The first White Sox trade of the Chris Getz trade may not amount to a hill of beans when all is said and done, but it's somewhat remarkable that Getz got a hill of players from Atlanta for Aaron Bummer regardless of the results.
ESPN's Jeff Passan reported that the Sox traded Bummer to the Braves for five guys:
- RHP Mike Soroka
- LHP Jared Shuster
- SS Braden Shewmake
- IF Nicky Lopez
- RHP Riley Gowens
This might be the ultimate buy-low trade. On Atlanta's side, they're acquiring a reliever whose ERA (6.79) was nearly double his FIP (3.58), but for reasons that extend beyond mere bad luck. If they can restore him to one of baseball's best relievers, he's under team control through 2026, but as he pitched for the White Sox, those team options after his $5.5 million salary in 2024 didn't look all that appealing.
On the White Sox's side, they theoretically paper over their biggest 40-man roster issues with a pair of starting pitchers and a pair of middle infielders. However, besides Gowens, a local product drafted in the ninth round back in July who posted some encouraging early returns in A-ball, the Sox aren't catching anybody at peak value, either:
*Soroka posted a 6.40 ERA and was shut down in September with forearm soreness after missing the previous two seasons due to Jake Burger-like Achilles problems. At his peak, he was a sixth-place finishes in National League Cy Young voting, but that was before the pandemic. He's only 26. It's just been a hard 26.
*Shuster, a former first-round pick back in 2020, made his MLB debut and posted a 5.81 ERA with just 30 strikeouts over 52⅔ innings after an unimpressive showing in Triple-A.
*Shewmake, Atlanta's 2019 first-round pick, lost all momentum after the pandemic interruption, with OPSes hovering on both sides of .700 at Double-A and Triple-A. He hit just .239/.299/.407 over 122 games with Gwinnett.
*Lopez, who had been a rumored target of the White Sox, was demoted to utility infielder status after a midseason trade to Atlanta. He's hit .228/.297/.284 over 234 games the last two seasons. His glove remains a plus, but adding another former Royal to the mix was a concern then, and it remains one now.
There's a bunch of blah on the surface, but you can see the upside without squinting. A glass-half-full outcome has Bummer rediscovering his form with improvements in command and the defense behind him while the Sox get at least one credible back-end starter and a capable reserve infielder.
Glass half-empty, this is merely an accounting measure involving a lot of moving trucks.
This trade doesn't save the White Sox money, because Bummer's $5.5 million salary will probably be eclipsed by the arbitration-eligible salaries of Soroka ($3 million projection) and Lopez ($3.9 million). It is a more useful distribution of that money, in that the Sox needed options for the rotation and second base more than an erratic reliever.
Meanwhile, the Braves had a full 40-man roster even without adding any players at the Rule 5 deadline, so this move gives them room to maneuver. Considering Soroka was a non-tender candidate, and Lopez might've been as well, getting anybody of potential value probably counts as success.
The White Sox, conversely, left open a few spots even after protecting Jake Eder and Cristian Mena, and they used up all the room in one fell swoop. Tonight's tender deadline could open up a spot for the flexibility fans out there.
Bummer's seemingly unnecessary contract extension didn't pan out for the Sox in terms of bullpen stability, but it did retain enough value to help the team turn over a few roster spots. It's just too early to call it something for nothing, because this could be something for something, or a whole lot of nothing.
