Since helping form the strategy that resulted in baseball’s most controversial trade of the decade, White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf has been its most vocal defender.
Wherever Reinsdorf goes, he is asked about the July 31 deal that sent pitchers Roberto Hernandez, Wilson Alvarez and Danny Darwin to the San Francisco Giants. He sells the concept as strongly as he can, explaining over and over the two pillars upon which the trade was built.
Fundamental to the thinking was the realization that Hernandez and Alvarez–the Sox’s closer and most reliable starter–would be difficult (read: extremely expensive) to retain after the season, when they became free agents. Secondary was the belief that in pitchers such as Matt Karchner, Carlos Castillo and Scott Eyre the organization had parts available to make the others expendable.
That led Reinsdorf, General Manager Ron Schueler and others within Sox management to conclude the time was right to shop veteran players in the hopes of acquiring some cornerstones for the coming millennium. They believe they have done that, but are frustrated that relatively little focus has been given to shortstop Mike Caruso and the five other prospects obtained from San Francisco.
“A lot of people refuse to take a look at what we got,” Reinsdorf said this week.
But with right-hander Keith Foulke’s finishing off a combined shutout with Eyre Monday, that is changing. For the people who attend games at Comiskey Park, Foulke is the first bit of tangible evidence that Schueler did not give away two of his highest salaried players–along with Darwin–for the baseball equivalent of a string of colored beads.
Think of the Giants-Sox trade as a meal. Foulke is the appetizer, Caruso and right-hander Lorenzo Barcelo are the main courses and left-hander Ken Vining, right-hander Bob Howry and outfielder Brian Manning come from the dessert cart.
Reinsdorf was told by his scouts that the deal included three potential All-Stars and three others who should contribute to a big-league team. But with Foulke the only one of the six who has advanced beyond the Double-A level–Caruso, Vining and Manning have spent all season with Class A teams–those numbers fly in the face of baseball’s attrition rate.
But Reinsdorf does get some backing from Toronto Blue Jays GM Gord Ash, who is especially well qualified to comment on the prospects Chicago received from San Francisco.
With relievers Mike Timlin and Paul Spoljaric on the market, Ash was negotiating a possible trade with the Giants at the same time as the Sox. He dispatched some of his best scouts to places such as Phoenix, Shreveport and San Jose to study the talent available in San Francisco’s farm system.
Ash was intrigued by several of the players the Sox received. Barcelo, Vining and Foulke were high on Toronto’s list. And while the Blue Jays are comfortable with Alex Gonzalez as their shortstop, they took notice of the switch-hitting Caruso too.
“The guys the White Sox got back are quality players,” Ash said. “I’ve seen it written that those are marginal guys. Well, they are the guys we wanted when we were talking to them. Most of them are two or three years away, but they are not throwaways. They’re quality players.”
Ash declines to comment on the timing of the trade. But he disputes the belief of some that Schueler did a bad job by not getting outfielder Jose Cruz Jr. or another of the better-known prospects in exchange for the three pitchers.
“I don’t think (the Sox) did a bad job at all,” Ash said. “If they’re going to dismantle their club, get the best return they could, then you have to say they did a good job. According to our scouts, those are good prospects.”
Foulke, 24, has been impressive in two relief outings since joining the Sox last Friday. He’s a former ninth-round draft choice who was the Pitcher of the Year last season in the Double-A Texas League. He pitched poorly during two stints with San Francisco this year (1-2, 6.37) but has a 32-17 career record in the minor leagues.
Foulke allowed one hit in four innings Monday night against Seattle. “I like him a lot,” said an American League scout in attendance. “His location was great–on the outside part of the plate all night. He has average major-league velocity–90 to 92 (m.p.h.). And he has a really good arm angle with both his curveball and his slider. He throws a lot of strikes.”
Sox manager Terry Bevington has been impressed, but not surprised. “A couple of scouts told me that he was going to be good,” Bevington said. “They told me that before he got here. He reminds me a lot of (former Brewers pitcher) Moose Haas.”
Haas was hardly a perennial All-Star but won 100 games in a major-league career that began in 1976 and was ended by injuries in 1987. You could do a lot worse than to get a young Moose Haas in exchange for a pitcher that was going to walk away as a free agent.
Caruso, 20, was essential to the trade. The Sox entered this season knowing they lacked an heir apparent to Ozzie Guillen.
Craig Wilson, the shortstop at Triple-A Nashville, will be a utility player if he reaches the major leagues. That also appears to be the case with Brandon Moore, the shortstop at Double-A Birmingham. Neither was a high draft choice.
The Sox used their first pick in this year’s draft, the 15th overall, to land University of South Florida shortstop Jason Dellaero. He’s a switch-hitter with an arm stronger than campfire coffee. He’s off to a solid start, hitting .245 with five home runs at Class A Hickory.
But the Sox didn’t stop there. They added Double-A shortstop Juan Bautista from Baltimore in the July 29 trade involving Harold Baines, then insisted the Giants include Caruso, a second-round pick in the 1996 draft, in the nine-player package.
“We didn’t have any shortstops,” Reinsdorf said. “Now we have three.”
Bautista could advance quickly if his glove is as good as advertised. Caruso and Dellaero should have an interesting battle to see who can advance the quickest, with one or the other projected as the regular perhaps as early as 1999.
Ash speaks wistfully of Barcelo and Vining. Barcelo, a right-hander from the Dominican Republic who has reached Double-A ball at age 19, is seen as potential ace. Vining, a former Clemson University left-hander, is the type of prospect any organization would want. He won at Class A San Jose and hasn’t missed a beat in the transition to Class A Winston-Salem (2-1, 1.64 in three starts).
“We really wanted to get pitching,” Reinsdorf said. “We wanted to load up on pitching. We felt we were so-so with pitching. Now we are a lot better.”
