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White Sox Rumors

White Sox Release Gus Varland

By Darragh McDonald | August 9, 2025 at 7:10pm CDT

The White Sox have released right-hander Gus Varland, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He was designated for assignment earlier this week when the Sox selected infielder Jacob Amaya.

A release was inevitable once Varland entered DFA limbo. A trade wasn’t possible since the deadline had passed. Varland was also on the minor league injured list at the time of his DFA. Injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers.

He’ll now head to the open market and see what offers await him. He won’t be able to help any club in the short term. Per Scott Merkin of MLB.com, a forearm strain sent him to the IL earlier this year. James Fegan of Sox Machine reports that Varland now has a lat strain, suggesting he may be out for the rest of the year.

Clubs should still be interested in Varland as a long-term play. The 28-year-old has some major league success on his track record. Overall, he has a 4.82 earned run average in 46 2/3 innings, but his most recent big league stretch was better than that. The Sox claimed him off waivers from the Dodgers in August of last year. After that claim, he went on to toss 20 1/3 innings for the Sox down the stretch with a 3.54 ERA, 28.2% strikeout rate, 4.7% walk rate and 40.4% ground ball rate.

Here in 2025, he had a rough spring and started the season on optional assignment in the minors. He made just two appearances before landing on the IL. He tried rehabbing in June but that rehab assignment only lasted six appearances. Varland will still have an option remaining after this season and less than a year of service time. Even though he can’t help this year, teams will be interested in him for 2026 and beyond.

Photo courtesy of Stan Szeto, Imagn Images

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Chicago White Sox Transactions Gus Varland

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White Sox Notes: Cannon, Alexander, Perez, Robert

By Anthony Franco | August 8, 2025 at 10:13pm CDT

The White Sox optioned starter Jonathan Cannon to Triple-A Charlotte this afternoon. They recalled Wikelman González and will work with a nine-man bullpen for the time being.

Aside from a three-week injured list stint in June, Cannon has held a spot in Chicago’s rotation all season. The former third-round pick has struggled to a 5.34 ERA with below-average peripherals in 19 appearances. Cannon’s 17.7% strikeout rate and 1.69 home runs per nine innings are both concerning. He has hit a particularly rough stretch of late, giving up 18 earned runs on six longballs over his past three starts.

Cannon, a second-year player, entered the season as one of the more experienced pitchers in a very young rotation. He made 23 appearances as a rookie. Cannon turned in a 4.49 ERA with a 17.4% strikeout rate during his debut campaign. If he spends at least 20 days in the minors, this will be his second of three option years.

Scott Merkin of MLB.com writes that Tyler Alexander will take the bulk work when Cannon’s turn through the rotation comes up next week against the Tigers. Alexander has worked in multi-inning relief since signing with Chicago in early June. He has turned in a 2.89 ERA across 37 1/3 innings. Alexander has gotten up to 3-4 innings out of the bullpen. He’ll slot behind Shane Smith, Aaron Civale, Sean Burke and Davis Martin in Will Venable’s rotation.

It might not be long before Martín Pérez rejoins the group. The veteran southpaw tossed four innings and 58 pitches in a rehab start with Double-A Birmingham this evening. That was his second rehab start as he works back from elbow inflammation that sidelined him in April. Pérez had made four starts before the injury, posting a 3.15 ERA while striking out 22% of batters faced. A return in the next couple weeks would allow him to make five or six more appearances before he heads back to free agency.

Meanwhile, GM Chris Getz spoke with reporters on Friday about the team’s decision not to trade Luis Robert Jr. (link via Vinnie Duber of The Chicago Sun-Times). The general manager talked about a desire to build around up-the-middle talent, also highlighting catchers Edgar Quero and Kyle Teel and a potential middle infield pairing of Colson Montgomery and Chase Meidroth.

Getz included Robert in that group. “We are excited about having Luis Robert in the White Sox organization. … When he’s playing well, the team is seemingly playing well and we are getting wins,” he said. “He’s a guy we like having in this organization, and we are planning on having him as part of the future.” None of that comes as a surprise after they elected to hold him beyond the deadline. Robert had started the season terribly, at least against right-handed pitching, but has mashed at a .365/.435/.554 clip since the beginning of July.

While that wasn’t enough to convince other teams that he’d found his star form, it has seemingly pushed the Sox into planning to exercise their $20MM club option. That could change if Robert slumps in the final six weeks, but not trading him wouldn’t make sense if the Sox don’t think there’s a good chance he’ll play well enough to be worth the option price. They could shop him again in the offseason or carry him into next season with the continued hope that he’ll play well enough to rebuild his trade value. His contract contains an additional $20MM team option for 2027.

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Chicago White Sox Jonathan Cannon Luis Robert Martin Perez Tyler Alexander

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Poll: Who Had The Best Deadline In The AL Central?

By Nick Deeds | August 8, 2025 at 12:09pm CDT

The trade deadline has come and gone. While trade season was slow to get started this year, when all was said and done, there were several dozen trades made in a flurry of movement over the final few days before the deadline arrived. The full impact of these trades won’t be known for years to come, but that doesn’t mean we can’t analyze the deals and decide whose haul looks the best right now. Over the next week-plus, MLBTR will be running a series of polls asking which club in each division had the best deadline. So far, the Phillies, Reds, Padres, and Mariners have each come out on top in their respective divisions. Today, we’ll be continuing on with the American League with the AL Central. A look at each of the five clubs, listed from best to worst record in 2025:

Detroit Tigers

The Tigers have the biggest lead in their division in all of baseball, and that might have led them to a much more cautious deadline than previously expected. Aside from a handful of minor trades of players (Matt Manning, Dietrich Enns, Brewer Hicklen) who had been squeezed off of the 40-man roster, the Tigers acquired seven pitchers across six trades. It was clearly a quantity over quality approach, however, as the rotation was deepened by adding Charlie Morton (5.42 ERA at the time of the trade) and Chris Paddack (4.95 ERA at the time of the trade) to the back of the staff.

That pair of starters was joined by five relievers: Randy Dobnak, Codi Heuer, Rafael Montero, Paul Sewald, and Kyle Finnegan. Dobnak and Heuer have both made just one MLB appearance this year. Montero carried a 5.40 ERA when he arrived in Detroit, and Sewald won’t pitch again until September due to injury. That leaves Finnegan and his 95 ERA+ in a Nationals uniform this year as the most impactful addition of the Tigers’ deadline this year, at least on paper. While Detroit added plenty of pitching depth to the roster without surrendering any of the prospects within their Top 15 according to Baseball America, it’s hard not to see a quiet deadline in what could be Tarik Skubal’s penultimate season with the club as a potential missed opportunity.

Cleveland Guardians

The Guardians’ performance this trade season must be viewed in the context of the potentially franchise-altering reality that struck just days before the deadline: superstar closer Emmanuel Clase, a potential trade candidate and foundational piece of the Guardians’ roster, was placed on administrative leave as part of a sports betting investigation. That news not only severely damaged whatever hopes the Guardians may have had of making it to the playoffs this year, but also took one of their most valuable trade chips off the market.

That led the Guards to make just two trades this summer: one that shipped Sewald to the Tigers for a player to be named later or cash, and a second one that sent Shane Bieber to Toronto for right-hander Khal Stephen. Both trades were sensible moves. Stephen is a particularly well-regarded prospect to receive for a pitcher who hasn’t thrown at the big league level this year, and the Sewald trade cleared the remainder of a currently injured rental reliever’s $7MM salary. Bigger than the moves they did make, arguably, is the ones they did not: outfielder Steven Kwan and star reliever Cade Smith, among other rumored trade candidates, remain in Cleveland as controllable building blocks for the future.

Kansas City Royals

Despite sitting around .500 for the majority of the year, the Royals were actually the most aggressive buyer in their division. They made their intention to eschew selling clear when they extended Seth Lugo on a deal that could keep him in town through the end of the 2028 season. Aside from locking up Lugo, the Royals deepened their lineup and pitching staff.

A trio of controllable, starting-caliber arms were brought in to join Lugo and Michael Wacha in the short-term while providing depth behind Cole Ragans and Kris Bubic for the future. Bailey Falter was acquired from the Pirates, while the Royals surrendered backup catcher Freddy Fermin to the Padres in a deal that netted both Stephen Kolek and Ryan Bergert. Aside from those rotation additions, the club made a trio of rental acquisitions to try and boost the offense. Adam Frazier is unlikely to be a needle-mover, but both Mike Yastrzemski and Randal Grichuk have been impactful complementary pieces for playoff clubs in the past.

Even if the Royals end up missing the postseason, they won’t have lost much by pushing in this year; their best trade chip (Bubic) suffered a season-ending injury shortly before the deadline, and No. 15 prospect (per Baseball America) Yunior Marte was the top young talent they surrendered (in return for Yastrzemski).

Minnesota Twins

The Twins completely changed the trajectory of the trade deadline when they kicked off a massive fire sale. The club made ten trades in total while moving 11 players out of the organization. Paddack and Dobnak were shipped to Detroit in a deal for catching/first base prospect Enrique Jimenez that also cleared the remainder of Dobnak’s low-cost but ill-fated $9.25MM extension off the books. Rentals Willi Castro, Harrison Bader, and Danny Coulombe were shipped out in deals that should help to fill out the middle ranks of the Minnesota farm system. Fellow rental Ty France was packaged with dominant young reliever Louis Varland to bring back a big league-ready outfielder, Alan Roden, and Triple-A southpaw Kendry Rojas (The new No. 7 prospect in the Twins’ revamped system, according to MLB Pipeline).

Varland wasn’t the only star reliever to move. The Twins traded both Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax to the Phillies and Rays, respectively. Duran netted a pair of top-100 prospects from the Phils, who surrendered catcher Eduardo Tait and right-hander Mick Abel to get the deal done. Jax was traded away in a one-for-one swap that brought back young starter Taj Bradley. A slightly less impactful bullpen arm with control remaining was also moved when Brock Stewart was shipped to the Dodgers in a deal for post-hype outfielder James Outman. Of course, the most shocking trade of the deadline was the Twins’ decision to deal Carlos Correa back to the Astros in what amounted to a salary dump. 26-year-old High-A southpaw Matt Mikulski was the only player who Correa brought back to Minnesota, even as the Twins ate $33MM of the $103.5MM Correa is owed going forward.

On the one hand, the Twins undeniably did well with the return for several of the players they moved. Abel, Bradley, and Rojas form a wave of young, upper-level starting pitching talent that could impact the team as soon as 2026. They should form an organizational strength in conjunction with young arms like Simeon Woods Richardson, Zebby Matthews, and David Festa going forward. On the other hand, dumping two-thirds of Correa’s salary for no prospect return and decimating a bullpen that has been a major strength are tough pills to swallow for fans.

Chicago White Sox

The White Sox had a surprisingly quiet deadline for one of the league’s most obvious sellers. They acquired Will Robertson and Blake Sabol while dealing away Tristan Gray in three separate cash deals with the AL East, though none of those moves is much of a needle-mover. Outside of those minor transactions, they added a rental veteran starter in Aaron Civale and change-of-scenery first baseman Andrew Vaughn to the Brewers in order to get the deal done. Vaughn has blossomed (albeit in a small sample) with Milwaukee, which would surely be easier for fans in Chicago to swallow had the White Sox managed to flip Civale for a prospect return. Civale is pitching well of late but remains on the South Side.

The White Sox made just two sell-side trades ahead of the deadline. Outfielder Austin Slater was shipped to the Yankees in a deal that brought back right-hander Gage Ziehl (the club’s new No. 14 prospect, per Pipeline), and the biggest deal of the club’s deadline sent righty Adrian Houser to Tampa. In return for Houser, the White Sox brought in infielder Curtis Mead, Triple-A reliever Ben Peoples, and Triple-A starter Duncan Davitt. Davitt seems likely to be a back-end starter or swingman in the mold of Houser. Peoples seems unlikely to be more than a middle reliever. Still, it’s a solid return for a rental arm signed in-season, particularly when considering that Mead was a consensus top-50 prospect in the sport just a few short years ago. Chicago didn’t make many trades for a selling club, but the ones they made look like strong ones.

Most surprising was the South Siders’ decision to hang onto Luis Robert Jr. The talented center fielder finally began to come alive at the plate in early June, and many thought the Sox would capitalize on his first productive stretch since 2023 to bring in some young talent, even if it meant paying down Robert’s contract. Instead, they held onto Robert and will now consider picking up the first of two $20MM club options for the 2026 season. If Robert keeps raking down the stretch, it may prove to bring a better return in the long run (assuming he eventually is traded), but there’s plenty of risk in this approach.

No division in baseball did less buying than the AL Central this year. While the Royals made some savvy additions and the Tigers at least bolstered their depth, no impact additions were made as the Guardians, Twins, and White Sox all focused on selling at varying levels. Who did the best of this quintet during trade season? Have your say in the poll below:

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Chicago White Sox Cleveland Guardians Detroit Tigers Kansas City Royals MLBTR Originals MLBTR Polls Minnesota Twins

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White Sox Select Jacob Amaya, Designate Gus Varland For Assignment

By Darragh McDonald | August 7, 2025 at 12:35pm CDT

The White Sox announced today that infielder Chase Meidroth has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to August 4th, with a right thumb contusion. Infielder Jacob Amaya has been selected to take his place on the roster. To open a 40-man spot for Amaya, right-hander Gus Varland has been designated for assignment.

Meidroth’s injury actually dates back over a week. On July 30th, he was hit on the hand by a pitch from Taijuan Walker, as seen in this clip from MLB.com. The club evidently didn’t think it was a serious issue, as they didn’t put him on the IL right away. However, he hasn’t started a game since then. He did play on Sunday, entering as a defensive replacement in the ninth inning.

Presumably, the thumb hasn’t healed as hoped, so the Sox will give him some more rest. IL stints can be backdated by three days if the player hasn’t played in that time frame, which the Sox have done here, so Meidroth could be back in a week if his condition improves.

While he’s been out, Colson Montgomery has moved over from third to shortstop, with Brooks Baldwin taking over at the hot corner. Curtis Mead, Lenyn Sosa and Josh Rojas have been splitting first and second base duties.

Amaya gives them an extra infielder to have on hand. He has 62 games of big league experience, mostly having played shortstop but also with some second base sprinkled in. He’s also played some third base in the minors. He’s considered a good defender but hasn’t hit much, with a .144/.176/.158 line in the big leagues. He is out of options and got passed through waivers earlier this year. Since then, he’s been hitting well in Triple-A, with a .291/.402/.464 line in 132 plate appearances. He struck out in 28.8% of those trips to the plate but also walked at a 15.2% pace.

He’ll try to carry some of that over to the big leagues. His out-of-options status may give him a tenuous hold on a roster spot. On the other hand, Mead can still be optioned while Rojas is having a terrible season and is on pace for a non-tender at season’s end. When Meidroth returns, perhaps Amaya could stick around since he’s still relatively young and years away from qualifying for arbitration.

As for Varland, he was optioned to the minors in mid-March, ahead of Opening Day. He made two Triple-A appearances before landing on the minor league IL due to a forearm strain, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com. He started a rehab assignment in June but that lasted just six appearances before he was shut down. James Fegan of Sox Machine says Varland is out for the year.

The trade deadline has passed and injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers, so the Sox will have no choice but to release Varland. Though he’s hurt now, he could garner interest from other clubs based on his past results. He tossed 20 1/3 innings for the Sox last year with a 3.54 earned run average, 28.2% strikeout rate, 4.7% walk rate and 40.4% ground ball rate. He will still have one option season after this year and has just under a year of service time.

Photo courtesy of Peter Aiken, Imagn Images

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Chicago White Sox Transactions Chase Meidroth Gus Varland Jacob Amaya

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Rays Claim Jesse Scholtens

By Darragh McDonald | August 4, 2025 at 2:55pm CDT

The Rays announced that they have claimed right-hander Jesse Scholtens off waivers from the White Sox and sent him to Triple-A Durham. Chicago designated him for assignment yesterday. The Rays also announced that catcher Matt Thaiss, who was designated for assignment a few days ago, has cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Durham. Scholtens effectively takes the 40-man spot recently vacated by Thaiss.

Scholtens, 31, made his major league debut in 2023 but hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since then. He underwent Tommy John surgery in February of 2024, which led to him missing that entire season. He spent a decent chunk of 2025 on the injured list as well. Once he was ready to come off the IL, the Sox optioned him to the minors.

His major league track record consists of 85 innings tossed in a swing role a couple of years ago. He made 11 starts and 15 relief appearances for the Sox with a 5.29 earned run average, 15.4% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate and 41.3% ground ball rate.

Since those numbers don’t jump off the page, the Rays are presumably more interested in his minor league work. From 2021 to 2023, he tossed 231 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level. Most of that was in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, as Scholtens was in the Padres’ system through the end of 2022. Over those three years, he had a 4.58 ERA but his 24.3% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate were both better than average.

He hasn’t yet been able to get back to that level. This year, he has thrown 36 minor league innings with a 5.25 ERA, 19.4% strikeout rate and 7.7% walk rate. But as mentioned, he’s coming back from Tommy John and is perhaps still ramping up. Scholtens still has options and hasn’t yet qualified for arbitration, so he’ll give the Rays some cheap Triple-A pitching depth for now. The club has a decent track record of helping pitchers maximize their results, so perhaps they can sprinkle some of their magic dust on Scholtens in the coming years.

Thaiss, 30, was also acquired by the Rays from the White Sox. Chicago had a bit of a squeeze behind the plate and sent Thaiss to the Rays in May for minor league outfielder Dru Baker. Thaiss got into 25 games for the Rays, backing up Danny Jansen, but he slashed just .225/.304/.282 for a wRC+ of 69.

Tampa shook up their catching spot recently. They traded Jansen to the Brewers but also acquired Nick Fortes and Hunter Feduccia, squeezing Thaiss out of the picture. Since he’s out of options, he got pushed off the 40-man.

His offense has occasionally been intriguing since he draws so many walks but he also strikes out a lot and his defense behind the plate isn’t especially well regarded. There has been enough interest for him to bounce around the league in the past year, going from the Angels to the Cubs, White Sox and Rays in small deals, but every club declined to give him a roster spot this week.

Thaiss has a service clock between three and five years. That means he has the right to reject an outright assignment but has to forfeit his remaining salary commitments in order to do so. He is making $1MM this year, with roughly $300K still to be paid out. Understandably, he had accepted this assignment to keep collecting the rest of that money. He’ll give the Rays some non-roster catching depth for now.

If he’s not added back to the 40-man by the end of the season, he’ll have the right to elect free agency, as is the case for all players with at least three years of service who are removed from a 40-man roster during a season.

Photo courtesy of David Reginek, Imagn Images

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Chicago White Sox Tampa Bay Rays Transactions Jesse Scholtens Matt Thaiss

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AL Notes: Thornton, Buxton, Rays, Vargas

By Mark Polishuk | August 3, 2025 at 11:06pm CDT

The Mariners placed Trent Thornton on the 15-day injured list on Friday, and announced that the right-hander will miss the rest of the season due to a torn left Achilles tendon.  Thornton had to be carted off the field after he suffered the injury in the ninth inning of Thursday’s 6-0 M’s win over the Rangers, as the reliever fell while leaving the mound to cover first base on an Adolis Garcia grounder.  Follow-up tests revealed the unfortunate and expected news of an Achilles tear, and while a specific recovery timeline isn’t yet known, Thornton could be in jeopardy of missing some time at the start of the 2026 season.

Thornton has a 4.68 ERA over 42 1/3 innings for Seattle this season.  A few particularly rough blowups have inflated his ERA, but his 17.8% strikeout rate is well below Thornton’s 26.2 K% from 2024.  Owed a raise from his current $2MM salary in his final year of salary arbitration, Thornton will probably still be inexpensive enough that he won’t be non-tendered this winter, barring an unwelcome injury diagnosis.  Since coming to the Mariners in a trade from the Blue Jays prior to the 2023 deadline, Thornton has been a workhorse out of Seattle’s pen, with a 3.65 ERA over 140 2/3 innings.

More from around the American League…

  • Byron Buxton firmly denied any possibility of a trade away from the Twins back in mid-July, stating that he would use his contract’s no-trade provision to remain “a Minnesota Twin for the rest of my life.”  It probably isn’t surprising that Buxton hasn’t changed course just a few weeks later, but in the wake of the Twins’ deadline selloff, Buxton reiterated to the Athletic’s Dan Hayes and other reporters that “nothing’s changed.  It’s just part of baseball.  It’s the business side of it.  Just cause we go through these tough roads or whatever, it is what it is.  We’ll be better once we get on the other end of it and figure things out a little bit more….But I ain’t going nowhere.”  Buxton is owed roughly $49.6MM through the end of the 2028 season, and he has full no-trade protection until the end of the 2026 campaign.
  • Most of the Rays’ deadline moves saw the team obtain either big leaguers or big league-ready talent in return, which was the team’s stated goal in any deal involving controllable talent heading out of Tampa.  President of baseball operations Erik Neander told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times that the Rays received “a lot of interest” in some veteran players, but “that wasn’t going to happen for A-ball prospects this time around.”  The intention is to keep the team competitive for 2026 but also not robbing this year’s team of a chance to make a late run.  The Rays have dug themselves into a hole with their dismal play over the last five weeks, as the club is now 55-58 and sit five games back of the final AL wild card berth.
  • Miguel Vargas was a late scratch from Saturday’s White Sox lineup, and the team placed the corner infielder on the 10-day injured list today due to a left oblique strain.  While oblique problems are difficult to diagnose in terms of a timeline, Vargas’ strain is believed to be mild, so he could only miss a couple of weeks.  A very streaky season has evened out to a 97 wRC+ for Vargas over 439 plate appearances, with 13 home runs and a .229/.305/.402 slash line in Vargas’ first full season in Chicago.
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White Sox Release Noah Syndergaard, Penn Murfee

By Mark Polishuk | August 3, 2025 at 7:06pm CDT

The White Sox have released right-handers Noah Syndergaard and Penn Murfee.  Syndergaard’s release was announced today, while Murfee’s MLB.com profile page indicates he was let go on Friday.

Syndergaard signed a minor league deal with Chicago in late June, which marked his first contract with any team since he was released by the Guardians in August 2023.  Despite some interest from teams during the 2023-24 offseason, Syndergaard ended up not pitching anywhere in 2024, so the Sox started him off with some rookie ball outings just to get acclimated back to game action before reporting to Triple-A Charlotte.  Syndergaard had a 2.93 ERA over his 15 1/3 frames of Rookie League work, but then was hit hard for a 10.13 ERA over two outings and eight innings at the Triple-A level.  The ugly numbers in Charlotte included only two strikeouts, and a rather incredible five homers allowed.

While eight innings is obviously a small sample size, it was enough for the White Sox to decide to move on from Syndergaard, putting the former All-Star at yet another career crossroads.  Syndergaard turns 33 later this month, and it is fair to wonder if retirement could be a possibility.  Despite his past pedigree, the amount of time it took for him to land even a minor league contract could indicate that evaluators simply doubt he can ever regain any of his past effectiveness.

A frontline member of the Mets’ pitching staff during his prime years, Syndergaard has never really recovered from a Tommy John surgery that sidelined him for virtually all of the 2020-21 seasons.  He pitched decently well in posting a 3.94 ERA over 134 2/3 innings for the Angels and Phillies in 2022, but rather than approach his old form or at least settle in at a mid-rotation arm, Syndergaard regressed in the form of a 6.50 ERA in 88 2/3 frames with the Dodgers and Guardians in 2023.

Murfee is another pitcher whose career was interrupted by a major arm injury.  After posting a 2.70 ERA for the Mariners in his first 83 1/3 career big league innings, he underwent UCL surgery in June 2023, and some elbow discomfort kept him from making his return late in the 2024 season as a member of the Astros.

The White Sox claimed Murfee off waivers from Houston last November, marking the fourth time in a 13-month that the right-hander had changed teams on the waiver wire.  Murfee made his return to the Show in the form of 12 2/3 innings of 7.82 ball for the White Sox earlier this season.  Chicago outrighted the hurler to Triple-A in early May, and while Murfee had a respectable 4.09 ERA over 22 innings for Charlotte, he has recorded more walks (18) than strikeouts (16).

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Chicago White Sox Transactions Noah Syndergaard Penn Murfee

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White Sox Claim Bryan Hudson, Elvis Peguero

By Nick Deeds | August 3, 2025 at 1:21pm CDT

The White Sox have claimed left-hander Bryan Hudson and right-hander Elvis Peguero off waivers from the Brewers. Right-hander Jesse Scholtens was designated for assignment to make room for the duo on the 40-man roster, and both Hudson and Peguero were optioned to Triple-A Charlotte.

A longtime Cubs farmhand, Hudson returns to Chicago on the other side of town after departing the North Siders following the 2022 season as a minor league free agent. He signed a minor league pact with the Dodgers for the 2023 campaign and was called up to the roster in June of that year, but struggled badly with a 7.27 ERA in six appearances for Los Angeles. Hudson was designated for assignment by L.A. in the 2023-24 offseason, but was traded to Milwaukee before being placed on waivers. He was a key part of the Milwaukee bullpen last year with a 1.73 ERA and 3.60 FIP across 62 1/3 innings of work. That dominant showing didn’t continue into 2025, however, as he surrendered a 4.35 ERA and walked an eye-popping 22.1% of batters faced in 10 1/3 innings for the Brewers this year.

Peguero, 28, made his big league debut with the Angels back in 2021. After struggling with Anaheim in 19 2/3 innings across parts of two seasons, Peguero was included in the Hunter Renfroe trade and joined the Brewers for the 2023 season. He provided solid but unspectacular middle relief for Milwaukee in his first two years pitching for the club, posting a 3.20 ERA and 3.92 FIP across 111 appearances while striking out 21.1% of his opponents and walking 11.1%. He took a step back this year, however, and pitched to a meager 4.91 ERA with a microscopic 13.9% strikeout rate in 7 1/3 innings before he was designated for assignment.

Now, both pitchers figure to join a White Sox bullpen in need of veteran arms. Hudson will compete with Brandon Eisert, Tyler Gilbert, and Tyler Alexander to serve as one of the bullpen’s lefty hurlers, while Peguero’s competition will be optionable righties like Jordan Leasure and Owen White. Meanwhile, Scholtens departs the roster after pitching to a 5.29 ERA with a 5.31 FIP in 85 innings of work back in 2023. He’s not appeared in the majors since then, however, and has struggled to a 5.28 ERA in 29 innings of work at Triple-A this year. The White Sox will now have one week to pass him through waivers. If he clears, they’ll have the opportunity to outright him to the minors as non-roster depth for the remainder of the season. Scholtens will be able to elect free agency after the season if not added back to the 40-man roster before then, should he be outrighted.

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Chicago White Sox Milwaukee Brewers Transactions Bryan Hudson Elvis Peguero Jesse Scholtens

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Orioles Claim Ryan Noda Off Waivers

By Leo Morgenstern | August 2, 2025 at 3:14pm CDT

The Orioles have claimed first baseman and corner outfielder Ryan Noda off waivers from the White Sox, both teams announced. Baltimore has several open spots on the 40-man roster following the trade deadline, so no corresponding move was necessary. Noda has been optioned to Triple-A. It had not been previously announced or reported that he was placed on waivers. The White Sox also announced that right-hander Jesse Scholtens has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A Charlotte.

Noda, 29, made his MLB debut as a Rule 5 pick with the A’s in 2023. It wasn’t hard for him to convince them to keep him on the 26-man roster all year, as he showed good power and great plate discipline en route to a .770 OPS and 122 wRC+. He hit 22 doubles and 16 home runs, and his 15.6% walk rate would have led the AL had he taken the seven more plate appearances he would have needed to qualify. Unfortunately for Noda, he could not keep it up the following year, and after a dismal start, he ended up spending most of the season at Triple-A Las Vegas.

The Angels claimed Noda off waivers following the 2024 season, but he failed to earn a spot on the Opening Day roster in 2025. After six weeks of continued struggles with Triple-A Salt Lake, he was designated for assignment and traded to the Red Sox. Barely two weeks later, it was the Red Sox’s turn to DFA him and the White Sox who scooped him up. It was with Chicago that he finally made his season debut. He appeared in 16 games with the White Sox in June and July, going 3-for-34, though he still managed to draw an impressive 10 walks.

Now the Orioles will give Noda a chance as depth. Considering how many bats they traded away at the deadline, it’s hardly out of the question that he could earn a call-up at some point later in August or September. It would certainly help if he starts hitting better at Triple-A than he has so far this year. In 58 games, he is batting .194 with a 103 wRC+. He’s had no trouble drawing walks, but he strikes out a ton. Noda is only two years removed from being an above-average major league bat, but he’s quickly losing the goodwill that season earned him. Figuring out how to punish minor league pitching like he once did would be a great first step as he looks to get back on track.

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Baltimore Orioles Chicago White Sox Transactions Jesse Scholtens Ryan Noda

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White Sox Select Corey Julks

By Anthony Franco | August 1, 2025 at 8:19pm CDT

The White Sox announced a few moves before tonight’s series opener with the Angels. They selected outfielder Corey Julks onto the roster and activated Shane Smith from the 15-day injured list. Chicago optioned outfielder Will Robertson to Triple-A Charlotte. They already had an opening on the active roster for a pitcher after trading Adrian Houser to Tampa Bay yesterday. Smith will take the ball tonight.

Robertson had just been recalled on Wednesday after the Sox traded Austin Slater to the Yankees. That subtracted a right-handed bat from their outfield. They’ll reset that balance by bringing up the righty-hitting Julks in place of Robertson, a lefty bat. Julks is a 29-year-old who made 93 appearances with the Astros as a rookie two seasons ago. Chicago acquired him last May in a minor trade. He made 66 appearances and hit .214/.275/.306 with three home runs.

That unsurprisingly was not enough for Julks to hold his roster spot all winter. He went unclaimed on waivers and remained with the organization in a non-roster capacity. Julks hit his way back to the big leagues with an impressive .295/.373/.470 slash line in Charlotte. He has connected on 10 home runs and stolen 13 bags while taking walks at a solid 10.3% clip. Julks can’t really play center field, but he can take some at-bats against lefty pitching form the left-handed hitting corner outfield duo of Andrew Benintendi and Mike Tauchman.

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Chicago White Sox Transactions Corey Julks Shane Smith

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