White Sox bring on C Castillo, retain RHP Farquhar

[December 02, 2017]  The Sports Xchange

The Chicago White Sox made a pair of roster additions on Friday by agreeing to terms with catcher Welington Castillo and right-handed pitcher Danny Farquhar.

Castillo, 30, agreed to a two-year, $15 million deal with a club option for 2020 at $8 million or a $500,000 buyout.

The Dominican Republic native enjoyed the best season of his eight-year career as a member of the Baltimore Orioles in 2017, batting .282 with a .813 OPS and 20 home runs in 96 games. Castillo also led the majors by throwing out 44.4 percent of attempted base stealers.

"Adding Welington benefits us both in the short and long term," said Rick Hahn, White Sox senior vice president/general manager. "He has been one of the more productive catchers over the last several seasons, and we believe his presence will have a lasting positive effect on our younger pitchers and catchers as they continue their development at the major league level."

Castillo began his career with the Chicago Cubs in 2010 and played for the Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks before settling with Baltimore last season.

 

Farquhar avoided arbitration with the White Sox by agreeing to a one-year, $1.05 million contract.

Farquhar, 30, went 2-0 with a 4.40 ERA in 15 appearances with the White Sox in 2017 after being signed as a free agent in July. The Louisiana-Lafayette product spent 2016 and the first half of 2017 with the Tampa Bay Rays before being released and signed by Chicago.

Farquhar was briefly teammates with Castillo as a member of the Mariners in 2015 and is 9-14 with a 3.88 ERA in 245 relief appearances between the Toronto Blue Jays, Mariners, Rays and White Sox.

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