The Chicago White Sox got a fresh reminder this week of how painful their recent pitching exits can look in hindsight.
Dylan Cease and Chris Sale both picked up MLB.com’s Pitcher of the Month honors for July, with Cease taking the American League award and Sale earning the National League nod. Cease is now with the Toronto Blue Jays, while Sale is still doing ace work for the Atlanta Braves at 37. For White Sox fans, that pairing has to sting.
Both pitchers came through Chicago originally, and both were traded away in deals the White Sox would probably love to revisit. The Sale return has aged especially badly.
Chicago got Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Alexander Basabe and Victor Diaz back from Boston, but the list of real payoff is thin. Moncada had a couple of solid seasons, but never matched the hype that came with him.
Kopech turned in good numbers in 2021 and 2022 before being dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2024. Basabe stalled at Double-A, and Diaz never made it past High-A.
The Cease deal brought back Drew Thorpe, Samuel Zavala, Jairo Iriarte and Steven Wilson from San Diego. Thorpe, now 25, made his MLB debut in 2024 after jumping from Double-A to the White Sox big league club.
Injuries have slowed him down, but he returned to Double-A just this past Thursday and threw four innings, striking out five and allowing one hit. He’s expected to move up to Triple-A and could be a wild card in the White Sox playoff push.
Zavala is hitting .217 with a .704 OPS in 92 Double-A games this year, his first time reaching that level. Iriarte debuted in the majors in 2024 and pitched in six bullpen games for Chicago, though he has mostly been in Triple-A over the last two seasons.
Wilson, acquired as a 29-year-old reliever, pitched in the White Sox bullpen for the last two seasons and is with the Tampa Bay Rays this year.
The broader White Sox picture only sharpens the regret. Since moving Sale in 2016, Chicago has made the playoffs twice, losing in the first round in 2020 and in the ALDS in 2021. Since trading Cease before the 2024 season, the White Sox have missed the playoffs in each of the last three years and lost 100-plus games in all three.
Cease’s July was as dominant as it gets. He piled up 46 strikeouts in 36 innings, posted a 1.00 ERA and a 0.72 WHIP.
He also came close to no-hitters twice. On July 8 in San Francisco, he carried a no-hit bid into the ninth before allowing a single to the first batter he faced in the bottom of the inning.
He was pulled after eight official innings, having struck out 11 and walked three. Seventeen days later, he did it again at Fenway Park, where he threw nine innings, allowed one hit, struck out 12 and walked three.
Cease also got the start for the American League in the All-Star Game, becoming the first Blue Jays pitcher to do so since Hall of Famer Roy Halladay.
Sale’s month started unevenly. On July 4, he allowed three runs on seven hits over five innings at home against the Mets, including two home runs.
After that, though, he settled in and gave up only three earned runs the rest of July. Over the month, he logged 27 innings, struck out 34 and finished with a 2.00 ERA and a 0.72 WHIP.
For Toronto and Atlanta, there’s nothing to second-guess. For Chicago, the what-if is hard to ignore.
In Other News...
Blue Jays Catching Depth Suddenly Looks More Valuable Than Ever
With catcher prices climbing around the league before the trade deadline, Toronto had a reason to take a close look at its own depth chart. Brandon Valenzuela drew interest as clubs scrambled for help behind the plate, and the market only reinforced how hard it can be to find even a short-term fix at the position. Deals involving the Angels, the Red Sox and other teams underscored the premium on catchers, making Torontos depth look like more than just a nice-to-have.
Alejandro Kirks presence as the Blue Jays long-term catcher helped shape that decision, giving the club a clear answer at the top of the depth chart while allowing it to hold onto Valenzuela. For a team that understands how quickly catching depth can disappear, the choice to keep him was less about standing pat and more about preserving an asset in a market where the demand is obvious and the supply is thin. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jays Add Intriguing Starter But One Part Of This Trade Stings
Spencer Arrighetti gives the Blue Jays something they can always use in a rotation search: a young right-hander with upside and years of control. The trade that brought him over from Houston, with Daulton Varsho going the other way, also fits Torontos broader push to keep adding arms that can matter beyond just the next few weeks. Arrighetti had spent his entire big league career with the Astros, so this is a significant change for a pitcher who knew one organization and one clubhouse.
What makes the move sting a little is the human side of it. Arrighetti spoke emotionally about leaving the team he had only ever played for, and he now has to make a fresh start in a different market while working his way back from injury. The Blue Jays are betting that the long view is worth it, since he is under team control through 2029, but the immediate picture still depends on how quickly he gets healthy and settles in once he returns. [Read more 🡒]
Kevin Gausman Just Left Blue Jays Fans With An Emotional Message
Kevin Gausmans exit from Toronto closed one chapter for the Blue Jays, but it did so with a message that landed more like a farewell than a breakup. After being dealt to the Chicago Cubs, Gausman took time to thank the organization and the fans who embraced him, giving the kind of parting note that tends to stick with a clubhouse and a city long after the transaction is filed away.
The right-hander is already moving on to his next stop, with a Cubs debut set for Friday against the Kansas City Royals, yet his words suggested Toronto will not be just another stop on the itinerary. For Blue Jays fans, it leaves the deal feeling a little less final than most, with the emotional part of the story still hanging in the air. [Read more 🡒]