The White Sox traded Bailey Horn to the Cubs for Ryan Tepera back in 2021.
This afternoon, some 2½ years later, the White Sox acquired Horn from the Cubs for Matthew Thompson.
Apply the transitive property, and the White Sox effectively traded Thompson for Tepera, with Horn standing in as some form of collateral.
(Speaking of collateral, the White Sox made room on the 40-man roster for Horn by placing Jesse Scholtens on the 60-day injured list, as Scholtens tore his ulnar collateral ligament.)
The White Sox drafted Horn out of Auburn in the fifth and final round of the 2020 draft, but sent him to the Cubs for Ryan Tepera days before the trade deadline in 2021. At the time, he'd experienced major struggles adjusting to High-A, so the White Sox dealt him at his lowest point.
Horn, now 26, is a lefty reliever who conquered A-ball and Double-A with impressive strikeout numbers from an improved fastball-sweeper combination, but the elevated walk rates he pitched past at lower levels has hampered him in Triple-A:
| Level | Year | IP | BB% | K% | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AA | 2022-23 | 50.2 | 14.2 | 34.2 | 3.20 |
| AAA | 2023 | 53 | 12.2 | 24.9 | 4.58 |
Those control issues kept the Cubs from calling on Horn when they were searching for left-handed relief help over the second half of the 2023 season.
Horn will have a more forgiving environment for potentially making his MLB debut in 2024. Depending on the White Sox's season-opening plans for Garrett Crochet, the White Sox only have one lefty (Tim Hill) with a set spot in the bullpen, so the only obstacles Horn has to overcome are self-imposed. Even the left-handed competition that would have been offered by Rule 5 pick Shane Drohan has already been shelved by shoulder surgery.
Thompson benefits equally from a change of scenery. He'd advanced to Double-A thanks to good health and brute-force determination, as he'd topped 100 innings in each of the last two seasons, but he also posted nearly identical ERAs (4.84 and 4.85) due to an assortment of flaws. His walk rate ballooned in Birmingham, as his poor fastball command created suboptimal counts for working on his slider. He has enough arm talent to intrigue the Cubs, and freed from any second-round expectations, they'll have a season to work with him before any Rule 5 considerations force their hand regarding a 40-man spot.
As for Scholtens, the White Sox crowded him out of the rotation after the additions of Erick Fedde, Michael Soroka and Chris Flexen, while Touki Toussaint's lack of options pushed him out of the immediately long relief picture, but he represented spot start/swingman depth in Charlotte to start the year. He already completed his Master's degree in accounting this past winter, so there isn't an immediately apparent great use for this next period of downtime.
