The White Sox were very busy at the 2024 trade deadline, as they made a number of moves right before the actual deadline. Besides the main three team trade that sent Miguel Vargas to the White Sox, Tommy Pham and Erick Fedde to the Cardinals, and Michael Kopech to the Dodgers, there weren’t any significant moves.
However, one of the trades that flew under the radar just came to a shocking conclusion. In one of the other trades on deadline day, the White Sox sent a struggling Eloy Jimenez to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for relief pitcher Trey McGough. At the time of the trade, the White Sox wanted to get off of Eloy’s money, as there were team options and buyouts for the 2025 season.
Despite those options and Eloy’s struggles, the White Sox got an intriguing prospect. That prospect was Trey McGough, a left-handed pitcher that was having a ton of success in 2024. Through 34 innings with the Orioles’ AAA team, McGough had a 2.08 ERA striking out 31 batters, while hitters were only hitting .185 against him.
McGough kept that up with the White Sox, as he had a very solid 1.98 ERA over 27 innings with the Charlotte Knights, striking out 33 batters, en route to a great 1.06 WHIP. Heading into the offseason, there were expectations that McGough would compete for a bullpen spot on the major league team.
Trey McGough for AAA Charlotte tonight:
2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, (H)
2024 Stats (AA+AAA):
58.1 IP // 60 K // 1.85 ERA // 0.94 WHIPpic.twitter.com/IjF3JhnPFZ
— Tyler Cenko (@BryanKeBryan) August 7, 2024
However, McGough would not make the team out of Spring Training and he was sent to AAA Charlotte. At this point, it was likely that a few good weeks from him would earn him a promotion to the major leagues or whenever the White Sox made some moves in the ‘pen.
McGough got off to a rough start in AAA, as he gave up 15 runs over 15 innings pitched. While he did strike out 13 batters, he was having a tough start to the season, as hitters were clearly seeing him very well. It was still early in the season, so it wasn’t time to sound the alarms quite yet.
However, a few weeks ago, it was announced that McGough elected to retire. This is a bit surprising as he was very close to making it to the major leagues, as he had a fantastic 2024 season. While his 2025 season got off to a rocky start, there was plenty of time for him to get back on track and pitch like he did in 2024.
Chatted briefly with Knights’ manager Sergio Santos today about Brandon Drury’s injury & Trey McGough’s retirement.@FutureSox pic.twitter.com/nHiLZsQmc1
— jeff cohen (@TripleAJeff) May 8, 2025
While there hasn’t been an announcement as to why McGough retired, and it’s likely that we never get a specific announcement, it now closes the book on the Eloy Jimenez trade deadline deal. Eloy is currently no longer with the Baltimore Orioles organization, as he is playing with Tampa Bay’s AAA affiliate.
It is sad to see McGough retire, as I believed that he should have gotten a call up late last season. We wish McGough nothing but the best of luck with his future endeavors outside of baseball.
