Great Moments in Trading

With all the hoopla surrounding Konerko's (inevitable?) departure, I thought it would be a good idea to look at some "great" trades the White Sox have made in the past. For those of you who were getting real excited for a trade, or still think that we can't possible get screwed on the Swisher deal, grab a tissue:

#3. May 16, 1978: Texas trades outfielders Claudell Washington and Rusty Torres to the Chicago White Sox for outfielder Bobby Bonds.

Bonds was nearing the end of his career, so it's not like we traded him in his prime. What we DID do, was trade a 32-year old OF with 30 HR potential (Jermaine Dye?) and 30 SB potential (nevermind). Bonds did just that with the Rangers, getting 29 HR and 37 SB the following year. The Sox? We got a speedster for a year, and a no name. When was the last time you even HEARD of these two guys? Exactly.

#2. Dec 4th, 2002: Sox acquire Billy Koch from the Oakland Athletics in a six-player trade. The White Sox also receive two minor-league players to be named later. Oakland receives relief pitcher Keith Foulke, backup catcher Mark Johnson and RP Joe Valentine. If you don't remember the Billy Cock "era," let me sum it up for you: Koch never pitched healthy, never topped 98 on the gun for us (which is kind of important when you're a one-pitch flamethrower reliever), and ultimately had a wet noodle for an arm. Foulke, who was coming off of his one bad year...ever, went on to record 30+ saves for Oakland, and then top that mark with the WS Champion Boston Red Sox. Granted, Foulke has been an injury-prone mess since 05, and we did get Neal Cotts in this trade (also good for a one year rental of WS success). Still, I'm kinda pissed.

#1. Dec 13, 2001: Sox acquire Todd Ritchie from the Pittsburgh Pirates for Kip Wells, Sean Lowe and Josh Fogg.


Dear lord kill me now. Ritchie was the worst Sox pitcher I have ever seen. Worse than Jamie Navarro, worse than David Wells. Ritchie had such a bad season with us (in which he racked up 15 losses) that we had to give him a mercy injury to put him on the DL instead of letting him break the Sox record for losses in a season. We paid him 3.5 million for a 6.06 ERA, 23 starts, and a 5-15 record. You've got to wonder how the offense managed to bail him out three times for the no-decision.

In order to get this douchebag, the Sox traded two serviceable pitchers, and one other guy. Wells went on to post great numbers his first two years with the Pirates, maintaining an ERA under 3.50 as a starter before getting hurt in 04 (he was never the same again). Fogg went on to post solid, not great, numbers for every team he's played on. Fogg has kept his ERA near or around 4 and gotten double-digit wins almost every year -- most recently with the NL Champion Colorado Rockies.

So, for those of you that just can't wait to see something go down, remember the pain from this list. Also remember that Billy Beane likes fucking us directly in the asshole; I'm not sold on Swisher just yet.