The White Sox are still years away from being good, but that doesn't mean they're sitting out the trade deadline. Chicago has been quietly scouting arms all summer, and the name that just surfaced is a big one: Clay Holmes, the Mets righty who was one of the best stories in baseball before his season got interrupted.
White Sox Showing Interest In Clay Holmes t.co/erF2F2gUO8
Context matters here. Holmes spent years as the Yankees' closer before signing a 3-year, $38 million deal with the Mets and converting to a starter, a move that looked like a gimmick until it started working. He was 4-4 with a 2.39 ERA, a 1.10 WHIP and 45 strikeouts across 9 starts before a 111 mph comebacker off Spencer Jones fractured his fibula on May 15. That's not a middle-of-the-rotation arm getting shopped, that's a guy pitching like an ace who happened to get hurt at the wrong time.
The Mets, meanwhile, are trending toward selling, and a rehabbing pitcher two years off his best stretch of starts is exactly the kind of asset a rebuilding team dangles for value. MLB Trade Rumors laid out the stakes plainly: Chicago needs pitching, and Holmes fits the profile of a buy-low reclamation project a team like the White Sox loves to take a swing on.
The #WhiteSox are looking to add pitching at the deadline, and are evaluating rehabbing #Mets righty Clay Holmes: t.co/7ObAwZTGn5
The timing is the whole ballgame. Holmes is expected to make his first rehab start this week, with scouts from multiple clubs reportedly planning to be in the stands to see how the leg holds up. If it goes well, he could be back throwing for the Mets before the August 3 trade deadline, giving both New York and any suitor a live look at exactly what they'd be getting.
For a White Sox front office still in teardown mode, adding a controllable, prove-it arm like Holmes would be a low-cost, high-upside swing rather than a signal they're suddenly buyers. But if the rehab start goes clean, expect the market on Holmes to get a lot more crowded than just Chicago.