White Sox “Trades” with EVERY TEAM – AL East 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 AL East Edition.

The Au Jus

Tampa Rays

White Sox send: Edgar Quero c
White Sox receive: Braden Taylor 3b / ss, Tre’ Morgan 1b
Rationale: Why on god’s green earth would the White Sox trade one of their top prospects? The idea here is that the White Sox are still in talent accumulation mode and taking a good prospect and getting more shots at the apple is one unorthodox method of adding MOAR!! The Rays are, as the kids say, “lacking” in backstop upside both on the roster and in the farm, so Quero fits beautifully to their roster.

Braden Taylor is a third baseman by pedigree, but the defense is so good that the Rays have been playing him at shortstop and it just might actually work. If not, this is a 70 glove at 3b, so the defense ain’t gonna be a problem. The offensive profile is a good hitter, with below average exit velos, but enough loft in the swing to get to average levels of home runs.

Tre’ Morgan is the opposite of what Chorizy and I have been going for in our first baseman during this exercise. He’s potentially a 70 glove at 1b, with range and soft hands at the cold corner. The batting profile is that of a light hitting 1b, think James Loney or something to that effect. The swing has been reworked to increase the power to the point where it looks like he’ll have enough to be a regular, but this is going to be more often oppo gap to gap type stuff instead of stand there and watch it fly type power.

New York Yankees

White Sox send: Luis Robert cf
White Sox receive: Jorbit Vivas 2b, Rafael Flores c/1b, Ben Rice 1b, Brendan Beck rhp
Rationale: The Yankees made it all the way to the World Series this year, but came up just short of another championship. With the departure of Alex Verdugo, the Yanks will add Jasson Dominguez to the outfield mix, but I could see them wanting to take the pressure of playing CF off both him and Aaron Judge. Luis Robert does that in a big way. His defense is excellent, but he also has potential to be a 30HR/30SB threat.

In return, the White Sox would get a number of players, most being close to the majors. Jorbit Vivas isn’t spectacular at any one thing, but he’s a good enough fielder at 2b, he has some power, and he gets on base a lot. Rafael Flores might not end up behind the plate, but the bat seems to be real as he belted 21 HR in the minors last year. Ben Rice disappointed in his debut this year, but the lefty 1b will be an upgrade to the Sox major league roster. Last is Brendan Beck who has been unlucky with injuries since he left Stanford. His excellent control makes him an interesting lottery ticket in this return.

Baltimore Orioles

White Sox send: Davis Martin rhp
White Sox receive: Dylan Beavers of
Rationale: The Baltimore Orioles are still sitting on a treasure trove of position player depth in their minor leagues and depending on a riskily thin group of pitchers. Time to even that out for them. Davis Martin was nyze in 50 innings last year and also good in 2022 before his TJ surgery. His Change-Up had an absolutely absurd 143 Stuff+ grading last year, good for second in pitchers that threw at least 50 innings. He’s still got risk though, it’s a limited major league resume and he doesn’t come from a great pedigree, however, he’s under control for awhile giving the O’s plenty o’control.

Dylan Beavers is big and athletic and he plays the outfield well and has a ton of power. There is swing and miss here, but not so much that you get the bubble guts about his prospects. It’s a beautiful lefty swing, but one that might require a caddy against southpaws. His peak should be a ton of power and good outfield play and goddamnit, I’m willing to give up a fucking sexy ass change-up for them shits.

Boston Red Sox

White Sox send: Garrett Crochet lhp
White Sox receive: Kristian Campbell 2b / ss / of, Jhostynxon Garcia of & Mikey Romero 2b / ss
Rationale: The Boston Red Sox have the fullest cupboard if you will when it comes to minor league hitting talent. They also have the biggest need for a high end arm in the AL East, a division that has some fierce competitors and ending up at the top of it through 162 is supremely important in the current MLB playoff tournament. The White Sox, as everyone knows are desperate for bats. In this deal, they only get, one real high end prospect hitter, but that’s to be expected in the current climate of trading established veterans for prospects.

Kristian Campbell is that blue chip prospect. He hits for power, he hits for average, he walks a lot, he has speed and he can play many positions (none well, but everyone has to have an achilles’ heel). I might consider doing this trade for him straight up given his upside. For real.

Jhostynxon Garcia is a quick riser. He’s got power and speed and arm strength. He still plays some centerfield right now, but it’s likely a right field profile in the end. Still only 21 until the holidays, he crushed A+ this summer and made it to AA where he held his own. Mikey Romero is a bat first middle infield prospect that probably is only a shortstop in name. It’s likely 2b only, but there’s a lot of bat to ball here and surprising power. Not that exciting, but we needed a 3rd piece to this trade, because as Denzel Washington said “I’m leaving here with something!”

Toronto Blue Jays

White Sox send: Samuel Zavala of, Riley Gowens rhp
White Sox receive: Yariel Rodriguez rhp
Rationale: Looking at the Blue Jays payroll and the contracts coming to an end in the next 2 years, they could be a team selling off parts. That doesn’t make them a good trade partner for the White Sox. There is, however, a contract they may want to move away from that is both low cost and a bit longer. That’s Yariel Rodriguez. They may like him, but if they tear it down, they might as well sell anything and everything.

Rodriguez was not impressive in his first 86 innings in the majors, rather he was a pretty mediocre pitcher. That said, his slider seems like a nice pitch and there’s a good sinker that he didn’t use much. I wouldn’t normally look for pitchers to trade for, but this one seems like a reasonable fit. And yeah, maybe I’ve got a little “Kenny always gets his guy” to me, because I did want the Sox to get him last year.

In return, we’re sending over two guys we just got in trades last year. Samuel Zavala who has the tools to be a great outfielder, but they haven’t come together yet. He’s still really young, so there’s value here. Could this bite the Sox later? Possibly, but I’m willing to bet against it. The other is Riley Gowens. Gowens seemed to be the throw-in player in the Aaron Bummer trade, but might end up being the most valuable when it’s all said and done.