Yesterday Jon Morosi tweeted out an article on the possibility of the White Sox or Padres making a trade for Jacob deGrom or Noah Syndergaard, even while in the early stages of their rebuilds. The Mets clearly aren't going anywhere anytime soon, and they desperately need to replenish their currently barren farm system. The White Sox have a top 3 farm system in baseball and have the necessary pieces to get a deal done. I wouldn't buy into the speculation, but for the sake of the argument, let's look at both sides.
Why The White Sox Will Not Make The Deal
Firstly, the White Sox started their entire rebuild by trading Chris Sale for some of the game's best prospects. Why would they now want to do the exact opposite of that not even two years later?
Second, the Mets are probably going to ask for two of either Eloy Jimenez, Michael Kopech, and Luis Robert along with a couple mid-level prospects. The thing is, the White Sox system is so deep, those mid-level prospects could be someone like Micker Adolfo, Luis Basabe, or Zack Burdi. All three of those players could all wind up being above average players on an MLB roster.
Finally, Rick Hahn wouldn't be able to work his contract magic on a possible team-friendly extension. When he inked Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, Adam Eaton, and Tim Anderson to long-term, club-friendly deals, they were still very young. No one knew at the time just how good they would wind up being, only that they all had a ton of potential. Both Syndergaard and deGrom are already established aces and would never accept a deal similar to the ones Sale and Quintana are currently on. If Hahn hypothetically did make a trade to acquire one of the two aces and chose to lock them up long term, it would all but wipe out any chance the White Sox would have of signing Manny Machado this off season.
Why The White Sox Will Make The Deal
If Hahn does get bold and decide to bring on one of deGrom or Syndergaard, then the rotation for next season could look like this:
deGrom/Syndergaard
Rodon
Kopech
Lopez
Giolito/Cease (mid-season call up?)
That rotation (assuming Michael Kopech is as good as advertised) would be one of the best in the American League. You would also have to imagine that a rotation like that would make Chicago a very lucrative free agent destination for Manny Machado and other top names should Hahn decide to not negotiate a new contract withe either deGrom or Syndergaard.
If Rick Hahn does not immediately extend whichever ace he decided to trade for, the White Sox would still have some time to compete immediately. DeGrom becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2021, Syndergaard a year later in 2022. By then, the White Sox would also have Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert, and whichever free agents they sign in Chicago, giving them a potent lineup to pair with a dominant rotation. That would give them a 3-4 year window to win a World Series before deGrom and/or Syndergaard are due for big time pay days.
What It Would Take
If I'm Rick Hahn, I don't offer any of our top three prospects (Jimenez, Kopech, Robert). If that is a deal breaker, then so be it. Jimenez can be a legitimate triple-crown threat, Kopech is supposed to be the next Syndergaard anyways, and Robert's potential could be the highest out of any White Sox prospect. If the Mets would be okay with an offer of Dane Dunning, Alec Hansen, and Nick Madrigal, I might pull that trigger. Hansen can be a future ace in his own right, and Dunning has pinpoint control and a high floor. Madrigal technically hasn't even signed yet but will be blocked at both second base and short stop for the foreseeable future. The White Sox get an ace for 3-4 years (depending on which one they trade for) and the Mets get three top 100 prospects, 2 in the top 50.
Final Verdict
It's funny because for the past two years we have been the team falling in love with other team's prospects and in this scenario, we are trying to find a package good enough to trade them away. At the end of the day, I don't think a deal between the White Sox and Mets will go down. Partly because I think the Mets are just a dumb organization and might not trade deGrom or Syndergaard to any team and eventually see them walk. They will also ask for Jimenez, Kopech, or Robert, which the White Sox will not be willing to give up. But the most logical reason is that I think it's honestly just too early. If the White Sox were on pace for 80ish wins this season I could definitely see Rick Hahn become a buyer at the deadline. The reality of the situation is that that's just not the case this year. The White Sox will probably stand pat and make their big moves via free agency. If they can bring in talent via that route and are in the thick of things at the All-Star break next year, then we can start talking about trades of this magnitude. Until then, I wouldn't get too caught up in the deGrom/Syndergaard rumor mill.
