Seattle Mariners acquire hard-throwing reliever Gregory Santos in a trade with the Chicago White Sox
FILE - Chicago White Sox relief pitcher Gregory Santos throws during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo. The Chicago White Sox traded reliever Gregory Santos to the Seattle Mariners on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024 for two minor leaguers and a draft pick. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
CHICAGO (AP) — The Seattle Mariners acquired Gregory Santos in a trade with the Chicago White Sox on Saturday, adding another hard-throwing reliever to their pitching staff.
The 24-year-old Santos went 2-2 with a 3.39 ERA and five saves in a career-high 60 appearances for Chicago last year. The right-hander joins Matt Brash and Andrés Muñoz at the back end of the Mariners’ bullpen.
Seattle has been active since it finished third in the AL West last year with an 88-74 record. It reacquired outfielder Mitch Haniger in a trade with San Francisco last month, and it got infielder Jorge Polanco in a deal with Minnesota on Monday.
The Mariners parted with reliever Justin Topa in the trade with the Twins, and Santos fills that opening in their bullpen.
The White Sox acquired right-hander Prelander Berroa, outfielder Zach DeLoach and the No. 69 pick in the 2024 draft in exchange for Santos. To make room on Chicago’s 40-man roster, right-hander Lane Ramsey was designated for assignment.
“Viewed this as accomplishing something here in the short term, we’ve got controllable players, and to be able to get the draft pick to build even further for our future as well, so it made sense,” White Sox general manager Chris Getz said.
The White Sox also acquired outfielder Dominic Fletcher in a trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks for right-hander Cristian Mena.
The 25-year-old DeLoach, a second-round pick in the 2020 amateur draft, batted .286 with 23 homers and 88 RBIs in 138 games for Triple-A Tacoma last year. Fletcher, 26, a second-rounder in the 2019 draft, made his major league debut in 2023, hitting .301 in 28 games with Arizona.
Chicago has Andrew Benintendi in left and All-Star Luis Robert Jr. in center, but right field is wide open.
“We view both players that are going to get the opportunity to be in our outfield this year,” Getz said. “Fletcher has major league experience, he’s had some success at the major league level, and DeLoach hasn’t gotten the opportunity quite yet, but I’m sure when he gets it, he’ll take advantage of it as well.”
The 23-year-old Berroa also made his big league debut last year, throwing 1 2/3 scoreless innings over two relief appearances. The right-hander went 5-1 with a 2.89 ERA in 43 appearances with Double-A Arkansas, including five starts.
“We view him as a reliever. He certainly has back-end potential,” Getz said. “You look at the history and all successful relievers, many if not most were starters at some point in their careers and then their careers evolved as relievers.”
The White Sox are coming off a disastrous 2023 season. They finished fourth in the AL Central with a 61-101 record. Getz was promoted to GM in August.
Santos’ departure leaves a murky situation at closer, and Getz has been listening to trade offers for Dylan Cease. The ace right-hander went 7-9 with a 4.58 ERA in 33 starts last year, but he had 214 strikeouts in 177 innings.
“We’ve had regular conversations. We’ve gone back and forth,” Getz said. “The spirit is like any other move we’ve made; if we feel like we’re going to be better, better off for the organization to move Dylan Cease, we’ll do that.”
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