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

The Au Jus

Atlanta Braves

White Sox send: Davis Martin rhp
White Sox receive: David McCabe 1b, Elison Joseph rhp
Rationale: With the news that Spencer Strider won’t be on the roster to start the season, the Braves will need some help in the rotation. Additionally, with the Jorge Soler salary dump, it seems they’re not looking to spend. So an affordable starting pitcher seems like a good fit for the Braves. Davis Martin is that, though his track record is short.

I would have done this for David McCabe straight up, but he had to have TJ surgery last year and after he came back he was unsurprisingly less effective at the plate. The injury may not preclude him from playing 3b in the future, but a switch-hitting first baseman with solid approach at the plate, power, and a high obp seem like a major upgrade for the Sox. In addition, the Sox will get Elison Joseph who is a very hard throwing reliever whose command is suspect. He had a pretty nice year in the minors but continues to walk too many batters.

New York Mets

White Sox send: Garrett Crochet lhp
White Sox receive: Ronny Mauricio ss, Jesus Baez ss / 3b, Ryan Clifford lf / 1b
Rationale: I expect Uncle Stevie to go out and buy a bunch of stuff in the off-season to follow up his boys making an enchanted run to the NLCS. There are good starting pitchers in the free agent market, but it’s also nice to turn some of your substantial war chest of prospects into all-stars on the current roster. That’s what Garrett Crochet is.

Ronny Mauricio would be the HAIR APPARENT ($1 Christopher Moltisanti) to the shortstop position, but the Mets have future hall of famer Francisco Lindor still playing at his peak at that spot, so Mauricio would need to fit elsewhere anyways. He’s big, he has power, he probably swings too much, but he’s a shortstop for now. It’s 30 home run power when we get the bouncier version of the ball or when variance helps out. That’s beautiful at short. Think Jose Valentin without the walks.

Jesus Baez is probably not a shortstop, more likely a hot cornerman. He’s also got good bat to ball skills and power, with probably more power on the way. I’ve heard the comp of Miguel Andujar, but much better defender. Feels like a volatile profile that should it work out has more than enough thump in the bat.

Ryan Clifford has some worries in his profile, he’s not a great defender even at 1b (as he’s slow). He strikes out quite a bit and there is concerns that he might struggle versus top flight velocity. However, it’s a great lefty swing that generates a lot of power. Most of his median projections have him being a strong side platoon bat with 20-25 Home Runs. That sounds goddamn pleasant when you consider what a waste the White Sox 1b and dh positions have been the last two years.

Miami Marlins

White Sox send: Wilfred Veras of
White Sox receive: Luis Cova of
Rationale: I gotta say, this was the toughest trade to execute as I nearly opted to trade the Goose head for the Marlins home run sculpture. Then I thought about trading them Grady Sizemore to avoid the possible debacle we discussed on the podcast.

But no, I will not take the easy way out. Instead, we fix a need on the Marlins which is right handed outfield bat. Wilfred Veras is a capable bat in the corners and with the lefty heavy current outfield in Miami, it should afford him plate appearances. Now, you could say the same for the Sox, so this isn’t all that great. But let’s assume the Sox are looking a few years out and want a younger prospect. That’s where Luis Cova comes in. He may not stick in CF, may not have the arm for RF, may not hit enough to be a corner OF. But he also could be a solid CF, which has value.

The trade makes a little sense if the Marlins are trying to piece it together in 2025 and the Sox are looking at the late 20s for their next competitive teams.

Washington Nationals

White Sox send: Korey Lee c
White Sox receive: Stone Garrett of
Rationale: This is two teams trading out parts off the bottom of their respective rosters. The Nationals got absolutely cooked on stolen bases when their primary catcher Ruiz wasn’t in there. Lee fixes that. He throws great, everything else, he does less great. He’s a back-up catcher. Stone Garrett has a fuckton (that’s a scientific metric) of power, but he’s a right handed hitter who is limited to lf or dh and strikes out a bunch. The White Sox can use the punch and why not gamble on him even if you park him at DH for 3 months to see if he sticks. He’s also the guy that caused me to drunkenly tweet this in 2022 (when he was with the Diamondbacks.

Philadelphia Phillies

White Sox send: Andrew Benintendi lf, Justin Anderson rhp
White Sox receive: Emaarion Boyd of, Griff McGarry rhp
Rationale: This is built on a few beliefs about the Phillies: they won’t sign Juan Soto, they want to reinforce their bullpen, and they trust Beni’s 2nd half numbers. That may all be wrong, but it seems like it could be the case, so we’re gonna roll with that.

The White Sox send Andrew Benintendi to slot in as the every day LF for the Phillies. Austin Hays taking some of the pressure off when it comes to lefties. In addition, the Sox send Justin Anderson to bolster the Phillies’ pen as they lose a couple of key pieces to free agency. Anderson is important in getting back a little more since the Phils will be eating all of Benintendi’s contract.

In return, the White Sox get 2 projects. Boyd has all the speed in the world and can actually make contact with the ball, in fact, a lot of contact. But the hit tool is not refined enough to make him a reliable bat and the defense is not good enough right now to make him an every day centerfielder. So he’ll need some attention on both sides. Griff McGarry, other than having a cool name, has some dynamite stuff and throws hard. Throwing strikes, however, is a problem.