There's a 12-year-old tweet from Sam Miller that comes to mind every time the Rays make a trade ...
LOVE this trade for the Rays. Who'd they give up? And who'd they get?
— Sam Miller (@SamMillerBB) January 22, 2014
... and it's come to mind a lot of late, because the White Sox can't stop trading with Tampa Bay.
Tuesday's deal that sent Oliver Dunn to the Rays for Joe Rock was the seventh transaction between the Sox and Rays since April 2025, and the fourth to involve players going both directions. Although the Rays have that reputation for generating low-level trepidation with every trade, Chris Getz has come away no worse for the wear so far. A quick summary:
April 25, 2025: Rays purchase Travis Jankowski
The Rays needed short-term outfield help due to a spate of injuries, so Jankowski made 14 appearances and hit .258/.294/.323 for Tampa Bay before being released after three weeks.
May 27, 2025: White Sox trade Matt Thaiss for Dru Baker
The White Sox sold high on Thaiss, whose bizarre OBP-king profile got watered down as the sample size increased. Baker has been hitting his ceiling in Triple-A, so for the time being, Thaiss' legacy is my phone thinking I wanted to say his name 80 percent of the time I try to swipe-spell "thanks."
July 26, 2025: Rays purchase Tristan Gray
The White Sox used 62 players in 2025, and it would've been 63 had Gray appeared in the only game he was on the 26-man roster. Alas, the White Sox let the Rays have him, and in classic 2025 fashion, Gray got his revenge in September. He's now on the Twins.
July 31, 2025: White Sox trade Adrian Houser for Curtis Mead, Duncan Davitt and Ben Peoples
Had the White Sox retained Mead instead of trading him to Washington in a move forced by Mead's lack of options, this could have been a coup, as he's hitting .234/.368/.447 with more walks than strikeouts for the Nationals. Then again, one of the reasons why the Rays traded Mead was his lack of options, and that's the reason the White Sox sent him to DC after he was crowded out of the White Sox infield picture. Had he stayed, it's tough to say he would've gotten the playing time to emerge, because Lenyn Sosa couldn't find daylight, either.
Regardless, Davitt has already gotten one look on the White Sox roster this year. He should be back at some point, and Peoples figures to eventually join him. They didn't fit on the Rays' 40-man roster, but they're good use of space on Chicago's.
Nov. 18, 2025: White Sox trade Yoendrys Gómez and Steven Wilson for Everson Pereira and Tanner Murray
A mix of themes from previous trades, the White Sox sold high on Gómez while taking back two players who were crunched out of the Rays' roster plans. The Rays let the Twins buy Góméz from them earlier this month, while Wilson is on the 60-day IL with a back problem.
Injuries have also hampered the White Sox's side of the deal, as Murray fractured his shoulder making a diving catch and Pereira is on the IL with a pectoral strain. Both at least had a chance to show signs of utility before hitting the shelf, and while Murray is lost for the year, perhaps Pereira will reclaim his standing in a White Sox outfield that remains fluid.
Dec. 18, 2025: White Sox purchase Tristan Peters
Peters wasn't supposed to be more than a fringe part of the White Sox's MLB plans even going into the second half of spring training, but here he is, batting .259/.325/.375 with quality center field defense for a team whose first two options for the position have fallen by the wayside.
All in all, it's easy to see why Getz and Erik Neander are productive trading partners, because like cogs in a machine, they're churning in sync at complementary levels. The Rays are often overloaded with potentially useful players who can't get the playing time above the high minors, while the White Sox are cycling through journeymen who might serve an immediate purpose at the major league level, but aren't great bets for standout contributions beyond that. The Dunn deal stands alone in the sense that both players are in holding patterns at Triple-A, but either could've been acquired for cash considerations and nobody would have blinked, so they may as well be swapped for each other and save the processing fees.
Braves release Aaron Bummer
Speaking of revisiting trades, we're one step closer to being able to close the book on Getz's 5-for-1 swap with the Braves from November 2023, as Atlanta released Aaron Bummer on Tuesday.
Bummer, now 32, had posted a 7.63 and an even worse FIP thanks to a line that's failing at all the peripherals -- 15.1 IP, 18 H, 6 HR, 10 BB, 13 K. This would have been the last club option year under his original extension he'd signed with the White Sox, but the Braves reworked the deal after the 2024 season, guaranteeing and backloading the club option years with the idea of freeing up more cash in 2025. The result is a $9.5 million salary for a player who didn't make it out of May, so while Atlanta theoretically came out ahead on the trade, the way it ended on that side didn't provide a great deal of validation.
Some embers of the trade are still flickering elsewhere, as Michael Soroka is making good on his one-year, $7.5 million deal with the Diamondbacks, posting a 3.49 ERA and better peripherals over his first nine starts in Arizona, and Braden Shewmake of all people is slugging .491 for the Astros after Carlos Correa was lost for the season. But Nicky Lopez is barely hanging on as the Cubs' 26th man, while Jared Shuster was outrighted by the Cardinals for the second time this season on Monday. Riley Gowens is the last man standing on both sides now, but he's currently on Charlotte's development list after a bumpy transition to relief, so he faces an uphill climb in his quest to lend gravity to an exchange that was large, but largely inconsequential.
