Former Cardinals flamethrower given chance to rebound in ideal situation

It wasn't all that long ago that Jordan Hicks was one of the most exciting pitchers in baseball to watch, and now he's being given a chance to rebound with a rebuilding club.

The former St. Louis Cardinals flame-throwing reliever was traded by the Boston Red Sox to the Chicago White Sox on Sunday, along with prospect David Sandlin, in exchange for prospect Gage Ziehl and a player to be named later. The Red Sox had to kick in $8 million to get the deal done, but Chicago is eating $16 million of the remaining $24 million that Hicks was owed.

While the salary dump is an indicator of how things have gone for Hicks, he left the Cardinals in 2023, landing with the White Sox may be just what he needs to get things back on track.

Former Cardinals' flamethrower Jordan Hicks has a new home with the Chicago White Sox

Hicks debuted with the Cardinals back in 2018 at just age 21 and had a meteoric rise in those first two years. After opting out of the 2020 COVID campaign, Hicks struggled when he was on the mound the following two seasons, before turning in a 3.29 ERA in 65 appearances with an 11.1 K/9 in 2023. That earned him a trade to the Toronto Blue Jays that trade deadline, and then the San Fransicio Giants gave him a multi-year contract that offseason to try and be a starter again.

Hicks was given weird opportunities to start at the Major League level with St. Louis, so it was intriguing to see what he would look like with the Giants. He started off red-hot in their rotation, but then came crashing down and ended up back in the bullpen.

2025 was a really bad year for Hicks, as he finished the year with a 6.95 ERA in 34 games, and he was even worse when he was on the mound with Boston. With all of the arms that the Red Sox brought in this offseason, they didn't feel the need to hold onto Hicks and his contract going into the 2026 season.

The White Sox, in my opinion, have had a really interesting offseason, headlined by becoming the pillow landing spot for Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami, bringing in other arms like Anthony Kay, Lucas Sims, Seranthony Dominguez, young talent in Luisangel Acuna and Everson Pereira, and recently signing right-handed platoon bat Austin Hays. The White Sox have a lot of young talent on the way and the number one overall pick in the 2026 MLB Draft, and they look to be ready to start trying to win some games.

Hicks should have a lengthy runway with the White Sox, as he could factor into either their rotation or their bullpen moving forward.