White Sox “Trades” with EVERY TEAM – NL Central Edition – 2024

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 Central Edition.

The Au Jus

Chicago Cubs

White Sox send: Yoan Moncada 3B, $10 Million
White Sox receive: Alexander Canario RF
Rationale: The Cubs have needs for sure, after binking an 83 win season and narrowly missing the playoffs. They already ran out and signed Craig Counsel, which is the biggest splash of the early off-season. Moncada represents a short-term fix at the hot corner at a minimal cost.

Alexander Canario is a power hitting Right Field prospect that will probably get his upside eaten up by strike outs. He’s out of options, so landing with a team that could use him asap as possible is optimal for him. The White Sox will be “trying” a lot of things after coming off of a 101 loss season, so why not dump some salary and gamble on upside.

St. Louis Cardinals

White Sox send: Michael Kopech SP
White Sox receive: Tommy Edman SS, 2B, OF
Rationale: The Cards are definitely going to be looking for pitching and they’re gonna need to take some risks to get back to the top of this division. Kopech is a high risk high reward pitcher. While Edman on the other hand is a solid player that can give you good defense at 2B or even SS if needed. The Cardinals may choose to keep him to play SS, but 2B is pretty clogged, so this might be a guy they’d move.

Cincinnati Reds

White Sox send: Dylan Cease SP
White Sox receive: Cam Collier 3B, Chase Petty RHP, Daniel Vellojin C
Rationale: MLB Trade Rumors tags Jonathan India as a possible target for the Sox, but the more I look at it, the less I think they can make it work. The Reds want starting pitching they can use right now. The Sox don’t have that to offer other than Cease and giving up 2 years of Cease for 3 years of India doesn’t line up and I don’t think they’d want the risk of Kopech.

So let’s make the Cease deal, but get a top 100 prospect in Cam Collier (chicago kid), a flame thrower, and an offense first catcher who’s rule 5 eligible.

Pittsburgh Pirates

White Sox send: Romy Gonzalez UTIL
White Sox receive: Bailey Falter SP
Rationale: The Pirates are trying to figure out their rotation and will likely add in free agency as well. With Falter’s performance last year and his lack of minor league options can make him the odd man out. Increasing his groundball rate last year to right around 40% may make him a serviceable guy at GRF.

Falter was traded for a utility guy last August, so let’s keep the price about the same.

Milwaukee Brewers

White Sox send: Noah Schultz LHP, Jake Eder LHP, Jacob Gonzalez SS, Tanner McDougal RHP, Yoelqui Cespedes OF
White Sox receive: Christian Yelich OF
Rationale: The word on the street is that the Brewers are open for business. While that probably is more targeted towards Willy Adames and Corbin Burnes, Yelich makes up nearly a quarter of their payroll. So if they are looking to reset as they lose a number of players to free agency in 2025, it makes sense to move Yelich. But his salary is a prohibiting factor in getting a bunch of top 100 prospects.

Yelich plays RF for the White Sox and while he’s a mediocre outfielder at this point of his career, right field in GRF is a pretty easy gig. Trust us, that’s the shit we have the best look at in the stadium. But way more important is that Yeli does something the Sox are terrible at, get on base. He also still has some pop in that bat, don’t sleep on that. The money is big and long like JMac though, so you are paying premium dollars for that production, about $25M/yr through his age 36 season.

As for what the White Sox will send, Montgomery is not moving in this one, though I am sure that’s where negotiation may start. Taking on all the money allows the Sox to go deeper into their ranks, but not much, sending two lefty starters, their first round pick from last year’s draft, and two lottery tickets