Rick Hahn is out here trading away every pitcher he possibly can before the Aug. 1 trade deadline. In the past few days, the White Sox have traded five pitchers in three separate deals. So, how about another one.
The Chicago Cubs have climbed back to .500, after winning their sixth game in a row Thursday night against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cubs remain in third place in the NL Central Division, but they're now 5.5 games back of the first-place Milwaukee Brewers. Meanwhile, if you take a look at the NL Wild Card standings, the Cubs are four games back of the third Wild Card spot. More importantly, the Cubs are only three games back in the loss column.
Since Wednesday night, the White Sox have traded Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez to the Los Angeles Angels, Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Kendall Graveman to the Houston Astros. Following these trades, the White Sox farm system went from No. 23 to No. 13 in Fangraphs' rankings.
Obviously the 2023 season is no longer about winning for the White Sox, but they still do have plenty of talent around their roster. According to Bob Nightengale, who is more plugged into the organization than any other national reporter, is saying the White Sox want to compete in 2024. They're not interested in a full-blown rebuild again.
The Cubs seem to be waiting until the last possible second to make a decision on what to do at the trade deadline, although it's becoming difficult to see them become full-on sellers with the way the team has played as of late. We're not just talking a hot week against bad teams or even just a month.
The Cubs have been playing good baseball and winning a lot more often since the start of June.
Maybe they'll be more inclined to buy if they can acquire a player that doesn't just help them out in 2023, but for a few more years at a pretty affordable price. Maybe the White Sox look to acquire an MLB player that can start for them right now and for several years to come.
Here it is, another Cubs and White Sox trade proposal.
Cubs Get LHP Aaron Bummer, White Sox Get INF Nick Madrigal
Aaron Bummer is under contract through 2024, while also having club options for 2025 and 2026 that are worth $7.25 million and $7.5 million, respectively. The left-handed pitcher agreed to a five-year, $16 million extension a few years back and his total salary this year is $3.75 million and $5.5 million next year.
The results haven't been pretty for Bummer in 2023, as he's posted a 6.69 ERA in 36.1 innings. His walk rate is slightly above his career average, which is at 11% this year, but he's still striking out guys at a great clip, a 28.2 K%. Also, when you look at his 2.40 FIP and 3.30 xFIP, you get an idea of a pitcher that has been kinda unlucky.
And hey, won't you look at that, the White Sox have the worst-rated defense in MLB according to Fangraphs. Imagine Bummer's career 66% ground ball rate with Nico Hoerner and Dansby Swanson playing behind him with the Cubs? Yeah, I want Bummer on the Cubs.
From 2019-22, Bummer made 161 appearances with the White Sox. During those four seasons, the left-handed reliever recorded a 2.59 ERA, with a 27.2 K% and 71.1% ground ball rate. I mean, with that success and the ability to keep the ball on the ground, you start to compare him to guys like Zack Britton during his prime.
Meanwhile, seeing that the Cubs already have the middle of their infield locked up, plus Christopher Morel as a serviceable backup in the infield, the Cubs could trade Nick Madrigal.
And hey, guess who needs a second baseman? I know Jake Burger keeps blasting home runs on the South Side and he's now starting at second base, but do the White Sox really expect that experiment to last?
Madrigal still only is 26-years-old and has three more years of team control through arbitration.
In 53 games with the Cubs in 2023, Madrigal has put up a slash line of .278/.335/.364, with a 95 wRC+. From June 9 through July 3, Madrigal posted a 144 wRC+ with a .328/.409/.466 slash line, hitting one home run and five doubles in 19 games.
The White Sox know Madrigal can be a talented hitter. That's why they drafted Madrigal with the fourth overall pick in 2018, and then saw him hit .317, with a 111 wRC+ in a White Sox uniform from 2020-21. But I can't fail to mention that Madrigal has had trouble staying on the field and that goes back to his time with the White Sox, as well.
And again, this is mostly for fun. Just throwing out some ideas to talk about. That's the same attitude I have with the baseball trade simulator website and for whatever it's worth, at least to their model, it's a fair deal.
Let us know what you think!
Oh and by the way, this week's Pinwheels And Ivy Podcast was a special edition, as we did a live watch-along of Wednesday night's Cubs vs. White Sox game thanks to Playback. Watch it all below.
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