The Yankee Farm System Preview will be up shortly. But first, time to deal with a surprise move, as the White Sox have apparently traded Jon Garland to the Angels for OrlandoCabrera. And honestly, I think that the White Sox have done themselves a disservice, while the Angels are positioning themselves for another move.
Garland was worth a lot on this market and could have netted the White Sox a good collection of parts to help rebuild themselves for the long term. For example, a trade with the Rangers could have netted them a shortstop prospect (Joaquin Arias), a pitching prospect (can't think of one right now), and another prospect. A trade to another team, such as the Dodgers could have netted them Andre Ethier, Chin-hui Tsao, and another player. But instead, they trade for a good defensive shortstop and nothing else. If anything, this impacts the rotation severely, as they will now field a rotation of the following:
The White Sox will surely miss Garland's durability and consistency, and for the most part will be going with a cheaper, but less proven rotation. True, this move could lead to the discovery of one of their arms being able to take the next step foward, like Gonzalez or Broadway, but it is still a very short term move.
All in all, it should be an excellant defensive infield, but it doesn't do much to push the White Sox ahead of Detroit, Minnesota or Cleveland, and at the most, pushes them ahead of Kansas City.
White Sox Grade - C
As for the Angels, they now have an embarressment of riches, with a potential rotation of the following:
John Lackey (RHP)
Kelvim Escobar (RHP)
Jered Weaver (RHP)
Jon Garland (RHP)
Joe Saunders (LHP)/Ervin Santana (RHP)
This gives them an opportunity to now trade for a big bat, with Santana likely being the victim. Truth be told, he has better stuff than Saunders, but he just doesn't have the command over it. And, with the acquisition of Garland and the rise of Nick Adenhart, their best pitching prospect, time has simply run out for the Angels to try and fix him.
Theoretically, the Angels could put a big bat in the lineup by using Santana as bait. They can easily place Figgins or Erick Aybar at shortstop and not suffer much of a loss in offense there, but third base is a hole and could use an upgrade, although they could simply just promote Brandon Wood to play third and see if the kid can hit.
There aren't a lot of options out there at third base that are available. They could try and deal for Hank Blalock, but it seems unlikely they'd do a deal within the division.
What this could symbolize, however, is the beginnings of a push to acquire Miguel Cabrera. The Angels now have a spot cleared for him and they could offer a package of Santana, Reggie WIllits (who can handle center), Wood and a fourth prospect, perhaps Terry Evans, though no doubt the Marlins will demand Howie Kendrick thrown in as well.
Overall, I like the trade from the Angels' standpoint, as they give up nothing and now can get to work on adding that big bat to add to the lineup, giving them a two year window to own the division until Seattle and Texas are ready to begin their respective campains to knock them out.
I gotta agree with you on this one. The only way i can justify the move on the part of Kenny Williams is that there were really no shortstops to be had, but that isnt really true. There also is a school of thought out there that he traded Garland for Cabrera to free up a little bit of cash for Torii Hunter, but i dont buy it. I am sure that the Braves, who are kind of starved for pitching, would have given up Rentaria for Garland. I know i would rather have Rentaria. Plus, Kaz Matsui is also available. And to make things worse, Williams has to find someone to take Uribe off his hands, and i cant imagine any GM wanting a blowhole like Uribe.
Like you said, the current FA class is thin on pitching, with Carlos Silva the biggest "gem" to ba head. Garland, who has been their most consistent guy, could have fetched a ton more.
Last edited by chitownsfinest on November 19th at 12:39 PM.
For the second straight season the White Sox traded a prominent member of their starting pitching rotation for reasons that I completely understand and agree with. Freddy Garcia and Jon Garland were not going to be resigned to huge free agent contracts and players were needed to fill other positions.
For the second straight season, however, I feel they could have gotten a better deal or more players elsewhere. I like Orlando Cabrera, but I think Chicago should have also recieved either Ervin Santana, OR a veteran reliever. This trade gives the Angels the best rotation in the AL, and helps the White Sox offense and defense. Unfortunately, I disagree with GM Kenny Williams that it makes the White Sox a better TEAM.
chitownsfinest I agree with several of your points too. I've heard rumblings today that if the White Sox are not able to find a trade partner for Uribe that they will not hesitate to move him over to second base. That would give them, in my opinion, the best infield defense in the AL (a healthy Joe Crede, barring). I also have no doubt that the White Sox are set to offer Torri Hunter a contract if they haven't already. They will sign Hunter OR Rowand. When Detroit picked up Renterria I was a little upset at that missed opportunity to trade Garland for him. Also, I was hoping the Sox could offer Garland, Uribe, and a prospect to the Orioles for Miguel Tejada. I agree with the premise of trading Garland, and I definitely like Orlando Cabrera, but they could have done more.
JCScheffres, sorry, but there is no room for the words best defensive in a sentence that also has Juan Uribe in it. The guy is overweight and makes routine plays look spectacular, giving fans the impression he is an above average defender. He is a mediocre fielder at best and one of the five worst hitters in the game, simple as that. Also, have you not watched the Red Sox play defense? Lowell and Lugo make up a better left side than Crede and Cabrera. Konerko is just a decent fielder as well.
Last, i dont think the Sox traded Garcia because of an impending big money deal. He traded Garcia because he saw a declining pitcher and knew he had to trade him while he still could.
While there's no denying Uribe is a bad hitter, I will disagree that he is terrible at defense. He does appear lazy at times which baffles me. Almost as if he needs some extra motivation, and that is frustrating. But he had a .976 fielding% which would rank him 12th in MLB among shortstops (Cabrera was 5th, by the way). That's not all that bad. He had a 4.74 range factor among shortstops, which was 5th in MLB. And there is no denying that he has a great arm. Imagine that arm at second. I know you can't always go by just numbers but just from observing Uribe I think he's well above average defensively.
Also, I'll give you that Konerko does not have very good range at 1b but you don't really need it at that position. He is pretty good at digging balls out of the dirt. He's above mediocre, I think.
Crede + Cabrera vs Lowell + Lugo is awfully close. Either way you go your left side is awesome. At worst, the White Sox would have the second best defensive IF in the AL. It all depends on who is playing 2b.
Contreres should have been given away. He is too inconsistent. Garland still has years of good ball to pitch. Williams could have found another short stop, especially one not over 30 years old.
Give away Uribe also now that he has been signed. See if he can pry Brad Bache from Houston. The young arms the Sox have are hard throwers but do not throw strikes and are not aggressive enough to be winners. This is a grade D move by the Sox. Letting Scotty Pods go was a grade B move. He can't seem to stay healthy. Get someone to play center, keep Fields in left and keep Crede. If Percival is a free agent, sign him.
I'm a long time Texas Rangers fan who has come to love baseball as a whole. I recently began this blog as a way for me to showcase my opinions, provide some analysis, and hopefully entertain those who happen to stumble upon my little soapbox online. I'll toss in an NFL, College, or NBA nugget every now and then. Enjoy the posts everyone, and yes, getting a little love in a Deadspin post was probably the highlight of the year, blogwise.
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