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Thursday, January 03, 2008 |
Oakland Pushes Contention Further Away, Deals Nick Swisher For Prospects
I just got to this (and thanks, by the way, Andrew, for the word) after chasing around this morning for a body shop to fix my wife's car (scratched it up Christmas Eve after I missed a post in a Long Beach parking garage)... looks like the A's have traded Nick Swisher to the White Sox for three prospects, LHP Gio Gonzalez, RHP Fautino De Los Santos, and OF Ryan Sweeney.
My initial reaction to this is that Billy Beane has determined that the club wasn't going to contend for even the division in 2008, and so he's rebuilding for 2009 and 2010. Swisher would have been a big part of the team's 2008, so they're throwing in the towel early, at least as far as I can (without too much digging) tell. But let's look closer at what Oakland's getting in return:
- 21-year-old LHP Giovany Gonzalez was a first-round pick (38th overall) by the Chisox in the 2004 draft. Featuring a high strikeout rate and very good control (11.10 K/9 and 3.25 K/BB in the pitcher-friendly Southern League), he's young for his league and on track for a late 2008 or 2009 major league debut. Gonzalez knows a thing or two about being traded: while he was drafted with the Chisox, they packaged him with Aaron Rowand and pitcher Daniel Haigwood for Jim Thome, and then he was sent back to his drafting team when the Pale Hose shipped Freddy Garcia to the Phils. This was his second turn in AA, and he appears to have corrected inconsistency problems that plagued him in 2006 during his first tour.
- Fautino de los Santos is a 21-year-old righty who posted a 9-4 record with a 2.40 ERA for single-A Kannapolis in the Sally League; he was named the league's top prospect, and made both all-star games. Together with Gonzalez, the duo represented the Chisox' best pitching prospects.
- Ryan Sweeney has seen two seasons of major league action, but has yet to produce respectable numbers there; in his defense, he's only seen 80 at-bats in the Show. Baseball America ($) projected Sweeney as the White Sox' "No. 3 hitter of the future", so this is quite a haul for Oakland.
I had Gonzalez as my number one White Sox prospect, and De Los Santos as number two, both Grade B+, both among the best pitching prospects in baseball. ... I must admit that I am not sanguine on Sweeney. He strikes me as an outfield version of Sean Burroughs, in the sense that his power is just not developing the way it was supposed to. I don't think he will just disappear like Burroughs, but I think he's going to be just a platoon player, not an impact bat.I really like this deal for the A's considering where they were and where they intend to go. One year isn't much to give up for what looks to be a really strong team in 2009. Here's the BTF chatter, if you're so inclined (I always am).
Labels: athletics, trades, transactions, white sox
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