The White Sox rebuild marched on over the weekend, because the crew signed a veteran non-roster invitee and made two trades that introduced three prospects and a draft decide into the system. Most importantly, 24-year-old reliever Gregory Santos was traded to the Mariners for 23-year-old righty Prelander Berroa, 25-year-old outfielder Zach DeLoach and a “Comp B” draft decide, the 69th alternative within the 2024 draft. The White Sox additionally traded 21-year-old righty Cristian Mena to Arizona for 26-year-old outfielder Dominic Fletcher.
Let’s start with the Seattle deal, because it consists of Santos, who’s poised to have probably the most vital particular person influence in 2024 among the many gamers traded on Saturday. That is the third time he has been traded. Initially signed by Boston again in 2015, he was dealt to San Francisco for Eduardo Núñez in 2017, earlier than Santos had even pitched in the US. He spent a big portion of his time with San Francisco on the shelf, with a myriad of shoulder points and a PED suspension. Throughout his time within the Pink Sox and Giants organizations, Santos by no means pitched greater than 50 innings in a single season, even when he was being developed as a starter. His stuff was nonetheless nasty sufficient that at one level he was a Prime 100 prospect right here on the web site. The gargantuan teenager was sitting 97-100 (with out efficient motion) and bending in a plus-plus slider, primarily a hype-less Kumar Rocker.
After two seasons on San Francisco’s 40-man roster, the second once more interrupted by damage, the Giants designated him for project whereas he was pitching (poorly) for Estrellas Orientales within the Dominican Winter League final offseason. The White Sox traded 28-year-old depth starter Kade McClure for him, and he grew to become one of many few positives for them final yr. Throughout 66 innings of labor, principally in a late-inning capability, Santos struck out a batter per inning, bought floor balls at a wonderful 52% clip, and posted a 3.39 ERA. (His fielding unbiased stats had been higher than that.) The White Sox efficiently added sink to Santos’ fastball, which sat roughly 99 mph all season. He paired that sinker properly together with his dastardly low-90s slider, his most frequent providing, which he has a greater really feel for finding. His season led to mid-September, when he was shut down with elbow irritation.
The Mariners have a penchant for slider-first relievers who throw actually arduous, and pitchers whose fastballs play down regardless of premium velocity. Over the previous couple of years, they’ve traded for Andrés Muñoz, Matt Brash, Carlos Vargas, and now Santos (amongst others), and have had success with them. Santos joins Muñoz, Brash, and lefty Gabe Speier within the contender-quality assortment of relievers on the again finish of the Seattle bullpen. Santos was a rookie in 2023 and is beneath crew management for an additional 5 years.
There may be some danger concerned on this commerce for the Mariners. Santos has an intensive damage historical past, and Berroa, one of many gamers Seattle gave up, might rapidly change into about pretty much as good as Santos. That mentioned, that is nonetheless a wise transfer for the Mariners. The 2024 draft class is just not particularly robust, so that they received’t precisely miss the decide they gave to the White Sox, regardless of how good it’s. Moreover, Seattle has a surplus of lefty-hitting outfielders — amongst them Cade Marlowe, Taylor Trammell, Dominic Canzone, and the newly acquired Luke Raley — that made DeLoach expendable. Santos has a greater main league observe document than Berroa, and Santos is unquestionably extra of a prototypical huge leaguer by way of dimension and construct. What the Mariners find yourself doing with their just lately vacated 40-man spot goes to be a key element to evaluating this commerce, but it surely definitely would make sense for them so as to add to the second rung of their bullpen.
Simply because it is smart for the Mariners to accumulate Santos, so too does it for the White Sox to let him go, although he has 5 years of management remaining. Setup males are a lot much less precious for rebuilding groups than for contenders, and the South Siders received’t be in competition for no less than the subsequent few seasons. The White Sox additionally had been sensible to acknowledge that Santos’ damage historical past is such his commerce worth won’t get any increased than it’s now.
I’m not a DeLoach fan, per se. He’s a below-average nook defender with above-average energy and a below-average hit device. It’s believable, like Jake Fraley earlier than him, that with prolonged huge league taking part in time DeLoach can enhance his hit device sufficient to be a nook platoon piece, and the White Sox are one of many few groups who might need a two- or three-year window to seek out out. Nonetheless, it’s extra prone to me that he’s a Quad-A hitter.
Berroa and the draft decide, which is able to add simply over $1 million to Chicago’s draft bonus pool this yr, are each good items to accumulate. Like Santos, Berroa has additionally been traded a number of occasions. He initially signed with the Twins, who despatched him to the Giants as a part of a fairly large commerce bundle for Sam Dyson (whoops) in 2019. San Francisco then traded him to Seattle early in 2022 for upper-level depth infielder Donovan Walton. He’s a favourite of pitch information nerds as a result of his 96-99 mph fastball has plus-plus quantifiable motion and his upper-80s slider generated an unimaginable 55% miss charge in 2023, per Synergy Sports activities. He struck out 37% of opposing hitters at Double-A Arkansas and has the uncooked stuff to pitch at the back of a bullpen if he can dial in his 30-grade management.
Berroa is constructed like Jason Motte and has a equally violent and inconsistent supply. Like lots of pitchers who’ve handed by means of the Mariners and Giants techniques in recent times, he throws his slider extra usually than his fastball and has a greater really feel for touchdown it within the zone. Even so, poor command is a significant situation for Berroa, whose finest stroll charge over the past three seasons was his 12.6% mark in 2021, and he was arguably too wild for a contending crew like Seattle to depend on this yr. The White Sox, although, can afford to be affected person with him as he develops, and since Berroa is getting into his second choice yr, they’ve the pliability to maneuver him between the majors and minors.
What motivated Chicago’s commerce with Arizona, through which they moved Mena for Fletcher, is rather less apparent. There’s some roster stress placed on Mena as a result of he most likely has so as to add fastball velocity with a view to be a superb huge league starter and, now that he’s on the 40-man, he solely has his choice years to do it. It’s extra frequent for a contending crew to commerce away somebody like Mena, as a result of contenders usually don’t need a developmental participant occupying a 40-man spot. That mentioned, the Diamondbacks’ state of affairs is completely different from different contenders: As a result of they’ve sufficient pitchers who’re huge league prepared, they’ll carry Mena on the 40-man and let him develop within the minors. This transaction is a bit puzzling for the White Sox as a result of they seemingly had time to see if Mena’s velo would pop.
Mena is a great pickup for the Diamondbacks contemplating how duplicative Fletcher was on their roster. For the final couple of seasons, they’ve had a number of small-framed, lefty-hitting outfielders on their 40-man roster, and the addition of Joc Pederson added to the logjam. A full Mena scouting report could be discovered on The Board.
Fletcher debuted in late April and hit a powerful .301/.350/.441 in a 28-game huge league stint, however his .263 xwOBA was significantly decrease than his precise .340 mark. He’s a bit chase-prone, particularly in opposition to excessive fastballs. He has change into surprisingly buff for a 5-foot-9 hitter, however as he has bulked up, he has retained fluidity in his hips and shoulders, each of that are evident as he finishes his swing. The sweeping nature of his bat path means Fletcher does most of his extra-base harm in opposition to gradual stuff that he can scoop on the backside of the zone. He inside-outs lots of fastballs the opposite approach, and pitchers can restrict his harm by approaching him with warmth. Opposite to the way in which he was projected in highschool, he now has a power-over-hit profile.
Fletcher is a median runner from dwelling to first and doesn’t have the pure pace to play heart subject often, however his reads and routes on the market are ok for him to moonlight there in an emergency. He tasks as an element time nook outfielder who groups can win with, however they most likely received’t win as a result of of him. He’ll compete with DeLoach, Andrew Benintendi, Oscar Colás, and maybe Gavin Sheets for taking part in time within the nook outfield alongside franchise pillar, heart fielder Luis Robert Jr. Talking of pillars, veteran outfielder Kevin Pillar was signed to a minor league take care of an invitation to Spring Coaching over the weekend, and figures to be within the combine for at-bats in opposition to lefties if he could make the crew. Pillar is extra completed than we should always anticipate any of the gamers concerned in these trades to change into. He has someway not received a Gold Glove throughout his 11-season huge league profession. At 35, he’s nonetheless able to slugging left-handed pitching, and he joins catcher Martín Maldonado as a newly acquired vibe-cultivating veteran on a crew with a clubhouse in transition.
Berroa and Fletcher have been moved over to the White Sox prospect listing on The Board, which you will discover right here.