White Sox rival makes first trade of post-lockout offseason

The Chicago White Sox play in a very interesting American League Central Division. They owned it in 2021 as they were the only team that was anything close to playoff-caliber. Some people didn’t like that but what were the White Sox supposed to do? You have to beat your division to have a chance at the World Series.

The biggest disappointment of the division in 2021 was the Minnesota Twins. You can make the claim that they were the biggest disappointment in all of baseball if you consider the team who failed to reach expectations the most.

Now, they are trying to get back in the mix as the lockout comes to a close. They made the first deal of the post-lockout offseason as they sent catcher Mitch Garver to the Texas Rangers in exchange for shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa and right-handed pitcher Ronny Henriquez.

It isn’t a blockbuster trade by any means but it is one that each team hopes to see work out for them in the long run. Garver is a very good catcher that can really hit. He has had an OPS of over .800 twice in the last two years.

He had a brutal year during the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season but he bounced back nicely in 2021. It is probably a good thing to see him head out of the division from the point of view of the White Sox.

The Chicago White Sox will see some new players in the division this year.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa is one of the two players coming to the Twins. He is a Gold Glove-caliber shortstop that has one of the more interesting offensive stat lines you’ll see. In 2021, he slashed .271/.312/.357 for an OPS of .670.

The on-base and slugging were brutal but his average was pretty good. He did somehow accumulate a WAR of 3,7, however, which goes to show how valuable he is on the other side of the ball. We will see him play at Guaranteed Rate Field this year which should be incredibly interesting.

Bob Nightengale of USA Today had an informative tweet about Ronny Henriquez who is the prospect that the Twins got back in this trade. He claims that scouts believe that he will be ready in two seasons so the Twins are still looking for another starter. That is noteworthy as the White Sox hope to stay ahead of them in every way.

Now that the first trade has been made and we have some free agents off the board post-lockout, things are going to start heating up. The White Sox really need to get in on this if they want to go from World Series hopefuls to World Series favorites.