Matt Albers' Contract Option Declined by White Sox: Latest Comments, Reaction

The Chicago White Sox could have retained Matt Albers by picking up his $3 million club option for next season, but they reportedly decided to cut ties with the veteran reliever Thursday after he stumbled through the 2016 season.   

Chris Cotillo of SB Nation first relayed news of Albers' buyout, which will pay out $250,000, according to Spotrac. Jon Heyman of Today's Knuckleball confirmed the report.

Albers was sensational during his first season with the White Sox in 2015. Although he only appeared in 37.1 innings over the course of 30 appearances, he recorded a 1.21 ERA and 1.071 WHIP while striking out 28 and walking just nine. 

However, his production took a turn for the worse in 2016 when the White Sox floundered below .500 for the fourth straight season. 

Albers pitched 51.1 innings for the South Siders, but his ERA ballooned to a career-worst mark of 6.31 while his WHIP crept up to 1.675. Albers also struck out 30 batters and walked 19—numbers that were far more inefficient than the ones that made him a reliable bullpen option in 2015. 

As those numbers indicate, Albers was crushed by opposing batters from both sides of the plate. 

Left-handed hitters posted a .308/.395/.585 slash line against Albers in 2016, while right-handed opponents thrived to the tune of a .326 average and .376 on-base percentage. 

Based on those numbers, it's no surprise the White Sox let Albers enter free agency. 

But considering Albers' fastball velocity increased by nearly 2.5 mph from 2015 to 2016, per FanGraphs, there's reason to believe that his arm has plenty of life left as he seeks to string together a bounce-back season in 2017. 

Now it will be up to a team in need of a cost-effective middle reliever to give Albers a shot. 

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless noted otherwise.