White Sox Acquire Nick Swisher from Athletics

[Hatchetman]

Not that I'm against the trade, although I'm leaning that way, but it's weird to not have a single minor leaguer you know will be in the majors. I mean nobody. Shelby and Poreda are marginal prospects.

[Steve9347]

From San Jose Mercury News

A's trade Swisher to White Sox

Article Launched: 01/03/2008 11:07:18 AM PST

 

OAKLAND The Oakland A's today traded outfielder Nick Swisher to the Chicago White Sox for left-handed pitcher Gio Gonzalez, right-handed pitcher Fautino De Los Santos and outfielder Ryan Sweeney.

 

Gonzalez led all of minor league baseball with 185 strikeouts while pitching for Double-A Birmingham last year. He was 9-7 with a 3.18 ERA in 27 games, all starts, for the Barons and was named to the Southern League midseason and postseason All-Star teams. The 22-year old left-hander also ranked fourth in the SL in ERA and led SL starters with a .216 opponents batting average. Gonzalez was originally drafted by the White Sox as a compensation pick (38th selection overall) between the first and second rounds of the 2004 First-Year Player Draft. He is 31-28 with a 3.49 ERA in 91 career minor league appearances, 89 starts, and has 577 strikeouts in 492.1 innings.

 

De Los Santos was named the South Atlantic League's Most Outstanding Major League Prospect and was also named to the SAL midseason and postseason All-Star teams in 2007 after going 9-4 with a 2.40 ERA and .148 opponents batting average in 21 games, 15 starts at Single-A Kannapolis. He also made five starts for Single-A Winston-Salem and combined at both stops for a 10-5 record and a 2.65 ERA in 26 games, 20 starts. The 21-year old Dominican native ranked second in the White Sox farm system in ERA, third in strikeouts (153) and fourth in wins. De Los Santos pitched for the World Team in the 2007 Futures Game in San Francisco in just his second professional season. He has 214 strikeouts in 170.2 career innings.

 

Sweeney was named the White Sox number one prospect by Baseball America entering the 2007 season and hit .270 with 10 home runs and 47 RBI in 105 games at Triple-A Charlotte. He also hit .200 with a home run and five RBI in 15 games with Chicago and is a .213 career hitter in 33 games over two seasons with the White Sox. The 22-year old left-handed hitting outfielder played for the Arizona Fall League Champion Phoenix Desert Dogs following the season and hit .286 with a home run and 13 RBI in 23 games. Sweeney was originally drafted by the White Sox in the second round of the 2003 draft and will be added to the A's 40-man roster, which now stands at 40.

 

Swisher batted .262 with 22 home runs and 78 RBI in 150 games with the A's last year in his third full season in the Majors. He added 100 walks for a .381 on-base percentage and he had career highs in batting, on-base percentage, walks and doubles (36). The 27-year old switch-hitter ranked sixth in the American league in walks and was 10th in strikeouts (131). Swisher is a .251 career hitter with 80 home runs and 255 RBI in 458 games. His 80 home runs are a franchise record for a switch-hitter and his .361 on-base percentage ranks ninth in Oakland history.

[Chisoxfn]

Shelby or Poreda.

Egbert/Broadway/Shelby/Poreda in no particular order. Gatrell may even round out the top 5.

[joejoesox]

i wonder what alexei and quentin would rank as, if they're going straight to the farm in 08?

[fathom]

I have no problem giving up Sweeney and Gio. Both of them are incredibly overrated. It hurts to lose DLS, but some recent rumblings about him don't make me too sad that he's gone. I'm not a big fan of Swisher, as he swings and misses an awful lot. Let's just hope he can play CF.

[JoshPR]

Swisher is pretty good, but Kenny Overpayed.

[Chisoxfn]

Not that I'm against the trade, although I'm leaning that way, but it's weird to not have a single minor leaguer you know will be in the majors. I mean nobody. Shelby and Poreda are marginal prospects.

I got news for you, if Shelby develops as expected he will be one of the highest impact prospects the Sox have had on the offensive side of the field since Chris Young (note that I don't say he's that explosive, but Shelby has an incredibly LIVE bat).

[Rowand44]

3 best prospects for a guy whom you have control through 2012 (given his option). This is the exact type of move I love. Quentin/Swisher are two long term outfielders to go with Josh Fields and Danny Richar. I agree with you about maybe not being able to compete but this move really allows the Sox to potentially make another move or two and given the cost, I think this is great value for one Nick Swisher (DSL is 3 f***ing years away....so much can happen than that I have no problem selling him at a high now; Sweeney is probably the guy I will miss the most because we may be selling him low; Gio is being sold high and the one thing that sucks is that he was close to being MLB ready).

 

This may also be indicative of the fact that Kenny thinks pretty highly of Lance Broadway and Jack Egbert. Honestly, I can't blame Kenny from moving a couple prospects. Sweeney was being replaced by Quentin so basically when you really think about it, you could make a case that it was Chris Carter/DSL/Sweeney/Gio for Quentin/Swisher.

 

Also better yet, the Sox didn't financially f*** themselves or give up 2 draft picks like they could have with a massive signing of Hunter or Fukodome. In fact, couldn't you make a case that Fukodome at his peak would be lucky to be as productive as Swisher already has been at the major league level.

 

I hate giving up prospects, but god damn, I'm in love with this move in the sake of the Sox getting what I consider fair value on a young stud in baseball. The only thing is, I will admit, I don't necessarily think it makes them a contender.

For me it's simple, two years ago I would have loved this, right now, I hate it. Our franchise is still in no position to compete and now we've made it that much harder to compete in upcoming years.

 

[NorthSideSox72]

And this team is still miles away from competing this season. If Swisher was the last piece for this team to be a contender then I'd be all for this. We're still miles behind Cleveland and Detroit and now we have absolutely nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing left in the system.

 

Konerko better be gone within the next few days.

True on the system. But if you can find a way to start Quentin, Swisher and Dye in the OF, with Fields-OCab-Richar-PK on the IF, I am starting to think the Sox are going to have a pretty potent lineup.

 

Its just that 3-4-5 of the rotation that scares me right now. The lineup and bullpen I think will be good. Bench we'll see.

 

And I do think at this point that KW will attempt to trade Uribe (soon) and Crede (in ST) for whatever pitching prospects he can get.

 

[fathom]

And this team is still miles away from competing this season. If Swisher was the last piece for this team to be a contender then I'd be all for this. We're still miles behind Cleveland and Detroit and now we have absolutely nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing left in the system.

 

Konerko better be gone within the next few days.

 

Why would Konerko be gone? If you're going to trade 3 of your top prospects, you don't turn around and trade the cornerstone of your team.

[fathom]

He also gets on base at a very good clip, which this team needs.

 

More and more I like this deal. Sweeney had very little value, you know my stance on Gio, so DLS is the one that hurts. However, like Jas said, this is young, solid OF that we control for 4 years+.

 

I like it.

 

Swisher really should be our leadoff hitter.

[Rowand44]

True on the system. But if you can find a way to start Quentin, Swisher and Dye in the OF, with Fields-OCab-Richar-PK on the IF, I am starting to think the Sox are going to have a pretty potent lineup.

 

Its just that 3-4-5 of the rotation that scares me right now. The lineup and bullpen I think will be good. Bench we'll see.

 

And I do think at this point that KW will attempt to trade Uribe (soon) and Crede (in ST) for whatever pitching prospects he can get.

I'm fine with the lineup, I've been ok with it for a while. It's the rotation that scares the hell out of me. There is absolutely no way imo that we can count on Contreras, Danks and Floyd to all be successful this season. Even Vazquez to a lesser extent is a little bit of a question mark.

[Steve9347]

[Punch and Judy Garland]

So much for rebuilding the farm system. I hate this deal. I do like the addition of an on base guy but we get another guy good for 150 K's. Kenny just did this deal to "do something" before soxfest

[NorthSideSox72]

I'm fine with the lineup, I've been ok with it for a while. It's the rotation that scares the hell out of me. There is absolutely no way imo that we can count on Contreras, Danks and Floyd to all be successful this season. Even Vazquez to a lesser extent is a little bit of a question mark.

I agree on Contreras-Danks-Floyd. But I really think that Vaz and MB make a solid 1-2. And I suspect that Kenny is still maybe going to make a move for a starter, sending one of Danks or Floyd to AAA.

 

[spiderman]

True on the system. But if you can find a way to start Quentin, Swisher and Dye in the OF, with Fields-OCab-Richar-PK on the IF, I am starting to think the Sox are going to have a pretty potent lineup.

 

Its just that 3-4-5 of the rotation that scares me right now. The lineup and bullpen I think will be good. Bench we'll see.

 

And I do think at this point that KW will attempt to trade Uribe (soon) and Crede (in ST) for whatever pitching prospects he can get.

 

Agreed - the lineup, assuming that some of our hitters get back to what we thought we had, is going to put runs. The top of the lineup (Cabrera-Swisher, Swisher-Cabrera) is a little different in that there's not a ton of speed, but both can get on base.

 

It's that rotation that scares the hell out of me.

 

 

[Soxbadger]

No one is even mentioning Swisher kills LHP...

 

The Sox kind of need that.

 

Also yes the Sox paid a lot, but they paid for a player who is already putting up top 10 numbers in certain categories at the age of 27.

 

In a risk reward for a team like the Sox who has money to spend unlike the A's, Swisher is a much more valuable rebuilding tool because there is almost 0 risk that he wont be a solid player for the next 4-5 years.

 

There is a chance that Gio, DLS, and Sweeney never even make a significant contribution.

[SnB]

For me it's simple, two years ago I would have loved this, right now, I hate it. Our franchise is still in no position to compete and now we've made it that much harder to compete in upcoming years.

swisher is young and we will be able to build around him. While I think kenny overpaid a bit, they are just prospects. It's not like swisher is just a veteran on the downside of his career.

[Chisoxfn]

For me it's simple, two years ago I would have loved this, right now, I hate it. Our franchise is still in no position to compete and now we've made it that much harder to compete in upcoming years.

How, by getting a guy who is going to be a very good baseball player for the next 4 years? By getting a guy who potentially allows the Sox to have a couple good young players in the field for the next couple years. The Sox didn't have the guys to stick around and rebuild. The dumbest thing the Sox could do is sit around and let there prospects develop cause bottom line, they have s*** in the farm system for the most part.

 

Kenny is agressive and has gotten himself a group of 4 young major league core players (Fields/Quentin/Richar/Swisher). Obviously some are more proven than others in that group, but he still has a group of Egbert/Broadway/Floyd/Danks in terms of pitching prospects and those guys will be slotted behind Buehrle/Javy who are slated to be here for a while. Plus you have Jose (whether I like it or not he's here). So the Sox had an assload of pitching prospects who are all ready to go now and keeping them in the minors for an extended period of time would have been detrimental. So Kenny probably graded them all out, decided which ones had more value (and if they had a lot more value while other prospects with less value graded out similarly in his mind) he decided it would be best to move one or two of those guys.

 

I also think he now has the ability to make some other moves that I would love to see. I don't know if he has the balls to do it, but I think the addition of a guy like Swisher allows you to potentially swing a Konerko deal (cause Swisher could very well be the new offensive face of the franchise as he's a very loved player in Oakland and I guarantee you the city of Chicago will take to him).

[Chisoxfn]

swisher is young and we will be able to build around him. While I think kenny overpaid a bit, they are just prospects. It's not like swisher is just a veteran on the downside of his career.

I must be the only one who thinks the Sox underpaid. Whether it makes us a contender or not, I don't know, but I think the Sox could turn around a year from now and get more for Swisher than they gave up. That is the definition of a good trade to me.

[fathom]

Swisher played nearly 60 games in CF last year....I'm sure that KW made this move with the intent on him playing CF for the Sox. Owens will probably get some playing time in LF, with Quentin getting the majority of the starts.

[harfman77]

I love this deal. Swisher is an absolute stud. He will be a force for the Sox for years given that he is signed through 2011. If you are going to rebuild, he is a cornerstone to base your rebuilding efforts around. Swish, Quentin, Fields, are good pieces to start from. Then if you can move PK and Dye for so more pieces that would be ideal.

[CanOfCorn]

So much for rebuilding the farm system. I hate this deal. I do like the addition of an on base guy but we get another guy good for 150 K's. Kenny just did this deal to "do something" before soxfest

 

For a guy under control until 2012, you are going to have to overpay. And I'll take 100+ strikeouts if the guy also has 100+ walks and is a doubles machine. I love this move and I also want Swisher to lead off. He can be our Yooooouuuuuuuuk!

 

[Chisoxfn]

Why would Konerko be gone? If you're going to trade 3 of your top prospects, you don't turn around and trade the cornerstone of your team.

The one option is they take the approach of outslugging things. See how things go and if Floyd/Danks come along they end up being fine. If those guys don't come along, Kenny quickly can move OC/Konerko/Dye for a massive amount of guys that can help the Sox in 09. This way the Sox made a lot of moves this off-season, and can say hey, we gave it a shot, but if things go bad Kenny still has tons of opportunity to turn this into a competitive club.

[southsideirish71]

I feel for the next GM that has to pick up the pieces of Kenny's train wreck.

 

This year will be painful, but next year starts the ultimate suck as these contracts come off the books and we have nothing, and I mean nothing at all to take over for them in the minors. The Kane County Cougars have more talent on their team now than we have in our minor league system. Wait till attendance drops and they start replacing the 11 million dollar contracts with more manageable just off injury guys and they complain that Attendance has really hurt our money situation. I cant give you a dollar if I only have 50 cents. We will be the KC Royals for the next few years now.

 

 

f***!!!