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White Sox Place Davis Martin On IL With Forearm Strain

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The White Sox announced a series of moves ahead of tonight’s series opener in Toronto. They have recalled right-hander Wikelman González, a move that was reported earlier. They have also selected the contract of left-hander Jake Palisch from Double-A Birmingham. Left-hander Cam Booser has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a left shoulder strain. Right-hander Davis Martin also hits the 15-day IL, in his case due to a right forearm strain, retroactive to June 17th. Right-hander Caleb Freeman has been designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot for Palisch.

In the immediate short term, the Martin injury is quite unfortunate for the Sox. He was scheduled to start tonight’s game in Toronto, though that obviously won’t be happening now. It further hobbles a rotation that has taken a few hits recently. Jonathan Cannon landed on the IL due a lower back strain earlier this month. Adrian Houser is away from the club for a few days on the paternity list.

Without Martin taking the ball tonight, the Sox will perhaps have to cobble together a bullpen game, which is unfortunate timing. They just played a doubleheader yesterday and used eight different relievers to get through the day. Tyler Alexander was the one guy in the bullpen who didn’t throw yesterday, so perhaps he will soak up some innings tonight, while González and Palisch provide two fresh arms. The club also doesn’t have a starter listed for Sunday, with Aaron Civale going on Saturday. Perhaps Houser will be back by Sunday or maybe another bullpen game will be in order.

Putting the short-term concerns aside, it’s always unnerving when a pitcher’s throwing arm is injured. Martin underwent Tommy John surgery in May of 2023, missing that entire season. He returned last year and logged 50 innings with a 4.32 earned run average. He’s added another 80 2/3 innings this year with a 3.91 ERA. Adding to that total will be on pause for now and the Sox will presumably provide some more information about how severe the injury is and how long they expect him to be out of action.

Martin will also need to be replaced in the rotation beyond today’s game. Once Houser is back, he’ll slot in alongside Civale, Shane Smith and Sean Burke. Mike Vasil has started his last three appearances and could perhaps take Martin’s spot.

Palisch, 26, is having a decent season but seems to be something of an emergency call. An undrafted free agent signing from 2022, he has never really popped up on the radar of prospect evaluators. He came into this year with a 4.24 ERA in 97 2/3 minor league innings.

Here in 2025, he has a 1.19 ERA in 53 Double-A innings, though that doesn’t paint the whole picture. His 7% walk rate is good but his 17.4% strikeout rate is subpar. He’s benefitted from a .225 batting average on balls in play, 79.8% strand rate and 1.7% home run to fly ball rate. Regardless of what his true skill level might be, he can help the Sox eat some innings. He has thrown either five or six frames in each of his past seven appearances.

Freeman, 27, was added to the club’s roster just last month. He has since thrown 3 1/3 innings over five appearances, allowing two earned runs on five hits and a walk while striking out three. He’ll now head into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would stick with the Sox as non-roster depth. From 2021 to the present, he has thrown 166 2/3 minor league innings with a 3.89 ERA, 26.1% strikeout rate and 14.9% walk rate.

Photo courtesy of Thomas Shea, Imagn Images

White Sox To Promote Wikelman González

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The White Sox are calling up right-hander Wikelman González, reports Chase Ford of MiLB Central. The righty will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. He’s already on the 40-man roster, so the Sox will only need to make a corresponding active roster move in order to call him up.

González, now 23, was an international signing of the Red Sox out of Venezuela. He was one of four players who came to the White Sox in the Garrett Crochet trade, alongside Kyle Teel, Chase Meidroth and Braden Montgomery. Teel and Meidroth have already been promoted to the majors earlier this year, so Montgomery is the last piece still in the minors. Montgomery has a chance to eventually be the most impactful of the bunch but he was just drafted last summer and is still in High-A.

Throughout his minor league career, González has racked up strikeouts but has also given out a high number of walks. Prospect evaluators have long suggested that his lack of control would eventually push him to the bullpen and that seems to be happening this year.

He came into this year with a high walk rate of 12.6%, working primarily as a starter. He started 2025 in the Double-A rotation and made four starts there but he walked 18.2% of opponents. The Sox then pushed him to the Triple-A bullpen. Through 19 2/3 innings over 12 appearances, he has a 2.75 earned run average. Though that’s a nice ERA,  the underlying problem is still present. He has walked 18.1% of Triple-A batters faced. His ERA would look far worse if not for a .191 batting average on balls in play.

González’s promotion might be less about him forcing his way up to the big leagues and more about team need. The Sox played a doubleheader yesterday and used eight of their nine relievers, with Tyler Alexander the only one who didn’t get called upon. González may still be a work in progress but he will give the Sox a fresh arm going into their weekend series against the Blue Jays, with a good chance to make his major league debut north of the border.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

White Sox Willing To Include Cash In Trade Talks On Benintendi, Robert

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The White Sox, sporting a 23-52 record, will operate as deadline sellers once again. They don’t have as much to offer as many other potential sellers around the league — partly because they’ve already sold off many desirable assets earlier in this rebuild but also due to the significant salaries of some of their remaining veterans. To that end, Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic report that the South Siders are willing to include cash to help pay down the salaries on pricey outfielders Luis Robert Jr. and Andrew Benintendi.

Heading into the season, GM Chris Getz surely hoped that wouldn’t be necessary with regard to Robert, in particular. The 27-year-old has performed at a superstar level in the past when healthy. As recently as 2023, Robert slashed .264/.314/.542 (128 wRC+) with 38 home runs, 20 steals and elite center field defense in 145 games. That’s the only season in Robert’s career where he’s played more than 100 games, however. Injuries have repeatedly dogged the electric young outfielder, and he’s now been hitting poorly for more than a year.

Since Opening Day 2024, Robert has turned in an anemic .212/.276/.351 batting line (75 wRC+). He’s fanned in 32.5% of his plate appearances and, in 2025 specifically, been extremely prone to harmless infield pop-ups; 11 of Robert’s 155 batted balls this season (7.1%) have been infield flies.

Despite the run of awful production, there are some reasons for cautious optimism. Robert’s strikeout rate is enormous but not too much higher than the 29% he posted during that brilliant 2023 campaign. He’s also walking at a career-high 9.8% clip and chasing pitches off the plate at a career-low 31.3% rate, per Statcast. He’s hitting the ball as hard as ever, averaging 90.3 mph off the bat with a 42.9% hard-hit rate. Both are his second-best marks in any season of his career. His 11% barrel rate isn’t far behind his career 11.9% mark.

One might expect a player with Robert’s speed to slow down after a 2023 MCL injury and a Grade 3 strain of his hip flexor in 2024, but that’s not the case. Robert is 22-for-27 in stolen base attempts in 2025, and Statcast measures his sprint speed at 28.8 feet per second. That’s actually his fastest mark since his 2020 rookie year and places him in the 87th percentile of big leaguers. Given that plus speed, it’s not surprising to see Robert way up in the 97th percentile in terms of outfield range (as measured by Statcast).

Robert is hitting the ball hard, playing strong defense, showing more patience than ever before and running better than he has since his rookie season. He’s also hitting .190/.273/.303. It’s a confounding state of affairs, but as sharp as the tools may look, the results are clearly going to weigh down his trade value. Many teams with needs in the outfield would love to roll the dice on a Robert rebound following a change of scenery — just not at his current price tag.

This is the final guaranteed season of Robert’s six-year, $50MM contract, but the deal contains a pair of $20MM club options for 2026 and 2027. If he can turn things around, there’s still bargain potential. The Sox missed the boat not trading Robert coming off that 2023 season, but if they’re willing to pay down some of this year’s $15MM salary and the $2MM buyout on Robert’s 2026 club option, they could likely find a taker who’d be willing to give up some degree of prospect value. He’s a gamble, but a high-upside one who can be controlled for two more years at reasonable rates. There’s jackpot potential for a new team, and if things don’t work out in the final couple months, said club could always hit the “eject” button and decline Robert’s 2026 option.

It’s a slightly different story with Benintendi. While Robert has been on the downswing for more than a year, Benintendi has increasingly looked like his old self at the plate for more than a calendar year now. He quietly turned things around midseason last year and is slashing .251/.321/.468 with 24 homers, 24 doubles, two triples, a 9.1% walk rate and an 18.4% strikeout rate in his past 515 plate appearances. By measure of wRC+, that’s 20% better than average at the plate.

Benintendi’s speed is down a bit since his peak, however, and at 30 years old he now grades out as a below-average left fielder. A team that buys into his production dating back to last year might view Benitendi as a serviceable multi-year option in left field. However, he’s being paid $16.5MM this year and next, and his contract calls for a $14.5MM salary in 2027.

Benintendi almost certainly would command less than the two years and $31MM he’s owed for 2026-27 if he were a free agent, but he’s also no longer the total sunk cost he looked to be a year and a half into his five-year contract with Chicago. If the Sox eat half the remaining contract or more, they might well find an interested taker. Plenty of contenders and playoff hopefuls are looking for outfield help; the Padres, Royals, Reds and Dodgers have all gotten poor production from left field this year.

The ChiSox won’t necessarily need to eat salary to move some of their other available players, but speculatively speaking, their willingness to do so on Robert and Benintendi could be a sign they’re willing to do so elsewhere. Aaron Civale’s $8MM salary isn’t prohibitive, but a team looking for a fourth starter to supply innings down the stretch might be willing to give up a bit more if Getz & Co. pick up the tab on most or all of his salary. Mike Tauchman ($1.95MM) and Adrian Houser ($1.35MM) are even less expensive, but covering some of that cash could be particularly beneficial to teams angling to stay under the luxury threshold.

MLBTR Podcast: Reacting To The Devers Trade And Aaron Civale

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of D. Ross Cameron, Imagn Images

White Sox Outright Joshua Palacios

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Outfielder Joshua Palacios has been sent outright to Triple-A Charlotte, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment by the White Sox last week. He has the right to elect free agency but the tracker doesn’t indicate if he will do so.

Palacios, 29, burned his final option year in 2024. He therefore came into 2025 out of options with the Pirates. He didn’t make the Opening Day roster and eventually elected free agency after clearing outright waivers. He landed a minor league deal with the White Sox but was up in the big leagues again by April 10th.

He got into 51 games for the Sox and stepped to the plate 145 times but produced a tepid batting line of .203/.292/.305. That got him nudged off the roster and he unsurprisingly has cleared waivers yet again.

Palacios has generally performed well at the Triple-A level over the years, with a slash of .302/.389/.482 across 720 plate appearances. That has led to sporadic big league opportunities that he hasn’t been able to capitalize on. Having previously appeared for the Blue Jays, Nationals, Pirates and now the White Sox, he has received 578 major league plate appearances over five separate seasons with a .223/.287/.349 line and 75 wRC+.

As mentioned, Palacios can elect free agency but would surely be limited to minor league offers. If he stays with the White Sox, more outfield playing time should open up later in the year. Mike Tauchman, Austin Slater and Michael A. Taylor are all impending free agents, making them natural trade candidates on a bad White Sox club. Luis Robert Jr.’s deal has $20MM club options for 2026 and 2027 but those are unlikely to be picked up with the way he’s played over the past year and a half, so he’ll surely be flipped in the next six weeks for whatever the Sox can get. The team would also surely love to unload the final two and a half years of Andrew Benintendi’s contract, though it will be tough to find another club willing to absorb it.

Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images

White Sox Outright Bryse Wilson To Triple-A

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TODAY: Wilson cleared waivers and has been outrighted to Triple-A Charlotte, the White Sox announced.

JUNE 10: The White Sox announced that they have selected right-hander Grant Taylor to the roster, a move that was reported yesterday. Fellow righty Bryse Wilson has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move.

Wilson, 27, was signed in December to a one-year deal that guaranteed him $1.05MM. He was a sensible pickup for Chicago since he had experience as both a starter and a reliever. With the Brewers over 2023 and 2024, he tossed 181 1/3 innings with a 3.42 earned run average. The rebuilding Sox came into the year with a fairly young and inexperienced pitching staff and could deploy Wilson as needed, depending on how he and everyone else performed.

Unfortunately, he hasn’t really provided the club with much in either role. He has made five starts and 14 relief appearances so far this year, logging 45 1/3 innings with a 6.95 ERA. That includes a 6.23 ERA as a starter and a 7.61 mark in relief work. His 8.7% walk rate is right around average but his 12.4% strikeout rate is barely half of league par.

That performance has nudged Wilson off the roster and into DFA limbo, which can last for a week at most. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Sox can theoretically take five days to explore trade interest. However, given Wilson’s salary and performance this year, there isn’t likely to be strong interest.

If he is passed through waivers unclaimed, he will likely stick with the Sox as non-roster depth. Players with at least three years of service time have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. However, if they have less than five years of service, they have to forfeit their remaining salary in order to exercise that right.

Wilson came into this year with four years and 36 days of service. By my count, he has added 75 days so far in 2025, putting him at 4.111. That’s still 61 days shy of the five-year mark. Assuming he wants to keep the rest of that $1.05MM flowing, he would choose to report to Charlotte as opposed to electing free agency.

The Sox are 22-44 this year and will clearly be deadline sellers. Any pitcher with limited control who is putting up decent numbers should be available in the coming weeks. That includes guys like Adrian Houser, Dan Altavilla and Steven Wilson. That could further thin out the pitching staff and open further opportunities for Bryse later in the year.

Photo courtesy of Patrick Gorski, Imagn Images

White Sox, Brewers Swap Aaron Civale, Andrew Vaughn

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The White Sox acquired right-hander Aaron Civale and cash considerations from Milwaukee for first baseman Andrew Vaughn. The Brewers optioned Vaughn to Triple-A Nashville, while Civale will step directly into Chicago’s rotation. The Brewers are reportedly sending cash to offset the difference in remaining salary between Civale’s $8MM sum and Vaughn’s $5.85MM figure.

It’s a quick turnaround after Civale requested a trade away from Milwaukee on Thursday. Civale’s trade request came on the heels of the club’s decision earlier this week to bump him from the rotation in order to call up top pitching prospect Jacob Misiorowski. Civale, a free agent after the 2025 campaign who struggled a bit last year but has pitched to a 3.32 ERA and 3.92 FIP in four starts since returning from the injured list last month, evidently wants to hold onto a rotation job to set himself up for success in free agency this winter as much as possible.

The 30-year-old’s wish was promptly granted, as he’s now headed for the White Sox. The South Siders have no real hope of competing for a playoff spot this year, but with a patchwork rotation that features multiple Rule 5 draftees it’s not hard to see Civale as a potentially substantial upgrade for their starting rotation. While a team headed for their second-consecutive 100-loss campaign acquiring a rental starting pitcher in the middle of the season is a rare occurrence, one can see the logic from Chicago’s perspective given that they’ll have the opportunity to flip Civale to a club with postseason aspirations closer to the trade deadline.

The logic is particularly sound for the White Sox given the player they’re giving up in return. Vaughn was the third-overall pick in the 2019 draft and a longtime top 100 prospect, but his major league career has been a disappointment so far. He entered the 2025 season with a career .253/.310/.415 (102 wRC+) slash line at the major league level and has had just one season where he had hit at a clip substantially better than league average. Things took a more pronounced nosedive this year, as he’s slashed just .189/.218/.314 (44 wRC+) across 48 games for the White Sox in 2025. It’s the lowest on-base percentage of any player with at least 120 plate appearances in the majors this year, and his -1.3 fWAR this season is dead last among all hitters who have stepped up to the plate in the majors this season. The Sox optioned him to Triple-A Charlotte a few weeks ago and he has hit .211/.328/.351 in 15 games for the Knights since then.

That’s not a player the White Sox could expect to get a substantial prospect return for this summer, and while Vaughn has one year of control remaining after this one he currently has the look of a clear non-tender candidate. That surely made the opportunity to roll the dice on flipping a veteran starting pitcher a very attractive option for Chicago.

With all that being said, it’s not as though the deal doesn’t make sense for the Brewers. Civale no longer fit in an increasingly deep Brewers rotation mix, and his roster spot is likely better used on other arms more suited for bullpen duty than a veteran starter with zero career relief appearances. What’s more, Vaughn’s underlying numbers paint the picture of a player whose actual performance isn’t all that different from his previous seasons as a league average hitter. While he’s walking at a career-low 3.6% clip, he was never an especially patient hitter. His 22.3% strikeout rate is only a tick higher than last year, and his 13.3% barrel rate this season is actually the best of his career and four points better than last season. Vaughn’s ghastly .217 BABIP should improve with time, and with incumbent first baseman Rhys Hoskins likely ticketed for free agency this winter getting Vaughn on board as a much cheaper possible replacement makes sense.

In the shorter term, Vaughn will serve as minor league depth. The Brewers reportedly view him as a full-time first baseman/DH even though he has experience in the outfield.

Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported that Milwaukee was trading Civale to the White Sox. Jesse Rogers of ESPN reported that Vaughn was headed back to the Brewers. Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reported the cash exchange.

White Sox Claim Ryan Noda, Designate Joshua Palacios For Assignment

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The White Sox announced that they have claimed first baseman Ryan Noda off waivers from the Red Sox and optioned him to Triple-A Charlotte. Boston had designated him for assignment a few days ago. Outfielder Joshua Palacios has been designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot. Infielder Brooks Baldwin has been recalled to take the active roster spot of Palacios. There was also a swap on the pitching side, with left-hander Tyler Gilbert reinstated from the injured list and righty Owen White optioned as the corresponding move.

Noda, 29, has an extreme profile. He strikes out a lot but also draws plenty of walks and has some pop. He has done that all throughout his minor league career and then showed it at the big league level in 2023 after the A’s grabbed him from the Dodgers in the Rule 5 draft. He got into 128 games and stepped to the plate 495 times. He struck out in 34.3% of those plate appearances but also walked at a massive 15.6% clip and hit 16 home runs. That all added up to a .229/.364/.406 line and 122 wRC+.

Last year, he got out to a rough start and ended up getting optioned to the minors for most of the year. The A’s put him on waivers at the end of the season, with the Angels putting in a claim. He was designated for assignment about a month ago and got flipped to the Red Sox in a cash deal. Both the Angels and the Red Sox kept him on optional assignment.

His minor league numbers have continued along with Noda’s usual style. Dating back to the start of last year, he has 655 Triple-A plate appearances with 29 homers, a 20.2% walk rate and a 30.4% strikeout rate.

The White Sox came into this year with Andrew Vaughn as their primary first baseman. He struggled badly enough to get optioned to the minors a few weeks back. Earlier today, the Sox flipped him to the Brewers for Aaron Civale and cash. Tim Elko has been getting a lot of the playing time at first lately but is hitting .155/.222/.379. If that continues, perhaps the Sox will make a switch.

Palacios, 29, signed a minor league deal and then was added to the roster in April. He has 145 plate appearances so far this year with a .203/.292/.305 line. That now gives him a career .223/.287/.349 batting line and 75 wRC+.

Since he’s out of options, he can’t be easily sent down to the minors. He’ll now be in DFA limbo, which can last for at most a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Sox could take five days to try to line up a trade. He cleared waivers back in March and hasn’t done much to improve his stock since then, so the level of interest should be low. If he clears waivers, he will have the right to elect free agency.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images

MLBTR Podcast: White Sox Ownership, Roman Anthony, And The Diamondbacks’ Rotation

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Do the Mariners need a left-hander in the rotation? (40:45)
  • What will the Braves do with the rest of the season and would they trade Chris Sale? (45:30)
  • With the Mets seemingly having too many young infielders, who stays and who goes? (53:35)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images

White Sox To Promote Grant Taylor

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The White Sox are promoting pitching prospect Grant Taylor, reports James Fox of FutureSox. The club will have to make a corresponding move or moves to make space for him on both the active and 40-man rosters.

Taylor, 23, will be getting the call for the first time. The Sox selected him with a second-round pick in 2023, 51st overall, even though he had undergone Tommy John surgery earlier that year. Prior to that surgery, there were some who considered him the top pitcher for LSU, ahead of Paul Skenes. But Skenes obviously took off from there while Taylor has largely been on the shelf.

Taylor did make his professional debut last year, though in somewhat limited fashion. He tossed 19 1/3 innings between the Complex League and Single-A last year, allowing 2.33 earned runs per nine innings. He had a massive 44.4% strikeout rate and 2.8% walk rate in that small sample. Those outings took place in May and June. His last appearance was June 7th but he suffered a lat strain at that time, per James Fegan of Sox Machine. He did get healthy enough in time for some Arizona Fall League action, tossing 7 2/3 innings there, allowing eight earned runs but striking out 15 batters.

Despite the limited workload, he’s been generating some prospect hype. Baseball Prospectus gave him the #90 spot on their top 101 list coming into the year. FanGraphs gave him the #94 spot, hyping up his arsenal from the AFL. The FanGraphs report noted that he flashed “four average or better pitches,” noting that his fastball velocity was in the mid-to-upper 90s. He also throws a curveball, a slider and a changeup, the latter apparently being a new pitch that he didn’t have in college.

This year, it seems the Sox have been focusing on a relief role for Taylor. He started the year with six starts, though none of those went longer than three innings. Since then, he has largely been kept in a single-inning relief role. It’s hard to argue with the numbers on a rate basis. Taylor has logged 26 2/3 Double-A innings this year with a 1.01 ERA, 36.6% strikeout rate, 10.9% walk rate and 56.9% ground ball rate.

The Sox are apparently excited enough that they are going to skip Taylor over Triple-A and let him face some major league hitters, presumably in the same bullpen role he’s been in recently. It’s unclear if the Sox view that as a permanent move or just a temporary situation while he builds up a foundation of innings to build from.

Taylor hasn’t built up to a huge workload but there clearly lots of potential in the arm. Though he may be a work in progress, the Sox are in a position to experiment. Their 22-44 record is the worst in the American League and ahead of just the Rockies overall.

Though Taylor was on a few top 100 lists coming into the year, the prospect promotion incentive doesn’t apply here. To qualify for PPI, a player must be on two of the three lists between Baseball America, MLB Pipeline and ESPN. Taylor wasn’t on any of those three.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

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