Grading the White Sox: Did Chris Getz get enough in trading Erick Fedde, Tommy Pham and Michael Kopech?

The prevailing reaction from Chicago White Sox fans after the team dealt three major leaguers away in a three-team trade Monday?

“That’s it?”

The White Sox looked poised to cash in at the trade deadline, expected to turn as many as six or seven or more players into a fleet of prospects that could boost Chris Getz’s long-term rebuilding project. But closing in on 24 hours till the deadline, Getz had yet to make a move. Then he shipped Erick Fedde and Tommy Pham to the Cardinals and Michael Kopech to the Dodgers in a rare three-team trade.

The return? Three guys from the Dodgers: Miguel Vargas, who had a spot on the big league roster, and a pair of 19-year-old infielders in Low A. They also got a player to be named later or cash considerations, to be comprehensive, though cash considerations went from the White Sox to the Cardinals, as well.

Yes, that’s it.

Of course, quality always has the opportunity to outshine quantity, even if the idea of trading a big leaguer, particularly one of Fedde’s caliber – the righty has been among the best pitchers in baseball this season – for prospects is to give oneself a large number of rolls of the dice.

Getz, it seems, settled for fewer lottery tickets than might have been expected, not that he’s unhappy with the quality aspect.

“We’ve done deals in the past where it was more volume-based than just perhaps some other trades that are just one or two players of higher value. In this case, it’s three,” Getz said Monday. “It was about finding players that can control the zone and have real offensive potential. … We’re a team that ranks at the bottom offensively, and so our focus was to find bats through our acquisition process here at the trade deadline. And we’ll continue.

“To be able to inject three offensive players into our organization is a wise move.”

The main focus of the return, Vargas, received a lukewarm reception from White Sox Twitter, though he’s being touted as an impact player by the White Sox themselves. Not that it’s any surprise when a GM heaps praise on someone he just traded for. But there seems to be a good deal of familiarity, considering current White Sox assistant hitting coach Mike Tosar signed Vargas when working as a scout for the Dodgers. Pedro Grifol said he’s seen Vargas train in Tosar’s backyard numerous times.

Take that for what it’s worth, of course. But Getz forecasted a hitter who impressed the team enough they believe he can be a middle-of-the-order bat.

“He hasn’t gotten a clear runway at the major league level. He’s one of the younger, brighter bats in our game,” Getz said. “He was heavily sought after last offseason by teams, certainly at this deadline. It’s a robust lineup they have over at the Dodgers, usually, and they weren’t able to run him out there on an everyday basis because of the type of talent that they have. So we’re going to get a chance to really get an idea of what he’s capable of doing, and we’re confident that he’s going to be a strong middle-of-the-lineup type hitter for us in the near future.”

So far, Vargas has been OK for the Dodgers at the big league level, below average in 81 games last season and above average in 31 games this season. The 24-year-old killed it in Triple-A, to the tune of a 1.005 OPS in 41 games earlier this year.

In 2023, MLB.com had Vargas rated as one of the top 40 prospects in baseball. That sort of ranking would have likely had many thrilled had it still been there Monday. Separated from that number by his elevation to the major league level, though, and saddled with hitting numbers that are just … fine, Vargas’ arrival didn’t generate much excitement. And that he’s accompanied by a pair of teenagers and their yearslong timeline of reaching the South Side doesn’t help.

While waiting to find out if either Jeral Perez or Alexander Albertus blossoms into something special, the trade will mostly hinge on Vargas’ ability to work his way into the core of the White Sox’ future. It’s fair to say that he has expectations of doing that right off the bat, even if no one can seem to settle on what position he’s going to play. Versatility is a plus, sure, but he’s played first, second, third, left field and DH in the majors already. The White Sox plan to continue playing him all over.

But make no mistake, he was acquired for his bat, and his ability to produce at what the White Sox are envisioning as an elite level – that’s what a middle-of-the-order bat is, right? – will be the deciding factor in whether the White Sox indeed capitalized enough on Fedde’s value.

That value was pretty darn high thanks to Fedde, who did well to carry over the success he found a year ago in Korea to the major leagues. Fedde leaves the South Side as one of the 20 most valuable arms in the sport, per fWAR, and despite his exclusion from the All-Star roster, he was All-Star caliber in the first half of the season, a consistently effective starting pitcher who soaked up innings and kept runs from scoring. He is of the utmost value to a team chasing a playoff spot, and the Cardinals are certainly happy to have him, especially considering they didn’t have to part with too much to land Fedde and Pham.

As of this moment, it feels like Fedde represented the biggest opportunity Getz had to bring talent into the organization at this deadline, what with deals sending Garrett Crochet or Luis Robert Jr. out of town seeming less and less likely. With Crochet and Robert trending toward sticking around for a little while now, fans likely realized this, and that could be what’s coloring a widely negative reaction to the three-team deal.

What was supposed to be a summer of prospect hauls might come down to a relative pittance, at least in terms of quantity, should Crochet and Robert be wearing White Sox uniforms Wednesday. Getz expects more moves between Monday evening and the deadline Tuesday evening. But what can he get for middle relievers? What can he get for Chris Flexen? What will Paul DeJong bring back in a trade? Getz actually might have told us while talking about why Pham was included in Monday’s trade.

“There was interest in Tommy Pham in a (traditional two-team) deal, so to speak, or on his own, but it wasn’t going to bring as much value as we felt we got in this deal,” Getz said. “The expiring contract, right-handed bat, in all honesty, it has its limitations on a return. That’s just how the market has been for years and was playing out this deadline. We felt like it made the most sense to get this deal to the finish line with Tommy in it.”

There might be a few more Jarel Perezes, maybe another Alexander Albertus or two. But nothing like what was talked about when the White Sox looked ready to cash in as baseball’s premier sellers.

Obviously, these types of trades take forever to appropriately evaluate. Heck, two of the guys the White Sox got Monday are 19 years old. So grading too harshly right now doesn’t make much sense.

But Getz didn’t give himself an overly high number of opportunities to be evaluated on this deal, we’ll put it that way. He traded Fedde at the right time. Time will tell if he traded him for the right guy.

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