The Chicago White Sox play in a very interesting American League Central Division. The Cleveland Guardians won it in 2022 after the Chicago White Sox had one of the most disappointing seasons of any team in the league.
The Minnesota Twins had the lead in the division for most of the year but the White Sox and Guardians ended up passing them in the month of September. Their collapse was always going to have consequences during the offseason.
One of those consequences came on Friday afternoon when they made a big trade. Minnesota sent Gio Urshela to the Los Angeles Angels in exchange for Alejandro Hidalgo.
#MNTwins make the following roster move: pic.twitter.com/i5A5TUybsI
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) November 18, 2022
Urshela had a pretty good year for the Twins in 2022 but they felt the need to move him in an effort to change things up after what happened to them in the standings. He only ended up spending one year with them after being dealt there by the New York Yankees in the offseason prior.
The Chicago White Sox are seeing teams in the division make big moves.
Alejandro Hidalgo is 19 years old and has a few more years of development in the minors ahead of him. This was a classic case of the Twins shedding some salary in an effort to use thier money elsewhere. In the process, they add a very young right-handed pitcher.
We know that Carlos Correa is probably going to leave the Twins to get a huge contract in free agency which is going to be one of the biggest stories of the entire offseason.
Neither of these two things happening to them makes them a better baseball team so it will be interesting to see what the corresponding moves are.
The White Sox will certainly do what they can within their budget to make their team better but it isn't the Twins that they are chasing. Yes, seeing them get worse will be nice because the White Sox have to play them a lot but it is the Guardians that are the problem now.
This was certainly a news-filled day for the Twins though as they made this trade just a few hours after revealing some sweet new jerseys. It will be fun to see what other activities the White Sox division rivals will be up to in the coming weeks as the hot stove season really heats up.