The hint here was "add it up" - and today we're adding up one of two major trades by the Chicago White Sox in 2020. The other deal awaits a future post, but today we talk about November 13th 2020 - the day The Fletch hit the Windy City and McMath (get it?) landed in Seattle.
In the offseason following 2020 we had a case of two teams going the opposite direction. The Seattle Mariners finished the season 69-93, a hard fall from being one game away from the World Series in 2018 and another playoff appearance in 2019. That appearance, however, was after a 78-84 record. The flash build in Seattle to contention ended as soon as it began. At the heart of that team was Fletcher Conyers, 67-30 with 4 all-star games and 2 Cy Youngs under his belt. After the debacle in 2020 general manager HB put Conyers on the block for contenders to pursue. He found a trade partner in The Second City.
Chicago had hovered around the .500 mark for several seasons. In 2020, riding Lloyd Vankirk, Alfredo Lopez, and Ryan Christner to a 100 win season, the GM of Chicago jhc felt it was time to make a big move to leap to World Series contention. The idea being to pair Conyers with Lopez and make a run at the playoffs with two outstanding pitchers fronting a solid team.
The deal wasn't without contention, it was known openly in the league that Phil Smith was being dangled by the Houston Astros as the centerpiece of an offer for Conyers. Chicago countered, and won, with the following:
1B Art McMath, SP Jacob Berge, SP David Hobbs.
Hobbs and Berge were good starting pitching prospects at the time, young and freshly starting their careers. Unfortunately their careers have not lived up to the hype: 36-73, ERAs in the neighborhood of 6, and little in their peripherals to suggest better things are coming. All that and pitching in the league's worst division and in one of the best pitching parks in the league.
The other player is one half of what puts this trade on the list. McMath is simply the best player in the offer and the best player offered to the Mariners. In under 5 full seasons in the league McMath has already hit 169 homeruns, 547 RBI, and an .874 OPS in a terrible park for hitters. His 2024 was MVP worthy - hitting 47 homeruns, driving in 129, and scoring 115 runs. All while doing it virtually by himself. He is one of the best pure sluggers in the league and in his short career has become one of FCM's best and most dangerous. When you compare that to Smith you might think "well, they've been comparable" except for that small problem of the fact that Smith hits in a bandbox compared to Safeco. If the two switched places, there wouldn't be any question about who the better player would be. Unfortunately, McMath continues to languish for a team with no chance of contending.
Chicago took Conyers and rode him to a 113 win season and an appearance in the ALCS before losing to the eventual champions. Conyers has been nothing short of fantastic for the White Sox. He's gone 69-32 with 4 all-star appearances and never posting an ERA above 3.5 in his time in an awful park for pitchers. The only issue for Conyers has been a 4-7 record in the playoffs with a number of poor performances. For all of his greatness, Conyers has never been able to help push his team over the top and his stay in Chicago was much the same. In 2026, that stay ended, being traded in the last year of his deal to division rival Minnesota for a hopeful run at the World Series again. In exchange the Chicago White Sox got 19 year old Emmanual Marquez - a third baseman who has shown a great glove and some pop in his bat as a high schooler as well as Kurt Miller, a 21 year old second baseman with an excellent approach at the plate.
In the end when you "add it up" - one of FCM's most brilliant sluggers was moved in the midst of mild controversy (the author still believes the package here was better than offered by others) in exchange for a great young ace and a future member of the Hall of Fame. It sent a clear message that Chicago was ready to contend and they controlled the division for four of the six years Conyers pitched for them. Seattle, on the other hand, got a young bat they could build around. A slugger of epic proportions who is able to anchor a lineup. Unfortunately they have failed to get the pieces around him to complement his abilities. But we have seen the same with Steve Miller in Cincy, it is possible to do it, but the clock is ticking for McMath before he may make this list again, this time on the move to a contender himself.
Next Up: FCM's 13th Most Impactful Trade: Not Even Rocky and Bullwinkle Can Stop this one!
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