White Sox “Trades” with EVERY TEAM – NL Central Edition – 2025

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: Noah Schultz LHP
White Sox receive: Matt Shaw 2b / 3b
Rationale: The White Sox farm system is rich in pitcher shares and it had developed such imbalance that the Erick Fedde / Michael Kopech trade was purely focused on adding back hitters to the White Sox organization. That problem is still front and center as we head into the 2025 off-season with the team coming off of watching one of the worst offenses in modern baseball history. Why not do a prospect for prospect trade?

There isn’t a richer farm in hitters than the Cubs. They are also devoid of that super monster strikeout pitcher in their big league rotation. Noah Schultz upside is basically unlimited, he’s been compared to Randy Johnson, but the BIG UNIT wasn’t this good at 20 years old. Yea, this could be left handed Doc Gooden in a few months (with the normal caveats a pitcher tends to have).

In turn, the White Sox get a guy who is 100% going to hit. Matt Shaw lay waste to the minors all season again, it’s high walk rates, with low strikeout rates and a lot of power out of a 5’9″ 185 lb frame. His problem, he has no position on the big league Cubs. He’s a meh 2b, but the Cub are stocked up the middle. They want him to try and play 3b, which he is still learning. The White Sox on the other hand can plug him in at 2b and bat him 2nd tomorrow. This just makes sense.

St. Louis Cardinals

White Sox send: Garrett Crochet lhp
White Sox receive: Nolan Gorman 2b, Victor Scott II cf, Edwin Nuñez rhp, Leonardo Taveras rhp
Rationale: We’ll probably trade Garrett Crochet in each of these and as someone who doesn’t really want to trade him, I am not sure I’ll ever feel great about these trades. So to kick things off, I chose the highest volatility trade possible. Gorman has played 120 less MLB games than Gavin Sheets and has 14 more career home runs. He plays 2b, but it’s, it’s not great. And he had a down year in his third year in the bigs, landing him back at AAA. Despite that, he’s 20 HR at 2b and the Sox need offense bad, real bad. Victor Scott had a very disappointing major league debut, but he’s still faster than Willie Mays Hayes and is a plus centerfielder. His 40 OPS+ is vomit inducing, but that’s why he’d be available. The other two are big hard throwing relievers with some control issues.

This is a high risk, high reward type trade. If Gorman can manage to get his OBP back to a normal MLB level, he’s a 110 OPS+ at 2b. If Victor Scott can hit even just a little bit, he can be an every day CF with plus defense. The reason I think this would not happen is more that all 4 of these guys are major league ready, so you will quickly see the return (good or bad) and that might be too much risk for Chris Getz.

Cincinnati Reds

White Sox send: Andrew Vaughn 1b
White Sox receive: Carlos Jorge OF and Christian Roa RHP
Rationale: There are very few trade fits for a right handed first baseman with below average first base power and on-base skills, but surprisingly Cincinnati is one of them. The Reds got a 70 wRC+ out of their cold cornermen in 2024, good enough for dead last in MLB. They were trotting out the corpse of Ty France at points during the year. A sad scene all along. I’m not the biggest fan of Vaughn and think his time in Chicago is probably numbered. However, when you dig into the numbers, Baseball Savant has his 2024 home run output being 30 expected home runs if he played in Great American Ball Park. That’s a fuckton (scientific term) more than the 19 he actually hit in 2024, so team and fit seem particularly right in this case.

The White Sox would get a couple of projects. Carlos Jorge is a Center Fielder of smaller, stronger stature (stated height 5’9″) that has some chase problems, but shows in game power. He was originally a second baseman, but definitely has more defensive value in center. He was 21 this past season and finished up the season A+, so still some runway to get him to the bigs. He’ll required protection from the Rule 5 draft after the 2025 season. They also get Christian Roa who would be a candidate for the 40 man already. He’s a right handed reliever with good secondaries (Slider / Change-Up) and little clue where those pitches are going, so a perfect reclamation candidate.

Pittsburgh Pirates

White Sox send: Luis Robert Jr. of
White Sox receive: Termarr Johnson 2b / ss, Nick Yorke 2b / of, Jack Brannigan ss / 3b, Tony Blanco Jr. 1b,
Rationale: To me, this is what a LRJ return looks like after a terrible 2024 season. There’s some very nice pieces in here, but the headliner is pretty weak for Luis Robert Jr.’s upside. That being said, for a team that needs to fill in a lot of bats. A deal like this would makes a ton of sense. Truthfully, I would hold Luis until you got a top top hitting prospect, but if there is urgency to turn over the roster, this is the type of deal I could see.

Johnson has the highest upside of this group, a former 4th overall pick in 2022, his ascension to the majors out of high school has been slower than expected, but the elite bat speed is still there and a slightly more deliberate rise could still yield those lofty returns. Nick Yorke hits, hits and hits. He’s listed as a 2b, but he might be a left fielder. The White Sox have no real incumbent at 2b, so they’d probably let him hit and work out the kinks on defense.

Brannigan is tooled up with big exit velocities and a huge arm (hose if you will). It’s unsure whether he stays at ss, but it seems like he has enough tools to move to 3b or rf or whatever if need be, assuming he gets over his issues with contact. Blanco has HUGE power. YUGE! And a prodigious k-rate. I wanted the final addition to this deal to be someone we can put up against George Wolkow for comparison. Blanco is likely a 1b at this point with his size, but regardless…the power. The haul is a bunch of bats in one fell swoop, but probably no super stars. LRJ’s 2024 looms large.

Milwaukee Brewers

White Sox send: Jordan Leasure rhp
White Sox receive: Eduardo Garcia ss
Rationale: While the Brewers are likely going to lose Willy Adames this off-season, they have depth up the middle. Brice Turang and Joey Ortiz will be the middle of the infield. They additionally have a few already on the 40 and some of their top 30 are at 2b/SS. This leaves Eduardo Garcia on the outside looking in. That said, he probably hops right onto the Sox 40 man. He’s a strong fielder with power. From Eric Longenhagen in March of 2024: He’s an acrobatic shortstop with a plus arm, and he’s still only 21 and has just shy of average big league raw power while remaining physically projectable. His skills and issues are similar to Tim Beckham’s

There are definitely flaws to the game which is why he’d even be available. But even a Tim Beckham type would be a great outcome for the White Sox.