Chicago White Sox Nearly Made Last-Minute Trade With Cubs

CHICAGO –– Thursday's MLB trade deadline came with a flurry of moves in the final minutes.

The White Sox went down to the wire before trading starting pitcher Adrian Houser to the Tampa Bay Rays for Curtis Mead, Duncan Davitt and Ben Peoples, a move that was reported by USA Today's Bob Nightengale six minutes before the deadline.

White Sox general manager Chris Getz revealed later Thursday evening that the Houser trade nearly went down with another team, the crosstown rival Chicago Cubs.

"We continued to have those conversations up until about 30 minutes prior to the deadline. There was sincere interest," Getz said. "It wasn’t above the Tampa Bay Rays’ offer, and so that’s why we went the Tampa Bay route. I will say we were pretty close on a deal, it just didn’t get there."

The Cubs were more active than the White Sox at the deadline, making four trades to acquire pitchers Mike Soroka, Taylor Rogers and Andrew Kittredge, along with utility man Willi Castro. The White Sox made just two trades, Houser and sending outfielder Austin Slater to the New York Yankees for minor league pitcher Gage Ziehl.

Despite the quantity of moves, the Cubs' acquisitions at the deadline were widely viewed as underwhelming. For a team without starting pitchers Justin Steele and Jameson Taillon due to injury, the Cubs only acquired one starter in Soroka, who had a 4.87 ERA with the Nationals this season. They were rumored to be in talks to trade for frontline starters like MacKenzie Gore, Joe Ryan, Merrill Kelly and others, but they never came to a deal.

Houser may not have been a big-name splash either, but his production has been among MLB's best for over two months. Since May 20, he's fifth among qualified pitchers with a 2.10 ERA, behind only Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal, Framber Valdez and Ranger Suarez.

It wouldn't have taken a huge haul for the Cubs to acquire Houser, either. In return for the 32-year-old right-hander, the Rays sent the White Sox two pitchers who were not ranked in among their top-30 prospects and an infielder in Mead, who used to be a top 100 prospect but had a .629 OPS in 111 major league appearances across three seasons.

"It was 12 starts and to think we were able to find three players that feel like can be part of our Major League club in the near future, that’s pretty remarkable work overall," Getz said Thursday. "Certainly very grateful for what Adrian has done in a White Sox uniform."

The Cubs are still in position to make the playoff and sit just one game behind the Brewers for the National League Central lead, but eventually they may be wondering "what if" in regard to the Houser trade that came close but wasn't finalized.