Another instance of a team trading with the club just ahead of them in the divisional standings. I guess when you’re 8.5 games back, like the Cleveland Indians, it doesn’t much matter that you’re helping the Chicago White Sox. And if the trade isn’t massive, you as the White Sox also don’t care too much about supplying next year’s Guardians with a ton of talent to your own detriment.
That is all to say, the Indians are getting the White Sox their long-needed second base replacement for Nick Madrigal:
The Chicago White Sox are finalizing a deal to acquire second baseman Cesar Hernandez from Cleveland, sources tell ESPN.
White Sox have long been in the market for a second baseman. And now they get one in the 31-year-old Hernandez, who is hitting .231/.307/.431 with 18 homers.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 29, 2021
Hernandez is a solid, average-to-slightly-above-average bat, and a really nice fit for the White Sox (and kinda specifically the White Sox). Hernandez hasn’t really played anywhere but second base in a long time, so I don’t know that he was obvious competition on the market for any Cubs pieces, save by way of other guys moving around (Mets, for example). He’s making $5 million this year, and it’ll be interesting to see the return relative to that salary. My guess is, if Cleveland is just trying to save some cash, the return will be a fringy guy (top 30-ish in White Sox terrible system? Or one of the up-down pitchers?).
As for Cleveland, now having clearly signaled they are giving it up, you wonder who else they put on the block. Most of their good and successful pitchers are of the controlled variety.