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The Athletics made their second major trade in three weeks, sending outfielder and fan favorite Nick Swisher to the White Sox for three minor leaguers on Thursday.

The A's -- who dealt ace Dan Haren to Arizona on Dec. 14 -- received left-hander Gio Gonzalez, right-hander Fautino De Los Santos and outfielder Ryan Sweeney

How are any of these prospects? Swish was my favorite. He had a man's beard.

De los Santos' ceiling is huge, Gonzalez is a nice pitching prospect and Sweeney, not very high on him probably a 4th outfielder.

Well, Kevin Goldstein thinks rather highly of both Fautino and Gio (subscription required for Gonzalez review):

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/artic ... cleid=6912

I kind of like the deal from both sides. Especially if the Pale Hosers slot Swisher in CF (he did play 59 games there last season).

I know the White Sox wanted OBP added to the lineup and Swisher is one of the best around when it comes to that but I just don't understand why they did this deal.

It doesn't make them better than Detroit or Cleveland and they just gave up two really good pitching prospects to finish at best 3rd in the division.

its weird seeing biilly beane trade swisher after reading him gushing over swisher in moneyball, but i guess its what he does

is ryan sweeney projected to be better than josh fields? gio gonzalez has also been traded alot the past 3 or 4 years. he was on the chi sox then traded in the jim thome trade, then traded back when the sox traded freddy garcia and now he's on his way to oakland.

i dont get why they traded swisher right now, looks like he has 3 years left til he's a free agent, i think his value couldve gotten higher

Swisher is overrated IMO and i love the guy. A's one awesome prospect, a very good one , and another good one. Imagine what the A's would have gotten if swisher was a star. This move makes no sense for the white sox, they are CLEARLY behind the tigers and indians for the next few years.

A's are going to be a scary, scary, scary team in a few years. good draft position this year, top 10 next year.. and a first rounder for both embree and ellis. a bright, bright future from Fremont.


If/when the A's move blanton and street, they need position players with high upside, and the rebuilding mission is complete.

all trust in mr beane

Wait, don't the White Sox need starting pitching? They are trading away their future like they have a chance to win the AL Central this year.

I like Swisher a lot -- he can play all OF positions, draws a lot of walks, has good power. In his 2-3 year prime, which should be in a Sox uniform, he could very well approach a .950 OPS. For a terrible offensive club, he's a big acquisition.

However:

-The White Sox have no shot at the playoffs this season.
-The White Sox, even before the trade, had one of the worst farm systems in baseball. They've now traded their top 3 prospects.
-Gonzalez and DLS are projected front-end rotation pitchers. The White Sox will needneedneed front-end rotation pitchers very soon. Buehrle is pretty steady, Vazquez is good (although flaky), but Contreras is done, and Danks, Floyd, and Broadway have little chance of ever being more than back-end guys. FAs don't usually sign with the pale hose b/c Reinsdorf's policy is 3-year deals, no more, for pitchers.
-Sweeney can rake. Injuries and slow development have hurt his stock, but he still has .300/20/80 written all over him.

Essentially, it's the reason the Garland for Cabrerra deal didn't make sense, but a little more so. In my humble, cynical opinion, Kenny Williams is building a 78-85 win team in the hopes that it will allow him to keep his job, whereas standing pat and allowing guys like Fields, Gonzalez, DLS, Sweeney, Anderson, etc. to develop for the future (the right move considering the brutal strength of the AL right now) would have left the White Sox with 90-100 losses and put his job in jeopardy.

But hey, we might win two series against the Tigers now. So there's that.

SportsWorld wrote:Wait, don't the White Sox need starting pitching? They are trading away their future like they have a chance to win the AL Central this year.

Must. Resist. Astros. Joke.

Love this quote from the Wiretap: "Despite a fastball in the low to mid 90

trwi7 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Must. Resist. Astros. Joke.

These two teams are very similar. Both have no starting pitching yet continue to pile on batters while depleting their farm systems. Both have little to no chance of winning their division this year so why trade away your future for a 3rd-4th place finish?

aw snap, not this astros talk.

i like ryan sweeney's upside....i see him as a middle of the order type bat for the a's in the future.

SportsWorld wrote:-= original quote snipped =-


These two teams are very similar. Both have no starting pitching yet continue to pile on batters while depleting their farm systems. Both have little to no chance of winning their division this year so why trade away your future for a 3rd-4th place finish?

I don't know anything about the situation with the White Sox but is Williams on the hot seat? If he is then this is why he's depleting the farm system. Trying to win now and save his own ass instead of doing what's best for the team long term.

SportsWorld wrote:-= original quote snipped =-


These two teams are very similar. Both have no starting pitching yet continue to pile on batters while depleting their farm systems. Both have little to no chance of winning their division this year so why trade away your future for a 3rd-4th place finish?

Meh. Cubs are piling up hitters to become no shows in the playoffs.
They lit us up in the NLDS

solid switch hitter, but i don't see how hes worth 3 prospect

I like this more for Oakland than I do for Chicago.

Nick Swisher is going to be a really good hitter for them but they did give up a lot.

GS Warriors 1 wrote:Nick Swisher is going to be a really good hitter for them but they did give up a lot.

Especially considering this isn't going to move them past Cleveland or Detroit.

trwi7 wrote:I know the White Sox wanted OBP added to the lineup and Swisher is one of the best around when it comes to that but I just don't understand why they did this deal.

It doesn't make them better than Detroit or Cleveland and they just gave up two really good pitching prospects to finish at best 3rd in the division.

I hear that they made this deal to move Paul Konerko to the Angels for Chone Figgins and a player or two,this way the Sox get the lead off hitter there looking for in Figgins,and Swish can move to 1st base for the Sox.

As an Indians fan I love it. Trading top pitching prospects out of the division??? Yes, please!!