Four of your very favorite South Side Sox staff — Brett Ballantini, Darren Black, Tommy Barbee and Tyrone Palmer — gathered in anticipation of the sprint to Friday’s 3 p.m. CT trading deadline. The White Sox haven’t done anything yet, so there was plenty of time to cover most everything: Yes, this is a second straight podcast where Brett can’t keep the program number straight, as this is mothership podcast 53, not 52 Eduardo Escobar, the presumably attainable White Sox trade target, is off to Milwaukee. Huh? The White Sox front office traditionally (and reasonably) detested teams agreeing to deals, then continuing to shop players in the agreement — most famously, Mike Rizzo backing out of the Edwin Jackson-Adam Dunn deal in 2010. But these White Sox trade leaks (from Sox lips to Bob Nightengale’s twitter account) as a means of pressuring teams is just as annoying. The Sox have now lost Joc Pederson, Manny Machado and Escobar due to such tactics, to some degree Roundtable: The most important area of weakness to address among second base, catcher and bullpen Again, a reminder to temper expectations when it comes to the talent the White Sox can draw in; the prospects tank is empty Thought exercise: Who among Yermín Mercedes, Gavin Sheets, Zack Collins and Jake Burger would you trade for Escobar? The answers, based on the comment thread on Luke Smailes pre-deadline spec piece, will surprise/disappoint you Tommy admits that when a deal gets made across baseball without Micker Adolfo’s name attached, he breathes a tiny sigh of relief Most important single player to acquire: two votes for Jonathan Schoop, two for Ian Kennedy An update on Lucas Giolito’s no-hitter The Cubbie stink question again rears its ugly head, wherein Tommy teaches Brett to love again Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices