There was a time when we'd all assume that if Beane was sending away a veteran for some prospects he was fleecing the other side. Why we all believed that had a lot more to do with PR than substance, but we did. I'm not exactly sure when the myth of Beane's infallibility was first questioned, but by the time he was getting bubkis for Tim Hudson it had (or at least should have been) put to rest for good.Against that backdrop, it behooves us to consult the experts regarding the Swisher-to-the-Sox trade. I'm not up on most teams' prospects -- by the time I've heard of them, it's because everyone is already talking about them -- but John Sickles is, and he seems to think that the A's did a great job:
Blez: First of all, what do you think of the players the A's got for Nick Swisher?So I (and apparently White Sox fans) guess Beane did OK here.John Sickels: 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 . . .
. . . Blez: What's a guy have to do to earn an A from Sickels?
Sickels: I'm a tough grader. To get a Grade A- or even the very rare regular Grade A is quite tough. For me, B+ is high praise.
3 comments:
I don't think the Hudson deal was clearly bad for the A's. Beane gave up one year where Hudson would make $6.5 million, and in return he got two decent pitchers with little service time. At the time of the trade, Meyer was the Braves top pitching prospect. Cruz has pitched pretty well, even though the A's moved him to Arizona for Brad Halsey. Had Meyer not injured himself, this could have been a landslide for the A's. Meyer may still end up being a good pitcher.
It certainly wasn't a disaster, jcb, but Beane knows, as so many do, the frailty of young pitching. While Meyer's injury was unfortunate, and while he may turn it around some day, a guy in Beane's position has to know going in that a career-derailing injury to a young pitcher is not just a possibility, but approaches the range of probability in this day and age.
As such, Beane probably needed to make sure the success of the trade didn't depend so much on one guy, as the Hudson trade did.
Bupkis, no?
I was surprised by this, we all know Beane was in rebuilding mode after Haren but Swisher is still young - although arb eligible....
I like Swisher a lot, I'm a big OBP guy, great hair too.
Is this further evidence that Bonds won't be crossing the Bay?
Which White Sox OF will get the majority of ABs alongside Swisher & Dye - Owens, Quentin, ( is the Fields OF experiment over? )
Fun deal.
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