A recent DFA brought the Dylan Cease trade back into focus and highlighted one of the worst moves Chris Getz made as GM of the White Sox.
Chicago White Sox general manager Chris Getz has been praised quite a bit in recent weeks for the team he has built despite clear financial restrictions imposed by ownership. The White Sox are still operating with one of the lowest payrolls in the league and are coming off a historically bad season in which they lost a modern-era MLB record 121 games.
But things are beginning to turn around.
Even if the White Sox don’t have a winning season in 2026 and remain multiple years away from truly competing, the way Getz has overhauled the organization’s infrastructure deserves recognition. Player development, the coaching staff, the farm system, and the international scouting department have all undergone meaningful changes. Many of the transactions he’s made this offseason have also garnered positive attention from both the local fan base and national media outlets.
Over the weekend, however, White Sox fans were served a brutal reminder of one of Getz’s lowest moments as general manager.
After acquiring right-handed pitchers Jordan Hicks and David Sandlin in a trade with the Boston Red Sox on Sunday, Chicago needed to clear two spots on the 40-man roster (and will still need to clear another once the Austin Hays signing becomes official).
The players designated for assignment were catcher Drew Romo and right-handed pitcher Jairo Iriarte.
And even if he clears waivers and lands back in the organization’s minor-league system, Iriarte being DFA’d immediately brings the Dylan Cease trade back into focus. It’s another reminder that the White Sox fumbled those negotiations.
The White Sox dealt Cease to the San Diego Padres during spring training in 2024. He still had two years of club control remaining, and while it was intuitive to move him at some point—given that he’s a Scott Boras client, unlikely to sign an extension, and his control timeline didn’t align with Chicago’s contention window—it wasn’t necessary for the White Sox to sell low.
Cease was the runner-up for the AL Cy Young Award in 2022. He posted a 2.20 ERA with 11.1 strikeouts per nine innings over a full season, numbers that suggested he was one of the best young arms in baseball.
Then came 2023. As the White Sox stumbled, so did Cease. His ERA ballooned to 4.58, and teams became less convinced of his future as a true ace. As a result, they were unwilling to pay ace-level prices.
Still, it’s not like Cease was demanding a trade or forcing his way out. He was perfectly content remaining in Chicago. While it didn’t make sense for the White Sox to keep him long-term, holding him until the 2024 trade deadline—hoping he could reestablish his value and look like a No. 1 starter again—would have been the ideal approach.
Instead, Chicago struck a deal with the Padres that brought back four players: right-handed pitchers Steven Wilson, Drew Thorpe, and Jairo Iriarte, along with outfielder Samuel Zavala.
Thorpe was the headliner at the time, and that remains true as he enters a 2026 season in which he could surprise some people following his return from Tommy John surgery. But at this point, Thorpe may need to develop into an All-Star for the trade to ultimately feel worthwhile.
Wilson pitched in 99 games for the White Sox bullpen over the last two seasons, posting a 4.30 ERA overall. His production was notably better in 2025 than in 2024 before he was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays this offseason.
Zavala was always viewed as a project with real upside. He arrived from San Diego after flashing five tools in A-ball as an 18-year-old. Two full seasons later, however, he has yet to advance beyond High-A. Zavala hit just .187 in 2024 before bouncing back slightly in 2025.
Thorpe, meanwhile, flashed potential after his MLB debut in 2024 but faded down the stretch with several blow-up starts before landing on the injured list. Tommy John surgery sidelined him for the entire 2025 season, and he won’t be ready for Opening Day in 2026.
That leaves the recently DFA’d Iriarte.
He was productive as a starting pitcher in Double-A Birmingham during his first season in the organization. The White Sox called him up in September and shifted him to a bullpen role to get him some major-league experience. They attempted to make that role change stick in 2025, but Iriarte struggled regardless of usage.
In 48 innings at Triple-A, split between starting and relieving, Iriarte posted a 7.13 ERA with a 1.92 WHIP.
He pitched his way out of Chicago’s long-term plans—and now he’s off the 40-man roster entirely.
At this point, the entire trade hinges on Thorpe’s comeback in 2026.
No general manager is perfect. Even the best ones have deals they wish they could redo. This appears to be one of those for Chris Getz. It’s unfortunate that it came in such a high-profile trade involving Dylan Cease, though perhaps Getz has already made up for it with a Garrett Crochet deal that appears to have netted multiple MLB contributors—and possibly more.