Almost two years ago, Dallas-Cayher signed a three-year, $55.5 million contract with the Chicago White Sox, and their investment paid off immediately, with a 2020 SMD of just 1.99, but three high-level stats — a 4.30 xERA, a 3.98 xFIP, and a SIERA of 4.57 — all meant that his figure was untrue.
Indeed, in the 2021 season, the former Celeron Award pitcher performed very badly, although he still shot 162.0 innings, but the ERA rate was as high as 5.28, and the year-on-year decline in the three-strike rate also made his advanced data decline further, xERA, xFIP and SIERA 6.20, 4.74 and 5.01 respectively.
Some experts believe that for such pitchers with low three-strike rates, this decline is inevitable, and in addition, the 4.7% home run/flying ball rate in 2020 cannot be replicated. All along, Kayher has not been a player who relies on three strikes to eat, and even in his 2015 Season when he won the Sey young, his three strikes rate was only 23.7%, slightly higher than the league's 20.4%. In the 2020 season, the league's average three-strike rate reached 23.2%, while his own stats fell to 16.3%, and the past year fell to 13.2%.
The contract is the White Sox considering the reason for selling Kayher, who will get $18 million in the 2022 season and a team option of $20 million next year, although the team can spend 1.5 million to buy out, but if he shoots 160 innings next season, this clause will be enforced. Referring to Kaiher's past appearance record, after he sat firmly in the starting line, only the 2017 and 2019 seasons failed to reach this number, 2017 was because of a neck injury, and in 2019 it was because he got a contract after the Star Game.
Of course, both the White Sox and The potential new owner of Cayher can prevent the team's choice from taking effect by controlling the way he plays, but once this is done, it may cause dissatisfaction among the players and cause a series of problems.
There are also reasons to keep Kahull, as the White Sox can keep Lance Lynn, Lucas Giulito, Dylan Sith and Michael Kopec on duty in the new season. On the farm, they also don't have too mature rookies, so letting go of Kayher means they have another rotation, rather than trusting others, playing their own ready-made cards and trusting a former Ceylon Award pitcher.
(Text/Geng Haoyang)