Chicago White Sox: Two completely foolish trades in team history
The Chicago White Sox have made some good trades in recent memory but they haven’t all gone exactly the way they thought they would.
The Chicago White Sox are in the ending stages of a great rebuild. They are not playing baseball right now on April Fool’s Day as the world is trying to recover from a global pandemic, but baseball will be back soon. In the meantime, we can look back on what makes the White Sox franchise what it is today. In recent memory, although things haven’t been great on the field, everyone knows that bright days are ahead.
There have been some really good trades in that stretch made by the White Sox. That doesn’t mean that they haven’t hit on every trade they have ever made. There are plenty of times where things didn’t quite go their way. There have been a few players that the White Sox traded away that make them look foolish because they went on to become superstars with their new teams.
There are two particularly bad trades that the White Sox have made since the 1990 MLB Season that was astonishingly bad. One of them was right before the White Sox declared that they were rebuilding and one was in the early 1990s. They both would have made future events go much smoother had the trades never been made.
Although it may seem like it now, not every trade can be a good one. Nobody in the history of sports is perfect at drafting or making trades but everyone can do what they can to try and keep the mistakes to a minimum. These are the two trades that the White Sox have made since 1990 that are so foolish:
Trade 1
The Chicago White Sox have Tim Anderson currently slated to be their shortstop for a very long time. He has turned into an elite hitter despite being a guy who could use a little bit of work on his defending. Once that is figured out, he is going to be a truly elite player. Fans should have no issue with the fact that Tim Anderson is there for a long time. He makes the trade that they made in 2016 with the San Diego Padres hurt a lot less.
It was a foolish trade made by a team that thought they had what it takes to be a playoff team despite the roster being extremely flawed. There was a lot of talent at the top of the lineup but the depth was very poor. Chris Sale and Jose Quintana were both all-star pitchers and there was some talent that can score some runs but the bottom fell out quickly.
They felt that they were missing a pitcher so they acquired James Shields from the San Diego Padres. Shields not living up to expectations were one thing but the biggest issue was the fact that they sent Fernando Tatis Jr. to them in exchange for Shields. They also sent Erik Johnson to the Padres in the trade.
Since the trade, Tatis Jr has turned into a superstar and Shields was borderline bad for the White Sox in the process. He would probably be the starting shortstop for the White Sox right now and they would have found somewhere else to use Anderson. It is easily the worst trade the White Sox have made in decades and one of the worst in the history of the team.
Trade 2
The Chicago White Sox absolutely fleeced the Cubs when they acquired Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease for Jose Quintana. It was a trade that propelled the White Sox rebuild even further. They were already well on their way but adding Jimenez and Cease made things even better. It is definitely a trade that the White Sox will look back on fondly forever.
However, that trade makes the White Sox and Cubs even in bad trades with one another. On March 30th, 1992, the White Sox traded Sammy Sosa, Ken Patterson, and cash to the Cubs in exchange for George Bell. Sammy Sosa went on to be one of the better players in the history of the Chicago Cubs. He hit 545 home runs as a member of their organization so it is easy to see why trading him away was a very bad idea.
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He was known as a cheater which puts an asterisk next to his career in a lot of people’s eyes but there is no doubt that he was a great player for them. If he was on the White Sox in the mid-90s, there is no doubt that they would have had a chance to win the World Series. He would have been on the same team as Frank Thomas who was one of the best power hitters of his generation. That duo would have for sure at the very least made the playoffs. This is clearly one of the worst trades that the White Sox have ever made. It makes it even worse because of the fact that it was one that benefited the Cubs.