The White Sox made an timely bullpen addition, despite the news breaking at quite the unusual hour.
Well after midnight ET, Yancen Pujols reported that New York Mets reliever Husascar Brozobán was heading to the White Sox, and minutes later Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic dropped the White Sox return to the Mets, Double-A starter Gabe Davis and Triple-A reliever Zach Franklin. It was a night where it paid off to stay up late, to be sure.
It’s a masterstroke of a deal for the White Sox, who acquired Brazobán
in the middle of a career year, a righty reliever under control until age 40. Yes, you read that right: Brazobán is, er, a late bloomer, making his MLB debut at 32 and enjoying his first full season in the majors here and now, at 36, in 2026. He brings a 2.56 ERA over 52 2/3 innings to Chicago, on the strength of a 52.6% ground-ball rate and 23.7% K-rate.
As you’d imagine with a ground-ball specialist, Brazobán leans hard into a sinker, but considers his changeup his true out pitch, hovering in the low-90s but disguised by the same release point as the sinker. His fastball runs up to 97 mph, and if it’s his third most-effective offering, you know you’re talking about a guy able to do some major damage in the South Side pen.
Interestingly, Brazobán has been working in roughly a “Seranthony Domínguez” role for the Mets as it pertains to leverage — not a closer, and not a true setup man, either. But one glance at any column on the back of his baseball card tells you that Huascar has been doing Seranthony far better than Seranthony has in 2026.
Sure, Brazobán is wild, walking 11% of batters and having a particular weakness against lefties. That said, he’s excessively stingy with contact, allowing just 5.9 hits per nine innings (.166 average against) — and that’s not just the best mark on the White Sox staff, but a full half a hit better than incumbent leader Grant Taylor, at 6.4.
At this point, the White Sox are running five deep in quality bullpen arms, with Brazobán, Jordan Hicks and Taylor from the right side, and Sean Newcomb and Bryan Hudson portside. For all the years of Rick Hahn-attempted megapens, this is as deep a relief corps as the White Sox have had in at least a decade.
A wrinkle to the Brazobán acquisition is that there were no reports of the White Sox being tied to him. After being outbid by Tampa Bay in earlier talks for Mets starter Freddy Peralta, credit to the White Sox for a quick pivot with the same suitor; in fact, it’s not a foregone conclusion that the two clubs won’t hook up on another swap, possibly for New York catching.
From the Mets standpoint, the swap is a head-scratcher, as Brazobán costs nothing ($1,050,000 this season) with significant team control (arb-eligible for the next three seasons). This is not a trade a serious team makes, short of a trade partner overpaying.
And that is not what the White Sox did here. Davis’ most notable trait remains his 6´9´´stature. The fifth-rounder broke out of the gate in 2026 hard, crushing eight starts in High-A Winston-Salem before hitting the brakes hard after a promotion to Double-A Birmingham. While starting now, his two-pitch arsenal of fastball-slider screams reliever. Davis is a solid prospect with upside, but nothing likely to make the White Sox gasp by the turn of the decade. South Side Sox ranked him as the No. 66 White Sox prospect this past offseason.
Closer to the majors but less a lottery ticket in terms of skills, Franklin was a senior special draft pick in 2023, a 10th-rounder who signed for the low, low price of $10,000. He’s made his way up the rungs since then, logging a 4.37 ERA in 45 ⅓ innings at Triple-A Charlotte this season. Franklin’s raw tools point to him as a AAAA pitcher at best, with a low-90s fastball, a slider and splitter. He tends to be susceptible to balls in the air, which has hurt him this season in the homer-happy environment of Charlotte. That said, Franklin has elite control and boasts a career 3.63 K/BB. SSS had Franklin as the No. 38 White Sox prospect entering 2026.
The White Sox had an extra 40-man spot, so Brazobán won’t trigger a DFA when he arrives in Chicago. However, with Duncan Davitt sent down postgame Sunday to make room for Luis Castillo, a corresponding demotion is forthcoming, with Tyler Schweitzer the likely loser.
