MLB Trade Market Is Shifting in a Way That Could Hurt the White Sox
A crowded AL playoff picture could limit the number of sellers and drive up the price of any meaningful White Sox addition at the trade deadline.
Video Transcript
We are less than three weeks away from the MLB trade deadline right now, and the Chicago White Sox are still in first place in the AL Central.
It seems like a given at this point that the White Sox will be looking to make moves at the deadline.
Pitching is the thing they need most, help in the starting rotation, help in the back end of the bullpen.
And the White Sox have already been linked to a handful of players.
But as we get closer to the trade deadline, I believe the trade market is actually working out in a way that does not work in Chicago's favor.
This is working against the White Sox, and it all comes back to the expanded playoff format and that current landscape of the American League.
Now, on one hand, a weak American League is a beautiful thing for the White Sox.
Even if Chicago doesn't ultimately win the AL Central, a wild card berth is still very much in play.
Seattle and Minnesota are tied for the file wine-- final wild card spot right now at forty-eight and forty-nine, three games back in the standings from the White Sox.
So there is some cushion there that could keep the White Sox in the race for the long haul.
The downside of that is how many teams remain in the playoff hunt as we sit here today.
The White Sox have been linked to Sonny Gray and Aroldis Chapman from the Red Sox, who just closed the first half on a nine-game winning streak and are suddenly half a game out of a wild card spot.
I don't think Craig Breslow is going to offload talent if he can realistically get Boston into the playoffs.
The Toronto Blue Jays have been disappointing, but they battled injuries.
This is still the reigning AL champion.
They're two and a half games out of an AL wild card spot.
The Tigers, they'll be the belle of the ball at the deadline because of Tarik Skubal, and they're three and a half out.
Really, if you look at Major League Baseball right now in the standings, there are maybe seven conventional sellers and as many as twenty-three teams looking to get better at the deadline.
High demand, limited supplies is bad news for a would-be buyer like the White Sox because it takes players like Gray and Chapman off the market, but also raises the price of any meaningful acquisition.
The White Sox are a team that clearly doesn't wanna jeopardize their long-term future for the sake of making one playoff push, which is going to be exponentially harder now that, making a big swing is going to be uncomfortable for a front office in terms of the prospect capital that it will cost.
The trade deadline runs the risk of being a major disappointment to White Sox fans for this reason, because the market keeps developing in a way that I don't think is beneficial for Chicago.
