White Sox acquire Alonso from Indians
The Chicago White Sox acquired first baseman Yonder Alonso from the Cleveland Indians in exchange for minor-league outfielder Alex Call, the clubs announced Saturday.
Alonso, 31, slashed .250/.317/.421 with 23 home runs and 83 RBIs in his lone season with the Indians in 2018. He is slated to earn $8 million in 2019 and has a $9-million club option attached for 2020. Per Cot's Contracts, Alonso's option will automatically be exercised if he collects either 500 plate appearances in 2019 or 1,100 total PAs across the 2018-19 seasons (and passes a physical at the end of this coming year).
Chicago will pay all of Alonso's salary, according to Zack Meisel of The Athletic.
Alonso is the fourth major-league batter to be traded from Cleveland over the last few weeks. The team sent catcher Yan Gomes to the Washington Nationals in late November before Edwin Encarnacion and Yandy Diaz were shipped to the Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Rays, respectively, in a three-team trade during the winter meetings.
The White Sox may not be done, either; the club's been regarded as one of the primary suitors for free agents Bryce Harper and Manny Machado. Alonso is Machado's brother-in-law, as several reporters have pointed out.
"Fundamentally, this is a baseball deal. We feel Yonder makes us better," White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said when asked about the Alonso-Machado connection Saturday, according to Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Call, 24, slashed .242/.325/.411 with seven home runs in 67 Double-A games in 2018.
This marks the first time the White Sox and Indians have completed a trade with each other since 1994.