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 More White Sox NewsWhite Sox LinksSeemingly out of nowhere, Billy Beane dealt Nick Swisher to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for right-hander Fautino de los Santos, left-hander Gio Gonzalez and outfielder Ryan Sweeney. De Los Santos and Gonzalez are clearly Chicago?s best and second best prospects (not necessarily saying much given how depleted their system is) and had their names discussed when Ken Williams was looking at Miguel Cabrera. In 2007, De Los Santos had 154 strikeouts over 122.1 innings in A ball to go with his 2.65 ERA. The 6-foot Dominican only walked 43 and yielded just 69 hits. Despite a fastball in the low to mid 90?s, he has the potential to be an ace by 2010. Gonzalez, a 1st round pick in 2004, posted a 3.18 ERA over 150 innings in AA ball in 2007 while striking out 185 and walking 57. Like so many lefties, Gonzalez works off an excellent curve. He projects to me a middle of the rotation starter. Sweeney was once one of the White Sox best prospects, but has only shown average improvement in the minors and projects to be, at best, a fourth outfielder. In two seasons at AAA, Sweeney has posted an OPS of .802 and .746. During his brief stints with the White Sox, he has a .538 OPS in 84 plate appearances. As soon as the shock of losing the franchise's most marketable player wears off for Oakland fans and the fact that they are easily the worst team in the AL, they will realize that this was a brilliant trade. Grade for Athletics: A The White Sox were an atrocious offensive team in 2007 and Swisher will certainly help their lineup and may even be a decent defensive stopgap at centerfield, though there are questions about the price they paid. Swisher hit 13 fewer homeruns and 12 more doubles in 2007 than he did in 2006 while maintaining similar numbers in other categories. Since 2005, Swisher has an .827 OPS which is 22nd amongst outfielders who have played in at least 350 games, ahead of Carl Crawford, Alex Rios, Aaron Rowand, Torii Hunter and Eric Byrnes. Given his pedigree and status as a versatile switch-hitter, he is following a similar career trajectory as Jose Cruz, Jr., which does not bode well for the White Sox once De Los Santos is MLB ready. Williams lost out on Hunter and Rowand and even though Swisher has a friendly contract, the price for the free agents would have been far more attractive given what they relinquished in talent to acquire him. Grade For White Sox: C- |
