White Sox “Trades” with EVERY TEAM – NL East Edition – 2022
A long time ago, I was listening to an interview with legendary poker professional Phil Ivey and the interviewer asked the question (paraphrasing) How would you recommend a player learning the game get better the fastest? Phil said something to the effect of (paraphrasing) Buy in to a game at much lower stakes than you would normally play, and then play every single hand for an hour. Try and figure out how you would play all of these different hands in different situations and positions that you are normally taught not to play in. In the spirit of that recommendation from an all-time great, Chorizy and I are once again going to undertake the exercise of making a White Sox trade with every team in the majors…..this is the NL East Edition.
Atlanta Braves
108er: BeefLoaf
White Sox send: Andrew Vaughn
White Sox receive: Mike Soroka, Touki Toussaint
Rationale: The Braves are looking for their Freddie Freeman replacement and look, given how the Braves spend (or don’t) I highly doubt that replacement will be the actual Freddie Freeman. Vaughn is currently miscast on the White Sox and may continue to be so as long as Jose Abreu makes his primary baseball residence on 35th and Shields. The return is a couple of question marks.
Mike Soroka is a very good starting pitcher when his health cooperates, which rarely happens. Mostly it’s been an achilles tendon that just won’t heal properly. It’s possible he’s toast and won’t ever return, it’s also possible you got an ace. I like these types of bets. Touki Toussaint is a guy, who was supposed to be a guy, then became not a guy, but somewhat salvaged his guy status in the bullpen with Atlanta. He’s got a player option left so I wouldn’t be a opposed to sending him to Charlotte for one last stab at being a starter. If not, we got plenty of room in the Arm Barn for him.
New York Mets
108er: Chorizy-E
White Sox send: Dallas Keuchel
White Sox receive: Carlos Carrasco
Rationale: Both pitchers had down years in 2021. Carrasco’s was plagued with injuries, while Keuchel greatly underperformed. A straight swap will give the Mets some stability as Keuchel has remained a pitcher that can get you 30 starts while it gives the Sox some upside in a player who, if healthy, can be a major contributor. The Mets pick up the difference in salary, because why not, their payroll is already a billion dollars.
Miami Marlins
108er: BeefLoaf
White Sox send: Jose Abreu
White Sox receive: Pablo Lopez, Andrew Nardi
Rationale: I LOVE JOSE ABREU. Let us not forget I wrote the lone blog in White Sox Twitter defending Abreu’s contract extension before the 2020 season. The season in which he won an MVP, NBD. He’s been well worth the money given to him as a player and even more so as a mentor and a fan favorite. But he’s in the last year of his deal and I think Miami would be interested in getting him down there to see if they can lure him into a long-term deal. Similar to the way the White Sox got Lance Lynn here, made him realize he loves it and got the extension done.
The White Sox get Pablo Lopez who was very good last year in 20 starts and is heading to arbitration for the first time, meaning he has three years of team control left. He had a 27.5% K rate last year and a 47% Ground Ball rate. That’s a great combo for Sox park. Andrew Nardi is just a live lefty arm, hopefully he’s not a weirdo.
Washington Nationals
108er: Chorizy-E
White Sox send: Dallas Keuchel
White Sox receive: International Bonus Pool Money
Rationale: The Nats pretty much gutted their team to start from scratch, with the exception of a small group of guys. They have the financial flexibility to bet on a Keuchel bounce back. For the Sox, expect a huge risk or very little if the other team is eating the entire contract and not sending any contract back. For now, I have bonus pool money, but I have no idea how that will work once the new CBA is in place.
Philadelphia Phillies
108er: Chorizy-E
White Sox send: Craig Kimbrel
White Sox receive: Scott Kingery, Mickey Moniak
Rationale: I think everyone is looking at the Phillies as the team that will go after Kimbrel. I’m a little less excited about his market than most, but since people seem confident, I added a player to the mix. Here’s what I wrote previously about Kingery:
Last year, the Phils basically gave up on Scott Kingery. They outrighted him and moved him off the 40 man roster after clearing waivers. He then had surgery to repair a torn labrum. Kingery is an interesting character because a player that has that happen to him in his 27 year old season would rarely be owed much money at all. In this case, he’s owed $6M this year and $8M next year. The following three years, there are club options with $1M buy outs. The risk is that Kingery may never get back to the majors. The reward would be if he achieves what the Phils thought he would, when they signed him to an extension before playing a major league game. That would be a power hitting middle infielder. His 2019 season which featured 19 HR is the glimpse we got of that. Again, this would be a very risky move and you probably end up with a super-utility guy or Gordon Beckham clone. But every once in a while, you hit on this type of move.
Add to this a former 1-1 pick who has been steadily moving downward in the organization’s ranking. He is, however, a lefty outfield bat with 2 remaining minor league options.
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About The Author
chorizy
Section 108 Row 13, Bassist for Barren Plains, Acclaimed drunkard