The Chicago White Sox have had a lot of good battles with the Kansas City Royals over the years. Being AL Central Division rivals, they have seen each other in bunches.
One player that has always been good in the rivalry is Salvador Perez. Of course, he has been a top player in the game for a long time now.
Perez is an eight time All-Star, five time Gold Glove Award winner, four time Silver Slugger Award winner, World Series champion, and World Series MVP.
He is truly one of the best catchers of his generation and is likely to be a Hall of Fame player one day. If he were on the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox instead of the Kansas City Royals, he'd be an even bigger and more well-known star than he already is.
Salvador Perez has been a really good player for a long time in MLB.
Here we are in 2023 and he is still a very good player but he isn't the superstar he once was. At 33 years old, he has some good years left but the days of being one of the best players in the league are gone.
Royals entertained offers for Salvador Perez. Not completely dead, but very unlikely he is moved. Marlins had interest so did non-contending White Sox, owing to relationship with mgr Pedro Grifol and team control thru 2025 with 2026 club option.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) August 1, 2023
A rumor came out from Joel Sherman of the New York Post that the Royals have entertained offers for Perez. Obviously, they'd be trading a franchise icon which is significant. He has team control through 2025 and a club option in 2026 so he'd be more than a rental.
He named the Marlins as a team with interest but he also said that the White Sox were a team that thought about it.
That would make absolutely no sense whatsoever. After trading some of their best pitchers, trading assets for a 33 year old catcher just makes no sense. Yeah, he is friendly with Pedro Grifol from their time together in Kansas City. That is absolutely not a reason to make a move like that.
If the White Sox were a contending team that needed a catcher or DH, fine. They are not. They are actually very bad and don't been to be paying Perez all that money while being a terrible team.
This would be the most "White Sox move" of all time but it just makes no sense. They shouldn't even have Yasmani Grandal on the roster anymore. It is about getting younger and better not older and slower.
Hopefully, this rumor stays just that. A rumor. Sherman did not that it is "unlikely" that Perez gets dealt at all. We'll see.