ChiSox bring in changes to 2B Hernandez and LHP Tepera

The Chicago White Sox added a second baseman and a reliever in separate exchanges Thursday.

First, the White Sox acquired the middleman. Cesar Hernandez for the Cleveland Indians by minor league left-handed pitcher Konnor Pilkington. Later, the White Sox acquired the right-hand reliever. Ryan tepera from his city rival Chicago Cubs in exchange for Class A southpaw Bailey Horn.

The White Sox have been in the market for a second baseman, and they get one in Hernandez, 31, who is hitting .231 / .307 / .431 with 18 homers in his second year with the Indians, who are behind the Indians. White Sox for 8½ games.

“César Hernández provides our club with a valuable combination of a power bat in the middle of the infield and a Gold Glove quality defense,” said White Sox general manager Rick Hahn. “Adding a player like Caesar gives [el mánager] Tony [La Russa] a solid and proven option at second base during the final stretch of the season and hopefully through October. “

The White Sox lost to Nick madrigal for the remainder of the season in June after undergoing surgery to repair right hamstring tears.

The 33-year-old Tepera has a 2.91 ERA in 43⅓ innings this season. He is 0-2 with a save. In his career, he has a 3.54 ERA in seven seasons.

“Ryan has been an extremely reliable bullpen arm this season and throughout his career,” Hahn said in a statement. “We are very excited to add him to our talented and versatile pool of relievers. Throughout his career with the Blue Jays and Cubs, Ryan has been successful in a variety of situations and has the ability to serve both lefties and lefties. rights at very high rates. ”

The deadline for trades is Friday, when Cleveland opens a three-game series in Chicago.

“We did the trade that we felt made the most sense for us and this is the direction we are going,” said Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti. “As we try to be realistic in assessing where we are, we will continue to do our best to win as many games as possible.

“But the reality is that the White Sox are several games ahead of us and we intend to improve. If they didn’t acquire Cesar, we were pretty sure they were going to acquire another talented player from another team.

Hernandez hit a two-run home run in Cleveland’s 7-2 win over St. Louis on Wednesday.

The Indians have several young players from the middle of the infield in their system, including Andres Gimenez, which came from the New York Mets in the off-season exchange for Francisco Lindor.

The 23-year-old Pilkington pitched at Double-A Birmingham, where he was 4-4 with a 3.48 ERA in 14 starts. He did not pitch in 2020 because the minor league season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pilkington was selected in the third round by the White Sox in 2018.

Horn, 23, was selected by the White Sox in the fifth round of the 2020 draft. He is 2-3 with a 5.63 ERA in 14 games (10 starts) this season.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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