The Possibility of Trading Gordon Beckham

With the Winter Meetings only a week or so away, there is going to be trade rumors flying all over the place involving any player you can think of. It’s only a month into the offseason and there have been multiple reports of trades and acquisitions involving multiple White Sox players. Obviously Paul Konerko, A.J. Pierzynski, and J.J. Putz have been linked to rumors because they are free agents. Gavin Floyd has been tied to trade rumors with the Colorado Rockies and even Carlos Quentin has been tied to possible trades with the Philadelphia Phillies.

While Floyd and Quentin possibly being traded may come as a shock to a few of you out there, there has been no bigger shock to me personally this offseason than to hear Gordon Beckham being linked to trade rumors.

When I read that story, my jaw literally dropped. I mean, this future superstar, the future face of the White Sox, the kid that everyone was deeming the next “Savior”, has already lost his value to the team?

Albeit that he went through a sophomore slump, but how many players that either won rookie of the year or came close to winning it haven’t gone through one? A prime example of that is located on the North side of town. Geovany Soto won the rookie of the year award and followed that year up with a horrible season. He rebounded nicely the next season and has proven his worth to the Cubs (and to the Cubs fans, who can be downright brutal to players that are doing horribly, ask Milton Bradley, Alfonso Soriano, Kosuke Fukudome, Carlos Zambrano, Aramis Ramirez,etc).

That being said, it is just too early to give up on Beckham. This kid has plenty of skill to help the team and his defense can definitely consistently be above average. The White Sox need to keep him at one position and stop moving him every new season. He needs to be comfortable where he is at, and then the offense will follow. If he has to learn a new position every season, then there is no chance for him to feel comfortable anywhere and he will struggle because of it. Every time a player has to adjust to a new position, it’s going to cause problems. There’s just no question about it.

The fact that a trade was suggested is bad enough, but the fact that we should trade him for pitching is even more asinine. We need to keep the rotation the way it is and not tinker with in. We have more than enough starters and possible starters, so trading away a key piece of the infield just doesn’t make any sense, especially since we don’t have anyone to take his place for years to come.

Trading Beckham would be one of the biggest mistakes that Kenny Williams could make. I know he likes to make a big splash, but this is one that could ruin the team and one that he could dread for the rest of his career as the White Sox GM.