly."
Hahn wouldn't elaborate on what two things Noesi needs to improve, in case the Sox weren't able to fix Noesi's issues, release him, and another team is privy to the adjustments. The White Sox GM is not one to overreact to small sample sizes, and that includes the bullpen. He pointed to Ronald Belisario's three consecutive scoreless outings after the veteran righty struggled with his command early.
The White Sox's young relievers in particular have struggled with their command, which comes with the territory. That doesn't mean Hahn has infinite patience.
"Some of our younger guys who had some command problems, that's going to happen with some ups and downs," Hahn said. "I know that we've spent a lot of time talking about not letting winnable games slip away late in the game due to bullpen usage and if we need to make adjustments, we will.
"We've got some alternatives in [Triple-A] Charlotte, but at this point other than bringing up Zach Putnam to help sort of stabilize that long roll, we haven't gone to any of the alternatives just yet."
Noesi was originally signed by the Yankees out of the Dominican Republic, and he was moved to Seattle as part of the 2012 trade that sent Michael Pineda to New York. Noesi has gone 4-16 with a 5.81 ERA in 69 appearances. With the addition of Noesi, the White Sox now have 40 players on the 40-man roster.