Sometimes trading a player for multiple players of value does not necessarily signal that a team is throwing in the towel, but moving forward with a plan. That plan for the White Sox may be in full swing before the end of today, Monday, by trading Jeff Samardzija before his scheduled start on Tuesday. This is the old adage, “addition by subtraction”, and the White Sox could be the winners in the end and still compete for the second Wild Card spot.
The Sox thinking ahead have lined-up Erik Johnson to slip right into Samardziija’s spot on Tuesday, which would be a win-win for the Sox if they get decent talent back and Johnson’s stats translate to big league hitters.
Johnson has been raking in Charlotte for the Knights with 105 k’s over 94 innings pitched with an ERA of 2.59 in 16 starts. We all know Johnson had a rough road last year with the Sox, but he went back down and seems to have figured it out similar to two years ago when he posted a 3.59 ERA over five big league starts for the Sox.
When you look at numbers like that the Sox have everything to gain by trading Samardzija and nothing to lose unless they get subpar talent back. Based on what we’ve seen in early trades of Johnny Cueto and Scott Kazmir the Sox should do fine.
If the market changes for some reason, and Samardzija is not getting the return that has been deemed worthy by Cueto and Kazmir trades then I would stand pat. You still get a compensation draft pick if you keep him for the year, or the Sox have been known to pull-off waiver trades in August in the past.
My gut tells me if the Sox haven’t moved Samardzija by the end of the day and they beat the Red Sox tonight that Samardzija will not be moved before the deadline.
While the great turnaround of 2015 may be a dream, I understand the White Sox stance of not wanting to disrupt something that’s going well, despite the possible return on investment. Stay tuned…
Major League A*Holes 