KW's Trade List and trading of aging Vets

[joeynach]

From MLBTraderumors.com "ESPN's Buster Olney reports that the White Sox have "distributed a memo to a number of teams in the league informing them that a number of Chicago veterans are available in trade." Jim Thome, Jermaine Dye, and Scott Linebrink were among the players listed in memo." Later it says Paul Konerko, Octavio Dotel, and Scotty Pods were all added to the list.

 

I did a little research on the second half performance of some of our aging core, two of whom have already been traded. My theory being that poor second half performance, due the fact that most older players tend to wear down in the 2nd halfs as they age, is behind Kenny's recent "unloading". This isn't the first time this has surfaced, I remember hearing the "reliance on older players for production leads to 2nd half collapes" in 2003, 2004, 2006, and now 2009. I do believe Kenny finally has had it with the obvious decline in performance of his core over post all star breaks. With Contreras and Thome now gone, it will be no surprise to me if either Dye or Konerko, or both, is traded as well. Just look at the stats that are highlighted in red. They show for the most part the declining production of our core Post All Star Break as they age.

 

 

Jose Contreras Post All Star Break 2005-2009

2005: 11-2, 2.96 ERA, 1.14 WHIP

2006: 4-9, 5.40 ERA, 1.62 WHIP

2007: 5-7, 6.01 ERA, 1.62 WHIP

2008: N/A

2009: 1-6, 6.96 ERA, 1.79 WHIP

 

Jim Thome Post All Star Break

2005: N/A

2006: .274/.420/.522, 12HR, 32 RBI

2007: .273/.389/.579, 21 HR, 52 RBI

2008: .235/.346/.493, 16 HR, 39 RBI

2009: .240/.317/.496, 9 HR 24 RBI

 

Jermaine Dye Post All Star Break

2005: .279/.336/.494, 12 HR, 41 RBI

2006: .313/.371/.595, 19 HR, 52 RBI

2007: .298/.368/.579, 16 HR, 39 RBI

2008: .276/.326/.515, 13 HR, 41RBI

2009: .181/.276/.299, 5 HR, 17 RBI

 

Paul Konerko Post All Star Break

2005: .323/.405/.598, 20 HR, 45 RBI

2006: .313/.377/.541, 14 HR, 46 RBI

2007: .254/.340/.476, 13 HR, 42 RBI

2008: .270/.334/.575, 13 HR, 28 RBI

2009: .225/.339/.440, 7 HR, 16 RBI

[dmbjeff]

2005 was a horrible 2nd Half as well. We almost lost that division that season and finally heated back up the final week and then into October. It makes me wonder if it is an organizational thing or just something that happens when you play 162 games with veterans??

 

I think alot of it goes back to the style of baseball the White Sox play, which is play for the 3 run HR. When you have guys just trying to pull and lift, if it isn't working, then we have nothing else. It is the organizational theory of having a DH in the mold of Baines/Thomas/Thome who can't play a position and not giving other guys a break in the field with a DH day. I think Kenny and Ozzie have finally seen enough of this style. We certainly need power to win but we need to have a more balanced team to play through these power outages. I think we are moving in the right direction with Rios,Beckham and Alexei as guys who are more well rounded ball players. With the SP rotation we have lined up for the next few years, we need a lineup that can manufacture runs, hit and run, go 1st to 3rd.

[joeynach]

2005 was a horrible 2nd Half as well. We almost lost that division that season and finally heated back up the final week and then into October. It makes me wonder if it is an organizational thing or just something that happens when you play 162 games with veterans??

 

I think alot of it goes back to the style of baseball the White Sox play, which is play for the 3 run HR. When you have guys just trying to pull and lift, if it isn't working, then we have nothing else. It is the organizational theory of having a DH in the mold of Baines/Thomas/Thome who can't play a position and not giving other guys a break in the field with a DH day. I think Kenny and Ozzie have finally seen enough of this style. We certainly need power to win but we need to have a more balanced team to play through these power outages. I think we are moving in the right direction with Rios,Beckham and Alexei as guys who are more well rounded ball players. With the SP rotation we have lined up for the next few years, we need a lineup that can manufacture runs, hit and run, go 1st to 3rd.

 

I agree with everything you said. I even remember I think before the 06 season Kenny say something like we will be fine we have Thome/Konerko/Dye. Thats exactly the point enough of that. No more reliance on agining sluggers, though Konerko at least has become an important part defensively with his ability to pick those balls out of the dirt. I think Kenny finally gets it, the core needs to be turned over...NOW! When it comes to Dye and Konerko for next year, I would say you keep 1 of the two. And make the sure just like you said that DH can also play the field, give the ability for everyone to to rotate out and rest and keep fresh.