JAN. 5 : The Sox have officially announced the deal, announcing it as a $4.25MM pact with a club option for 2025. Per , itll be a $4MM salary in 2024 with a $250K buyout on a $4MM option for 2025. Maldonados option vests with 90 appearances at catcher, . DEC. 27 : Maldonado will earn $4MM in 2024, according to MLB.coms Mark Feinsand ( ). The 2025 option is a vesting option that, if triggered, would pay Maldonado another $4MM for a second season of the deal. DEC. 26 : The White Sox are in agreement with catcher on a one-year contract with an option for 2025, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post ( ). Robert Murray of FanSided ( ) first reported the sides were near a deal. Financial terms for the MVP Sports Group client are still unreported. Maldonados move to Chicagos South Side officially ends a four-and-a-half-year run in Houston. It was clear the Astros were moving on from the 37-year-old when they inked to a during the Winter Meetings. With Caratini on hand as an experienced option behind , Maldonado was left to look elsewhere. A veteran of 13 big league campaigns, hell now join the sixth team of his MLB career. He reunites with former Houston teammate , whom the Astros traded to the Sox for reliever at this past summers deadline. The 25-year-old Lee hasnt produced offensively in parts of two big league campaigns. Hes a highly-regarded defensive catcher, which is also Maldonados calling card. Outside of the shortened 2020 campaign, Maldonado has never hit at an average level in the big leagues. He is one of the sports least impactful hitters overall. In more than 3700 career plate appearances, the right-handed batter owns a . Manuel Rodriguez Jersey 207/.282/.349 line. He hasnt approached the Mendoza line in three years, running a .183/.260/.333 slash going back to the start of 2021. Among 226 hitters with at least 1000 plate appearances over that stretch, only has a lower batting average. Maldonado has the worst on-base mark of the group, while hes fifth from the bottom in slugging. That the Astros neverthele s relied on him as their #1 catcher on some of the best rosters in MLB speaks to how highly the coaches and pitching staff felt about his presence behind the plate. For most of his career, Maldonado has indeed rated as an excellent defensive catcher. That was not the case last season. Statcast graded him as the worst pitch framer among qualified backstops. He only threw out 14% of attempted basestealers, roughly six percentage points below the league mark. Thats perhaps more a reflection of the Houston pitching staff than Maldonado, as Statcast ranked him 23rd among 81 catchers (minimum 10 throws) in average pop time to second base. In any case, the greater appeal for Chicagos front office and coaching staff is in Maldonados game-calling ability and work with a pitching staff. The White Sox are likely to cycle through a number of inexperienced pitchers in 2024. is the staff ace, though its no sure thing he wont be traded before Opening Day. KBO returnee is a lock for the season-opening rotation, while is likely to get a rebound opportunity. and each of whom was acquired from the Braves in the trade could vie for spots. Rule 5 pick will have to remain on the MLB roster or be waived and subsequently offered back to the Red Sox, while prospects and could reach the big leagues at some point. Maldonado will work with that pitching group. He can serve as a short-term bridge to catching prospect , the headliner of last summers / deal. The 20-year-old spent all of last season at Double-A. He could reach the majors late in the 24 season while taking over as the primary option in 2025. In the interim, its po sible the Maldonado signing displaces one of the organizations other catchers. Once the contract is finalized, the White Sox will have four catchers on the 40-man roster. Its unlikely Chicago will move from Lee, leaving and potentially on the bubble. Prez didnt hit well in the majors or Triple-A last season. The White Sox just acquired Sta si from the Braves a couple weeks ago, but theyre not on the hook for money beyond the league minimum salary and didnt surrender much (a player to be named later) to bring him in. Image courtesy of USA Today Sports. Tampa Bay Rays Jersey