SWISHER TRADED TO WHITE SOX

On Jan 3, 11:14 am, jackst... DeleteThis @gmail.com wrote:
> http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/01/swisher-traded.html#comments
>
> Swisher Traded To White Sox
>
> Baseball Digest Daily is reporting that the A's have traded Nick
> Swisher to the White Sox for Gio Gonzalez, Fautino De Los Santos, and
> Ryan Sweeney.  I'd heard about the Sweeney part but hadn't been able
> to confirm it.
>
> Posted on January 03, 2008 at 01:08 PM | Permalink

Here's a recent confirmaton:

Oakland Deals O.F. Nick Swisher to White Sox for 3 Minor Leaguers



Jan 3, 2:38 PM (ET)

By JANIE McCAULEY
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -The Oakland Athletics made their second major
trade in three weeks, sending outfielder and fan favorite Nick Swisher
to the Chicago 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.
Oakland general manager Billy Beane acknowledged last month that the
A's are rebuilding and said he expects the club to take its lumps next
season after the team missed the playoffs in 2007. The A's reached the
AL championship series in 2006, but Oakland (76-86) had its streak of
winning seasons end at eight and went 9-17 in September.
The 27-year-old Swisher, a switch-hitter and a popular presence in the
clubhouse because of his high-energy, playful nature, had been one of
few constants for Oakland in recent seasons - playing in the outfield
and at first base while the team dealt with injuries at most every
position. Also active in community service, he was Oakland's 16th
selection in the first round of the 2002 draft. He will now live much
closer to his offseason home in Parkersburg, W. Va.
He batted .262 with 22 homers and 78 RBIs in 150 games in 2007, his
third full big league season. He also drew 100 walks, ranking him
sixth in the AL, for a career-best .381 on-base percentage.
His 80 home runs were a franchise record by a switch-hitter, and
Swisher also set his highs for batting average, walks and doubles
(36).
The A's will have three more established minor leaguers to add to
their farm system.
Gonzalez, 22, pitched for Double-A Birmingham last year and led minor
league baseball with 185 strikeouts. He went 9-7 with a 3.18 ERA in 27
starts and was selected to the Southern League midseason and
postseason All-Star teams. The White Sox acquired Gonzalez as a
compensation pick - the 38th selection overall of the 2004 amateur
draft.
The 21-year-old De Los Santos went 9-4 with a 2.40 ERA in 15 starts
and six relief appearances for Class A Kannapolis in 2007. He was
picked as the South Atlantic League's top prospect and was also a
midseason and postseason All-Star.
In addition, he made five starts for Class-A Winston-Salem and had a
combined record of 10-5 record with a 2.65 ERA.
Sweeney, a 22-year-old left hitter, was among Chicago's top prospects
going into last season, when he batted .270 with 10 home runs and 47
RBIs in 105 games for Triple-A Charlotte. He also hit .200 with a home
run and five RBIs in 15 games for the White Sox.
 >> Stay informed about: SWISHER TRADED TO WHITE SOX 

On Jan 3, 12:03 pm, "rbbom...@netzero.com" <rbbom... DeleteThis @netzero.com>
wrote:

>
> As stated often in this NG, if a player proves himself be assured the
> cheap A's ownership will get rid of him rather than pay him, and will
> instead get "prospects" who cannot seek markt-based pay for years,
>        --as ever, Russ

I say screw Billy Beane. then when the prospects become solid players,
he just trades them away. I'm done. I hope the
A's go 0-162. It's fruitless following this team when the ownership
couldn't give a rats ass about the fans.
 >> Stay informed about: SWISHER TRADED TO WHITE SOX 

On Jan 3, 3:44 pm, The Dave© <n... RemoveThis @no.com> wrote:
> For those of you complaining about the trade, does it matter that
> virtually every single outside observer, as well as White Sox fans,
> says that Beane absolutely fleeced the White Sox?
>

Yes. It matters. Because once these players become great Major
Leaguers, Beane will trade them away. It's completely pointless to
follow the Oakland team when they literally trade away every player
who gets good. Both Haren and Swisher LIKED it in Oakland and Haren
went on the record and said publicly he wanted to stay, but they were
still traded away for players who will get good, then be traded away
and the cycle continues, so the A's can develop good players for the
rest of the league. Fool me once, etc...
 >> Stay informed about: SWISHER TRADED TO WHITE SOX 

For those of you complaining about the trade, does it matter that
virtually every single outside observer, as well as White Sox fans,
says that Beane absolutely fleeced the White Sox?

According to Susan Slusser, Swisher was not available, but Williams was
desparate and willing to overpay for him.

Don't tell me none of you would sell your car if someone offered double
what it was worth. Sometimes when a steal of a deal is staring you in
the face, you'd be a fool to not take it.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
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The thing is, "The Dave©", very few great minor league players become good
players of the caliber of Swisher. I wouldn't have traded Swisher for minor
leaguers.

I respect your positive nature, though, not about this.

nic

"The Dave©" <no.DeleteThis@no.com> wrote in message
news:477d734d$0$25975$88260bb3@free.teranews.com...
> For those of you complaining about the trade, does it matter that
> virtually every single outside observer, as well as White Sox fans,
> says that Beane absolutely fleeced the White Sox?
>
> According to Susan Slusser, Swisher was not available, but Williams was
> desparate and willing to overpay for him.
>
> Don't tell me none of you would sell your car if someone offered double
> what it was worth. Sometimes when a steal of a deal is staring you in
> the face, you'd be a fool to not take it.
>
> --
> Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
>
 >> Stay informed about: SWISHER TRADED TO WHITE SOX 

Nic wrote:
> The thing is, "The Dave)", very few great minor league players become
> good players of the caliber of Swisher. I wouldn't have traded
> Swisher for minor leaguers.
>
> I respect your positive nature, though, not about this.

Very true that a small percentage of great prospects become great major
leaguers, but there's more going on here than just what's on the
surface. Too many players are hurt and thus ineffective, i.e. Chavez,
Crosby, Harden, Kotsay, etc. Too many players are/were streaky and/or
unreliable, i.e. Johnson, Kendall, and even Swisher to some extent.
*Something* needs to be done to rectify that, and you can't get any
kind of decent return for the players who are like glass. To get
something of value, you have to give something of value. It's a
gamble, to be sure, but judging from the haul Beane got, it doesn't
seem all that unreasonable. I just don't want to see a complete
teardown. I believe the team will build better with a good variety of
experience, and that having almost all young inexperienced players may
not be wise.

I will admit that I am a bit concerned about the trading of players
like Haren and Swisher when they were locked up for so many more years.
The thinking beforehand was to let player walk as a FA or trade them
right before with the idea of keeping their replecements at least up to
FA, and now that's been cut short by several years, so it makes me
scratch my head.

Yeah, they made the ALCS in 2006, but that means squat as to where they
are RIGHT NOW. Swisher, I believe, has pretty much peaked, and will
never be a superstar by his play alone. If he becomes one it will be
in large part because of his personality, which is fine, but that
doesn't win games. Still, I think he could have been someone to build
a team around and to draw fans. He'll never be great, but he'll be
good and an otherwise valuable piece of an overall good team.


--
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rbbomber RemoveThis @netzero.com wrote:
> Don't give up, NIC. One of the great joys I've had over my years as an
> A's fan is rooting for players who have to struggle not only against
> their opponents on the field but also against their own cheap
> ownership. I guess it builds character, because they tend to be well
> paid if and when they hook up with a big-league organization,
> --as ever, Russ

Sounds like the A's "cheap" ownership is giving you exactly what you
want. That's a good thing, right?

(just yankin' yer chain)

--
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On Jan 3, 6:44 pm, The Dave© <n....RemoveThis@no.com> wrote:

> For those of you complaining about the trade, does it matter that
> virtually every single outside observer, as well as White Sox fans,
> says that Beane absolutely fleeced the White Sox?
>
> According to Susan Slusser, Swisher was not available, but Williams was
> desparate and willing to overpay for him.
>
> Don't tell me none of you would sell your car if someone offered double
> what it was worth. Sometimes when a steal of a deal is staring you in
> the face, you'd be a fool to not take it.

I see that angle, but prospects often don't pan out. I remember people
saying the same thing about the Hudson trade with Atlanta, and look
what happened to Meyer. Sure, maybe he makes the rotation this year
since Haren, Blanton and Gaudin, et al, won't be in it, but ...

I prefer proven talent to speculative talent.
 >> Stay informed about: SWISHER TRADED TO WHITE SOX 

Solnichka Frankenstein wrote:
> On Jan 3, 6:44 pm, The Dave© <n....TakeThisOut@no.com> wrote:
>
> > For those of you complaining about the trade, does it matter that
> > virtually every single outside observer, as well as White Sox fans,
> > says that Beane absolutely fleeced the White Sox?
> >
> > According to Susan Slusser, Swisher was not available, but Williams
> > was desparate and willing to overpay for him.
> >
> > Don't tell me none of you would sell your car if someone offered
> > double what it was worth. Sometimes when a steal of a deal is
> > staring you in the face, you'd be a fool to not take it.
>
> I see that angle, but prospects often don't pan out. I remember people
> saying the same thing about the Hudson trade with Atlanta, and look
> what happened to Meyer. Sure, maybe he makes the rotation this year
> since Haren, Blanton and Gaudin, et al, won't be in it, but ...
>
> I prefer proven talent to speculative talent.

Way to cherry-pick. Your point is specious. No GM can have a 100%
success rate. You conveniently left out the Mulder trade, to give just
one counter example.

If you prefer "proven talent", then you'd be better served as a Giants
fan. Lots of "proven major league veterans" over there.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
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On Jan 6, 2:16 pm, The Dave© <n....TakeThisOut@no.com> wrote:

> If you prefer "proven talent", then you'd be better served as a Giants
> fan.  Lots of "proven major league veterans" over there.
>
>

Or the proven talent the A's had that they traded away, when they were
not free agents and wanted to stay with Oakland.
There is no reasoning for this. These guys were not leaving next year.
They were signed and young. So the argumetn is "the guys they got are
great prospects."

So what? We see what happens now when the great prospects become great
Major leaguers. They get traded for more great prospects, the A's can
develop them into great players for other teams. Screw Beane and the
A's.
 >> Stay informed about: SWISHER TRADED TO WHITE SOX 

ITA.
That is the concern about this.
Even if they all become good to great players, the current pattern is now
trading them well before they are able to become free agents--I believe
Swisher was signed one year past free agency.
At least with Miggy and The "G" man, ( among others) we had them until they
played out their option.
If we knew these new guys were going to be with the team for an extended
period of time, perhaps; it wouldn't be so upsetting.
It is hard to root for a player and then 3 years later (as with Haren) they
are traded away. And, start all over again.
regards,
jossy

"TH44" <thehendersons44.DeleteThis@aol.com> wrote in message
news:e4745a3d-4dcc-4a67-ba0e-f4e1b6354318@e25g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
On Jan 6, 2:16 pm, The Dave© <n....DeleteThis@no.com> wrote:

> If you prefer "proven talent", then you'd be better served as a Giants
> fan. Lots of "proven major league veterans" over there.
>
>

Or the proven talent the A's had that they traded away, when they were
not free agents and wanted to stay with Oakland.
There is no reasoning for this. These guys were not leaving next year.
They were signed and young. So the argumetn is "the guys they got are
great prospects."

So what? We see what happens now when the great prospects become great
Major leaguers. They get traded for more great prospects, the A's can
develop them into great players for other teams. Screw Beane and the
A's.
 >> Stay informed about: SWISHER TRADED TO WHITE SOX 

On Jan 7, 2:28 pm, "jossy" <iamjo....TakeThisOut@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> ITA.
> That is the concern about this.
> Even if they all become good to great players, the current pattern is now
> trading them well before they are able to become free agents--I believe
> Swisher was signed one year past free agency.
> At least with Miggy and The "G" man, ( among others) we had them until they
> played out their option.
> If we knew these new guys were going to be with the team for an extended
> period of time, perhaps; it wouldn't be so upsetting.
> It is hard to root for a player and then 3 years later (as with Haren) they
> are traded away. And, start all over again.
> regards,
> jossy
>
> "TH44" <thehenderson....TakeThisOut@aol.com> wrote in message
>
> news:e4745a3d-4dcc-4a67-ba0e-f4e1b6354318@e25g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
> On Jan 6, 2:16 pm, The Dave© <n....TakeThisOut@no.com> wrote:
>
> > If you prefer "proven talent", then you'd be better served as a Giants
> > fan. Lots of "proven major league veterans" over there.
>
> Or the proven talent the A's had that they traded away, when they were
> not free agents and wanted to stay with Oakland.
> There is no reasoning for this. These guys were not leaving next year.
> They were signed and young. So the argumetn is "the guys they got are
> great prospects."
>
> So what? We see what happens now when the great prospects become great
> Major leaguers. They get traded for more great prospects, the A's can
> develop them into great players for other teams. Screw Beane and the
> A's.

But you're not actually making very good use of your brain here. The
fact that they weren't free-agent eligible means they _weren't_ traded
just to save money for the cheapskate ownership... They had to be
traded because Billy Beane believes he is making the team better.
What exactly is wrong with that? Obviously the A's have some proven
major league talent that can not only fill the shoes of Swisher and
Haren, but might turn out to be better in the long run (eg. Travis
Buck, Daric Barton in place of Swisher in the OF and 1B, and Rich
Harden in place of Haren at the top of the rotation) PLUS they now
have a mini-van's worth of prospects every bit as highly regarded as
Swisher and Haren were at the same age... This is not a house-
cleaning or cost-saving sequence of events here... So, maybe Harden
will continue to struggle with injuries and never pan out, but then
maybe one or more of the 4 blue chip pitching prospects they just
snagged will. And maybe they get a healthy Rich Harden, plus a new
set of "big 3" type guys out of this... Never mind the the potential
of the hitting prospects they also just got...
 >> Stay informed about: SWISHER TRADED TO WHITE SOX 

On Jan 7, 3:23 pm, thisplanetsux <thisplanet....TakeThisOut@yahoo.com> wrote:

> But you're not actually making very good use of your brain here.  The
> fact that they weren't free-agent eligible means they _weren't_ traded
> just to save money for the cheapskate ownership...  They had to be
> traded because Billy Beane believes he is making the team better.
> What exactly is wrong with that?  Obviously the A's have some proven
> major league talent that can not only fill the shoes of Swisher and
> Haren, but might turn out to be better in the long run (eg. Travis
> Buck, Daric Barton in place of Swisher in the OF and 1B, and Rich
> Harden in place of Haren at the top of the rotation) PLUS they now
> have a mini-van's worth of prospects every bit as highly regarded as
> Swisher and Haren were at the same age...  This is not a house-
> cleaning or cost-saving sequence of events here...  So, maybe Harden
> will continue to struggle with injuries and never pan out, but then
> maybe one or more of the 4 blue chip pitching prospects they just
> snagged will.  And maybe they get a healthy Rich Harden, plus a new
> set of "big 3" type guys out of this...  Never mind the the potential


How are they making the team better? Are these guys going to step in
the roster right now and be great? They are not going to be Swisher or
Haren caliber players. When they do get that way, they will be traded.
We've all learned our lesson about pulling for this team, since
they're run by morons.
 >> Stay informed about: SWISHER TRADED TO WHITE SOX