Kenny Hates Prospects

I hate the first Swisher trade and I hate Swisher, but these moves don't judge the quality of a GM the way the Teahen and Pierre deals (bad) or the Rios claim, Sale drafting, Thornton trade (good) etc. do. Swisher has actual ability and had a pretty sick statistical year in a hitters hell prior to acquiring him. Therefore, Swisher cost a lot in talent because he was young, signed to what seemed at the time to be a cheap extension, and theoretically because of his past promised a much better future. Kenny actually probably traded an all-around below league average starting CF, a #3 LH starter, and a potential setup man for a guy he thought would help anchor the lineup for a few years. In terms of talent (because you can't just grade off of pure hindsight, I mean that's stupid) Kenny probably thought he was buying low since Sweeney's power hadn't come, DLS had a troubling motion and was far away, and Gio was a good but not great SP prospect. Now, completely outside of Kenny's control, Swisher went and had a dogs*** year where he wormed and fake smiled his way into Ozzie's doghouse, and then in the SAME OFFSEASON - an offseason which apparently NO ONE saw coming - Swisher's supposed sweetheart contract took a nose dive into potential albatross territory. Remember how Orlando Cabrera turned down arb on something like a $9M contract only to sign for crap around ST? Remember how Orlando Hudson turned down something like $10-12M per over multiple years from the DBacks only to take a s***ty one year deal with the Dodgers? Kenny unloaded that deal because nobody wanted that fake-ass prick in the clubhouse, especially at a salary that was looking nearly unmovable (remember that the Braves thought it was a bad deal and didn't want to take that on either). OTOH, Pierre's game was very well known and there was no reason to suspect him having an excellent year or anything like that. I'll admit he did better than I thought he did, but he's still not a lead-off hitter. Teahen had never accomplished jack and was a no-defense nontender candidate. Terrible move. But then Rios had all the ability in the world and had proven it, and Kenny made a wonderful move there. Kenny saw the talent in Thornton. If the rest of baseball knew that Chris Sale could do what he did for us then there isn't a snowball's chance in hell he falls to us, signing demands or not. Those are the kinds of moves that should define Kenny. The Swisher deal however just went bad on him and could have gone bad on any other GM out there. Jumping on Kenny for that would be like jumping all over the Braves for the McLouth deal, which looked solid at the time for both sides but might end up being pretty bad given the contract.

BTW Carl Crawford is a complete waste of money. DO NOT WANT.

Daniel Hudson doesn't have the raw talent Edwin Jackson has, nor does he have the MLB experience (including playoff race and playoff game experience) that Edwin Jackson does. The trade was made because winning is the No. 1 priority here, and that is because it has to be. There's a reason Hawk has to make weather-based excuses for the fans all year, and it's because the fans only show up to see winning. If the Jackson move helps put us over the top in 2011 then the benefits of that deal could far outweigh Daniel Hudson's likely contributions for the Sox over that period, because winning in 2011 affects the 2012 opening payroll, and potentially the availability of funds over the 2012 trade deadline, and maybe even the 2013 payroll as well. And lastly, if Hudson turns into a consistent world beater then Hudson has fooled just about everyone on the planet save for a few Tyler Flowers-trumping Sox fans, including the brass of such organizations as the Milwaukee Brewers, the San Diego Padres, and the Washington Nationals, who all collectively laughed at Kenny's Hudson-headed trade proposals. And those are just the ones we know about.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 10, 2010 -> 07:44 AM) The problem with trading him away is that you need another team who wants him at that price. There's no reason to pay 1/2 of his deal to make him go away. Oh hell yes there is. Imagine that money in the farm system, especially considering the way we've drafted, developed, and dealt over the last 3-4 years. Or if nothing else, imagine another reliever or two in the bullpen. Or another $1M Jim Thome bargain at the end of FA. That money would go a long way, which is why opposing teams would laugh at Kenny if he wanted to *only* pay half of that deal. Truth is, Teahen was a nontender candidate when the Sox acquired him, and then the Sox agreed to commit even more money per year in future seasons than he was already making at the time. Brilliant.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Sep 11, 2010 -> 08:56 AM) People will complain that he's too fat the first time he blows a save. lol

QUOTE (chisoxt @ Sep 11, 2010 -> 01:46 PM) Gio, Rchard and Hudson will win over 40 games combined next year...count on it. That's a lot to trade with not much back in return. LMAO at calling a return of Edwin Jackson, Jake Peavy, and even Nick Swisher whom I personally hate, "not much back in return." Kenny f***ed up on the first Swisher deal, but Dan Hudson will never in his life have the stuff Edwin Jackson does and Clayton Richard will never in his life win a Cy Young like Peavy did. Kenny has a set and he showed it with both of these deals. If we can ride Edwin the way we rode Jose Contreras in '05-'06, and if we get a full year of a healthy Peavy from 2011 on, then both of those moves were excellent, excellent baseball moves. The name of the game on the Southside is winning when it counts, because without that the fans don't show up, and without them the best Kenny can do is run out some #3/#4 starters like Hudson and Richard on the cheap with no real hope of doing anything in the playoffs should we get there for lack of the necessary "horses." The Hudson love on this board post-trade is sickening. He will be good, but he's not going to be this good in the end, and IMO people are just trying to justify all their ridiculous Jackson hate at the time of the trade. Jackson has always had that true #1 ace kind of pedigree and it should be no surprise that he's pitching that way now under Coop after making significant strides each season up until the first half of this one with the DBacks. Kenny will be proven right with this move. Hudson is not another Haren.

More Kotsay hate.... Newsflash: Kotsay is a better baseball player than Mark Teahen and a much better RF as well. Morel should have taken Teahen's place at 3B after last night, and Kotsay should have taken 1B and LF/RF from him well before that. Teahen is not only a terrible baseball player, but he has no fit on this team beyond LH pinch hitter. If we make it he'll in all likelihood miss the postseason roster all throughout the playoffs, no matter what the Kotsay haters will insist. And Ozzie will be 100% in the right for doing it.

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