Chicago White Sox: Would you make this Kris Bryant trade?

There was some talk on the radio this week about the Chicago Cubs and what it is going to take to trade Kris Bryant. They are in a battle for first place but winning their division feels like their ceiling in 2021. They also have Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez on expiring contracts as well so it is going to be interesting to see what they do. The Chicago White Sox were part of the conversation here and the discussion revolves around them making a trade for Kris Bryant.

Would the Chicago White Sox be smart to trade for Kris Bryant during 2021?

The suggested package was Kris Bryant to the White Sox in exchange for Andrew Vaughn and Garrett Crochet. There are going to be people who get angry reading that but that is what it would take. When you look at recent history in Major League Baseball, top pending free agents like that going to contenders usually costs two top-five organizational prospects.

For example, the Cubs had to give up Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease to acquire Jose Quintana who isn’t even close to as valuable as Kris Bryant. You can say you don’t think it is worth it but any team acquiring Bryant is going to pay that steep of a price.

Would it be worth it for the Chicago White Sox? The answer, as of right now, is no. Bryant is an all-world player that is going to get paid a lot of money. If the Cubs aren’t the ones paying him, they are going to get a lot in return for him. However, the White Sox don’t need to give up players like that for someone like Bryant right now.

When Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert come back from their injuries, there is going to be a small amount of room anyway. There are a lot of good players trying to get playing time with the White Sox right now and Bryant would make that even tougher. The confidence that both of them will be back in time for the playoffs seems to be high.

There is also the aspect of the prospects like Crochet and Vaughn. In the case of Crochet, he has the potential to be a high-end starter in Major League Baseball. The White Sox are easing him in as he has had an untraditional path to the big leagues from the draft but he will be very important to them in the not-so-distant future.

As for Vaughn, he has the ceiling of a hitter like Bryant. He still has some development left to go but he has incredible talent with his bat. Once he really figures out how Major League pitchers are attacking him, the sky is the limit. There is no point to trade him with all those years of control left. Bryant would certainly be a fun player for the White Sox to get but if it costs them that much, it isn’t worth it at this time.