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: Noah Schultz LHP
White Sox receive: Sean Murphy C + $10M
Rationale: With the emergence of Drake Baldwin, a down year, and 2/$30M left on his contract, Sean Murphy has become a target of off-season trade rumors. He was injured last year with a fractured finger and only played 33 games, which weren’t all that great. However, he is a solid catcher and a solid right handed bat. This is a nice pairing for Kyle Teel.
When I first started writing this, I thought of sending Drew Thorpe, but I don’t think any money comes back in a Thorpe deal and I can’t see the Sox paying that much for the other catcher. So I upped it to Schultz. This pulls $10M back to the Sox and imo makes this a bit more reasonable. The Braves then get a major league ready starter that has minor league options. This is important because while the Braves have a good amount of starters, health is always a question.
New York Mets
White Sox send: Luisangel Acuna ss, of
White Sox receive: Mark Vientos 1b, 3b
Rationale: I spent a good chunk of the White Sox 2026 campaign defending my sweet Luis Angel. He came over here from the Mets in the Luis Robert Jr. trade, which was much more about financials than it was about baseball. The thought initial was that Acuna would take over centerfield, learning the position somewhat on the fly. Although his speed and arm make sense for the position, the White Sox also had #OutfieldChaos in process at the time and that yielded a much better result in Tristan Peters. All that being said, Acuna was a very capable backup at shortstop (his natural position), and he was an excellent base runner, only one problem…..YOU CAN’T STEAL FIRST BASE!!!
The Mets went from squeezing him off the roster to suddenly having plenty of opportunities for him to play in the infield, with Bo Bichette being a defensive liability at 3b and Francisco Lindor regressing quite sharply on defense as well, you can see the vision. I didn’t even mention the corpse that is Marcus Semien at 2b. OOF!!
Mark Vientos was really good…..in 2024…since then he’s been a fucking disaster. Going from the #2 hitter on an NLCS team to having your ass nailed to the bench most days is quite humbling. So why would the Sox do this??? 1) Vientos still clobbers LHP, which the White Sox are going to need now that Randal Grichuk has left in free agency. 2) There is a reclamation project here that I think the hitting brain trust would love to try. Maybe they can bring Vientos bat back from the dead and if they do, there are some riches to be harvested. If not, he can take 200-250 swings vs LHP and we’ll call this one a day.
Miami Marlins
White Sox send: Jaden Fauske of; William Bergolla Jr ss; Anthony Kay lhp
White Sox receive: Sandy Alcantara rhp
Rationale: If I thinking about what the White Sox need the absolute most heading into the 2027 season (assuming it happens in it’s full form) it would be a dependable innings eater in the rotation. Someone solid that takes the ball and will dare to lead the league in innings. With all the remaining question marks in the rotation and with the White Sox having to ride Sean Burke so hard down the stretch and in the playoffs, that’s the profile I’d say they need most. Enter Sandy Alcantara.
Once the most eligible bachelor in the pitching market, Sandy has gone through injury, and down years and now he is back to his old dependable self, leading MLB in innings pitched in 2026 (one of only three guys to top 200 IP). He’s in the final year of his contract that will pay him $21 million dollars on a club option. The Marlins are A) Cheap & B) with pitching on the way, so from that perspective this deal makes sense for them as well. Cash in this chip and prepare to gird up your loins and prepare with the big boys in the NL East. Getting Alcantara even for one year, even paying him $21 million won’t be cheap.
The White Sox send one of their young bat first prospects in Jaden Fauske, an over slot 2nd rounder from the 2025 draft, it’s a lot of speed, a lot of hit tool, good approach, learning centerfield. William Bergolla Jr. should’ve made his MLB debut last season, he started off absolutely blistering in AAA and if it wasn’t for a collision with the newbie Sam Antonacci learning left field in Charlotte (I still believe the Sicilian mafia was behind this to get Sam promoted before Bergolla) that left him out the rest of the season he would’ve stepped foot on the dirt at 35th and Shields and become one of the record rookie debuts in 2026. He is a good defender up the middle and has elite contact skills. There’s NO POWER…legit NONE!! We are talking about Luis Arraez style of production (but nobody is Arraez). Lastly, Anthony Kay rounds this deal out to give the Marlins a lefty starter and to offset a tiny bit of money. Kay is just insurance for their young staff while they cash in Alcantara and shoot for competing with a young core in the near future.
Washington Nationals
White Sox send: Prelander Berroa RHP
White Sox receive: Josiah Gray RHP
Rationale: The Nats were an exciting story early in the season, but that fell off and they ended up finishing 8 games under .500. They’re a young team in a very tough division and I don’t see them really pushing for the playoffs in 2027. That said, one of the few players that is nearing free agency is Josiah Gray. Gray was a promising part of the staff, but he’s been sidelined multiple years and is going into his last arb year. This is a risky 1 year guy because health is definitely an issue. But when he’s good, he’s a nice starter. And his arb price tag will be low, like $1.5M-$1.9M across sources. A reasonable risk to take considering if it doesn’t work out, you just cut him
From the Nats side, it might make more sense to just keep him and see if he can stay healthy and be dealt at the deadline. So the Sox have to pump the return just a bit. Prelander Berroa has had injury issues of his own, but he fits well on a Nats team that had a mind boggling 42 blown saves in 2026. Berroa also has much more team control.
Philadelphia Phillies
White Sox send: Braden Montgomery of; Drew Romo c
White Sox receive: Andrew Painter rhp
Rationale: I spent damn near and hour tryna figure out how to make a super small trade between these teams, something real Getzian in nature. Some shit that goofy trade enthusiasts while wax poetic about for hours and the rest of us normal folks could ignore, but alas, I couldn’t line up the values the way I wanted. And then it smacked me right in my big fat nose. Both teams have substantial prospects who’s rookie years were a little meh….but serve as overwhelming needs for the other team.
Andrew Painter was HIM out of pitching prospects just a couple of four years ago, with a sparkling professional debut, then he got hurt, then he wasn’t quite as a good as he had been, but he still made it up to the majors this season with the Phillies. Although his 1.3 bWAR 4.67 FIP 126 Inning debut didn’t exactly sparkle, the building blocks of a top end starting pitcher still remain.
Braden Montgomery had a similar fate with our White Sox this season. In many ways he was pressed into service with the team as winning became a priority pretty quickly and they were desperate for a competent right fielder. That he was, until the league adjusted up on him and the bat struggled down the stretch.
The Phillies ambled to the playoffs with roughly one competent outfielder (I’m probably stretching it a bit on Brandon Marsh as he was rough) and the White Sox similarly sailed to and through a round of the playoffs with one good starting pitcher. These teams need the other ones young promising player that didn’t quite pan out in year one. I see this as a trade of needs.
So you may ask me, BeefLoaf, WHAT IS DREW ROMO DOING HERE? Well, he’s the sweetener given that Painter’s prospect status was just a smidge higher than BMont’s, so we needed a little more. The Phils obv have an established backstop in J.T. Realmuto, but he’s getting a bit long in the tooth and their backup options are pretty scarce. Romo has a minor league option left so even if the Phils go into the market to buy a veteran back up, they can stash Romo in the minors for a rainy day. His defense is fine. He ALLEGEDLY calls a good game and our young pitchers loved him. Nothing wrong with adding some good vibes to the deal.
