South Side Sox

Here's Your Dayan Viciedo News: White Sox to Sign Dayan Viciedo

2008-11-20T23:35:54Z

Here's Your Dayan Viciedo News: White Sox to Sign Dayan Viciedo

According to major-league sources, the Sox have reached an agreement with 19-year-old third baseman Dayan Viciedo, who was declared a free agent a week ago.

Viciedo reportedly will receive a major-league contract worth about $11 million. That’s more than twice the size of the deal that brought Alexei Ramirez to the White Sox last season, and Ramirez was second in American League Rookie of the Year voting last season.

Where Do We Go From Here?

2008-11-20T19:25:38Z

I never got around to posting a South Side Sox Official Off-Season Plan this year mainly for two reasons. One, I couldn't really see the White Sox being players in the free agent market. And Two, any plan I would have come up with simply would have been a collection of guidelines on what not to do.

It almost goes without saying that trading Nick Swisher would have violated our rule #1, Don't Sell Low on Swisher/Konerko/Vazquez.

I'm appalled by the reasoning used by some to defend the Swisher deal; the idea that Kenny Williams (and his scouts) have come out on top of other deals so we should just assume that they'll eventually end up smelling like roses on this one, the idea that Jeff Marquez is two bullpen sessions and a Don Cooper cutter away from turning into a mid-rotation starter. It requires a dizzying form of circular logic which I (thankfully) lack.

Maybe Marquez gives the Sox years of league average work from the rotation all for a below market price tag. Maybe Wilson Betemit takes over at third base full time. Maybe Jhonny Nunez becomes an integral part of the Sox bullpen. But none of that will change the fact that the Sox turned 3 of their top 5 prospects in '07 into two years of a below average defensive utility man with an OBP below .300 in the AL and two prospects who couldn't crack the Sox current top 10 (according to Baseball America). The Sox return for Swisher, and thus the '07 prospects, was inadequate. Period.

If Williams and company were as smart as some are making him out to be, then they should have been able to pry away the utility player and two mid-to-low level prospects for similar package of scraps, but scraps the super-smart Sox scouting staff was positive wouldn't amount to anything in the future. The Sox get their guys and still have Swisher, who can be held onto, or, with patience, dealt for a more palatable higher-upside return.

Back to the point, though I suspect that ripping on the Swisher deal will become a recurring theme around here, what happens now that the Sox have dispatched The Awesome? Jim asks essentially the same question, though he wants to know what happens to The Swagger.

* * * * *

With the acquisition of Betemit, the White Sox entire infield appears set. Konerko will hold down first, obviously, and Ramirez has been handed the shortstop job. That leaves four players (Chris Getz, Jayson Nix, Betemit, and Josh Fields) to compete for (probably) 3 spots; though Betemit is assured of a job, his role is undetermined. As I see it right now, Betemit will be the primary back-up at every infield position, with the opportunity to beat out Josh Fields and play everyday at 3B. Getz has the inside track to the 2B job, where the loser figures to be sent to the minors.

The Betemit acquisition has all but ended Juan Uribe's career on the south side, and although a similar move has yet to be made at back-up catcher with each passing day it appears more likely to be Cole Armstrong's job. Initially, I didn't think the Sox buyout of Toby Hall meant anything more than they didn't want to pay him $2+M for his pieing capabilities, but after the Swisher trade I think the Sox might be looking to purge a large part of their non-Pierzynski goofball demographic. Armstrong appears to be a late bloomer, and impressed in the Arizona Fall League, hitting 7 homers and nearly matching his '08 regular season total.

But Armstrong is a left-handed hitter who posted a .290 OBP against LHP in the minors and has not displayed any patience at the plate. He hardly seems like a compliment to Pierzynski's skill set. But unless the Sox can get Henry Blanco to sign a 1-year deal on the cheap, the job appears to be Armstrong's.

Swisher's departure is felt most in the outfield, where the Sox hope to deploy a true center fielder next year. Right now, that would probably mean Jerry Owens (whose groin was the Sox '08 MVP). Thankfully we've got a few months before spring training opens. Carlos Quentin isn't going anywhere, and the Swisher trade makes a Jermaine Dye deal seem much more unlikely. Unless the Sox make an unexpected splash at free agency, or ship out a valuable arm for an outfielder, any deal that included Dye would have to bring an outfielder in return, and thus wouldn't make much sense for either party.

In the rotation, Javier Vazquez seems like the only player with a chance to change uniforms. Plenty of teams might be interested, but a market won't develop until after CC Sabathia, Derek Lowe, AJ Burnett, and Jake Peavy have all found new homes. Bobby Jenks may represent Williams most valuable trade chit, but the Mets have backed off interest citing his declining strikeout rate; and like the Vazquez situation, most teams will want to wait until the top free agent options (Fuentes and K-Rod) have been exhausted).

All of which is a way of me saying, I'm bored and had to write something, why not a little stream-of-consciousness on the Sox situation?

And... Where the heck is the Dayan Viciedo News?

He was supposed to be signed last weekend, for sure by Monday. But here it is Thursday, and I haven't seen anything about his workouts--not a single leak hit a major newspaper--or any real updates on the teams interested in pursuing him. The most recent thing I can find is a blurb from the East Valley Tribune (AZ) which states "some believe he will get a contract similar to the four-year, $4.75 million deal [Alexei] Ramirez signed last year." But even that seems more like a guess than an informed opinion.

Kenny's secret plan: CC!

2008-11-20T00:32:52Z

Kenny's secret plan: CC!

"The White Sox are seeking a few smart moves that will lighten their payroll, perhaps allowing them to afford Sabathia."

How Much Does It Cost To Escape Tucson?

2008-11-18T04:51:42Z

The answer is $5M, apparently.

Mark Gonzales is reporting that a deal could be announced by as soon as Tuesday night, which just so happens to match the reports from our embedded SSSer Hoytsstach.

Was having a beer at a bar here in Phoenix. A guy came up to me, saw my Sox hat, said he’s been workin on the move from Tuscon, should be announced tomorrow night. By the way, he bought me a beer cuz of the hat, as if you wanted to know.

Beer tastes good.

We're going to call this one. The always reliable Phoenix area bar exit polls indicate that the White Sox are moving to Glendale.

BaseballAmerica.com: Chicago White Sox Top 10 Prospects

2008-11-17T19:26:08Z

BaseballAmerica.com: Chicago White Sox Top 10 Prospects

1. Gordon Beckham, ss
2. Aaron Poreda, lhp
3. Clayton Richard, lhp
4. Brandon Allen, 1b
5. Jordan Danks, of
6. Chris Getz, 2b
7. John Shelby, of
8. John Ely, rhp
9. Cole Armstrong, c
10. Eduardo Escobar, ss

Which looks very similar to our Community List at least at the top.

White Sox Acquire Javelinas, Rafters

2008-11-15T20:11:34Z

SURPRISE, AZ -- In an unprecedented move, the Chicago White Sox acquired one-third of the Arizona Fall League Saturday.

The Arizona Fall League has been called a finishing school for top prospects. Every year since taking over as White Sox GM, Kenny Williams has made it a point to personally scout the league for his latest trade targets. But this year, while watching a nail-biting 23-18 affair between the Saguaros and Desert Dogs, Williams was struck by a lightning bolt of inspiration.

What if he acquired the entire Arizona Fall League?

"I'm always amazed by the level of play here in Arizona," said Williams, "and am always looking for a way to infuse that type of high-energy talent into our system."

Could it be done? Would it be legal?

The answer was yes, almost. With their acquisition of two of the six AFL teams, the Peoria Javelinas and Surprise Rafters, the White Sox are the proud owners of 70 new prospects who will never amount to anything.

In exchange for their sizable prospect haul the Sox have agreed to send their entire starting lineup to Arizona each fall, as well as a yearly "rights fee" paid to each of the major league clubs.

"It's a good deal for us," said Williams as he scrolled through messages on his Blackberry. "We get younger, and have established a pipeline of young talent for years to come.

"In the long run, it will save on travel and administrative costs as well. We think it's a win-win."

here's some video of our new boy Jeff Marquez

2008-11-15T01:52:10Z

Jeffrey Marquez - Arizona Fall League - 2008-10-31 from David Pratt on Vimeo.

here's some video of our new boy Jeff Marquez

BP Chat: On the Swisher Deal

2008-11-15T00:37:10Z

BP Chat: On the Swisher Deal

Josh (Chicago): Steve, there are several reasons Kenny Williams may have traded Nick Swisher that have nothing to do with money/talent. As it's been reported on the Chicago stations, Swisher shut out the coaching staff completely last year, blew off the hitting coach when he tried to help him, and simply withdrew into himself once he was put in a platoon. Additionally, Swisher's locker room clown act was beginning to wear thin (his partner in crime, Toby Hall, has also been shown the door). Just something to keep in mind before blasting Kenny Williams...
Steven Goldman: I wasn't necessarily blasting him, but the trade was uneven, even if his reasons are of the off-field variety. Whatever the issues with Swisher's personality and comportment, he's a guy with value, a four-position guy who has produced in the past and even in a miserable year took a whole bunch of walks and hit with power. Players are traded for all kinds of reasons, even the one you site--that they're too annoying to live with. That still doesn't mean that the team shouldn't get value for them. At first glance it doesn't appear Williams did that.

www.baseballprospectus.com

Sox Sell Shockingly Low on Swisher

2008-11-14T06:32:35Z

As a not-so-objective observer, it's hard to know what to say following the White Sox trade of Nick Swisher for Wilson Betemit! (exclamation point required for centerpiece of franchise-changing trade) and a pair of uninspiring minor league arms. Because, on balance, the Sox didn't get the best player in the deal, didn't get anyone with high upside in return, and didn't get much in the way of salary relief.

No, this trade was all about getting rid of the strong personality of Swisher. It wasn't about baseball skill, or money, or the future. It was only about getting rid of a perceived problem for the sake of no longer having to deal with said problem.

There are whispers that Swisher rubbed much of the coaching staff and some of his teammates the wrong way with his outspoken behavior, and, most of all, his pouting when his season turned south. Now that he's no longer a member of the organization, I'm sure there will be plenty of leaks about him being an uncoachable, hard-partying, distraction in the clubhouse.

And even if all of those things are true, this is still a bad trade. The Sox simply didn't get any value in return.

Let's use their acquisition of Javier Vazquez as an example. Vazquez demanded a trade, as was his right, putting the D'backs out over a barrel. They had to trade him, and other teams knew it. Yet the Sox were still willing to part with their most dynamic position prospect in the last decade along with a couple of valuable-yet-replaceable spare parts. Where is our Chris Young-like player in return? It's not like the Yankees are completely devoid of young, unproven, high-upside players on the farm.

It's not Jeff Marquez, the former supplemental first rounder is a combination of Lance Broadway and Jon Garland with some Nick Massett thrown in for good measure. His hit rate and strikeout rate as he progressed through the minors are not indicative of future major league success. But he's having a good run in the Arizona Fall League, so I'm sure we can just ignore the rest of his minor league numbers.

LVL     H/9    K/9
A       8.9    6.9
A+     10.0    8.3
AA      9.4    5.6
AAA    10.4    3.7

And Nunez isn't even worth discussing, because the Sox added essentially the same player in the deal, a AA reliever with good numbers. That seems like a one-for-one swap in itself.

By default, Betemit is the Sox haul for Swisher. And Gio Gonzalez. And Ryan Sweeney. And Fautino De Los Santos.

Betemit was a former top-prospect in the Atlanta system who has been varying degrees of suck since he left the peach state. He's been particularly terrible in the American League, posting a .286 OBP and an 89/12 K/BB ratio in a year and a half in the league. He's like Juan Uribe without the plus defense. Oh, and he'll be competing for a starting job at 3rd, and possibly second.

It's hard to believe this is the best the Sox could get in return for Swisher. And if this was the best they could get on the eve of free agency, shouldn't the GM stand pat until the landscape changes? There's just no way can I can look at this and call it a good trade.

* * * * *

11 months ago when the Sox first acquired Nick Swisher from the A's, I closed my trade recap with the following sentence.

Overall, the Sox are a better team than they were yesterday. But they're still an organization adrift in mediocrity with no concrete plan to once again reach the shore of excellence.

A year later, a division title later, and it's even harder to understand the direction the organization is taking with this move.

Swisher Trade Conference Call w/ Kenny Williams (mms link)

2008-11-14T01:03:24Z

Swisher Trade Conference Call w/ Kenny Williams (mms link)

I didn't listen yet. I'm out the door to go watch The Office. More later.

Couldn't get link to work as a FanShot. Click Here (Link opens your preferred media player)

The Swisher Trade Transcript

2008-11-13T22:13:19Z

Kenny Williams: B-Dog, Wassap!

Brian Cashman: K-Dub, good to hear from you. The grapevine says you're shopping that valuable OFer with a below market contract.

KW: Yeah, his name's Swisher, and he sucked this year.

BC: I saw that. Boy did he look bad at the end of the season. You know, 27 year old outfielders with good plate discipline are like Guatemalan produce. You gotta throw 'em away before they really start to stink up the joint.

KW: I know, that's why I was callin'

BC: Maybe I can help you out. What are you looking for?

KW: Well we're looking for some more speed, a true center fielder.

BC: Johnny Damon. We've got him.

KW: Not grindy enough. He should be young, and fast, and not particularly good at baseball.

BC: Brett Gardner, he's fast. Steals some bases.

KW: OK, but I need a 2B or a 3B too. We've got a bunch of inexperienced players there.

BC: I know you're not talking about ARod or Cano. But I suppose I could part with Betemit. He's kinda like Juan Uribe--low OBP, poor plate discipline, plays multiple positions--without the plus defense.

KW: Sounds good.

BC: But that's two major leaguers from me for one of yours. Phil Rogers will tell you that I'm losing out here. Do you have any dynamite reliever types?

KW: Aaron Poreda's pretty good, but I don't think I can trade him. How about Kanekoa Texeira?

BC: Tex is alright, but I can't give up two major leaguers for that package.

KW: OK, drop Gardner. I've got my eye on Willy Taveras anyways. What have you got in your farm system?

BC: Oh, nothing. I've got these boring high-upside guys and boatload of these Super Exciting never-gonna-amount-to-nothing minor league arms. Tell you what. I'll let you pick any two from the boatload. You'll get 3 players while giving up 2. Phil Rogers will love you.

KW: OK. Marquez, he can't strike anyone out. I'll say he has good sink on his pitches, is well suited to play at The Cell. And, how about Nunez, he's been traded a lot, he must be good.

BC: Alright. It's a deal then?

KW: Deal.

Nick Swisher Traded for Jeff Marquez, others

2008-11-13T20:53:30Z

Nick Swisher Traded for Jeff Marquez, others

The New York Yankees have acquired center fielder-first baseman Nick Swisher in a trade with the Chicago White Sox, baseball sources tell ESPN.com.

Minor league pitcher Jeff Marquez is headed to Chicago in the deal, the source said. It's uncertain if any other players are involved.

"Up to 5 players could be involved, according to radio reports"

Unnamed Scouts Confirm Our Critical Thinking, Gonzales Reports

2008-11-13T04:47:41Z

Yesterday, I got an email from a young female student at DePaul who wanted to conduct some type of interview with me for an "online journalism" class (as if anything we do here is journalism). I may have inadvertently scared her away thanks to my sarcastic response about her trying to put one over on me, that there are only 2 female readers of this blog and we keep them isolated at opposite ends of the Earth to protect the future of our species.

Anyway, if I did succeed in scaring her away, it's only going to help her in the long run. I mean what insight do I have to offer the youth of America? Get the hell out of journalism? Learn 20 ways to cook roadkill?

Getting to the point, as I was reading the latest Mark Gonzales column, I remembered why this place exists, and may have found a little something to offer our intrepid little college student. You see, Gonzales gets some scouts to confirm the possibility of trading Jermaine Dye. The Trib is able to run "Jermaine Dye on the trading block" in bold letters. Blogs across the net run trade scenarios and speculate a return. And what do we do?

We just yawn and point out that you were an idiot if you didn't see this one coming.

Last week when Williams let it slip that Nick Swisher was no longer the White Sox center fielder, our immediate reaction wasn't where was Swisher headed, but that it meant goodbye to Jermaine Dye, or Paul Konerko, or Jim Thome (in that order). I'm not pointing that out because I'm trying to say 'I told you so.' I'm pointing that out because quickly arriving at that conclusion is what we do here. Critical Thinking is what we do here.

This blog exists because it takes the Trib 9 days to confirm what should have been immediately apparent to anyone with the ability read between the lines.

Viciedo Rhetoric Becoming Ridiculous

2008-11-12T03:56:49Z

First, Dayan Viciedo was the Cuba's Best Teen Talent and referred to as the Cuban Babe Ruth in some circles, which might have been a compliment if it wasn't first applied to Jose Canseco. I noted that Joe Cowley's scoop seemed to come straight from Viciedo's agent, Jaime Torres.

Then a day later, Phil Rogers tried to pour cold water on the hype, with his own anti-hype courtesy of a Cuban baseball expert who cited Viciedo's questionable work ethic and a Rangers broadcaster who was quoted as saying "[he was] supposed to be the next Omar Linares when he was 14 or 15, but nobody would make that sort of comparison anymore or even close to it."

Now, the White Sox still hold the inside track to land Viciedo but the field is considerably more crowded, and the rhetoric considerably more ludicrous. Here are a few quotes from Scott Merkin's latest effort.

"The best indication as to where this young man stands in regard to his potential is through the amount of people that organizations are sending down here to check him out during workouts." -- Torres

"He has incredible potential and an explosive bat. He has incredible strength in his wrists, great hand speed and a great arm. If you were to ask me, 'Does he have Major League potential,' I would say, 'Absolutely.'" -- Alexei Ramirez

Barring another trade, Viciedo would compete with Josh Fields for the starting third base job if signed by the White Sox. Torres believes this young man is ready to contribute at the big league level on an everyday basis, even at 19. He feels Major League teams agree with his assessment.

One organization told Torres that they would move their incumbent third baseman to another position, in order to make room for Viciedo.
-- Merkin

Read those last two paragraphs again. Viciedo is 19!

According to Merkin, the Sox think this 19 year old is ready to compete for a major league job and one team is willing to move their incumbent third baseman to make room for him. That's quite a player.

Want some more context? Here's a list of the only players (in the last 20 years) to compile 400 plate appearances in a season while under the age 21.

Justin Upton
Adrian Beltre
Adruw Jones
Edgar Renteria
Alex Rodriguez
Pudge Rodriguez
Ken Griffey Jr. (Twice)
Gary Sheffield
Roberto Alomar

That's 5 sure-fire, no-doubt-about-it, Hall of Famers; and by the time their careers finish, maybe 2 or 3 more. Clearly, Viciedo is a borderline Hall of Famer already. The Sox should give him a major league contract... and flying pony.

Projecting Josh Fields

2008-11-11T00:19:50Z

First, here's my work, so to speak. It's not supposed to be self-evident as I plan on breaking down what I did. Anyway, after all that math, I end up with a projection of .241/.311/.415 for Josh in '09. So what did I do?

What I really wanted to look at was Fields' true talent from 2006-2008. His 2007 was perhaps the only bright spot outside of Buehrle's no-no and, it seemed, bode well for a Crede-less 2008. Those 23 HR and the accompanying ISO had me fairly well convinced that despite his lack of glove and love of strikeouts, he could be slightly below average at 3B in 2008 and that we'd forget all about Joe Crede as soon as Kenny could let him loose. Then the offseason and the actual season happened and Fields was more or less forgotten and ended up battling injuries to the point that he didn't even break 300 AB in Charlotte. According to my 3B FA post, it's pretty clear I don't think that much of Fields at this point, but I skipped around actually quantifying his value.

Since then, Chone Smith released his 2008 defensive projections. Fields rates nearly a full win, -9 runs, below average. Remember that the replacement level player plays average defense, so replacement level and average are functionally equal here. So that's half of his 2009. What about the bat?

That's what all the math was about. I started with his raw stats from 2006-2008 and used the MLE calculator to get everything normalized to a neutral MLB setting. That's the first set of data on the google doc. The next thing was to get a coherent season out of 2007 between the Charlotte and Chicago parts. I took an average weighted by ABs and got his 2007. Next, I regressed each part of the slash line from each season to the AL 3 year mean. To show specifically, I used Actual*[(ABs)/550] + Mean*[(550-ABs)/550]. "Actual" = whatever part of the slash line I was using. So after all that, we have a regressed true talent slash line for 2006-2008.

The only thing left to do to make a Marcels' projection would be to weight each season (such that the more recent the season was, the more weight it receives) and then tack on an age component. The only thing I don't have is the age component, which may or may not be critical. 2006-2008 corresponded to Fields' 23-25 age seasons, so he stands to improve, on average, up until age 27. My projection, then, assumes that he's going to plateau at age 25 without even getting incrementally better through age 27. The .241/.311/.415 line completely neglects upside. You might think of it as the 50th percentile projection rather than the weighted mean, to use PECOTA terms. Or even maybe the 40th, depending on how high on Fields (of grass) you are.

Translate that to wOBA and it's around .320, which comes about to about 10 runs below average for 600 PA. All told, that's .5 wins above replacement, or 2 wins below average. What if we throw some upside back into it? What if he manages a .260/.330/.490 line, as per the old community projection? About .350 wOBA, which gets him all the way to -.5 wins above average.

Lastly: this is me doing math. We all know how well that turns out. So, obviously, there may be some glaring errors that potentially invalidate the specifics of what I've done here. But no matter! What's intriguing to me about this is the method. Front offices do the same thing every day in their evaluation of players from the Rule V draft to CC's future deal. With the vast array of resources baseball-crazed webfolks have made available, and for free no less, we can do the same damn thing. Pretty cool, I say.

Dayan Viciedo is a Free Agent, On White Sox Wish List

2008-11-08T21:05:26Z

Joe Cowley earned himself a bit of a scoop Saturday with the news that not only had Dayan Viciedo, who has been called "Cuba's Best Teen Talent," successfully skirted the draft process and been declared a free agent, but the Sox appear to have something of an inside track to acquiring the current third baseman (who projects more as a 1B/DH). Viciedo, like Alexei Ramirez and Jose Contreras, is represented by Jamie Torres (who figures to be Cowley's connection here).

"[The Sox] have shown a lot of interest," Torres said. "It seems they have done a lot of research. To be honest, they do have an edge having Alexei and Jose. If I were to tell you they didn't, I would be lying. They are an organization that got Alexei and are very happy. Chicago is a very attractive place."

According to Baseball America, he's comparable to Angel Villalona, the Giants' top position prospect who recently signed for a $2.1M bonus as a 16-year old out of Venezuela. Villalona was originally signed as a SS, who projected to be a 3B in the majors, but was immediately placed at 3rd once he started pro ball. He now figures to be a 1B by the time he reaches the majors. Viciedo is said to be even more of a big body than Villalona, with Torres comparing him to a linebacker. But at least one scout liked his bat better than Villalona's.

"His body could go the same route as Livan Hernandez, and when I saw him in Mexico, he wasn’t very good at third base anymore," one international scouting director said. "But he can really hit; in fact, I think he’s probably a better hitter than Villalona."

What are the Sox chances of signing Viciedo?

I'd say the Sox chances are probably slightly less than they were last year with Alexei Ramirez. I say slightly less because of Viciedo's youth. Let's recall the Ramirez signing...

Last off-season, we were collectively quite excited at the news that Ramirez had defected--Seriously, read some of those comments--and followed his progress closely during the winter leagues. A poor showing in the DWL and a lack of interest from other teams tempered our enthusiasm considerably when the Sox signed him shortly before Christmas.

As we stated in our first post about Alexei, he was basically fully developed. He is what he's going to be (essentially). Viciedo, however, will have some time to develop. So while the market for Alexei was limited because teams didn't see much projection, the market for Viciedo will be much deeper, as many teams will see this as an opportunity to add an extra high-round draft pick to their '08 class.

Carlos Quentin Sleeps in His Uniform

2008-11-07T19:04:16Z

Carlos Quentin Sleeps in His Uniform

Had the White Sox reached the second round of the playoffs last month, left fielder Carlos Quentin likely would have been added to the active roster, Williams said. ''Last time I saw Carlos Quentin, he was hitting balls out of the ballpark to straightaway center field, telling me it won't be long before he's ready to play,'' Williams said of a chat that took place before Game 4 of the American League Division Series against the Tampa Bay Ray. ''Carlos was going to take live BP if we ended up going back to Tampa (for Game 5).'' Williams is confident Quentin will be ready when spring training opens in February. ''He's probably ready now,'' Williams said. ''Knowing Carlos, he might have his uniform on already, sitting in front of the TV with his bat.''

Who Likes Asking Questions?

2008-11-06T02:11:26Z

So larry's unrelenting attempts to get me to live up to my title have borne fruit. I emailed Chris Getz to see if he would be interested in doing an interview for the site. He consented, so now I'm soliciting question suggestions for Mr. Getz. What say you, masses of SSS?

Help Wanted: White Sox Seeking Bus Boys

2008-11-05T20:44:37Z

Help Wanted: White Sox Seeking Bus Boys

Do your friends call you spunky, gritty, or spritely?

Do you make up for a lack of offensive ability by running fast?

If so, the Chicago White Sox are the team for you. We're looking for 1 or 2 young, dynamic outmakers to put a the top of our aging lineup. Interested parties should contact GM Kenny Williams at...

Nick Swisher Is No Longer The White Sox' Center Fielder

2008-11-05T05:48:57Z

Buried among the usual White-Sox-Need-More-Speed and Vazquez-On-The-Market notes which will no doubt plague our off-season until the Willy Taveras Era begins, Dave Van Dyck finds a noteworthy quote from Kenny Williams.

"No."

That was Williams' answer when (seemingly) asked if Nick Swisher would be the White Sox everyday center fielder next season. Swisher is among the players Williams is not-so-subtly whispering about to other GMs this off-season.

The implication from that statement may not be as cut-and-dry as it first seems. Yes, the White Sox will have a more traditional center fielder next season. Yes, Swisher is among the players Williams is currently dangling in an attempt to improve the team. But the article also notes that Williams has listened to "a lot" of offers for "Veterans."

It would seem dumb to sell low on a still relatively young player of Swisher's caliber, and it goes against Williams' acquisitional style. He's the buy-low, sell broke down pitchers guy. So, if Nick Swisher is no longer the White Sox center fielder, get ready to say goodbye to Jermaine Dye, or Paul Konerko, or even Jim Thome.