In the past 24 hours, the White Sox have apparently made up their mind as to whether or not they’re buyers or sellers at the trade deadline — they’re the latter.
The team traded Edwin Jackson and Mark Teahen to the Blue Jays for John Frasor and a prospect. Jackson didn’t even have a chance to try on his brand new Blue Jays uniform before being spun to the Cardinals for Colby Rasmus.
It’s a move that had many around the league shaking their heads. After all, why would the White Sox give up on the 2011 season now, when they’re only 3.5 games out of first place, behind a Detroit Tigers team that looks very beatable right now and a Cleveland Indians squad that overachieved like crazy throughout the first half of the season.
The Jackson move likely isn’t the last one GM Kenny Williams will make before the deadline either. Lefty reliever Matt Thornton and All-Star Carlos Quentin are rumored to be on the block as the team looks to salvage what it can from what has been a long season on Chicago’s south side.
This kind of deadline maneuvering isn’t unprecedented around the corner of 35th and Shields. With the team only 3.5 games out (sound familiar?) at the trade deadline 14 years ago, the team pulled the trigger on what came to be known as the “White Flag Trade”, sending starting pitchers Danny Darwin and Wilson Alvarez along with closer Roberto Hernandez to the San Francisco for a package of high profile prospects that included future big leaguers Keith Foulke, Bob Howry and Mike Caruso.
That trade at the time baffled many around the baseball world. After all, why would the Sox give up on the season when they were a mere hot streak away from first place. They would, of course, go on to miss the playoffs that season, while Darwin and Alvarez would go a combined 5-6 down the stretch for the Giants, helping them to the NLDS where they were swept by the eventual World Champion Florida Marlins. As for the White Sox, that trade wound up laying the groundwork for the 2000 squad that won 95 games and reached the ALDS.
It’s hard to defend much of what Williams has done this season, and getting rid of an average starter like Edwin Jackson is by no means comparable to the 1997 deal. That said, Williams cashing in his trade chips on this season is without question the right move to make.
This year’s squad has a pair of expensive albatrosses taking up valuable space in the lineup from promising prospects in the form of Alex Rios and Adam Dunn, two guys who must be feeling luckier than just about anyone these days to be receiving such lofty salaries.
It’s also a team that is going nowhere fast. Even if Detroit and Cleveland were to slump down the stretch — something that, given recent history, is entirely possible — and the White Sox were able to claim a playoff spot, it’s doubtful the team would do much more with it than bow out quickly and quietly. Sell a couple thousand premium priced playoff tickets, sure, but at a cost to your future? Hardly worth it.
Selling off this year’s squad’s assets will help this team lay the groundwork for what could potentially be a bright future. Recent callup Alejandro De Aza hit his first Major League home run last night starting in place of Rios, and top prospect Dayan Vicedo has played well enough at Triple-A Charlotte to earn a shot at the next level. While saying goodbye to guys like Mark Buehrle and Carlos Quentin isn’t an easy decision to make, in the long term it is clearly the right one for the betterment of the franchise.
