56 minutes ago, BigHurt3515 said:

he wasn't on the 40 man though, that is a problem for after the season not when our bullpen has holes and he could possibly contribute

Hes a free agent in 3 months and would have to be added in the next 90 days before then to contribute. With the 40 man holding 48 players, you presumably only add him to the active roster for one of our ~4 righty bullpen spots that is currently Dominguez, Taylor, Hicks, and Trevor Richards.

Our right-handed bullpen situation may not be great but he'd have to leapfrog a lot of players to get there in that very short period. Off 40 man guys Pallette and Iriarte. Then 60 day IL guys due back Berroa and Thorpe. Then actual 40 man guys Shane Smith, David Sandlin, Gonzalez, Tanner Mcdougal, Duncan Davitt, Tyler Davis, Johnathan Cannon. Sure youd maybe take him above some guys there but they too are going to be victims of a roster squeeze as it is. There's also a big crunch on the left side as well in the bullpen that limits the spots because Getz loves lefty releivers.

52 minutes ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

It's the setup to get Latz

I hope you’re right but doubt it as much as you 😆

13 minutes ago, Buehrle>Wood said:

Hes a free agent in 3 months and would have to be added in the next 90 days before then to contribute. With the 40 man holding 48 players, you presumably only add him to the active roster for one of our ~4 righty bullpen spots that is currently Dominguez, Taylor, Hicks, and Trevor Richards.

Our right-handed bullpen situation may not be great but he'd have to leapfrog a lot of players to get there in that very short period. Off 40 man guys Pallette and Iriarte. Then 60 day IL guys due back Berroa and Thorpe. Then actual 40 man guys Shane Smith, David Sandlin, Gonzalez, Tanner Mcdougal, Duncan Davitt, Tyler Davis, Johnathan Cannon. Sure youd maybe take him above some guys there but they too are going to be victims of a roster squeeze as it is. There's also a big crunch on the left side as well in the bullpen that limits the spots because Getz loves lefty releivers.

But why trade him now?

14 minutes ago, BigHurt3515 said:

But why trade him now?

Why not? They've probably tried a dozen different ways to get him to throw strikes consistently, and he can't. They're limited on roster size, and the total number of players they can have in their system. Maybe the Rangers wanted him now, and they're going to need roster slots with guys like McDougal and Shane Smith starting their own AAA IL rehab assignments. Plus, you have the draft in a couple weeks, and promotions and cuts to make room for some of those guys. The Sox have been grabbing guys off of waivers and throwing them out on the mound. Nikhazy, Bido, Lucas Sims, Joe Rock, Trevor Richards. There has obviously been an opportunity for a guy like Peoples to pull it together and get some major league innings. He couldn't.

Edited July 1Jul 1 by WestEddy

It is odd, but I'll trust the Sox judgment on moving on. Peoples had a glaring problem of walking too many batters. Perhaps he refused to make the changes necessary to get called up? I'm not even going to get upset about this - they still have a lot of talent arms down there just as deserving or working their way back from injury. Wikelman Gonzalez and a resurgent Jairo Iriarte are way more exciting options to me than Peoples ever was.

Surprised some are upset about this. You can have success in the minors walking 5 guys per 9 innings but that crap isn’t going to fly in the majors. Not sure what Getz’s obsession is with stocking catchers, but I doubt Peoples is any sort of loss. He’s a lottery ticket for a reliever that couldn’t lower his walk rate and was going to be gone soon either way.

Edited July 1Jul 1 by WhiteSox2023

7 hours ago, hi8is said:

What the f***? Why are we trading relivers?
Does Peoples have some buggaboo that his numbers don't show or something??

I really haven't understood why they hadn't given him a shot in the bigs.

Also know nothing about Hartl.

This just seems odd.

A lot of walks

1 hour ago, Bob Sacamano said:

A lot of walks

Yea, after digging into his stats there was a pretty glaring 5/9 BB rate staring me in the face. 😆

33 minutes ago, hi8is said:

Yea, after digging into his stats there was a pretty glaring 5/9 BB rate staring me in the face. 😆

Yeah not sure a struggling 23-year old in High A will contribute anything ever but I guess they wanted to clear a 40-man spot.

18 minutes ago, Bob Sacamano said:

Yeah not sure a struggling 23-year old in High A will contribute anything ever but I guess they wanted to clear a 40-man spot.

Catcher development is usually slower with the bat lagging due to a focus on the defensive side of things.

2 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Catcher development is usually slower with the bat lagging due to a focus on the defensive side of things.

Plenty of exceptions to that rule of thumb. Piazza, Bench, Yermin.

28 minutes ago, oldsox said:

Plenty of exceptions to that rule of thumb. Piazza, Bench, Yermin.

You named two Hall of Famers and a flash in the pan catcher who couldn’t catch. Not sure how these are remotely apt comparisons for a guy we traded Ben Peoples for.

1 hour ago, oldsox said:

Plenty of exceptions to that rule of thumb. Piazza, Bench, Yermin.

Yermin? The guy had like 100 good at bats in his entire MLB career.

If Shane Smith and Tanner McDougal are getting closer and Sandlin has already demonstrated he can contribute at the MLB level, then Peoples was expendable. In the 1/2 half I think the Sox relief pitching will have new faces with more specific roles.

8 hours ago, BigHurt3515 said:

But why trade him now?

But why male models? I thought I explained the potential thought process of losing him to free agency in 90 days unless he jumps like 10+ other guys on the depth chart very suddenly.

Edited July 1Jul 1 by Buehrle>Wood

I don’t think trading Peoples is a big deal. He’s likely behind Davis, Gonzalez, Iriarte, and Pallette in the pecking order anyway. Why they wanted Hartl is beyond me.

To me, the return is sort of irrelevant. The fact that we got a return is a win. We got a guy that the org was familiar with and we lessened some stress on 40 man decisions we’ll eventually have to make. He’s only 23 and if he could eventually be a guy that could be a AAAA catcher, that’s a win for this trade. If nothing else maybe he provides depth eventually in AAA.

The important thing is the optics of being proactive in terms of the upcoming roster crunch and trying to get SOME sort of return for these guys we’re going to have to make decisions on.

Edited July 1Jul 1 by CityFan53

8 hours ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

Surprised some are upset about this. You can have success in the minors walking 5 guys per 9 innings but that crap isn’t going to fly in the majors. Not sure what Getz’s obsession is with stocking catchers, but I doubt Peoples is any sort of loss. He’s a lottery ticket for a reliever that couldn’t lower his walk rate and was going to be gone soon either way.

Then why did Joe Rock ever get called up? His walk rate is even worse than Peoples.

8 hours ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

Surprised some are upset about this. You can have success in the minors walking 5 guys per 9 innings but that crap isn’t going to fly in the majors. Not sure what Getz’s obsession is with stocking catchers, but I doubt Peoples is any sort of loss. He’s a lottery ticket for a reliever that couldn’t lower his walk rate and was going to be gone soon either way.

They're promoting Boston Smith to AA, so maybe that opens a slot at the lower levels they're trying to fill.

34 minutes ago, ChiSoxFanMike said:

Then why did Joe Rock ever get called up? His walk rate is even worse than Peoples.

Rock was on the 40-man. They needed a body.

Joe Rock is a giant left-hander with a funky throwing motion, I think it's obvious why the Sox were interested in him. It's like asking what somebody sees in Sydney Sweeney since she says dumb things sometimes.

Edited July 1Jul 1 by Jake

10 hours ago, Jake said:

Joe Rock is a giant left-hander with a funky throwing motion, I think it's obvious why the Sox were interested in him. It's like asking what somebody sees in Sydney Sweeney since she says dumb things sometimes.

Sydney Sweeney can speak?

On 7/1/2026 at 8:47 AM, Timmy U said:

I don’t think trading Peoples is a big deal. He’s likely behind Davis, Gonzalez, Iriarte, and Pallette in the pecking order anyway. Why they wanted Hartl is beyond me.

Relievers who can't find the strike zone don't have a high price tag.

It also leaves Duncan Davitt as the last piece of the Houser trade.

29 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Relievers who can't find the strike zone don't have a high price tag.

It also leaves Duncan Davitt as the last piece of the Houser trade.

We turned Mead into Boston Smith (who is awesome), so the trade will still live on even after Davitt’s eventual DFA.

Speaking of Boston, it’s his promotion that likely pushed them to make this trade.

29 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

We turned Mead into Boston Smith (who is awesome), so the trade will still live on even after Davitt’s eventual DFA.

Speaking of Boston, it’s his promotion that likely pushed them to make this trade.

Boston looks like he has some pop in his bat.