It didn't take long for a former fan favourite of the Toronto Blue Jays to find a new home. 34-year-old outfielder Randal Grichuk signed with the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday (May 5). FanSided's Robert Murray made the initial report on X (formerly twitter) and it was confirmed by the White Sox late in the afternoon.
Sources: Free-agent outfielder Randal Grichuk and the Chicago White Sox are in agreement on a major-league contract.
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) May 4, 2026
Grichuk had been designated for assignment by the New York Yankees last Thursday and elected to test the free agent market. He wasn't swimming in uncharted waters for very long as the White Sox picked him up to help out their lefty-heavy outfield compliment. Their three current outfielders, Andrew Benintendi, Jarred Kelenic and Tristan Peters are all left-handed hitters, with Austin Hays gets moved to the 10-day Injured List due to a left calf strain and Tanner Murray gets moved to the 60-day IL which opens up a spot on the 40-man roster.
Landing with the White Sox could be the perfect spot for Grichuk this season
While Grichuk has struggled at the plate this season, he could settle into a role as being the go-to guy when the team is facing a left-handed pitcher. While he's hit just .217/.250/.348 in 23 at-bats against south paws this season, he's fared much better over his career. He's hit lefties to a tune of a .268/.317/.498 slash line with 79 home runs in 1570 career at-bats.
He'll have to compete with Luisangel Acuña and Derek Hill for playing time as both are right-handed hitters and can play the outfield like Grichuk, but that might be the beauty of the team employing three outfielders who are left-handed swingers - there's three times the opportunity to potentially sub-in, in the right situation. He's also got a chance to prove he deserves more playing time than either of them as Acuña has been in a slump, and could even get starts over Kelenic, who was 1-for-6 over his first three games since being called up to the MLB roster with Everson Pereira going on the IL as well.
Grichuk isn't too far removed from being a productive player getting somewhat regular playing time. Between 2022-2024 when he mostly played in the National League, Grichuk was worth 3.8 bWAR over 364 games. He played in 204 with Colorado, 54 with the LA Angels, and then 106 with Arizona. He hit .269/.318/.459 with a .777 OPS and 47 home runs.
But since the beginning of 2025, Grichuk has seen his playing time drop while playing for the Diamondbacks, getting traded to the Kansas City Royals for 43 games, then started this year with the Yankees and playing just 16 games before he was dispersed.
Grichuk was around for some of the worst years of the Blue Jays rebuild, and then was traded before he could ever taste some of the success of said rebuild as the Blue Jays traded him ahead of the 2022 season.