The White Sox finally pulled the trigger on a deal sending Jake Peavy to Boston in a three team trade that also included Central division rival Detroit. Boston sent prospects J.B. Wendelken, Francellus Montas, and Cleuluis Rondon to the White Sox and top shortstop prospect Jose Iglesias to the Tigers. The Tigers sent out Avisail Garcia to the White Sox and Bryan Villareal to the Red Sox in the deal.
Avisail Garcia, the centerpiece of the deal for the White Sox, is expected to report to Triple-A Charlotte as the White Sox do not have space for him to get everyday at-bats. However, if I were the White Sox, I would make room soon as Garcia has been tough to ignore. With a slash line of .382/.414/.549 Garcia has been tearing it up for the Toledo Mudhens, Detorit’s Triple-A affiliate, and general manager, Rick Hahn, has been quoted as saying Garcia is a five tool player.
Montas and Wendelken, both twenty years old and pitching out of Single-A Greensville this year are solid, but not great pitching prospects. Montas was ranked as Boston’s 22nd overall prospect this past season and is said to have a power fastball that can touch triple digits and miss bats. Another thing I like about Montas is his 10.1 K/9 ratio and the fact that he is a starter. Wendelken is a reliever who is not as overbearing as Montas but also has more control in the fact that he has a 2.8 BB/9. I normally don’t like trading for other teams relief pitching prospects but it’s never bad to have more arms. Rondon was with short season A ball, and doesn’t seem like he’ll be anything special.
However, with every Sox column I write, there needs to be some pessimism. When this broke on twitter, it seemed as though the White Sox were receiving Iglesias and I was rejoicing. I thought that this would mean we could move Ramriez and let Iglesias start, with no pressure to succeed right away. However, when I found out that we had instead acquired another outfielder, I was thoroughly disappointed. Six of the White Sox top twenty prospects are outfielders according to mlb.com and the roster is full of them with Jordan Danks, who was already waiting in the wings and DeWayne Wise rehabbing.
Another thing that baffles me is that this move allowed Detroit, our divisional rival, to get better. The Tigers by far had the worst infield defense in the MLB with Fielder, Cabrera, and Peralta manning three-fourths of the diamond, but with arguably the best defensive shortstop prospect in the majors, this strengthens at least part of their defense. Not to mention that if his bat pans out, he will be a monster.
Ending on a happy note, I feel like the Sox did the best they could and got a solid return, but I wish they could prioritize acquiring some corner infield help along with catching, while not helping out division rivals at the same time. You can’t have it all I guess. Well, here’s to me writing another trade recap about Alex Rios in less than twenty four hours!
White Sox Release DeWayne Wise
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