The White Sox signed veteran free-agent right-hander Chris Flexen to a one-year, $1.75 million deal Friday, a source confirmed.
Flexen is coming off a rough season in which he posted a 6.86 ERA and allowed a major league high 2.2 home runs per nine innings over 102 1/3 innings between the Mariners and Rockies.
In 2021 and 2022, Flexen had better success, posting ERAs of 3.61 and 3.73 respectively, for the Mariners. He made 31 starts in ‘21.
Flexen’s deal, which has not been announced and includes $1 million in performance bonuses, is the latest in a series of low-cost, one-year acquisitions for first-year general manager Chris Getz. Flexen joins catcher Martin Maldonado ($4 million), veteran lefty reliever Tim Hill ($1.8 million) and shortstop Paul DeJong ($1.75 million) who were signed as free agents. Catcher Max Stassi, who was picked up in a trade with the Braves, will be owed just the major league minimum salary, which was $720,000 in 2023.
During the winter meetings, free-agent righty Erick Fedde signed a two-year, $15 million deal.
With Dylan Cease on the trade market, the Sox starting rotation looks to be thin on the front end. As many as 10 or more pitchers are candidates to start next season, including Michael Kopech, Touki Toussaint and Jesse Scholtens from the 2023 team that finished 61-101, as well as newcomers Fedde, Michael Soroka, Jared Shuster and Flexen. Davis Martin, coming off Tommy John surgery after making nine starts in 2022, will be in the mix as will a few candidates who pitched in the minors last season — Nick Nastrini, Jake Eder, Cristian Mena, Shane Drohan, Ky Bush and Jonathan Cannon.
