The White Sox were very active at the trade deadline last season making a flurry of moves. One of the biggest moves Rick Hahn made was sending Joe Kelly and Lance Lynn to the Los Angeles Dodgers for pitching prospects Nick Nastrini and Jordan Leasure.
At the time of the trade, this looked like it favored the White Sox, as they were able to move Lance Lynn for more than nothing, as he was struggling tremendously and set to be a free agent at the end of the year. The same could be said about Joe Kelly, as he was also struggling and set to be a free agent.
Surprisingly, the White Sox were able to get some very solid pitchers with high potential. They would come in the form of Nick Nastrini who would rank as the White Sox 6th best prospect, and Jordan Leasure who would rank as the White Sox 19th prospect. Not a bad haul for half a season for two pitchers who were not helping the Sox at all.
Once Lynn got to the Dodgers, he would pitch a bit better, but not great overall. He would throw 64 innings for them, pitching to a 4.36 ERA. Definitely an improvement from his 6+ ERA with the White Sox, but nothing special. He would also get shelled in his one and only postseason start, giving up four home runs to the Diamondbacks in just two innings.
Lynn would then sign with the Cardinals in free agency, going back to where it all began. This was a great result for the White Sox, as the Dodgers gave up a solid prospect and Lance Lynn did not help the Dodgers achieve any of their goals.
Kelly on the other hand found himself pitching much better for the Dodgers, but he would only stay healthy enough to pitch 10 innings for them in the regular season. This was a solid acquisition for the Dodgers, as they were able to re-sign him in the offseason, but they didn’t win anything with him. They essentially gave up a much younger relief prospect to get Kelly, which could turn out to be better than Kelly. But, with the competitive window of the Dodgers, this made a lot more sense for them, making this part of the trade a wash.
On the White Sox end, Nick Nastrini and Jordan Leasure both showed signs of major league stuff in the minors after the trade and both are impressing everyone in Spring Training to this point. They will have to show that it can translate to the major leagues, but they are easily looking like the early winners of the trade.
If Nastrini becomes a solid middle of the rotation guy and Leasure is a back end of the bullpen type arm, the White Sox walk out of this trade with an A+ Neither of these things are out of the question, as both of them have shown the potential to the White Sox and their fans.
Until then, the trade sits at an A- as the White Sox were able to get a great value out of two struggling upcoming free agents.
