Chicago White Sox: 3 monster trades for Craig Kimbrel
The Chicago White Sox are having themselves a brilliant season so far. Through the first half, they have dealt with injury after injury. Despite that, they have used pitching and defense to enter the All-Star break in first place of the American League Central by 8.0 games. At 54-35, they have the best winning percentage in the entire AL. It is astonishing what they were able to do with some of the injuries they have had.
Almost all of the significant injuries have come to the starting lineup. Eloy Jimenez has yet to play a game but he will be back soon. Luis Robert is going to come back shortly after him, and Yasmani Grandal should be shortly after that. Of course, those are three significant bats in any Major League lineup.
The Chicago White Sox might look across town for some help on the market.
As a result, the White Sox might want to add some more power to their group. The Chicago Cubs are a team that they could look to for help. They are way out of the playoff race at this point and will be looking to sell off before the deadline. Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, and Anthony Rizzo will be the big names out there but there is another the White Sox might like.
That would be Craig Kimbrel. The White Sox already have Liam Hendriks in the mix but it doesn’t hurt to have multiple great relievers. When the playoffs roll around, you could never have enough pitching in the bullpen. If they were to pull off a deal for him, it might look something like this:
The Chicago White Sox may go as high as Jonathan Stiever for another reliever via trade.
The Chicago White Sox might really take a look at someone like Craig Kimbrel if they feel that they need another late-inning bullpen arm. If that happens, Jonathan Stiever might be the best they can do in a deal for a bat. He is currently thier number four overall prospect and Bryce Bush is their 20th guy. The Cubs wouldn’t get anything better than this for Kimbrel as teams know they are sellers now.
Stiever has made a few appearances for the White Sox in his short career with the organization but it is clear that there is a lot of development left to go. He is listed as the number four guy right now but he may fall just a little bit when others are added. The Cubs haven’t done a great job at drafting and developing young pitching so this might be their chance to add someone they can try again with.
As for Bush, he is just a body the Cubs would be bringing in to see what happens. He is an outfielder that the White Sox drafted in the 33rd round of the 2018 MLB Draft. The fact that he is up to their 20th prospect right now is actually pretty good for him. We all saw what someone like Yermin Mercedes can do from time to time so it is worth the risk if they are just going to cut ties with Kimbrel anyway.
The Chicago White Sox might be able to land Craig Kimbrel in a one-for-one trade.
The Cubs might be willing to do a one-for-one trade involving Kimbrel because of his contract situation along with their contender status. He would be a great fit on the White Sox right now in that late-inning role along with Liam Hendriks. Jake Burger has been a phenomenal story this year but if they were to be able to pull off a trade like this, they should absolutely consider it with 2021 in mind.
White Sox fans might not like it but Kimbrel has a way better chance of contributing to a World Series championship this year than Jake Burger. If Jake stays healthy, he could be a very good MLB player but that has to be proven over a long period of time. He would also be given a much greater opportunity on the Cubs than he would on the White Sox simply because of the depth that the White Sox currently have. This is the type of “all in” trade you might see the White Sox make over the next few seasons if they feel they are a piece away.
Burger is a great hitter but he still has a long way to go to try and reach that potential. Kimbrel could fill in for them right now and contribute some good innings late in games. If he was willing to come in and have this type of a role in the bullpen with Hendriks, it would certainly be good for everyone involved. It would be tough to see Burger go but it is worth it.
Two AAA players might be enough to land the Chicago White Sox Craig Kimbrel.
The Chicago Cubs may very well enter rebuild mode. They already sent Joc Pederson to the Atlanta Braves in a trade which tells you a lot. What they do with Bryant, Rizzo, Baez, Contreras, and Kimbrel will tell even more about their future. If they do move on from all or most of those guys, adding help in AAA would be a great first step. Kimbrel probably nets the least of those guys which would be a good thing for the White Sox here.
Luis Gonzalez and Jimmy Lambert are both playing for the Charlotte Knights right now and could be in the MLB at any time. Neither of them is going to make a significant impact at the MLB level right now but they could be used if needed. The Cubs would just be adding them so that they have more players in the system ready to develop more.
Lambert is a right-handed pitcher that has dreams of pitching in the Majors full time one day. He has appeared in four MLB games so far in his life and they didn’t go very well for him. That is expected though as he is a very young/raw talent. Gonzalez is an outfielder that also has some MLB playing time but nothing of significance yet.
Related Story. Eloy Jimenez is already in AAA. light
The White Sox may or may not make a big trade before the trade deadline but it sure sounds like they are going to. Getting another reliever for late in certain games is probably the second biggest need behind an everyday second baseman. If they get both of those things and get healthy, every team in the American League should be scared of them.