The Chicago White Sox made their first trade of the deadline season. With Seby Zavala playing well and Yasmani Grandal back from injury, Reese McGuire is the odd man out. He was traded to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for reliever Jake Diekman.
This is a big trade by the White Sox. They needed to dump one of their catchers very badly. Both Seby Zavala and Reese McGuire are out of options and the White Sox wanted to get it figured out without having to cut anyone.
Diekman isn’t a superstar reliever or anything like that but he is a lefty that is an option whenever they are in need of one in a game. That has been an area of need for most of the season. Now, they took care of two issues with one trade.
Diekman joins a bullpen with the likes of Liam Hendriks, Kendall Graveman, and Joe Kelly amongst others. There isn’t a lot of lefty action in there as Tanner Banks was their best lefty option before this deal. Garrett Crochet and Aaron Bummer are normally their best lefty options but they are both injured right now.
The #WhiteSox have acquired veteran left-handed relief pitcher Jake Diekman from Boston in exchange for catcher Reese McGuire and a player to be named later or cash considerations.
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) August 1, 2022
The Chicago White Sox needs Jake Diekman to be one of their best lefties now.
Diekman comes into this deal with a record of 5-1 with a 4.23 ERA, and 51 strikeouts in 38.1 innings pitched. Those strikeout numbers are awesome but he needs to be better at keeping the walks down (he has 30 of them in those 38.1 innings).
The White Sox were going to lose McGuire for nothing so getting a decent lefty reliever for him makes this a great trade for Rick Hahn.
We heard a lot about this being one of Hahn’s biggest needs going into the trade deadline. It is unclear if they are going to go for more arms but it is fair to assume that they will. This is also their first move of the deadline season.
There have been a lot of other moves made throughout the league and the White Sox are just now joining the party. There are a lot of other moves to consider but they are running out of time. There is just under a day left before the trade deadline comes and goes.