Former Gator Dane Dunning Traded to Texas

In case you missed it: the Chicago White Sox traded RHP Dane Dunning and prospect Avery Weems for frontline starter Lance Lynn.

Allow us to introduce you to @Ddunning33. pic.twitter.com/AjfkXrKkFN

— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) December 8, 2020

In other words: a major trade in Major League Baseball.

As reactions continue to pour in, Rangers and White Sox fans have begun speculating which team won the trade.

Trade Winner: Texas Rangers?

• Dunning, a former Gator who will turn 26 later this month, is the main prize in the Rangers’ pickup.
• Chicago originally acquired Dunning (along with Giolito and Lopez) from the Nationals for outfielder Adam Eaton in December 2016.
• Dunning is also an ex-top 100 prospect who is coming off an encouraging debut with the White Sox.

• He missed all of 2019 due to a torn UCL that necessitated Tommy John surgery during spring training of 2019, per Lone Star Ball.
• Though Dunning didn’t pitch in the minors in 2020, he had 7 major league starts in the 2020 regular season, as well as facing four batters as the starting pitcher in Chicago’s Game 3 Wild Card Game against the Oakland A’s.
• The Rangers also have high hopes for the 23-year-old Weems, a 2019 sixth-rounder who threw 60 1/3 innings in rookie ball that year, per MLB Trade Rumors. He’ll give the Rangers another fairly polished college arm to add to their ranks.

I think the Rangers are the big winners of the Lance Lynn trade to be honest.

I acknowledge that Lynn makes Chicago a better team in 2021. That said, he’s a free agent after this season.

Dane Dunning, who held his own in 2020, is not a free agent until after the 2026 season!

— Max Goldstein (@MaxSportsStudio) December 8, 2020

Another reason I like this trade for the Rangers rather than the White Sox is that Avery Weems pitched really well in his professional debut despite horrible numbers in his final year of college, posting a high K-BB% and GB%. pic.twitter.com/dQfyuigDbA

— Max Goldstein (@MaxSportsStudio) December 8, 2020

Trade Winners: White Sox?

• The White Sox have been looking for a starting pitcher, and they landed what some would consider the best of the best in Lance Lynn.
• Nevertheless, fans can’t seem to wrap their head around the rationale for giving up Dunning for Lynn.

I don’t know how to feel about that trade at all. Lance Lynn is nice, but giving up Dane Dunning? Damn.

— Mike (@ChiSoxFanMike) December 8, 2020

I had to read this three times because Dane Dunning is a younger Lance Lynn. @PYGfbb https://t.co/DSmOlgMCcn

— Robert William Nason (@RealRobertNason) December 8, 2020

I kept reading it thinking that the Rangers were sending back a prospect with Lynn for Dunning. I guess the White Sox wanted to add a veteran arm? I also don't understand, unless they really think Dunning outperformed his ability, and they think last year was his ceiling.

— Robert William Nason (@RealRobertNason) December 8, 2020

Three years from now it’s highly possible that Dane Dunning is significantly better than Lance Lynn. Also three years from now Stiever, Kelley, Thompson, Dalquist and a host of other guys will likely be viable big league pitchers.

— Daniel Victor (@slydanno70) December 8, 2020

• Some fans project that this aggressive move was meant to indicate Chicago’s intention to win as soon as possible.
• Other fans, those who are tempering their emotions, consider the trade to be a high cost but one the White Sox needed to take in order to have landed a quality SP2.