Chicago

White Sox

Feinsand adds that the Orioles were in on the Blake Snell sweepstakes before the veteran lefty inked a five-year deal earlier this week with the Dodgers — who we’re never going to rule out as a potential landing spot for anyone these days — and would make sense as a trade partner for the White Sox given their cornucopia of prospect talent. Crochet cemented his status as an elite fantasy contributor with last season’s breakout campaign, leading all big-league starters with a staggering 35.1 percent strikeout rate across 146 innings (32 starts). It’s going to take a considerable haul to pry him away from the White Sox, but the Orioles and Red Sox make sense as logical destinations, especially if they come up empty in their pursuit of upper-echelon veteran free agent aces like Corbin Burnes and Max Fried.

The Phillies only have one opening in their starting rotation with Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suarez, and Cristopher Sanchez returning in 2025, but it seems that they are intent on taking a big swing to fill it. Bohm is 28 years old and coming off three straight solid seasons but seems to be capped as a .280 hitter with 15-20 home run power, so it’s unclear if that profile would excite the White Sox. Especially with the Orioles and Red Sox are allegedly open to trading some of the top 15 prospects in all of baseball. It’s still early days, but the Phillies seem intent on shaking up their lineup, and Nightingale reports that “if the Phillies trade Bohm, they are expected to make a strong play for Alex Bregman, whose talent and personality would fit in perfectly with the team, or perhaps sign Willy Adames and move him over to third base.”

The 27-year-old latched on with the White Sox in August of last season and went on to hit .256/.358/.402 with a pair of homers and seven RBI in 95 plate appearances at Double-A Birmingham. He’ll continue to function as auxiliary infield depth for the White Sox.

He adds that those aren’t the only four teams interested in the 25-year-old left-hander. Crochet’s trade deadline value was up in the air because of workload issues in his return from Tommy John and because of his move from the bullpen to the rotation. Now, though, it’s less complicated; he’s simply a young pitcher with ace ability and two years of control left before free agency. The White Sox are almost surely going to move him and net themselves an outstanding return. They’re focusing on top position prospects now after targeting young pitchers in previous trades and at the top of the draft.

Montgomery is considered not just one of the top prospects in the Chicago system, but one of the best shortstop prospects in the sport. He did struggle in 2024 however with just a .710 OPS in Triple-A, but there’s still big-time upside in his bat. Carela has a chance to make starts in 2024 after reaching Double-A and forging a 3.71 ERA over 23 starts.

Slater was typically a very useful platoon outfielder for the Giants, but he’s coming off a poor age-31 campaign in which he hit .209/.321/.266 in 212 plate appearances. Signing with baseball’s worst team here will probably get him some extra playing time as he looks to rebound. Slater has hit .271/.364/.429 against lefties and .229/.316/.333 against righties in 634 career games.

After missing the entire 2022 season and being limited to only 12 2/3 innings at the big league level in 2023 while battling back from injury, Crochet stepped into the White Sox’ rotation in 2024 and performed as one of the top overall pitchers in all of baseball. The 25-year-old left-hander compiled a 3.58 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and a 209/33 K/BB ratio across just 146 innings in his 32 starts. A very popular name in off-season trade talks, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Crochet donning a new jersey before the 2025 season begins.

Crochet is the most appealing trade target for any franchise looking to significantly upgrade their starting rotation mix and the White Sox are looking to capitalize with his trade value seemingly at an absolute apex. The 25-year-old southpaw, who has two years left before reaching free agency, finished last year’s breakthrough campaign with a strong 3.58 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 209/33 K/BB ratio across 146 innings (32 starts). He’ll command an astronomical prospect haul, but there should be several organizations willing to meet Chicago’s asking price.

Lopez has opted to test the free agent waters instead of accepting an outright minor league assignment following his removal from Chicago’s 40-man roster. The 29-year-old infielder remains a stellar defender, but hasn’t offered much at the dish for fantasy purposes in several years. He would make sense in a bench role on a contending roster, but he’s highly unlikely to make any sort of contribution for fantasy managers, regardless of where he winds up.

Peralta went unclaimed on waivers earlier this week after being removed from Chicago’s 40-man roster. The 26-year-old lefty boasts respectable 4.37 ERA, 1.66 WHIP and 29/18 K/BB ratio across 35 innings (25 appearances) in the big leagues over the last two seasons. He should be able to find another opportunity somewhere else in short order, but might have to settle for a minor league pact with an invitation to spring training.