The Chicago White Sox have acquired RHP Ryan Tepera from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for LHP Bailey Horn.
We have a Chicago and Chicago trade! This one may not be as lopsided as the last one, when the Sox got Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease for Jose Quintana. The buying team is also swapped. The White Sox are able to improve their bullpen by adding a stable arm in former accidental MVP candidate Tepera (look it up!). The veteran has been elite this season, posting a 2.71 xERA with a .173 xBA, a .285 xSLG, and a .213 wOBA. He has developed an elite slider, a pitch that has a 51.3 percent whiff rate this season. The pitch also has a .116 average against, helping Tepera with his amazing 4.6 H/9. He will definitely make a difference. It only costs a prospect who is just starting his professional career, making it very hard to evaluate him.
Tepera, 33, has a 2.91 ERA with 50 strikeouts, a 2.78 FIP, and a 0.785 WHIP in 43.1 innings for the Cubs this year. In his MLB career for Chicago and the Toronto Blue Jays, he has a 3.54 ERA with 284 strikeouts, a 4.08 FIP, and a 1.117 WHIP in 279.1 innings pitched.
The crosstown rivalry between the Cubs and White Sox is not a dramatic thing, so it is not impossible for the two teams to make a deadline deal, unlike if it were the Cubs and Cardinals. The Cubs are able to pick up Horn, who the White Sox drafted with their 5th round pick in 2020. Thanks to the pandemic, this is his first professional season. MLB Pipeline ranked Horn as the 23rd best prospect in the other Chicago team’s system.
Horn, 23, has a 5.63 ERA with 45 strikeouts and a 1.330 WHIP in 38.1 innings for Single-A Kannapolis and High-A Winston-Salem this year. In two seasons for Auburn, Horn had a 4.75 ERA with 58 strikeouts and a 1.382 WHIP in 55 innings.
CarterHud 