White Sox Make 4 Core Players Untouchable In Trade Talk

The Chicago White Sox are having another disappointing (dreadful?) season. At 38-54, they once again have no shot at the playoffs, and will be sellers at the trade deadline over the next few weeks. They have plenty of assets to deal.

But a report by MLB Insider Jon Heyman says sources have informed him that there are four "cornerstone" players who are untouchable—players they will not be considering trading:

• Luis Robert Jr.
• Dylan Cease
• Andrew Vaughn
• Eloy Jimenez 

Robert is an obvious one; the All-Star outfielder is currently in the middle of a very reasonable 6-year, $50M long-term deal that has four more years to run if the team picks up their two option years at the back end. Robert has simply been one of the top players in baseball this season, blasting 26 HR, with 51 RBIs, 62 runs scored and 8 stolen bases. He's batting .271 with an .899 OPS, and a robust OPS+ of 143. 

Cease is the ace of the pitching staff, though his numbers are not up to his 2022 Cy Young runner-up season when he went 14-8 with a 2.20 ERA. This year, he's got a 4.30 ERA with a mediocre 1.34 WHIP, but he's still considered the stopper of the rotation. He has two more years of team control through arbitration.

Vaughn and Jimenez have great offensive potential and form the other two parts of the White Sox "core four."

There are plenty of other names on the roster, however, that will be made readily available — "they plan to seriously consider deals for all (others)" writes Heyman, including the likes of free-agents-to-be Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Keynan Middleton, among others. 

Photo: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports