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White Sox took full advantage
of baseball's current state
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By Peter Gammons
Special to ESPN.com
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July 4
On the theatre marquee are Roberto Alomar, Hall of Famer, and Carl Everett, All-Star. In the real world, this is what happened on Tuesday: the Mets paid $3.7 million for a B+ list prospect (Royce Ring), a C list prospect (Edwin Almonte) and an A-ball body, while the Rangers paid $3.5 million for three B-/C list prospects, the White Sox have two mid-field (former) All-Stars at others' expense and the bottom line is that in the new world order, prospects are kings.
Hey, even the Milwaukee Brewers are paying Curtis Leskanic's salary just to get two shots of hope from the Royals. Obviously, there are several other factors involved, including the restoration of the Mets, Rangers and Brewers.
|  | | Now with the White Sox, Roberto Alomar is playing for his sixth major-league team. |
"The Mets and Rangers know the free agents they gave up aren't coming back, they're not going anywhere this year and they might as well add inventory to their futures," says one NL GM. "It's amazing the way this works. But look what also happened Tuesday night -- the Marlins won a game 20-1 in which they beat a pitcher (Mike Hampton) whom they're paying $10 million. Intrasquad? Simulated?" Or maybe the Braves got whipped by Green Disease.
And on the heels of the White Sox trades, the Dodgers and Diamondbacks have let it be known they're interested in Juan Gonzalez. "If the Rangers will pay Juan's contract the way they were in the Montreal deal," says one D-Backs official, "we'd be interested and give them two decent prospects."
If that happens, if you figure that with all the complex deferrals in the Gonzalez contract his remaining payout is about $4 million in present-day value. If the Rangers make another Gonzalez deal and he is willing to waive his no-trade clause, then Texas will have paid between $7.5 million and $8 million for five young players.
"It's the real world in which economics, corporate marketing dollars and future television dollars are declining," says one AL GM, "and yet none of the players traded this week are as good as the three (Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee, Brandon Phillips) Cleveland got (from Montreal) for Bartolo Colon."
The Expos, with GM Omar Minaya playing a kind of con game since he's trying to keep the Expos in the race without a $20 bill or a credit card, has been the hard-luck loser in all this. Minaya had a Gonzalez deal, only to have Juan say no to it. Minaya, like the Royals, was in on Alomar (as a first baseman), but couldn't trade pitcher Seung Song and outfielder Terrmel Sledge because Minaya needed Song in the Everett deal he was trying to make.
"I'm trying everything to get a bat," says Minaya, who can still try to get Rafael Palmeiro from Texas now that Gonzalez and Everett are off the list.
Two of the names on the list of minor leaguers from which the Rangers will select are pichers Felix Diaz and Frankie Francisco, who were "prospects" the White Sox got from the Giants and Red Sox last summer for Kenny Lofton and Bobby Howry, respectively. This means that as contracts get passed on, even hope is fungible, because most dreams never reach the sky, but most teams would rather have dreams than staying awake looking at high-salaried, veteran players.
Some other general managers privately minimized what the White Sox's Ken Williams did in the Alomar and Everett trades, but since the Twins began stumbling and the White Sox got hot and back into the race, these acquisitions were of no small significance.
"I believed all along that if the club started playing the way I thought it was capable of playing that we could do some things to improve," said Williams. "I believed this team was much better than it was playing. When there was so much speculation surrounding (manager) Jerry (Manuel), I said nothing, because to respond was to put myself in a corner; but I believed it would turn around with him."
To Williams' and owner Jerry Reinsdorf's credit, they put the onus on the players, not Manuel. Then when .500 meant contention, they made the moves, which in the season in which the All-Star Game comes to Chess Records Park (hey, no one can remember the new name, and what's more recognizable to the South Side than the company at 2120 South Michigan Avenue?) was doubly important because it erased a stigma that has hovered over Reinsdorf and the franchise since July 31, 1997. That was the day that Reinsdorf ordered then-GM Ron Schueler to make the infamous White Flag Trade, sending Wilson Alvarez, Roberto Hernandez and Danny Darwin to the Giants for six prospects (of which only Keith Foulke became a staple), which effectively ceded the division title to the Cleveland Indians when the ChiSox were but 3½ games out of first place.
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We struck when we thought the timing was best. ” |
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— Ken Williams, White Sox GM, on acquiring Roberto Alomar and Carl Everett |
"There's no question that (trade) has been in the back of some fans' minds for a few years," says Williams. "That's the past, and I cannot erase it. But the present is 2003, and Jerry Reinsdorf has shown the fans how much he and we want to win."
The trades were a message to the team from the wrong side of the tracks in Chicago at a time when the Cubs need to get a bat or two and find them frustrated by the trade of Shea Hillenbrand and the non-availability of Mike Lowell. But there's a lot more to this deal than perception.
First, the White Sox were a predominantly right-handed, plodding lineup. Alomar may have become a one-sided player (he's batting .179 right-handed through Thursday), but he had a .370 on-base percentage batting left-handed while with the Mets. Everett s a dangerous slugger/hitter from both sides of the plate.
Second, while time and all those diving crashes on the field may have worn down Alomar to the point where his range factor was 10th among the 12 qualified National League second basemen, he is a two class upgrade over D'Angelo Jimenez. With arguably the best starting rotation in the AL Central and only one even average defender (Magglio Ordonez in right field) behind that staff, they needed defense. Years ago, a very wise baseball mind named Ken Harrelson said: "In a pennant race, sometimes the leather you add is more important than the bat."
Are there issues? Certainly. Time may have slowed down Alomar, but the fact remains that in New York he felt as if he were trapped inside a mobile with the Hirschbeck Blues again. Are there issues with Everett? Maybe, but fewer than you think, because while he may not be the center fielder he was when he was with the Mets, he plays hard and does so every day. When Rangers manager Buck Showalter wanted a mentor for Mark Teixeira and some of the other young Rangers, he chose Everett. "I did a lot of background work on Carl," says Williams, "and everything came out positively."
Since the end of last season, Williams has acquired Billy Koch, Colon, Everett and Alomar. He has stuck by Manuel. He has pulled down the White Flag and whispered to the Twins and Royals, "I'm comin' to getcha, 'scuse me while I kiss the sky."
Of course, what Williams acquired were position players from teams that want to drown their sorry 2003 teams. The halfway mark of the season has passed and the only pitcher of significance traded has been Byung-Hyun Kim. Instead, teams that have been able to dip into their farm systems and bring up young pitchers have prospered.
Dontrelle Willis turned the Marlins' season around, not to mention turned the heads of South Florida and the entire country (the local Fox TV ratings for Willis' Wednesday start against the Braves was a 5.4, best since the World Series-clinching game in 1997). Brandon Webb rolled out 12 straight quality starts and jacked the Diamondbacks up on his back as they await the returns of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling. (Jose Valverde also saved the D-Backs while Matt Mantei was on the disabled list.)
Montreal's Claudio Vargas came up and moved into the third spot in the rotation. San Francisco has gotten huge starts out of Jerome Williams, the Yankees got a shot in the arm from Brandon Claussen, the Braves' Horacio Ramirez has been a bellwether and matched Willis pitch-for-pitch on Wednesday night. The Cardinals have turned to rookie right-hander Danny Haren, who in late May was in Double-A. The Phillies, Mariners, Cubs and Royals are also built on young, essentially homegrown arms.
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| 2003 SEASON STATISTICS |
| G |
IP |
W-L |
BB |
SO |
ERA |
| 15 |
91.0 |
5-8 |
29 |
58 |
5.04 |
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Is there anyone out there right now to acquire except Kris Benson or Mike Maroth or Jason Johnson now that the Marlins and Diamondbacks are back in their respective races?
"Remember, this is still all about who has cash and who needs it," says one GM. "So maybe someone can buy a pitcher from a Tampa Bay or Detroit whose cash flows are negative.
"There may be a lot of movement in August after the trade deadline. Teams who put in claims may get players, period. But most players will get through, which means that there are going to be some eBay bargains before September 1."
In an entertainment business, there is a prevailing cropduster mentality. So sometime between now and September 1, the Yankees will buy someone who is good, because that is what they do. The Red Sox and Dodgers probably will, as well.
But the White Sox got the jump, knowing that the price for Alomar and Everett was about $7 million worth of minor leaguers, one of whom they believe to be close to their A list.
"We struck when we thought the timing was best," Williams said.
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