Five months after White Sox players talked about winning 100 games, Sox management concluded it didn’t have the team to win more than 85, tops. It hopes Frank Thomas, Albert Belle and the pitchers who remain still will prove it wrong, but they’ll have to do it while baby-sitting a clubhouse full of kids.
General Manager Ron Schueler officially turned the franchise’s focus from the present to the millennium on Thursday. He agreed to send the San Francisco Giants closer Roberto Hernandez and starters Wilson Alvarez and Danny Darwin in exchange for six minor-leaguers, the best of which are considered at least two years away from the major leagues.
“It’s obvious we’re disappointed with the way our ballclub has played this year, with our record, no question about it,” Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said. “We were faced with losing Alvarez and Roberto and getting nothing, as we did with Alex (Fernandez). Now all of a sudden we add six players who if the scouts are right have a chance of being in the big leagues. Two or three have a chance of being stars. . . . If they’re half right, we’re in great shape.”
After trading Harold Baines–like Hernandez, Alvarez and Darwin a potential free agent–to Baltimore on Monday, the Sox had indicated there might be more trades. But no one seemed to expect one with the proportions of the deal Schueler struck with Giants GM Brian Sabean on the afternoon of the trading deadline.
In Hernandez, Alvarez and Darwin, the Sox sent the Giants a package that combined 31 years of experience, along with 258 career victories and 194 saves. In return, they received one player, right-hander Keith Foulke, with major-league experience. His struggles helped convince Sabean he needed help for the stretch run. Foulke was 1-5 with an 8.26 earned-run average in 11 appearances, the most recent a start on July 21.
The keys to the trade were shortstop Mike Caruso, hitting .333 at Class A San Jose, and right-hander Lorenzo Barcelo, who was 7-4 at Double-A Shreveport. The Sox also received Double-A closer Bob Howry, Class A left-hander Ken Vining and Class A outfielder Brian Manning. Other than Barcelo, signed as a free agent from the Dominican Republic, they all were picked in the first nine rounds of drafts between 1994-96.
Needless to say, the trade was not a big hit in the visiting clubhouse at Anaheim Stadium, where the Sox opened a 10-game trip Thursday night. Robin Ventura was among the players who felt betrayed by the same management team that had assembled a $54.3 million team to chase the Cleveland Indians, two-time defending AL Central champs.
Despite having slipped to 52-53 by winning only two of the last eight games, the Sox trailed the Indians by only 3 1/2 games when the trade was made. Cleveland, which just completed a 4-10 homestand, made a different kind of deal Thursday, adding veteran left-hander John Smiley to its injury-riddled starting rotation.
Asked if a white flag should be flying in front of the Sox dugout, Ventura said, “Any flag would basically mean the same thing.” The veteran third baseman returned ahead of schedule from his broken right leg in hopes of helping the Sox catch Cleveland.
“It’s just disappointing, I guess, to think you have a team where everybody in here thinks you can still do it and you can’t,” Ventura said. “You’ll never know what could have happened.”
Schueler said he initially had mixed feelings about the deal. But those lasted only a few minutes.
“There was a lot of sadness in the beginning, but now I’m thrilled,” Schueler said. “It’s sad to know all of them are leaving, but I’m thrilled at the six guys we got. I think we got six great prospects. For Alex last year, I got none.”
“This team had a chance, and it didn’t seize it,” Reinsdorf said. “It was hard to look at this team and feel very confident. I wasn’t interested in finishing second in a poker hand.”
Before pulling the trigger, Schueler called Hernandez’s agent, Alan Hendricks, one last time Wednesday. He said he was told no contract extension short of four years would be considered. It concluded a running conversation that led to the deal.
“Our talks were all gentlemanly,” Hendricks said. “We talked about what it would take to take care of Roberto and what they wanted to pay. We generally agreed we didn’t have much common ground, so why drive each other nuts?”
Reinsdorf expects to suffer heavy losses this year because the Sox are averaging only 24,050 at Comiskey Park. He denied the deal was financially motivated but figures to save about $3.5 million in combined salary and incentives. He’ll get more benefits if the reduced payroll–which has dropped below $50 million after these trades plus the one involving Tony Phillips–drops the club out of the top five in the majors that will be subjected to a revenue-sharing tax.
“That is not substantial,” Reinsdorf said of the tax. “It’s such a small consideration I didn’t ask anyone to compute it.”
The Sox had only 22 players in uniform Thursday. They promoted left-hander Scott Eyre from Double-A Birmingham and right-handers Nelson Cruz and Alan Levine from Triple-A Nashville, with all three expected in uniform Friday.
Eyre, who had won 13 games, is Friday’s probable starter. Chris Clemons, promoted last week from Triple-A Nashville, also will go into the rotation. Cruz and Levine will add depth to a bullpen trying to cope without Hernandez.
Manager Terry Bevington admits he’s going to feel his way along for a week or so. He expects to use right-handers Matt Karchner and Carlos Castillo and lefty Tony Castillo in save situations.
Adding Eyre, Cruz, Levine, Clemons and first baseman Mario Valdez (called up after the Baines trade) gives Bevington seven rookies on his 25-man roster. And somehow he still has three catchers with 30 years’ experience and a combined .217 batting average.
“Yesterday I said we had no chance of catching Cleveland,” Reinsdorf said. “Today I’m not so sure.”
Strange game, baseball.
