The White Sox announced that infielder Gage Workman has been acquired from the Cubs in a trade for cash considerations. To create roster space for Workman, the Sox designated infielder Nick Maton for assignment.
Workman was designated for assignment earlier this week, and he’ll now head from Wrigleyville to the South Side in a relatively rare trade between the two Chicago rivals. Workman hit .214/.267/.286 over 15 plate appearances with the Cubs, and his nine games marked Workman’s debut at the Major League level. A Rule 5 draft acquisition out of the Tigers system last December, the Cubs had to keep Workman on their active roster for the entire season to fully assume his rights, but the club chose to abandon the experiment a few weeks into April.
The trade has no bearing on Workman’s Rule 5 status, so the White Sox will also have to carry him on the 26-man for the rest of the season or else offer him back to Detroit. This is nothing new for the Sox, who now have three Rule 5 picks on their roster between Workman, Shane Smith, and Mike Vasil. Since the Pale Hose are in clear rebuild mode, there’s nothing to be lost for the White Sox in seeing what these prospects can do at the big league level, and both Smith and Vasil have thus far acquitted themselves quite well in their rookie seasons.
Workman has played mostly shortstop and third base in the minors, with some work at second base and right field to add to his versatility. Chicago figures to utilize him all over the diamond in a backup role, and Workman might be something of a temporary replacement for infielder Chase Meidroth, who is on the IL due to thumb inflammation.
With the rebuild in mind, the Sox preferred Workman over more of an established player in Maton, who has appeared in 207 games over the last five big league seasons. That total includes 23 games with Chicago this year, as Maton’s minor league contract was selected to the Opening Day roster and he hit .173/.295/.327 in 61 plate appearances. That slash line roughly matches Maton’s career slash line, as some promising numbers in part-time work with the Phillies in 2021-22 didn’t translate when Maton received more playing time in an ultimately fruitless stint with the Tigers in 2023. After playing in 93 games with Detroit in 2023, Maton got into just five MLB games with the Orioles last year.
Maton is out of minor league options, so Chicago had to designate him and expose him to waivers before attempting to send him to Triple-A. If Maton clears waivers and is outrighted, he can choose to reject the outright assignment in favor of free agency, since Maton has previously been outrighted during his career.