There seems to be little standing in the way of Eloy Jimenez being an everyday player for the Chicago White Sox…. except service time.
Jimenez has been on a tear at Triple-A Charlotte where he owns a .370 batting average over 50 games. When former teammate Michael Kopech made his big league debut two weeks ago it was fair to assume Jimenez would follow shortly. Kopech has now made two big league starts and Jimenez is still at Triple-A waiting.
By waiting to promote Jimenez to the majors after the start of the 2019 season the White Sox would gain another year of arbitration for Jimenez.
The White Sox have not called up Jimenez prior to the start of a home series against the Red Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field and Jimenez’s agents, Nelson Montes De Oca and Paul Kinzer, are getting annoyed according to Jon Heyman.
“How can you say with a straight face this guy needs to work on anything?” agent Paul Kinzer, asked Heyman. “What’s he need to work on?”
White Sox minor league executive Chris Getz has assured everyone that Jimenez is “real close” to being in the majors but the delay in a promotion has left everyone pointing to service time as the reason. The delay in a promotion of Jimenez rivals what the Cubs did with Kris Bryant and the Braves recently did with Ronald Acuna Jr. In Bryant’s case a grievance was filed and the agents for Jimenez have not ruled out doing the same.
The agents also contend that the White Sox have not informed Jimenez of anything he needed to work with Montes De Oca adding “(Jimenez) doesn’t agree with the decision but he understands it.”
