Chicago White Sox Acquire Reliever Cam Booser in Trade With Boston Red Sox

Cam Booser took the long and winding road to the big leagues, and now he is set to switch his Sox as he goes from Boston to Chicago ahead of the 2025 season.

May 21, 2024; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Boston Red Sox pitcher Cam Booser (71) throws a pitch against the Tampa Bay Rays in the sixth inning at Tropicana Field. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

The Boston Red Sox have agreed to trade relief pitcher Cam Booser to the Chicago White Sox, FanSided's Robert Murray reported Saturday.

Booser, who made his long-awaited MLB debut in April, finished 2024 with a 2-3 record, 3.38 ERA, 1.336 WHIP and 9.1 strikeouts per nine innings across 43 appearances. The 32-year-old left-hander isn't slated to hit arbitration until 2027, and he won't be a free agent until after the 2030 season.

Chicago sent minor league right-handed pitcher Yhoiker Fajardo back to Boston to complete the deal.

This is the second trade the Red Sox and White Sox have completed this month, coming in the wake of last week's blockbuster Garrett Crochet deal.

The #RedSox today acquired minor league RHP Yhoiker Fajardo from the Chicago White Sox, in exchange for LHP Cam Booser.

— Red Sox (@RedSox) December 22, 2024

The Red Sox had a logjam of relievers of their roster, which was only exacerbated by the addition of veteran free agents Aroldis Chapman and Justin Wilson. Liam Hendriks and Michael Fulmer's impending returns made the roster crunch even more serious, and Booser appears to have been the first casualty.

Boston's bullpen ranked No. 24 with a 4.39 ERA in 2024, and while Booser wasn't the main culprit for their struggles, some changes were necessary.

The White Sox, on the other hand, ranked No. 28 with a 4.74 bullpen ERA this past season. Adding Booser as a mid-inning option could provide some stability, even if the southpaw didn't take the most typical path to the majors.

Back in high school, Booser suffered a broken femur and a broken vertebra – the former while playing football and the latter while lifting weights. When he arrived at Oregon State for his freshman year, Booser needed to undergo Tommy John surgery.

Booser ultimately transferred to Central Arizona College and signed with the Minnesota Twins as an undrafted free agent in 2013. From there, however, he had elbow scope, followed by labrum surgery. The southpaw got hit by a car while rehabbing his shoulder injury, leading to a broken bone in his back, and he was suspended 50 games for marijuana use in 2015.

After retiring in 2017, Booser went home to Seattle and became a carpenter.

Booser made a second go at baseball once he realized he could throw a 96 mile-per-hour fastball without pain, though, ultimately signing a deal with the Chicago Dogs in an independent league in 2021. He spent the first half of 2022 with the Arizona Diamondbacks, then joined the Red Sox in February 2023 following a brief stint with the Atlanta League's Lancaster Barnstormers.

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