White Sox “Trades” with EVERY TEAM | NL West Edition | 2026

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 West Edition.

The Au Jus

Los Angeles Dodgers

White Sox send: Grant Taylor RHP
White Sox receive: Eduardo Quintero OF
Rationale: I’ve long thought that the end game for Grant Taylor is for the White Sox to trade him to another team that could get the maximum out of his profile. Brian Bannister has spoken on Taylor in the past and it’s been an erratic tome of compliments and cautionary tales that jumped him from developing AA starting pitcher to Major League closer in a matter of weeks. The Dodgers seem like a perfect home, one that could fade the setbacks of trying to max out the profile over time, but in the short term could use the valuable help out of their bullpen as they get there.

In return the White Sox would add to a desolate outfield farm by grabbing up Eduardo Quintero, a converted catcher who is now in centerfield. There’s power, there’s speed, there’s defense and a quite volatile profile, but this who the Sox are gonna need to refill the cabinet, by making aggressive moves!

San Diego Padres

White Sox send: Davis Martin rhp
White Sox receive: Jhoan De La Cruz ss, Lan-Hong Su rhp
Rationale: Davis Martin turned in a solid 2025 season, tossing 142 2/3 innings and having a top 20 ground ball rate for pitchers with at least 140 innings pitched. The thesis here is easy, injuries and free agency decimated the Padres starting rotation and with the change in ownership, they aren’t the same team willing to barrel in free agency to solve all of their ills. Martin gives them a cost controlled back end starter to help them stabilize an erratic rotation.

The 2025 International Free Agency Period saw many teams cobble together extra International Pool Money to try and sign Roki Sasaki. The Padres were one of those teams and as you might imagine, they lost that battle to the Dodgers. When they did, they pivoted to signing a bunch of upper 6 figs, lower 7 figs international amateurs and that’s two of the guys the White Sox will pick up in this deal. Jhoan De La Cruz is a glove first shortshop with a high baseball IQ and excellent instincts. There are questions about the bat, both in current times and projection. He’s not even 18 years old yet, so he’s far, far away. Lan-Hong Su is a tall skinny 18 year old hurler from Taiwan. Projectable!!! He better be, he only weighs 150 lbs. The White Sox are desperate for filling out this level of their minor leagues as they just haven’t been effective yet in the international markets and although neither of these players are super high end prospects for that group, it does provide them much needed depth to the farm.

San Francisco Giants

White Sox send: Brandon Eisert LHP
White Sox receive: Luis Matos OF
Rationale: Buster Posey was pretty straightforward about the off-season plan saying: “I think our focus is going to be on pitching, to try to fortify our starting staff. The same goes with the bullpen,“

I have enjoyed the Brandon Eisert experience and I think he’s a solid reliever. That’s the kind of guy Posey is likely looking for to secure the middle of the pen. And lefty arms tend to bump up the value.

In return, I’m looking at post-prospect Luis Matos. He’s out of options and has not yet really found a place with the Giants as noted recently:

This is a guy I would want to take a chance on however. He can play all three outfield positions, though not plus at any of them. He has some pop, 8 HR in 57 games last year. With the Sox, there is certainly opportunity for a right handed bat to platoon in the outfield. This is not all upside though, he does things that infuriate Sox fans, like 46% groundballs, low OBP, etc. This is what puts him close to waivers.

Colorado Rockies

White Sox send: Sam Antonacci 2b / 3b, Mason Adams RHP
White Sox receive: Cole Carrigg OF / SS
Rationale: The 2025 Colorado Rockies challenged the 2024 White Sox record for futility all the way up until the final weeks of the season. THEY NEED EVERYTHING….except a guy that is likely to have his highest and best value as a glove first utility player that can cover centerfield and shortstop. They already have Brenton Doyle (a very good glove first CF) and Ezequiel Tovar (a very good glove first SS) in place, so that makes Cole Carrigg their most expendable, close to the majors prospect.

Carrigg is a switch hitter that makes enough contact from both sides of the plate. He’s shifty enough to handle both center and short and he’s got a “ROCKET FOR AN ARM” like Jay Buhner! He’s basically what the White Sox are tryna wishcast Brooks Baldwin into. Anyway, he’s a very nice fit for a Sox roster that is soon to be without a true centerfielder and without an aire to the throne as well.

Sam Antonacci is the hot girl in White Sox prospect circles that I just can’t figure out really, why? It’s like when everyone was in love with Julia Roberts…I DON’T GET IT! Anyway, his profile fits very nicely into Coors Field, very contact heavy. That’s a future batting title waiting to happen playing in that ballpark.

Mason Adams is a guy who I have rooted for because he’s never really had the prospect pedigree all throughout his minor league journey. He doesn’t have eye-popping stuff, he his an overwhelming presence on the mound. He just gets guys out. He’s coming off of surgery and with 40 man pressures arising becomes an easy trade candidate for the White Sox who need to find themselves a lot of starts for this team right now. Adams won’t be ready for that.

Arizona Diamondbacks

White Sox send: Jordan Leasure RHP, Jairo Iriarte RHP
White Sox receive: Druw Jones CF
Rationale: There’s a lot of upside in this trade, so obviously there is also a lot of downside. The Diamondbacks’ bullpen was not so good last year. Despite being one of the least used bullpens, only 558 innings, they still managed to garner 29 blown saves. They’re near the bottom of league in most stats, so they need to bolster that pen. Jordan Leasure was pretty good in the back half of the year, but still gave up a few too many long balls for my liking. We’ve discussed Jairo previously. While this would do bad things to the White Sox current bullpen, it would be a great addition for the d’backs.

The return would have been unthinkable even a year ago. And perhaps it would still take more for the D’Backs to send Druw Jones away, but he continues to struggle at the plate as Slade Caldwell passes him by in the prospect ranks. Not to mention they have multiple CF on the major league roster currently. It seems like a difficult path for him in AZ. In Chicago, he’s immediately the best CF in the system with his plus glove and arm. The hitting coming around would simply be a bonus for an org with no CF depth. And if that hitting does come around, we’d be in business…