The White Sox have sent outfielder/DH Eloy Jiménez to the Orioles in a trade, the teams announced Tuesday. Baltimore sent back LHP Trey McGough, but the widespread belief this is this move was salary relief for the White Sox.
Jiménez is making more than $13 million this season and has two club options with $3 million in buyouts left on his contract -- so $6 million total if not picked up. The option for 2025 is $16.5 million and the option for 2026 is $18.5 million.
In 65 games this season, Jiménez is hitting .240/.297/.345 (81 OPS+) with nine doubles, five homers, 16 RBI and -0.7 WAR.
Jiménez, 27, was once a coveted member of the Cubs' farm system who was sent in a deadline trade to the White Sox along with fellow prospect Dylan Cease for frontline starter José Quintana. Jiménez debuted with the White Sox at age 22 in 2019 and clubbed 31 home runs in just 468 at-bats. He was good enough to win a Silver Slugger in the abbreviated 2020 season, too, but he's run into plenty of problems in the ensuing seasons.
Injuries have limited Jiménez greatly, and perhaps diminished his skills over the years, sometimes as a result of running into the wall as an outfielder. As a result, he's basically only a designated hitter now (he's played eight innings in the outfield this season).
The hunch here is Orioles general manager Mike Elias believes a change of scenery and moving from one of the worst teams in MLB history to a first-place team can shake something loose in Jiménez. He's still more than young enough to turn things around and we've seen the upside.
The Orioles' DH spot is mostly Ryan O'Hearn (44 starts entering Tuesday), but they also use it to keep Adley Rutschman's bat in the lineup when he's not catching. The latter has logged 32 starts at DH this year. It'll be interesting to see how the Orioles' massage Jiménez into their plans here, as they try to balance getting him back on track with winning as many games as they can in the meantime.
