Rays Acquire Matt Thaiss – MLB Trade Rumors
The White Sox have traded catcher Matt Thaiss to the Rays for minor league outfielder Dru Baker, according to announcements from both clubs. Since Baker wasn’t on the 40-man, the Rays transferred outfielder Jonny DeLuca to the 60-day injured list in order to open a spot for Thaiss. They will need to open an active roster spot once Thaiss reports to the club. Chicago’s 40-man count drops to 39. In terms of their active roster, catcher Korey Lee has been reinstated from the IL to take the vacated spot.
Thaiss, 30, was just acquired by the Sox in the offseason. They sent cash to the Cubs, bringing Thaiss to the South Side. He has appeared in 35 games and stepped to the plate 110 times, with some positive results. He has just one home run but has walked more than he has been struck out, drawing a free pass in 20.9% of his appearances compared to a 19.1% strikeout rate.
That’s better than his previous work on offense. With the Angels in 2023 and 2024, he made 493 trips to the plate. He had a strong 13% walk rate over those seasons but also struck out at a high clip of 28.6%. He was flipped to the Cubs and then the White Sox in offseason trades.
His work behind the plate has been more of a question mark, as he has never received excellent marks back there. Baseball Prospectus and Statcast have considered his blocking and throwing to be adequate but with subpar framing. FanGraphs agrees that Thaiss hasn’t been a great framer in his career but has him above average so far in 2025.
Though his work for the Sox has been adequate on the whole, he never seemed likely to spend a long time on the roster. Thaiss started the year sharing the catching time with Lee, but the Sox had two top prospects waiting in the wings: Edgar Quero and Kyle Teel.
Lee went to the IL fairly early in the season, landing there due to a left ankle sprain on April 10th. That got Omar Narváez to the big leagues briefly but Quero was up in the majors a week later. Now that Lee is healthy again, he and Quero will share the catching work. Teel is playing great in Triple-A and could be up in the majors soon as well. Those factors have all pushed the out-of-options Thaiss off the roster.
More to come.
