White Sox Trade Jim Thome to Dodgers, Jose Contreras to Rockies

(Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)

I've been liveblogging the Jim Thome/Jose Contreras trade saga over at my Examiner.com page (check there for the most recent updates and thoughts), but I thought I'd share my thoughts on the trade here at B/R, starting with the first update from around 10:40 pm:

Various twitter reports are surfacing that the White Sox have traded slugger Jim Thome to a yet-to-be named team [we now know it's the Dodgers]. This news broke literally minutes ago, but stay with me through the night as more details emerge.

Update, 10:52 pm: Nothing new to report (I know, sorry), but there's going to be something to report before the end of the night. 11:00 pm is the deadline to make any deal if the team acquiring a player wants that player to be on their postseason roster, so we should know details of where Thome is going (if anywhere) sometime in the next half hour.

I already have some thoughts on this, but I'll save them until there's something finalized.

Update, 11:12 pm:

This completely came out of left field:

Breaking News: Thome went to the Dodgers, while Jose Contreras was sent to the Rockies. Two class guys now gone.

I'm shocked Thome was traded to a National League team. Really surprised. But the Dodgers just got themselves a heck of a bench player if that's what he's going to be there.

I can't see the Dodgers playing Thome at first—he's only played one game at 1B since 2007.

But to the White Sox side of things: I'm very, very curious to see what player(s) the Sox get back in return. Thome was projected to be a type A free agent, which means the Sox would have received two draft picks had they offered him arbitration and he signed elsewhere. Maybe the Sox weren't planning on offering Thome arbitration, but it wouldn't have been the end of the world if they offered him arbitration and he accepted.

And, again, if he declined, the Sox would have received some significant draft compensation. So that's why it's somewhat curious that the Sox traded him—but then again, we haven't seen what's going to the White Sox in this deal.

I think I speak for all Sox fans when I say this: go Dodgers. Jim Thome is by all accounts a class act and a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He deserves a World Series ring. So here's hoping the Dodgers go on an October run and get Thome that championship he deserves.

I'll miss Thome—for the years he was in Chicago, he was one of the most consistent offensive forces in the middle of the lineup. While his power started to decline in recent years, you know that you're going to still get a stellar OBP and SLG% out of Thome year in and year out. Plus, like I mentioned before, he's one of the classiest players in all of baseball.

He's had a few great moments in a Sox uniform, from his 500th career home run to his mammoth blast off Nick Blackburn in game No. 163 in 2008. Those were fun, and they've certainly erased the sometimes-traumatic memories of Thome in a Cleveland uniform.

Oddly enough, Thome being traded to a National League team wasn't the most surprising news of the night. The Sox somehow unloaded Jose Contreras to the Rockies—probably for nothing. Contreras didn't project as a type A or B free agent, so trading him away just frees up a rotation spot for Jake Peavy or a minor leaguer.

Alright, we've got some players. From the Dodgers, the White Sox get 26-year-old single-A infielder Justin Fuller. Obviously, Thome's value at this point was next to nothing, because Fuller can't have any kind of value as a prospect.

The Sox may have actually got a better player from the Rockies for Contreras in triple-A pitcher Brandon Hynick. His peripherals don't scream "major league pitcher" but with a 3.83 ERA in 26 starts with Colorado Springs, he at least has had some success and isn't all that old at 24. It's unlikely he'll make an impact in the majors, but hey, at least it looks like he has a better chance than Fuller.

One final note on Thome. Something that has annoyed me for the last four years has been people complaining about Thome hitting into the shift every time he pulls the ball. Whoever thinks that needs to actually watch the locations of the pitches that Thome swings at. Yeah, Thome is a pull hitter, but you know why the shift is effective? Because pitchers consistently bust Thome inside. When they miss out over the plate, Thome often would bomb those pitches over the left-centerfield fence for home runs.

Yeah, Thome would roll over some of those pitches, but getting angry at Thome for doing so and ignoring all the times Paul Konerko or Jermaine Dye rolls over outside pitches for groundouts to short or third is absolutely, 100 percent absurd.

Or, maybe try playing baseball and trying to hit an inside pitch the other way. See how easy that is and get back to me.

(As you can tell, I've become a big defender of Thome's in the last year or so. He's not perfect, but as a middle-of-the-order bat, Thome has been great for the White Sox from 2006-2009.)

Also, another note: the Dodgers also made a deal with the Diamondbacks for Jon Garland. Funny thing about that: the Dodgers were playing the Diamondbacks when the deal went down. At least he won't have to travel any more than a few feet to get to his new team.

I lied. One more note:

Hynick threw the ninth perfect game in Pacific Coast League history and the first since June 25, 2007. The seven-inning gem was the Sky Sox's first no-hitter since Franklin Morales, Chris George, Matt Daley and Steven Register combined to beat Albuquerque on May 11, 2008.

(h/t MLBTradeRumors)

Hynick also was named the Rockies' Minor League Player of the Year in 2007. He also has his own website. (ht to White Sox Cards on that one).

I can't find any scouting reports on Hynick, but he doesn't get a lot of strikeouts (just over five per nine innings). If I had to guess, I'd say he's a good ground ball pitcher. So, maybe he's just a better version of Jeff Marquez.

Either way, it's nice that the Sox at least got a player worth talking about for Contreras.

Alright, fine. More thoughts on this, since there apparently are a lot of you out there reading:

• Scott Podsednik is slated to be the team's DH for the time being. With Tyler Flowers being called up, though, it'll be interesting to see if he'll get some time DH'ing down the stretch. Since these moves signal a shift to looking forward to 2010, why not give Flowers some significant playing time against major league pitching to start to figure out where he's at in terms of development?
• This also means that Alex Rios should play in every game from here on out. I wrote the other day that playing Rios every day is exactly what the White Sox need to do down the stretch so he'll have a more solid foundation on which to start 2010. Looks like that'll happen, and that's a good thing regardless of what Rios hits in the final month.
• I mentioned compensation for Thome earlier, and it's still somewhat puzzling why they traded him for such a low-level player. However, if the Sox made the trade out of courtesy to Thome—who has played in two World Series (1995, 1997) but never won a title—then I'm okay with it. There are some things that are more important in baseball than one or two supplemental draft picks. Again, if that is the case, nobody's going to be complaining about the lack of return for Thome.
• Jake Peavy picked the wrong night to have some good news. He apparently still can't throw without pain, but if he can find a way to make it back for one or two late-season starts to get his feet wet in a Sox uniform, it could be beneficial to the team's chances in 2010.
• Speaking of those 2010 chances, I'm already looking ahead and thinking about how nice of a roster foundation the Sox already have for next year. The rotation of Mark Buehrle/Peavy/Gavin Floyd/John Danks is tantalizing and an offense built around a [hopefully] healthy Carlos Quentin, Paul Konerko, AJ Pierzynski, Alex Rios, and Gordon Beckham has some nice potential for success. If the defense can get better (which, with Rios in CF, Dye no longer in RF, and Beckham improving at 3B could definitely be the case) and the bullpen solve some of its issues (no guarantees there, though), the Sox certainly will contend for the division in 2010.

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