White Sox Continue To Wait On Return From Jimenez Contract

Maybe the White Sox will wind up looking smart for signing Eloy Jimenez to a long-term contract before he played in the major leagues. But Jimenez can’t stay healthy, and his injuries make you think it’s not a foregone conclusion the franchise will choose to continue the relationship beyond next season, the last guaranteed year in the six-year, $43 million he signed in March, 2019.

That contract could eventually be worth $78 million over eight seasons but the last $35 million is contained in club options for 2025 and ’26, which would have been his first years of free agency without the contract. Jimenez is yet to deliver a 2-WAR season and has averaged 87 games a year when you discount the abbreviated 2020 schedule, when he did his best work to date in the major leagues.

White Sox fans fell in love with Jimenez when he hit 31 homers while playing 122 games for a rebuilding team as a 22-year-old rookie. He was a plug-and-play outfield option offering financial certainty for him and the front office.

But the hamstring strain that sent him to injured list on Wednesday continues a trend that had actually begun before the Cubs sent him and Dylan Cease to the Sox in a one-sided trade for Jose Quintana. It seems poorly timed, as he was coming off a spring training performance that hinted at his return to excellence — he was 13-for-30 with two homers and a 1.000 OPS — but it sadly follows the pattern of his career.

Jimenez nursed a sore right shoulder with the Cubs in the spring of 2017 and then was sidelined by a pair of injuries (quad strain and left abductor strain) in the White Sox system in 2018. He has a physical approach to everything he does, not shying away from contact with fellow fielders or the outfield wall.

His most graphic injuries occurred in collisions with teammate Charlie Tilson and the left-field wall in Arizona. These have led to discussions about him serving as a primary designated hitter but he follows the example set by Jose Abreu, working to condition himself to play in the field. Jimenez lost a lot of weight last winter — he told reporters he is down 25-30 pounds — but felt his hamstring tighten after advancing from first to third on a double Monday.

Jimenez is earning $9.5 million this season and is due $13 million in ’24. The Sox hold club options on ’25 and ’26 at $16.5 million and $18.5 million, respectively.

The White Sox are close to hanging out a no-vacancy sign in the outfield. Center fielder Luis Robert has a long-term contract that is guaranteed through 2025, and General Manager Rick Hahn signed Andrew Benintendi to a five-year contract last off-season. Rookie Oscar Colas won a job in right field in spring training, leaving the DH spot as the only regular way for Jimenez to get into the lineup.

Jimenez may reassert himself once this latest injury has healed. But the cloud created by recurring injuries isn’t going away any time soon.