Playoffs Or Die, Bitches, $25k Dinner And More White Sox Notes

Dallas Keuchel signed the biggest free agent deal for a pitcher in White Sox history this past offseason and he's all in on trying to lead the South Side back to postseason baseball.

He brought the entire team together for dinner during spring training and we're not talking just players and coaches. The 32-year-old pitcher ended up inviting 125 people and paid for the $25,000 bill.

Via USA Today.

So, he decided to invite every player in the White Sox major-league clubhouse, clubhouse attendants, trainers, equipment managers, secretaries, batboys, the entire coaching staff and front-office, out to dinner.
There were 125 folks in all, including spouses and girlfriends, who showed up at the steakhouse near their spring-training complex.
They spent the evening together, eating, drinking, and getting to know one another, with Keuchel paying for the entire tab, dropping about $25,000 for a night his new teammates will never forget.

Pretty cool getting everyone together, but it was Keuchel's mom who stole the show. Apparently there were a series of bets between the White Sox pitcher and his mom Teresa that led to her giving the White Sox a short, motivational speech and you're definitely going to hear this the rest of 2020.

Playoffs or die, bitches.

Via NBC Sports Chicago.

“She hadn’t paid up on a few bets before that, so she wasn’t the happiest. So she did it for me,” Keuchel said in an interview on Tuesday. “We’ve gone back and forth on numerous bets over the years. She doesn’t like public speaking by any means, so that was the gist of it for her to get up there and keep it light hearted. Just say, ‘Hey, hope everyone had a great time. Good luck on the season,’ and then I had her say the b-word.”

Obviously, next year someone else's mom has to take it further and go with world series or die, bitches.

As for Keuchel on the mound, he made his spring debut earlier this week and looked solid, pitching four scoreless innings and recording seven ground ball outs.

Tim Anderson was riding in style Tuesday.

Is Nicky Delmonico going to be the 26th man on the Opening Day roster?

Andrew Vaughn has a pretty swing.

The White Sox brought back reliever Zach Putnam on a minor league deal.

He hasn't pitched in the majors since 2017, but when he was on the mound for the White Sox Putnam was pretty damn effective, posting a 2.71 ERA in 139.1 innings from 2014-17.