10 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

Peoples is mildly interesting. Davitt is basically AAA filler.

Peoples can probably pitch in the bullpen this year.

12 minutes ago, Whisox05 said:

 

 

I know who none of these guys are, but EVEN BETTER!

 

11 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

Peoples is mildly interesting. Davitt is basically AAA filler.

If he can ever stop walking the world.  But that type of return is to be expected.

10 minutes ago, Quin said:

Ayyyy yo?

Anyone got deets on these guys?

Davitt stinks and is just AAA filler. Peoples is a fairly interesting arm but is probably a straight C level as a prospect. Maybe he turns into a decent middle reliever.

Peoples looks like he could give us BP innings soon if not now?

Converted reliever, LHP, 2.65 ERA in AAA with a solid 9.4 K/9 over 37.1 IP

9 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

I know who none of these guys are, but EVEN BETTER!

 

Neither does Bruce based on the fact that he misspelled two names.

10 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

Ben Peoples Minor Leagues Statistics | Baseball-Reference.com

Duncan Davitt College, Amateur & Minor Leagues Statistics | Baseball-Reference.com

FanGraphs calls Davitt a depth starter

Quote

Davitt was a funky low-slot guy at Iowa who has successfully been turned into a backend starter prospect in pro ball. His arm slot has been raised some, and he’s throwing strikes with a rise/run fastball and sweeper; both play as average thanks to Davitt’s ability to hide the ball. He’ll have a sneaky 40-man case nine months from now if he can find a third viable pitch. 

Peoples was Tampa's #38 prospect for Fangraphs:

Quote

38. Ben Peoples, SIRP

Drafted: 22th Round, 2019 from Giles County HS (TN) (TBR)

Age	23.8	Height	6′ 1″	Weight	180	Bat / Thr	R / R	FV	40

Tool Grades (Present/Future)

Fastball	Slider	Changeup	Command	Sits/Tops
55/60	45/50	40/55	30/40	93-96 / 98

Peoples is a whippy-armed righty who signed for $350,000 back in 2019 rather than go to Xavier. He has been developed as a starter since entering pro ball, but he’s struggled enough with his control to invite a projection to the bullpen, especially now that his 40-man platform year has come and gone. Peoples carried a 1.16 WHIP and 3.42 ERA across 12 2024 Double-A starts before he was shut down with an injury in mid-June and didn’t pitch the rest of the season. He has looked healthy during 2025 Cactus League play, as Peoples has been sitting in his usual 93-96 mph range coming out of the bullpen.

A loose, fluid athlete with a beautiful arm stroke, Peoples’ arm action was shortened in 2023, but he’s still had trouble throwing strikes. He creates near perfect backspinning action on his fastball, which lives above the zone, and off of that Peoples tries to drop hard, upper-80s slider/cutters into the top of the box. He lacks a plus secondary weapon right now, but his changeup looked good in limited 2024 action, and that pitch might have another gear with time and increased usage. We’re betting on Peoples’ athleticism and delivery here, and still think he has a future as a fastball-heavy up/down reliever who has a chance to entrench himself in a more regular big league role if one of his secondary pitches improves.

 

Pretty solid return for a guy who was sitting on his couch two months ago.

13 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

Yeah, looks like it.  He’s just turning 25 in October.  Play Vargas and Mead everyday at the corners.  I guess they wanted Tauchman for next year cuz he’s cheap, but I’d rather see what Danger Will can do in RF.  I guess they can both alternate the corner OF and DH with Benintendi, but Robertson should get a lot of playing time.

Keeping tauch is almost as egregious as not trading houser to me.

31 minutes ago, Buehrle>Wood said:

Only thing I dont like about this is that we seem very adamant to move Vargas off 3B, where I think he has been fine and provides the most value at.

Are we sure Mead isn’t targeted for 1B?

9 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Keeping tauch is almost as egregious as not trading houser to me.

It just tells me the Sox aren’t spending much this offseason.

10 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

People have been citing it as a market inefficiency without actually supporting it with anything but feels. 

Still love this return as much opinions on Houser are pretty known. 

I have been saying and doing those things.  And yes, as I mentioned previously, I think there is real value to be had by acquiring certain post hype guys who were once high-end prospects (think 55 FV types) who haven’t been given extended runway.  I don’t have empirical to back up the claim, but I also think there are a lot of guys like this who never get those additional chances to fail because their teams were good and couldn’t afford to give them the playing time to work through their issues.  This kid is at like 330 major league plate appearances despite spending parts of five years at AAA.  As a rebuilding team we can offer up playing time and see if that final piece of development in the majors is all that is missing from him becoming a useful piece.  So yes, I think this might be a unique market inefficiency that we are afforded from being so bad.

5 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

It just tells me the Sox aren’t spending much this offseason.

they basically just spent 20 million on luis robert

19 minutes ago, Autumn Dreamin said:

Oh?

What now??

Love the caveat "former top prospect."

Hope Robert goes into the tank for the rest of the season and they just give him the buyout...needs Moncada phantom injury.

Then can pop up the last week or two of the season.

Edited July 31, 2025Jul 31 by caulfield12

Mead: 

24 years old but a long time in the minors due to signing young as an amateur out of Australia. Rays were going to have to make a tough decision soon because he's running out of options.

Statcast shows us serious bat speed potential, will slot in as third-highest bat speed on the Sox after Robert and Colson. This is a prerequisite for power hitting. Other info from Statcast regarding raw tools: not a strong runner, comparable speed to a guy like Lenyn Sosa. Around league average, so it's not a major detractor to his game but probably means he's not an obvious candidate to convert to outfield. Also, his average and maximum throwing velocities in the infield are low, matching scouting report claims that he has a weak arm. 

Statcast defensive metrics have him within a stone's throw of average across his various experiences. A bit below average last year, a bit above this year (has played 2B better than 1B). The vast majority of his minor league experience is at 3B with some reps at 2B. He suffered an arm injury once he became a major leaguer which may have affected his ability to be a full-time 3B going forward.

As a prospect, he had a reputation for serious problems with chasing pitches out of the zone but having a natural feel for hitting that helped cover for it, especially paired with his raw power. This season, he has drastically cut back his chase rate in the majors, well below MLB average. That said, it's not all roses — he's become more passive in general, taking a lot of strikes even down the middle. His rate of contact is quite high, just a tick short of the elite contact bats like Meidroth. His .317 xwOBA is close to league average, but he has had mildly bad luck in his actual results. At the time of his recent demotion, he was trending in a good direction. He has reverse splits this season but that was not the case in the past, so more likely a sample size thing.

Once you get into the particulars you will see numerous differences but there are definitely echoes of the Miguel Vargas acquisition here. He's probably higher risk and higher upside.

 

16 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I have been saying and doing those things.  And yes, as I mentioned previously, I think there is real value to be had by acquiring certain post hype guys who were once high-end prospects (think 55 FV types) who haven’t been given extended runway.  I don’t have empirical to back up the claim, but I also think there are a lot of guys like this who never get those additional chances to fail because their teams were good and couldn’t afford to give them the playing time to work through their issues.  This kid is at like 330 major league plate appearances despite spending parts of five years at AAA.  As a rebuilding team we can offer up playing time and see if that final piece of development in the majors is all that is missing from him becoming a useful piece.  So yes, I think this might be a unique market inefficiency that we are afforded from being so bad.

Yeah, I don't see it. In your example, 55fv guys that don't get extended run usually have a very good reason for it, since a majority are given long leashes, which led to their future projections to tank. I have significant doubts there's a market edge in a space where there's a ton of data out there. Once you get to the big leagues and put in 400-500+ AB's, the projections tighten -- the error bars don't get wider. Harder to find edges there but who knows.

I don't want this to be an indictment on this deal, as I like it.

Edited July 31, 2025Jul 31 by Look at Ray Ray Run

12 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Keeping tauch is almost as egregious as not trading houser to me.

Guy is having a career year and they don't trade him. He's 34 with another year of control, but you're so far from contending that keeping him for next year really doesn't do much for you. 

13 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

Are we sure Mead isn’t targeted for 1B?

Possible but his profile reads more like utilityman

Safe to assume Mead is on the 26-man?  Maybe (hopefully) a Rojas DFA.

11 minutes ago, bobbydanks said:

they basically just spent 20 million on luis robert

Yep, and Tauchman will be in RF with perhaps Mead at 1B.  Doesn’t seem like they will be spending on starting position players in the offseason.

"relief prospect Ben Peoples and Triple-A pitcher Duncan Davitt, a source told MLB.com"

rest of Houser deal

 

Rays also traded Taj Bradley along with Littell from rotation these last two days...

more cost savings lol

Feel sorry for Rays' fans as well.

15 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Keeping tauch is almost as egregious as not trading houser to me.

Again, betting that 35 injury prone guy to be healthy and productive again, seems crazy.

10 minutes ago, hogan873 said:

Safe to assume Mead is on the 26-man?  Maybe (hopefully) a Rojas DFA.

They just traded a major leaguer (Houser) for a major leaguer (Mead) and two minor leaguers.  It should be an even swap of roster spots.  Not that Getz shouldn’t DFA Rojas anyways.  🤣

Edited July 31, 2025Jul 31 by WhiteSox2023

15 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

It just tells me the Sox aren’t spending much this offseason.

The OF market is brutal…is much better the following year.