3:56pm: The ball is in Chicago's court on a Crain trade, hears Joel Sherman of the New York Post. The Rays are hoping to finalize a deal for the reliever today.
3:24pm: Crain spoke about the White Sox in the past tense and sounds as if he knows he's gone, tweets Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune, but declined to identify his potential new team. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says the Rays remain hopeful of landing Crain, and the teams continue to talk. The Rays would not be giving up a player from their big league roster, notes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.
12:58pm: Crain could be traded today to one of two teams, with the Rays as the leading club, tweets Levine. He notes it's a complicated deal because the compensation could depend on his performance.
11:39am: The deal is not close to done, tweets Yahoo's Jeff Passan. He adds that the White Sox are exploring multiple avenues for Crain.
10:58am: The White Sox are close to trading reliever Jesse Crain in a complicated deal involving the Rays and a third team, reports Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago. Crain is currently on the disabled list with a sore shoulder, and has not pitched since June 29th. A bullpen session on Thursday was cancelled due to a slight setback.
Crain, 32, snagged his first All-Star nod this season with a stellar first half: a 0.74 ERA, 11.3 K/9, 2.7 BB/9, no home runs allowed, and a 34.8% groundball rate in 36 2/3 innings. He'll be a free agent after the season.
