Things are looking bleak for the White Sox.

There’s no escaping it at the moment—the Chicago White Sox are a dumpster fire. Less than three years removed from a 93-win season and an AL Central division title, the Pale Hose are the first team in baseball to reach 20 games under .500, with little promising talent at the big league level and MLBPipeline’s 20th-ranked farm system.

In short, it’s fair to say things are bleak on the South Side of Chicago at this moment in time. But the good news (if there is any) about the White Sox being so bad is that they have the first go at the trade market this season and can sell off their pieces at as high a price as possible. And since the farm system clearly needs replenishment, it’s essential the White Sox stockpile as much young talent as possible before the 2024 Trade Deadline.

Chicago kicked off its firesale Wednesday by sending Robbie Grossman back to the Texas Rangers, where he won a World Series just last year. Today, let’s send all the other valuable assets the White Sox should realistically trade to teams that will make better use of their talents and project what the prospect packages would look like in return.

Trade Eloy Jiménez ANYWHERE

Yesterday, we ran the Rangers’ version of this piece in which we declared Eloy Jiménez would make a mighty fine Arlington resident. But there are six to eight other teams who should at least consider sending the White Sox a couple of solid prospects for Jiménez, because at his best, Jiménez has game-changing power that every organization covets in today’s MLB.

It’s fair to say Jiménez isn’t having a very good start to 2024. His .626 OPS and -0.3 bWAR tell that story pretty clearly. But he’s still in the 79th percentile of average exit velocity, which is at the bottom end of what his normal expected range would be. He owns a career .802 OPS and averages 33 home runs per 162 games, which alludes to his real problem: health. The teams interested in acquiring Jiménez would all have varying levels of concern about his injury history and that will likely affect the quality of offers heading Chicago’s way.

Even with all those concerns, the Rangers, Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Seattle Mariners, and Washington Nationals all have negative WAR from the DH position and have at least marginal odds of making the playoffs. There are other teams, still, like the Chicago Cubs and Tampa Bay Rays, who are in need of right-handed power and don’t have set DHs. The White Sox should hold out, at least for now, for one of these teams to offer up a top-ten prospect in their current system to secure Jiménez.

Trade RP Michael Kopech to Orioles

Mandatory Credit: Rafael Suanes-USA TODAY Sports
Aside from Jimenez, Michael Kopech might be the most tantalizing piece the White Sox have to create a bidding war with this season. A former top prospect with a triple-digit fastball, Kopech never quite panned out as a starter, but he’s fully transitioned to the bullpen in 2024 and his stuff is back to being electric. He’s got 25 strikeouts in just 17.1 innings and has 99th percentile average fastball velocity at 98.9 mph.

Any number of pitching coaches would love to get their hands on Kopech. The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers both have reputations for getting the most out of relievers from other organizations, so those are good options as well. But the Baltimore Orioles seem to be all-in on the 2024 season, they have a shaky closer situation with Craig Kimbrel’s spotty performance and diminished velocity and they, of all teams, have the prospect depth to make all the trades they need to solidify their roster for this year’s stretch run.

In an ideal trade, the White Sox would get either Cade Povich or Seth Johnson back from Baltimore. They are the ninth- and 10th-ranked prospects respectively in Baltimore’s system and are both close to big league ready. But there are also younger prospects further down the list that could fit Chicago’s timeline better, so Luis De León and Jackson Baumeister are reasonable pieces for the Orioles to send in the trade as well.

Trade SP Erick Fedde to Red Sox

For starting pitchers in the trade market, the Boston Red Sox have to be near the top of the list of desirable places to be traded this season, because new pitching coach Andrew Bailey is working wonders with an unheralded cast of hurlers in the Red Sox’ rotation. He’s turned former swingmen Kutter Crawford and Tanner Houck into potential All-Stars, so for those looking to get paid in the future, Bailey is a great bet to get the most out of any particular arm.

Erick Fedde is on a two-year deal, so he isn’t an impending free agent looking to get paid right away, but that actually benefits both sides. It gives Fedde a season and a half to develop under Bailey and the Red Sox’ pitching braintrust and it gives the Red Sox a piece they know will be around in 2025 in case the team falls out of contention. Heck, if this deal gets done soon, the Red Sox could even trade Fedde again before the 2024 deadline with improved stats and increased value.

And the surest sign that Fedde would be a good 2024 Red Sox? He pretty much never throws four-seam fastballs, only five of them all season. That’s an approach Bailey and the Boston pitchers have embraced this season, and Fedde has very good expected stats against his sweeper, cutter, and splitter. All the stars are aligning for Erick Fedde to change the color of his Sox in exchange for a mid-tier prospect or two. Allan Castro and David Sandlin are good potential targets for Chicago to seek from Craig Breslow and Co.