5-for-1 trade now just a 2-for-1

Did you know that newly acquired White Sox pitcher Tyler Gilbert tossed a no-hitter in his first career start as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2021? Sure, he's a journeyman, but he had his 15 minutes of fame.

The 31-year-old left-hander spent most of 2024 with Lehigh Valley, the Triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. The Sox acquired Gilbert from Philadelphia last week in exchange for minor league relief pitcher Aaron Combs.

To make room for Gilbert on the 40-man roster, the Sox designated infielder Braden Shewmake for assignment. This Sox offseason has been -- and will continue to be -- characterized by minor moves such as this. Most of them aren't worth an in-depth breakdown, but Shewmake's departure got me thinking about a trade Sox GM Chris Getz made last offseason.

Remember when Getz traded left-handed reliever Aaron Bummer to the Atlanta Braves for five players? As fans, many of us thought, "Wow, how did he manage to get that type of quantity for an underachiever like Bummer?" 

Well, it turns out there wasn't a lot of quality in that quantity. More than a year later, let's take a look at the guys the Sox acquired in that deal:

1. Shewmake. We'll start with the aforementioned Shewmake, who made the Opening Day roster in 2024. Unfortunately, he was one of the culprits in the team's miserable start. He batted .125/.134/.203 with one homer and four RBIs in 29 games with the Sox. He got sent to Triple-A Charlotte, where he got injured. He appeared in only 10 games at that level and batted .152/.152/.182. You may never see him in the majors again.

2. Nicky Lopez. Have you heard that Lopez is from Naperville? OK, enough with that joke. The infielder played 124 games with the Sox in 2024 and batted .241/.312/.294 with one homer and 21 RBIs. He made $4.3 million last season, and as an arbitration-eligible player, he was in line to get about $5 million in 2025. Thus, the Sox wisely non-tendered him. It would be dumb to give that kind of money to a utility infielder.

3. Michael Soroka. The right-hander went 0-10 with a 4.74 ERA in 25 games, including nine starts, with the 2024 Sox. The nine starts were terrible. Soroka lost five of them and posted a 6.39 ERA. After an injury, he found new life in the bullpen late in the season. He was 0-5 as a reliever, too, but his ERA was a much more respectable 2.75 in those 16 appearances. The Washington Nationals apparently think he can still be a starter. They gave him a one-year contract this offseason.

4. Jared Shuster. The Sox converted this left-hander to mostly relief work. He made 39 appearances in 2024, 35 of which were out of the bullpen. He provided 73.1 innings, going 2-5 with a 4.30 ERA. And hey, the 25-year-old is still on the 40-man roster! If he pitches well in spring, he might actually stick with the Sox for a second season.

5. Riley Gowens. The former University of Illinois pitcher and Libertyville native split his time between High-A Winston Salem and Double-A Birmingham last season. He made 25 starts between the two levels, going 7-6 with a 3.84 ERA. Not bad, but Gowens is now 25 years old, and you won't find  him near the top of any of the prospect lists. Most likely, he's an organizational pitcher. But hey, at least he's still in the organization!

So, basically, that 5-for-1 trade is now a 2-for-1. The Sox still have Shuster and Gowens, but ultimately, this trade did not make a meaningful impact.

White Sox November roster moves so far

The Moncada bobblehead is a candidate for the dustbin of history.

Let's catch up on some of the roster moves the White Sox have made since the season ended:

Declined the $25 million contract option on Yoan Moncada. The oft-injured third baseman played in only 12 games for the Sox in 2024, during which he totaled zero home runs and zero RBIs. Moncada played eight seasons on the South Side, and only two of them were good (2019 and 2021). He never made an All-Star appearance. He never won a Gold Glove. The Sox never won a playoff series during his tenure. So, no, he didn't live up to the hype that comes with being the No. 1 prospect in baseball. Moncada's departure means there is nobody left on the team from the Chris Sale trade. Call it vindication for those of us who hated that trade from the start.

Declined the $7.5 million contract option on Max Stassi. Did you even know this 33-year-old catcher was even on the team this season? No? Me neither. Stassi missed the whole season with a hip injury. He had surgery in June. Chances are he's played his last game in the majors.

Relievers Jimmy Lambert and Matt Foster decline outright assignments, elect free agency. More ties were cut with the walking wounded here. Lambert, 29, didn't pitch in 2024 with a rotator cuff injury. He had season-ending surgery in August. Foster, 29, started the year on the injured list after undergoing Tommy John surgery in April 2023. He returned in August and made six appearances, but a back injury shut him down. He underwent back surgery Sept. 25. These are two more guys you might not see in the majors again.

Claimed pitcher Penn Murfee off waivers from Houston. It's the first dumpster dive of the offseason! Murfee, 30, had Tommy John surgery in July 2023 and missed the entire 2024 season. He pitched in a combined 80 games over two years with the Seattle Mariners -- 64 appearances in 2022 and 16 games before the elbow injury in 2023. He's 5-2 with a 2.70 ERA in his career, so if he can regain his health, well, I guess he becomes a leverage option on what figures to be a subpar 2025 Sox team.

Nicky Lopez and Sammy Peralta decline outright assignments, elect free agency. Lopez, who will turn 30 before the start of the 2025 season, was a Gold Glove finalist at second base. However, he ultimately doesn't have the bat to hold down a starting position, as evidenced by his .241/.312/.294 slash line with the 2024 Sox. If you can't *slug* .300, then you shouldn't be an everyday player. Given that Lopez would be due more than $5 million in arbitration, it doesn't make sense to retain him as a bench option, either. You can find utility players for a lot less money. Heck, if Lopez can't find work elsewhere, he might come back to the Sox for far less money. Peralta, 26, posted a 4.80 ERA over nine relief appearances in 2024. He is a forgettable left-handed reliever. The Sox have other internal options who were ahead of him.

Eloy Jimenez injured again

In a bit of news that should surprise absolutely no one, White Sox designated hitter Eloy Jimenez injured himself running the bases Tuesday night against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Jimenez doubled in the top of the fifth inning and was the trail runner in a second-and-third, two-out situation. Corey Julks singled to center field, which meant Jimenez had to sprint 180 feet to score a run.

He did indeed score the run, but he started limping as he approached home plate. Diagnosis: left hamstring strain. The Sox provided no further updates after their 5-0 victory over the Blue Jays, but would anyone be shocked if this results in Jimenez landing on the 10-day injured list? Certainly not.

I've heard some people express hope that Jimenez could be traded for something of value this summer, but I just don't see it. Perhaps the Sox could get salary relief in return -- Jerry Reinsdorf's favorite thing -- but put yourself in the shoes of a GM for a contending team.

Are you going to acquire Jimenez with the hope that he can stay healthy and provide a boost to help put your team over the top? 

NO!!!!

That would be delusional.

The Sox did snap their four-game losing streak Tuesday night. They scored all five of their runs with two outs. Nicky Lopez had an RBI single in the second inning. Julks had the aforementioned two-run single in the fifth. Danny Mendick's two-run double in the eighth capped the scoring.

That made a winner of Garrett Crochet, who moved to 5-4 and took the staff lead in victories. He worked six shutout innings, allowing only two hits. He stuck out four and walked one.

The Sox are 15-34.

Minnesota Twins get well at White Sox's expense

On the morning of Monday, April 22 -- only eight days ago -- the Minnesota Twins were reeling with a 7-13 record. They had lost six of their previous seven games.

Then the White Sox showed up in Minneapolis.

Since that time, the Twins have won eight consecutive games, including five over the South Siders. The latest Minnesota win came Monday night, a 3-2 victory in the opener of a three-game series at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago.

The score was tied, 2-2, heading into the ninth inning. However, Byron Buxton doubled to lead off the top of the ninth against Sox reliever John Brebbia (0-1) and scored moments later on a single by Max Kepler, providing Minnesota with the winning run.

The Sox had their chance in the bottom of the inning. Danny Mendick walked, and with two outs, he advanced to third on a bloop single by Robbie Grossman. However, Minnesota left-hander Caleb Thielbar secured his second save of the season by striking out Korey Lee on a slow curve.

After three consecutive rough starts, during which he allowed 17 earned runs over 11.2 innings, Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet had a bounce-back outing. He pitched five innings, allowing only a two-run homer to Carlos Santana in the top of the second. He gave up just two hits while striking out seven and walking one. 

Crochet retired the final 11 Minnesota batters he faced, but he was removed after only 77 pitches. There was every reason to believe Crochet had at least one more inning in him, but apparently, he's being "protected" for the long haul of the season.

Not that the Sox offense provided much support anyway. They had two runs four batters into the game. Nicky Lopez singled and scored on a double by Andrew Vaughn. After a Gavin Sheets single put runners on first and third, Eloy Jimenez grounded into a double play, scoring Vaughn.

That was it. In a curious lineup decision, Tommy Pham did not start the game for the Sox. He lined out to right field during a pinch-hitting appearance in the ninth inning.

But hey, at this point, you have to trust Sox manager Pedro Grifol. His career managerial record isn't 67-124 for nothing, right?

The Sox are 6-23 this season. There are still 133 games of this crap remaining.

Sources: Paul DeJong to sign one-year deal with White Sox

Paul DeJong

Give White Sox general manager Chris Getz credit for this: He said he would improve the middle infield defense this offseason, and he has acquired two plus defensive players before Thanksgiving.

According to sources, the Sox are signing 30-year-old veteran shortstop Paul DeJong to a one-year deal. The contract is pending a physical, which reportedly will occur Monday.

Much like second baseman Nicky Lopez, who was acquired from the Atlanta Braves last week in the Aaron Bummer deal, DeJong is going to make the plays. He totaled 9 outs above average in 2023, as did Lopez. But much like Lopez, he can't hit.

Here is DeJong's OPS+ over his seven-year career:

• 2017: 121
• 2018: 102
• 2019: 99
• 2020: 87
• 2021: 85
• 2022: 52
• 2023: 66

DeJong was an All-Star in 2019 when he hit 30 home runs, but that was the year of the juiced baseball. The decline is clear in the years since. 

Over the past three years, DeJong is batting .192/.265/.353 in 302 games. In 2023, he bounced from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Toronto Blue Jays to the San Francisco Giants. He batted .207/.258/.355 with 14 homers and 38 RBIs.

Not promising, right? But here's the funny thing. Actually, it's not that funny, but DeJong was a better player than Tim Anderson last year. He out-homered him 14-1. He had a higher OPS than Anderson, .612 to .582. As mentioned, DeJong's OPS+ was 66. Anderson's was 60. DeJong's WAR was a terrible -0.5, but Anderson's was a disgusting -2.0.

None of this is an endorsement of the DeJong signing. The guy isn't very good, but these numbers show just how bad it got with Anderson last year.

The best you can hope for here is that DeJong holds shortstop down for long enough that top prospect Colson Montgomery is able to complete his development in the minor leagues.

White Sox trade Aaron Bummer to Atlanta Braves for 5 players

It doesn't qualify as a "haul," but it was still surprising to see the White Sox acquire five players in exchange for Aaron Bummer.

The Sox on Thursday sent the left-hander reliever to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for pitchers Michael Soroka, Jared Shuster and Riley Gowens, and infielders Nicky Lopez and Braden Shewmake.

Why is it not a haul? Well, all five of these players the Sox acquired have some significant flaw in their games. That doesn't mean these guys couldn't help on the South Side. They might.

But let's just all understand that these players were excess on the Atlanta 40-man roster. Soroka and Lopez were non-tender candidates, in fact, so I don't think the Braves look at any of these guys as big losses.

That said, Bummer's usefulness had come to an end with the Sox. With 2024 projected as a retooling season, if not a rebuilding season, what's the wisdom in paying a relief pitcher a $5.5 million salary to protect leads that don't exist?

Here are a few more thoughts about each of the six players in the trade:

Bummer: Most Sox fans are happy to be done with the 30-year-old after he went 5-5 with an ugly 6.79 ERA in 61 appearances in 2023. Bummer issued an absurdly high 5.6 walks per nine innings, and his 1.526 WHIP isn't what you want from a late-inning reliever. 

Still, the statheads point to his 3.58 FIP as a sign that Bummer pitched in hard luck. In their tweet announcing the trade, the Braves said, "His barrel percentage of just 2.7% ranked in the 99th percentile among pitchers in baseball, while his ground ball rate of 60.1% was in the 97th."

Fair enough. It's not hard to envision Bummer performing better in 2024 with a better infield defense behind him. However, Atlanta fans should know that Bummer is a terrible fielding pitcher, so he does himself no favors when he's fumbling around some of that weak contact he induces. And his walks will drive you crazy. 

Soroka: Injuries, injuries and more injuries. Soroka finished second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting in 2019, when he went 13-4 with a 2.68 ERA in 29 starts with the Braves. However, he's only pitched 46 innings combined in the four years since. Soroka has torn his Achilles' tendon twice, which caused him to not throw a pitch at any level in both 2021 and 2022. He was 2-2 with a 6.40 ERA in seven games (6 starts) with the Braves in 2023. This is a talented pitcher, but who knows whether he'll be on the mound? 

Shuster: The 25-year-old began the 2023 season as the top prospect in the Atlanta system. But the left-hander fell on hard times last season. He went 5-6 with a 5.01 ERA at Triple-A Gwinnett, and 4-3 with a 5.81 ERA in 11 starts with the Braves. The strikeout-to-walk ratio in the majors was not good -- 30 strikeouts against 26 walks in 52.2 innings. At this point, Shuster is a reclamation project.

Lopez: Sox fans rolled their eyes at the acquisition of the former Kansas City infielder. As most everyone knows, Lopez is a local guy. He graduated from Naperville Central High School. He also played for manager Pedro Grifol with the Royals, and everyone is sick of more Kansas City people coming to Chicago. Lopez is a lousy hitter, as his career .249/.312/.319 slash line in five MLB seasons shows. However, he is a plus defender, especially at second base. He can also play shortstop or third base in a pinch, and do it competently. Unlike a lot of players on the Sox roster, Lopez has at least one high-end skill that can help a team: his glove. From that perspective, he's probably getting more crap than he deserves.

Shewmake: The left-handed-hitting shortstop was Atlanta's first-round pick in the 2019 draft. But other than a brief two-game stint in 2023, he hasn't cracked the majors. Much like Lopez, he can field his position. He's got sure hands at shortstop, but he just isn't a very good hitter. His slash line at Triple-A Gwinnett last season was .234/.299/.407. If you're a glass-half-full person, that .407 slugging percentage isn't half bad for a glove-first player. Shewmake totaled 16 homers and 69 RBIs last season. Most likely, he's a depth player. And if he helps prevent the Sox from prematurely rushing top prospect Colson Montgomery to the majors, then he'll have done his job.

Gowens: Another local product here. Gowens is a Libertyville native who pitched at the University of Illinois. The right-hander worked exclusively as a starter in college, going 9-12 with a 5.69 ERA in 37 starts over three seasons. The Braves selected him in the ninth round of the 2023 draft. He appeared in five games, three of them starts, in the Atlanta system last year. He threw the ball well -- a 1.15 ERA over 15.2 innings. Gowens is likely destined for A ball in 2024. He'll be old for the level at age 24.

What's the best-case outcome for the Sox here? It would be nice if they can get at least one back-end starter out of this deal -- either Soroka gets healthy or Shuster improves. And it would be nice if at least one of Lopez or Shewmake helps solidify the Sox's leaky middle infield defense. 

Really, if two of the five players help the Sox, call the trade a win.