Rumor: White Sox Getting Squeezed in Trade Talks

The Chicago White Sox have been ravaged by injuries. Fortunately, Jose Abreu only suffered a bruised knee after he was hit by a 96mph fastball on the weekend, and he said today he's ready to play. Chicago's string of injuries hasn't gone unnoticed amongst other teams around the league though. 

Ever since losing second baseman Nick Madrigal for the season two weeks ago, the White Sox have been desperate to bring in a solid replacement. The problem is, their potential trade partners, the Arizona Diamondbacks, know it. Jon Heyman told a Chicago radio show on Monday that the trade with Arizona for Eduardo Escobar has been held up because the DBacks have jacked up the price. 

"They are asking for a lot," said Heyman. "My understanding is the names (Jake) Burger and (Zack) Collins have come up. I think they’re probably off the table. They’ve probably moved on to others. But I think they sense that the White Sox are a little bit desperate."

And one look at the standings is clearly indicative of that desperation. The Sox have lost 7 of their last 10 games, and now lead the Indians by just one game in the loss column. "In the last nine games, they’ve scored 27 runs. That’s not great," continued Heyman. "Obviously, their (division) lead has slipped a bit. They’ve been decimated by injuries, particularly in the outfield but certainly with Madrigal out for the year, they could use an infielder. I think Arizona probably smells blood in the water."

Although Heyman still thinks a deal gets done here, Escobar isn't the only fish in the 2nd base sea. As we reported last week, the White Sox have also reached out to the Pittsburgh Pirates about Adam Frazier, another second baseman having a strong offensive season. 

Either way, the ChiSox intend to have a shiny new second baseman in place before long, and we'll continue to update this story as it happens.   

Photo Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports