White Sox add veteran Flexen to pitching mix

December 30th, 2023

CHICAGO — The White Sox added another pitcher to their 2024 mix in the form of a one-year deal with right-hander Chris Flexen. The agreement is for $1.75 million and includes up to $1 million in performance bonuses, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand.

Flexen, 29, posted a 6.86 ERA over 29 games (16 starts) between stops with the Mariners and Rockies in ’23. He finished with 74 strikeouts against 38 walks and 133 hits allowed over 102 1/3 innings.

In ’21, after spending the previous season pitching for Doosan in the KBO, Flexen posted a 14-6 record with a 3.61 ERA over 31 starts for the Mariners. He followed up that effort with an 8-9 mark and 3.73 ERA in 33 games (22 starts) for Seattle in ‘22, including the only two saves of his career.

The addition of Flexen leaves the White Sox with a potential starting pitching pool of Dylan Cease, Michael Kopech, Touki Toussaint, Michael Soroka, Erick Fedde, Flexen and Jared Shuster. Those last four pitchers were acquired by general manager Chris Getz through offseason trades (Soroka, Shuster) and free-agent deals (Fedde, Flexen).

Young hurlers such as Nick Nastrini, Jake Eder and Cristian Mena also will figure into the ‘24 White Sox rotation equation. Cease, who has two years of contractual control left, remains a top trade target from teams around baseball.

Some of these pitchers could end up in the White Sox bullpen, which is a work in progress.

The White Sox designated catcher Carlos Pérez for assignment to make room for Flexen on the 40-man roster.