Subscribe
Follow Us
The Chicago White Sox are wrapping up another disappointing season, but this one has a silver lining: they sold at the trade deadline, adding some prospects to their farm system in exchange for veterans that are either aging or set to leave this offseason. But they also nearly made a move to add a veteran ahead of the deadline.
The White Sox traded away their key pitchers ahead of the deadline — including starters Lucas Giolito and Lance Lynn and relievers Joe Kelly and Kendall Graveman — and shopped 2022 Cy Young runner-up Dylan Cease, too. But they also nearly traded for a veteran catcher, according to Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY Sports.
“The Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals were engaged in serious trade discussions for Royals All-Star catcher Salvador Perez on trade deadline day before the White Sox simply weren’t willing to give up the prospects the Royals sought,” writes Nightengale.
The Royals are in a rebuild and traded away Ryan Yarbrough, Aroldis Chapman and Scott Barlow as they look to build a good team for the future. Perez, who has been with the Royals for the last 13 seasons, was a prime candidate to be traded but his massive contract complicated matters. Kansas City nearly found a team to take him but Chicago sounded like a team that knew Perez's price wasn’t that high.
The White Sox trading for Perez would have been confusing. The best-case scenario would have been to rebuild his value and try to trade him away at a later date. Perhaps they still believe that the core of Cease, Luis Robert Jr., Tim Anderson, Andrew Vaughm Andrew Benintendi, Eloy Jimenez and Yoan Moncada can be competitive at some point in the future. The AL Central is a weak division, so that’s not entirely out of the question.
But the White Sox still need to get real about the true potential of their team. Even thinking of a trade for Perez, who is becoming less equipped to be a catcher at the age of 33, makes little sense, even with Yasmani Grandal set to be a free agent after this season.
