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The White Sox and right-hander Seranthony Domínguez are in agreement on a two-year, $20MM deal, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Passan adds that the Epitome Sports Management is expected to be the closer for the Sox. Chicago has a full 40-man roster and will need a corresponding move to make this official.
Domínguez, 31, has mostly been an effective setup guy in his career. He debuted with the Phillies in 2018 and tossed 58 innings with a 2.95 earned run average. His 9.5% walk rate was a bit high but he struck out 32% of batters faced while inducing grounders on 55.7% of balls in play.
He missed most of the next three seasons due to injury, including a Tommy John surgery in 2020. Over the past four years, he has been back on track and his production has had a somewhat similar shape to his 2018 season. He has thrown at least 50 innings in each of those four campaigns. Put together, he tossed 222 1/3 innings for the Phillies, Orioles and Blue Jays with a combined ERA of 3.60, a 27% strikeout rate, 10.7% walk rate and 41.9% ground ball rate. He racked up 24 saves and 55 holds.
In 2025, he changed up his arsenal. He still featured a four-seamer and sinker in the upper 90s with a sweeper as one of his breaking balls, but he switched out his changeup and slider for a splitter and a curveball. That led to a career-high walk rate of 13.8% but his 30.3% strikeout rate was his best in a full season since his rookie debut. He became one of the top setup guys in Toronto’s bullpen, making 12 postseason appearances as part of that club’s run to the World Series. He had a 3.18 ERA in those, though with more walks than strikeouts.
It’s a bit of a volatile profile but the stuff is tantalizing and his results have mostly been good. Coming into the winter, there was a clear top tier of free agent closers which included Edwin Díaz, Devin Williams and Robert Suarez. Domínguez was in the next tier of solid setup guys, including Tyler Rogers, Luke Weaver, Brad Keller and others. MLBTR predicted Domínguez for a two-year deal worth $18MM and he has come in just a hair above that.
More to come.
