The Pittsburgh Pirates made a move Friday night that feels more like a bet on potential than a sure thing. They sent a compensatory 2026 draft pick (34th overall) and 24-year-old minor league reliever Jaden Woods to the Chicago White Sox, bringing back infielder Jacob Gonzalez and lefty reliever Brandon Eisert. According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, the deal went down late, and it’s the kind of trade that gets fans on both sides scratching their heads — but maybe for different reasons.
Gonzalez is 24 and just got his first taste of big league action this year. He’s a first baseman by trade, but scouts aren’t sold on his power. His future power value sits at 40 on the 20-80 scouting scale, which is a problem when you’re playing first base. That’s the position where teams expect 30-homer production, not a guy who might give you 15 if everything breaks right. So why did the Pirates want him? Cost control. He’s cheap, he’s under team control for years, and he’s already shown he can handle big league pitching even if the pop isn’t there yet.
The White Sox side of this thing
Chicago is sitting in first place with a 48-45 record, and fans might wonder why you trade a young infielder who just cracked the roster for a draft pick that might not pan out. But the front office’s thinking could be that Gonzalez never had a real home in the organization. With Munetaka Murakami at first, Miguel Vargas at third, Chase Meidroth at second, and Colson Montgomery locked in at short, Gonzalez was looking at a future as a utility guy. That’s not nothing, but it’s also not someone you build around. So if you can flip him for a pick right after the first round while you’re contending? That’s a move that makes sense on paper.
The White Sox are basically betting that pick turns into something better than a bench infielder. And given how hard it is to develop position players in their system, maybe that’s a smart gamble.
What the Pirates are getting
For Pittsburgh, Gonzalez is a lottery ticket that’s already scratched a little bit. He’s big league caliber, even if he’s not a star. And the other piece here is Brandon Eisert, a 28-year-old lefty reliever who has shown flashes of elite stuff but hasn’t put it together consistently. The Pirates have a decent track record of fixing broken relievers, so Eisert could be a reclamation project they turn into a useful bullpen arm. It’s not a headline-grabbing trade, but it’s the kind of move that fills out a roster without spending real money.
Both teams are playing solid baseball lately. The Pirates aren’t contending yet, but they’re stockpiling guys who might help when they are. The White Sox are trying to win now while also keeping an eye on the future. This trade says they think the future can wait a year for that draft pick to turn into someone. We’ll see who wins in the end. But for now, it’s one of those deals where neither side looks dumb, which is more than you can say for a lot of trades this time of year.
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