Mendick, Toussaint, Remillard all opt for free agency

The White Sox will play AAAA roulette for another year

In the initial days of the offseason, three cusp major leaguers seeing significant time over these past two 100-loss seasons elected free agency, presumably to ply their AAAA wares elsewhere.

On September 30, it was Danny Mendick and Touki Toussaint. Then on October 4, Zach Remillard took the plunge.

Collectively, the three players brought 1.9 WAR to the White Sox in their careers, in limited playing time.

Mendick has the longest tenure in Chicago (aside from a season away, with the Mets, in 2023), famously drafted in the 22nd Round in 2015 and working his way up to the majors by 2019. Pre-Mets departure, Mendick logged positive (though small) WAR in three of his four seasons in Chicago. Last summer, however, was a step back, as the utilityman failed to hit .200 and logged a negative WAR. Had Mendick remained on the 40-man, he would have been under team control until 2026.

Remillard made an incredible leap into the majors in 2023, tying a club record on June 17 in his debut by getting on base all four times he came to the plate. In both of his White Sox seasons (2023-24) he produced positive WAR (0.3 total, in 69 games) but epitomizes a replacement player. Remillard, however, was abysmal in Triple-A Charlotte over his past two seasons there, arguably performing worse than he did in Chicago. The utilityman was drafted in the 10th round in 2016 by the White Sox, and had he remained on the 40-man roster he would have been under team control through 2029.

Toussaint was selected by the White Sox off of waivers from Cleveland just three days after Remillard’s dynamic debut, and by the standard of a scrap-heap arm assuming a fifth-starter role, the righthander was amazing in 2023 for the White Sox: 19 games/15 starts, 4.97 ERA (4.95 FIP), 88 ERA+. He came back for another helping in 2024 and, well, he was really bad both in Charlotte (6.02 ERA in 19 games) and Chicago (7.43 ERA in 11). Had Touki remained on the 40-man, he would have been under team control until 2026.

Certainly between Toussaint’s poor 2024 and a fairly reliable pipeline of arms running between Chicago and Charlotte, there is no use for the veteran in either rotation. The middle-infield outlook isn’t as set for the White Sox, but with Brooks Baldwin and Lenyn Sosa in the mix and Nicky Lopez a possible return for 2025, there’s little use for replacement-level players with dozens if not hundreds of games under their belts. Mix in the chance of Colson Montgomery using the AFL this month and spring training 2025 to force his way into the majors, and there’s little need for Mendick or Remillard.