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 Central Edition.
The Au Jus
Minnesota Twins
White Sox send: Bryan Hudson lhp
White Sox receive: Alan Roden of
Rationale: The Twins need bullpen help the mostest out of playoff teams that I could think of, they almost had to beg 51 year old Joe Nathan out of retirement to help them. Latroy Hawkins nearly got the call when rosters expanded in September. It was bad. Bryan Hudson had a nice season with the White Sox. Despite fading a bit down the stretch he had a 3.29 FIP and 113 ERA+ over 70 appearance, which included 8 Saves and 11 Holds. Alan Roden is a “bat”…a lefty bat at that. He’s hit at every level of the minors, probably not with as much power as you’d like for his profile. He’s not much of a defender. It’s probably left field only. But in the spirit of grabbing more bats than spots he’s a nice fit to the Sox. He does have a minor league option left, which helps in figuring out 2027. The Twins have a hard time holding a player like this given Byron Buxton can’t stay upright and mostly needs to stay a DH and with Royce Lewis precipitous fall down the defensive spectrum, they can’t keep too many Matt Stairs types of on the roster. But the White Sox can. Especially ones that limit their strikeouts.
Cleveland Guardians
White Sox send: Ky Bush LHP
White Sox receive: Jo Adell OF/DH
Rationale: The White Sox are in need of a right handed platoon bat for the 2027 season and that’s exactly what Adell is at this point in his career. He played that role well for the Guardians down the stretch and has a year left on his contract. This final arb year will be somewhere in the $8M range. Not that I don’t think the Guards will want to pay that, but I also don’t feel like Adell fits the normal Guardians mold. But this would come down to whether or not they’re confident they can replace his right handed power. I assume they’re giving up on David Fry and switch hitting Jaison Chourio might be just a little too far from the majors for this move.
In return, they get Ky Bush, who will absolutely dominate if the Sox were to send him to another team in the division, especially the Guardians.
Kansas City Royals
White Sox send: Tristan Peters of, David Sandlin rhp
White Sox receive: Michael Wacha rhp
Rationale: Michael Wacha was a HOT NAME at the 2026 Trade Deadline but JJ Picollo refused to deal because he was looking for major league ready talent to help bolster the Royals. He does not believe the Royals should go into a rebuild, more of a retrench if you will. This deal gives them a big league regular and adds back to their starting pitching depth for 2027. Wacha is exactly the type of starter that the White Sox covet, durable and dependable, with a long track record of eating up innings.
Tristan Peters is a steep price to give up he had a great season in center field for the White Sox as he emerged from the #OutfieldChaos to deliver a 3.5 fWAR / 3.6 bWAR season. Even if you aren’t a full believer in the bat, his defense across widely available metrics has him disappointed he wasn’t recognized as a finalist for the gold glove in centerfield. With the White Sox securing the services of Brenton Doyle at the trade deadline they have another centerfielder waiting in the wings to help with the cause here. David Sandlin actually pitched great in the playoff clincher at Kauffman on that fateful fall Thursday (I was there!), but he provides the Royals the major league ready arm talent that they were looking for as depth for their oft injured pitching staff. Sandlin battled inconsistency in 2026, but he was one of the young arms the White Sox chose to use down the stretch and he’s definitely got a major league future either in the bullpen or in the rotation.
Detroit Tigers
White Sox send: Chris Murphy LHP
White Sox receive: Matt Vierling OF
Rationale: The hot name in the streets in terms of Tigers trade rumors is Spencer Torkelson. But there are certainly teams that need him more and would pony up more than the Sox, so it doesn’t make that much sense. You can look to contracts that are winding down like Javy Baez, but a Baez/Benintendi trade would probably just make everyone involved a little nauseous. Not to mention, it’s a poor match anyway.
I looked at some possible non-tenders. In fact, we probably need to run this blog quick before either of these happen. Matt Vierling could definitely be non-tendered by the Tigers. He’s been injured, he’s on the weak side of the platoons in the OF, and his salary is gonna go up in arbitration. He does seem to fit the White Sox roster nicely, however. There is room for a right handed bat, especially one that can play all 3 positions in the outfield. He also does just fine against lefties.
In return, the Sox send a player who also might get non-tendered. If the Tigers can absorb Chris Murphy into their pen, then this makes sense and they save a few bucks on the transaction. Though the more likely scenario is that both guys hit the open market soon.
