Back in 2014, the White Sox started a string of red paperclip trades when they sent Gordon Beckham to the Los Angeles Angels before the deadline for a player to be named later. The Angels sent A-ball starter Yency Almonte to complete the deal before the 2015 season, and after that year, the White Sox traded him to Colorado for Tommy Kahnle.
Kahnle pitched well enough with the White Sox to be a significant piece in a three-player package that also included David Robertson and Todd Frazier, but that's where their run of luck ended. Out of the four players the White Sox received from the Yankees, Tyler Clippard was the only one who pitched for them, but 1) he was already in the majors at the time of the deal, and 2) the White Sox sent him to the Astros for cash two weeks later. For all the activity spanning eight years, the White Sox started with a red paperclip, and they ended up with a Clippy.
Nevertheless, these trade chains are always fun, even when the White Sox are the ones who help kick it off for somebody else. This time around, the Nationals are the ones who appear to be swapping upwards in quick succession. First, they acquired Curtis Mead from the White Sox in an end-of-spring sale forced by Mead's lack of options. After Mead hit 17 homers in 87 games while faking it at multiple infield positions for Washington, they sent him to the Red Sox for lefty starter Connelly Early, who has initially fulfilled his top-100 prospect status by posting a 3.24 ERA over his first 21 major league starts.
It's the kind of 1-for-1 trade you seldom see, especially when both players have so much team control left. The Nats were receiving mostly raves for the deal, although Early has been on the IL due to elbow inflammation. Even then, even any second-guessing is on hold because Mead suffered a broken wrist on an HBP, which basically takes him out of action for the rest of the season.
But it might be too early to call it a true red paperclip sequence, because while Boston Smith was an unheralded sixth-round senior signing who hadn't played a professional game when the Nationals sent him to the White Sox, he's doing everything he can to make a name for himself this season.
Smith hit his eighth homer for Birmingham on Tuesday night, giving him 22 in just 75 games this season. He's now hitting .286/.449/.595 overall, but what makes him especially intriguing is the way he's improved against tougher competition:
- Kannapolis: .267/.353/.367 over 34 PA
- Winston-Salem: .288/.449/.595 over 216 PA
- Birmingham: .288/.488/.712 over 82 PA
The national evaluators are starting to take notice. Last week, Smith made his top-30 debut at No. 15 on MLB Pipeline's White Sox prospects list, and Keith Law circled back to Smith while writing up a reaction to the Mead-Early swap on Sunday.
It seems like another step in the right direction for the Nationals, and a great flip for them for an ex-prospect in Mead they picked up in what seemed like a minor trade in March. In that deal, they sent Boston Smith, drafted in the sixth round in 2025 by then-scouting director Danny Haas and scouting coordinator Jordan Missal, to the White Sox for Mead, and both players in that deal have had breakout years. Smith looks like he’ll be a backup catcher with power, and he has a chance to become a regular thanks to the athleticism behind the plate.
This all serves to remind that Mead's first trade saw him go from Philadelphia to Tampa Bay, with the Rays sending Christopher Sánchez to the Phillies in return. Perhaps every young player exchanged for him is destined for great things, and maybe Mead will overcome the false starts to hold up his end of a deal as well.
Spare Parts
- Trade deadline buzz: Cubs and White Sox in on Reid Detmers, Marlins not in full sell mode, and more -- Yahoo! Sports
- Mets' Clay Holmes pitches four innings with St. Lucie in second, and potentially final, rehab start -- SNY
Broadly speaking, the White Sox are seeking pitching reinforcements without intending to give up top prospect capital in return. Above are the two pitchers they've been most publicly tied to thus far.
So much so that David Adler makes the case that Murakami is the best hitter in the league against high velocity.
The Marlins and the Cardinals have been the NL equivalents of the White Sox, but recent rough patches have tilted them toward selling. The Cardinals might've done it either way.
The league has been hitting hard on the idea of a salary cap determined by a 50-50 revenue split with players. Except it's "baseball revenue," not overall revenue, and even that includes a lot of deductions.
MLB could take up to 17 percent of local revenues off the top annually as expenses, plus up to 22 percent of national revenues. Plus, some areas would have no expense cap, such as construction and renovation costs for ballparks, including spring-training facilities.
The league-run TV station MLB Network would have no deduction limit, and for 2027 and 2028, neither would costs from any team’s local broadcasts.
The league also wants unlimited deductions for what it broadly termed “new ventures.”
Shane Bieber hadn't issued a bases-loaded walk in his career before Tuesday, when he issued three of them in a disastrous first inning for Toronto. The White Sox are probably wondering why they couldn't have seen this version of him 11 days ago.
