Best Kenny Williams moves ever

[DaTank]

It qualifies as one of his worst because KW, quite frankly, doesn't have too many "worsts". I'm not losing any sleep over what we gave up, but Swisher was still a major failure here.

 

Very good point.

[rangercal]

His worst:

1. Kip Wells, Sean Lowe, and Josh Fogg for Todd Ritchie

2. Ryan Sweeney, Gio Gonzalez and Fautino de los Santos for Nick Swisher

 

Off the top of my head, these would be the only two you could classify as very bad.

 

Every player you mentioned sucks ass.

[MHizzle85]

El Caballo for Pods. Can't believe I'm saying that, but we wouldn't have a W.S. ring without Pods in 05.

Actually I'm surprised that it took this long for someone to post it.

 

But my favorite moves are probably the Konerko & Buehrle extensions.

Edited August 11, 2009 by MHizzle85

[knightni]

Looking back, the Ritchie trade is a wash. Wells is mediocre and not much of a loss. Everyone else never played that well anyway.

[jphat007]

Signing Iguchi, it's the deal that I thought really put us 'over the top' for 05, and in fact brought me to this site in December of 04 (when it was just far off rumors that we would sign him)

Edited August 11, 2009 by jphat007

[suicidesqueeze]

The whole Carlos Lee for Pods and then some deal. That got us a ring, baby!

[RockRaines]

AJP was probably one of the most long term stabilizing signings he has ever made. The pitching staff improved as well as the attitude of the team, and it ended an awful run at the catcher position.

[Marky Mark]

How would you classify this as one of his worst? Sweeney is always hurt and does nothing when he isn't. DLS is hurt. Gio is still young and has some solid promise. Book's still open on this one though.

 

 

I think that was a bad trade because for those highly rated of prospects, they probably could have done better.

[caulfield12]

I think the signings of Hermanson, El Duque (yes, just for that ONE inning saving Marte alone) and Tadahito Iguchi have to go up there, too. Especially because KW never had seen Iguchi on anything but Japanese League tape before the acquisition.

 

Alexei Ramirez acquisition (and hopefully Viciedo, too).

 

If we make the playoffs this year, bringing back Pods.

 

Marte for Guerrier (although Guerrier's recovered with MIN, he did nothing for PITT)

 

Vazquez for Chris Young (now looks much better, if Flowers/Rodriguez/Gilmore/Lillibridge ever amount to anything)

 

Playing "chicken" with Orlando Cabrera and lucking out when he turned down a chance to return at around $10 million (which would now be blocking Getz/Beckham/Nix)

 

The Jayson Nix pick-up was one of the niftier ones of recent years in terms of waiver moves...trading for Castro has also worked out quite well this year, compared to what we were getting out of Corky after his "hot" streak hitting-wise the first month.

 

David Wells for Sirotka

 

Signing Buehrle and Dye to extensions instead of moving them...

 

Not making the proposed Garland trades with the Astros or Angels (Erstad)...not trading Jose Contreras (in terms of helping the team the first half of 2008, although arguably that has been one of his worst moves in recent years, giving him an extra year or two on his long-term deal, but the extension was more like a "thank you" for 2005/2006)

 

Konerko/Cameron was NOT a KW move

Edited August 11, 2009 by caulfield12

[WCSox]

Gavin Floyd & Gio Gonzales for Freddy Garcia

 

It still astounds me that Pat Gillick made this deal, after everybody here knew that Garcia was in clear decline. This is probably my favorite Kenny trade. His best free agent signing was JD.

 

AJP was probably one of the most long term stabilizing signings he has ever made. The pitching staff improved as well as the attitude of the team, and it ended an awful run at the catcher position.

 

I agree that A. J. is way underrated by Sox fans in general. Not only for the reasons that you outline above, but his Baseball IQ swung the momentum of the 2005 ALCS in the Sox's favor.

 

[Dick Allen]

I think his best move was the Peavy trade. He paid pennies to the dollar for an ace.

[prochisox]

If Jon Link turns out to be a decent bullpen arm, Mackowiak for him will look good.

[prochisox]

But I like the Rios waiver claim the most. He will help tremendously.

[GreatScott82]

I love what KW has done this year. Its kind of like Deja-Vu right back to 2004. We were in a tight division race with Minny- KW goes out and aqcuires Contreras, Garcia and Everett. We just missed the playoffs- but KW finished putting together his puzzle that winter.

 

Fast forward to 2009. The Sox are in a pretty tight race with Detroit, KW goes out and brings in Jake Peavy and Alex Rios. Now I hope we don't fall short, but if we do- you know damn well KW will finish putting his puzzle together this winter. With the additions of Peavy and Rios, we are that close to heading back to the promiseland. . .

 

My favorite KW move was aqcuirering Freddy Garcia back in 2004. I knew right then and there we would be tough to beat.

 

I have a gut feeling the Peavy deal will be just as good.

 

The 2010 plan is begins. . . NOW!!!

Edited August 12, 2009 by GreatScott82

[hogan873]

El Caballo for Pods. Can't believe I'm saying that, but we wouldn't have a W.S. ring without Pods in 05.

 

I totally agree. This was going to my favorite for the same reason you stated. Without Pods, the Sox may not have won the WS in 2005.

[Kalapse]

It still astounds me that Pat Gillick made this deal, after everybody here knew that Garcia was in clear decline. This is probably my favorite Kenny trade. His best free agent signing was JD.

His biggest mistake was not giving Freddy Garcia a physical when it was painfully obvious that there was something wrong with his arm. He was throwing 86 MPH at the time of the trade.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

Every move that led to winning the 05 World Series ! And all the moves that will bring another one .

[Jeremy]

Looking back, the Ritchie trade is a wash. Wells is mediocre and not much of a loss. Everyone else never played that well anyway.

 

Wha??? You're evaluating the trade based solely on the current contributions of the players involved, seven years later? Here's a little history lesson for you:

 

Wells in 2002:

 

198 IP, 3.58 ERA, 118 ERA+

 

Ritchie in 2002:

 

133 IP, 15 losses, 6.06 ERA, 74 ERA+

 

Wells was even better in '03, when he posted a 3.28 ERA. That same season we finished just four games back of the Twins and the fifth starter's spot was a huge albatross for the team. Ritchie was so horrible that we had non-tendered him by then and he would only pitch about 30 more major league innings in his career. In other words, that trade arguably cost us a playoff appearance. Calling the deal "a wash," couldn't describe it much less accurately.

[Chicago White Sox]

I can't believe no one has listed this trade yet:

 

El Duque, Rocky Biddle and Jeff Liefer for Bartolo Colon.

 

KW completely fleeced Minaya with this trade. Definitely one of his best.

[Jeremy]

I can't believe no one has listed this trade yet:

 

El Duque, Rocky Biddle and Jeff Liefer for Bartolo Colon.

 

KW completely fleeced Minaya with this trade. Definitely one of his best.

 

Certainly a great deal but when you look at it in context, I wouldn't say that Minaya was fleeced. A number of teams were giving away players that off season due to the financial climate - Millwood was also traded for a bag of balls - so I think Minaya knew he wasn't getting much in the way of talent.

[Kenny Hates Prospects]

It's hard to say for me. It's much easier to name the deals I didn't like at the time (Swisher 1, Pena) and those that turned out bad (MacDougal trade and extension, Ritchie, bringing in Rick White and Mike Jackson and Jose Paniagua, etc.) because everything else was either from unharmful/fair value to unbelievable steal. And Kenny has had sooo many of those steals it's really hard to name. Even going back to first acquiring Damaso Marte for Guerrier, Juan Uribe for Aaron Miles, signing Loaiza and Flash Gordon, etc. Kenny just has so many lopsided deals in his favor it's astounding.

 

I think if nothing else we can say that Kenny has turned into not only a premier GM who is well-respected throughout the league and an admitted favorite among other GM's, but he's also a master talent evaluator who can screw people by giving them what appears to be fair value or better when in actually he already knows the players he is trading won't amount to anything because he's a psychic ninja sniper.

[Texsox]

yet he would be no match for Scott Boras. Boras would fleece him like he has every other GM in baseball. Which is why the Sox should never negotiate with a Boras client.

 

/duck and covers

[rockren]

I'll jump on the Contreras for Loazia trade.

 

You could look back at any of the moves made in '04 and prior to '05 and put a big star next to them...but this move took guts. Contreras looksed to be a bust in the Majors and Loazia, while struggling, wasn't far removed from a near Cy Young season.

 

Contreras came to Chicago and really adjusted well, giving us a 4 man rotation going into the '04 off-season with MB, Fred, Contreras and Garland. I felt that move has been overlooked in Kenny's tenure as Contreras was as responsible as any player that year in winning the World Series.

[Kenny Hates Prospects]

I think bringing Ozzie on board really helped Kenny excel because Ozzie gave him a clear idea of the type of team he wanted Kenny to build, i.e. one based around pitching and defense with some speed in the lineup. About one year after hiring Ozzie, we had acquired Freddy Garcia, El Duque, Jose Contreras, Juan Uribe, Pods, Hermanson, Iguchi, etc. etc. etc.

 

With Manuel, Kenny was probably asking what Jerry wanted and kept getting stupid riddles and s*** in return, like "If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?" It seemed like Kenny didn't quite go into stealthrape mode until Ozzie put him to it.

Edited August 12, 2009 by Kenny Hates Prospects

[ThunderBolt]

The whole Carlos Lee for Pods and then some deal. That got us a ring, baby!

That and the great pitching and massive amount of bombs we hit.