On Thursday, the Chicago White Sox dealt closer Joakim Soria and cash northward to the Milwaukee Brewers for lefthander Kodi Medeiros and righthander Wilber Perez.
Soria is in the middle of a streak of 24 out of 25 appearances without an earned run. He earned 16 saves this season with the White Sox, after breaking camp without being the defined closer.
Here’s the White Sox release:
CHICAGO – The Chicago White Sox have acquired left-handed pitcher Kodi Medeiros and right-hander Wilber Pérez from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for right-hander Joakim Soria and cash considerations.
Medeiros, 22, is 7-5 with a 3.14 ERA (36 ER/103.1 IP), 107 strikeouts and a .234 opponents average (90-384) in 20 appearances (15 starts) for Class AA Biloxi this season. His 3.14 ERA is the seventh-lowest in the Southern League among qualified pitchers. The former first-round pick by the Brewers has allowed three runs or less in each of his last 10 outings (nine starts), going 3-3 with a 2.04 ERA (12 ER/53.0 IP), 64 strikeouts and just three home runs. Medeiros, 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, is limiting left-handers to a .160 average (16-100), and opponents overall to a .188 mark (9-48) with RISP/two outs this season.
A native of Hilo, Hawaii, Medeiros was selected by the Brewers in the first round (12th overall) of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft out of Waiakea (Hawaii) High School. He was rated by Baseball America as the No. 6 Prospect in the Milwaukee system entering the 2016 season. Medeiros has gone 23-33 with a 4.69 ERA (223 ER/427.2 IP), 412 strikeouts, three saves and an 8.67 strikeout-per-9.0 IP mark in 104 career appearances (75 starts) over five seasons (2014-18) in the Brewers organization.
Pérez, 20, is 5-1 with a 2.01 ERA (9 ER/40.1 IP), 47 strikeouts and just one home run allowed in eight starts this season with the Dominican Summer League Brewers. The Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic native has gone 5-1 with a 2.89 mark (15 ER/56.0 IP) and 63 strikeouts in 17 career appearances (eight starts) over two seasons (2017-18) with the DSL Brewers. Pérez, 6-foot-2 and 170 pounds, was signed as an international free agent on July 10, 2017.
Soria, 34, has gone 0-3 with a 2.56 ERA (11 ER/38.2 IP), 16 saves (19 chances), 49 strikeouts and a .230 opponents average (35-152) in 40 relief appearances this season, his first with the White Sox. He was acquired with left-hander Luis Avilán and cash consideration from the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for infielder Jake Peter on January 4.
At first blush it seems like a decent take for Soria, given that the veteran came along with Luis Avilán in trade for Jake Peter this offseason. So 1⁄2 of Jake Peter has yielded a fairly promising future bullpen arm/possible back-end starter in Medeiros and a promising lottery ticket in the DSL’s Pérez.
Medeiros is the No. 13 prospect on MLB’s midseason Milwaukee Brewers Top 30 (h/t larry). OnlySoxFaninBoston dug up some pertinent observations of Medeiros by FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen:
While Medeiros’s control took a step forward in 2017, his low arm slot and lack of a third pitch continue to render it likely that he becomes a reliever. His fastball sits 91-94 — up from the 90-92 scouts saw from Medeiros as he was wearing down last year — and he’ll flash a plus slider, but his arm slot allows righties to see the ball early and he doesn’t yet have a viable changeup to disrupt their timing. He could be a dominant LOOGY, especially if his fastball plays up out of the bullpen, as I have it projected.
And as Lil Jimmy points out, will somebody think of poor Ryan Burr? Just today, he cracked the Top 30 list of White Sox prospects from MLB, and, like, minutes later, Medeiros bumps him right back off. Burr got Moonlight Grahamed.
Dan Szymborski at FanGraphs has a post on the trade, but here’s the money line: “The White Sox’ game of reality TV house-flipper is paying off.”
Oh, and while it seems verboten to note it, in his 101 games on the roster, Soria contributed 1.4 WAR to the actual effort to win games for the White Sox. That figure leads all White Sox pitchers and is 0.6 WAR better than the next reliever on the list, Jace Fry.
The White Sox have not yet made a corresponding call-up to fill Soria’s roster spot.
We’ll update this story with details as they come between now and gamethread time.