Pregame notes: Waiting for a trade

Think of a semi-recent White Sox baseball operations hire of note--Brian Bannister, Ryan Fuller, David Keller, Gene Watson--they're all with the team in Chicago this week as the front office fires back up the same setup they had for a draft war room in Rate Field's conference and learning center.

The only issue with this all-hands-on-deck approach to the trade deadline is that there's not a ton of activity right now. It's the "quiet before the storm" still as one Sox official put it, with the expectation that deals will accelerate in roughly 24 hours time. Maybe they'll go down to the wire Thursday, especially since rival evaluators continue to describe the team's stance in Luis Robert Jr. trade talks as stubbornly holding out for an impact return, and the Sox continue to project the stance that they would rather keep Robert and pick up his $20 million option for 2026 than sell him for low value.

Adrian Houser starting, on the last day before the trade deadline? Emotionally ready yourself for it. Because the Sox certainly don't sound like they're of the mind to compromise their chance to win, nor project to the rest of the league that they have any concern about Houser's health.

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The roster is literally about to change in a few days, which Will Venable made ample effort to point out. But in this current state of affairs, where Lenyn Sosa is both playing regularly and second base is where the Sox are most comfortable slotting him, that starts a chain of events that ends with third base being where Colson Montgomery is playing the most.

"Who else is in the infield is gonna impact where Colson plays," Venable said. "If [Josh] Rojas is in there, we could see Colson at short. If Sosa's in at second, we've seen [Colson] at third here now for a little bit. So yeah, as the infield makeup changes, Colson's responsibilities will change, but we could see it different ways."

Rojas' role has been downgraded, as he's made just two starts since the All-Star break, so the Sox infield alignment that pushes Montgomery to short while Chase Meidroth mans second is the less common one at the moment. But ultimately the White Sox view the biggest priority as that Montgomery--and his new torpedo bat--is getting at-bats at some spot everyday.

Montgomery ultimately had the best line a few days ago about which position he enjoys most.

"I enjoy being in the lineup," Montgomery countered.

OK, he said a little bit more on Tuesday.

"Each day, and each ground ball I get during the game, I feel more and more comfortable," Montgomery said. "Sometimes you're not going to make every single play, but all you can do is just go back and look at what you did wrong. I think [third base coach Justin Jirschele] does a really good job with that, of kind of breaking down things and easy fixes; maybe you just took your eye off the ball one second too early. But I'm feeling really good over there."

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Edgar Quero is hitting .405/.447/.544 against left-handed pitching this season, but also had caught the last two games, which means we have discovered the scenario where the Sox are still willing to put both catchers in the same lineup.

"With the way [Quero] has been performing against left-handed pitching, really like his bat in there," Venable said. "He's caught a few in a row now, so Kyle [Teel], we'd like to get Kyle back behind the plate and give Edgar just a little bit of a blow behind the plate. So yeah, we haven't done it a lot. We've done it I think twice maybe, when we've had them both in the lineup. But I thought it was a good time. Again, just really about getting Edgar's bat in there."

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Martín Pérez (flexor strain) and Tim Elko (sprained knee) are both headed out to rehab assignments at Triple-A Charlotte soon. Pérez threw to live hitters on Monday and Elko ran the bases on Tuesday.

You've got to really love baseball to practice sliding back into first in 95-degree heat with no one even actually trying to pick you off, so Elko can never be accused of feeling otherwise.

The White Sox are TBA for their Friday starter in Anaheim. That should wind up being Shane Smith, who will be eligible to be activated off the injured list by then.

First pitch: White Sox vs. Phillies

TV: CHSN

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