MVN - Most Valuable Network

Nick Swisher traded to White Sox for prospects

Nick Swisher was sent to the White Sox today for some prospects, fully indicating that the A’s intend on trading away any player that still has some value. Billy Beane is obviously looking forward to 2011, when the team moves to their new ballpark in Fremont.

Swisher, who is just 27, still has four or five prime years ahead of him — at a reasonable price of an average of $6.1 million over the next four years, with an option for 2012. With that situation, he brought back a lot in the trade. Left-handed pitcher Gio Gonzalez, right-handed pitcher Fautino De Los Santos and outfielder Ryan Sweeney are all now a part of the Oakland minor league system. De Los Santos and Gonzalez were ranked the top two prospects in the White Sox system by Baseball Prospectus, while Sweeney came in at No. 8. Interestingly, the No. 4 prospect was Chris Carter, who was traded to Arizona before coming over to Oakland in the Dan Haren deal.

Gonzalez was drafted by the White Sox, but then traded to the Phillies in the Jim Thome deal, before returning in the Freddy Garcia swap. Now he’s been traded for Nick Swisher. Gonzalez is considered one of the better pitching prospects in the game, and should get a call-up sometime in 2008. He led all of minor league baseball in strikeouts in 2007, with 185.

De Los Santos came out of nowhere to become Chicago’s top prospect this season. He’s a Dominican power pitcher that works in the 94-96 range, and his curveball is a plus pitch. He struck out a ton of batters this year, and he’s an intriguing talent. He could be a future No. 1 starter or dominant closer.

Ryan Sweeney is an outfielder that can play some center, but is more suited to a corner spot — if he had a bit more power. He spent the last two seasons at AAA, and while he’s only 22, he needs to do something quick to avoid stalling out. There’s a chance he has an impressive spring and makes the big leagues in April, but he’ll likely start the year in Sacramento and try to earn his way onto the roster.

We’ll have full rundowns on these players in the next couple days, just as we did with the players in the Dan Haren trade.

This move clearly indicates that Joe Blanton, Mark Ellis, Huston Street, and any other players over the age of 24 with any value will probably be moved soon. I don’t think that moving Swisher was the right thing to do, since he’s a young, talented player with plenty of experience and production. He’ll continue to produce for quite a while, at a reasonable price, and was a clubhouse leader for a young team.

While it’s far, far too early to say whether Beane made a mistake, the reality is that both Gonzalez and De Los Santos will have to be productive members of the rotation for a few years to balance out the loss of Nick Swisher.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 at 12:47 pm and is filed under Prospects, Trades. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.