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2 good moves and 3 mistakes Chicago White Sox GM Chris Getz made at the trade deadline

The GM made two good trades, but he made three key mistakes.

By Todd Welter |
/ Michael Reaves/GettyImages
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Chicago White Sox general manager Chris Getz completed his first MLB trade deadline. Some might say describe it as going terribly.

Getz did trade six veterans for prospects. He did not trade ace pitcher Garrett Crochet or star outfielder Luis Robert Jr.

Those two were very appealing to contenders but came with big questions that made it hard for a team to pay the steep price Getz was asking for. Not taking a position player with the potential to be an impact player in the first round of the MLB Draft along with not trading the two best assets, the timeline for the Sox being competitive is going to be a bit longer.

That is because the Sox farm system still lacks hitters who project to be foundational or impactful at the big-league level. Now Getz did get three prospects with some promise in his deals, but they are also very young and years away from helping at the big-league level.

Miguel Vargas is the headliner of the players Getz received. He does have a lot of potential to be an impact bat. He also has had issues making the jump from Triple-A, where he rakes, to the majors, where he struggles to hit velocity.

If you want to be nice, you can best describe Getz' performance at the trade deadline as underwhelming. He had a chance to meet a pivotal moment for the franchise and just missed meeting it

Chris Getz did make two good moves.

He was able to get a team's top 15 prospect for reliever Tanner Banks.

Banks was the Sox' most consistent bullpen arm in a weak pen. Contenders paid a hefty price for bullpen help and the Sox got a piece of that action.

While Bergolla will report to High-A Winston-Salem, he has a high upside with time on his side to get at-bats in the minors to develop into a good big-league player.

Getz did manage to get hitting prospects who understand the strike zone, a knack for having good at-bats, and maybe one of them is capable of finally solving the second base hole in the lineup the team has had since Ray Durham left town in 2002.

The other good move was Getz found someone willing to trade for oft-injured slugger Eloy Jimenez.

He got the Orioles to pay the rest of his $13 million deal. In addition, the team got a Triple-A pitching prospect who could be a cheap bullpen piece for the team moving forward.

Being able to build a cheap, effective bullpen is huge for a team that acts like a small market. Remember one thing that sunk the Sox contention window at the start of the decade was the previous front office leadership spent precious limited financial resources on the bullpen. That did not leave much money to solve the lineup issues at second base or right field.

He also got the same type of pitcher for Paul DeJong. While the prospects he got may not wow, they at least fit a profile of trying to construct a modern baseball roster.

Getz also made three big mistakes.

The first mistake was he let Garrett Crochet's representation or potential trade partners tank the ace pitcher's trade value.

Crochet's demand for a contract extension from a potential trade suitor to get him to pitch in October is a big reason Garrett is still on the team.

Now there is nothing with Crochet looking out for his bottom line. He is making $800k and it is his first year as a starter. The risk of arm issues is a reason he is on a pitch count the rest of the way to preserve his arm. So if he took on the risk to pitch more innings, that could seriously affect his future earnings.

Where Getz errored was he allowed Crochet's camp to let it get out or even worse, he let potential trade partners short Garrett's value by letting the news get out.

A stronger, savvy, and more experienced GM finds a way to keep this under wraps.

The second mistake he made was he did not maximize Erick Fedde's trade value.

The Sox got three prospects from the Dodgers in a three-team deal that sent Fedde and Tommy Pham to the St. Louis Cardinals and Michael Kopech to LA.

That is all he got. The Cardinals did not have to give up a single prospect. St. Louis got two big-league players, and possibly the best starting pitcher available on the trade market, and got cash from the Sox.

You always want quality in a trade, but this was the case where the Sox should have gotten some volume considering Fedde alone should have been worth two prospects. Pham was worth a scratch-off prospect which the team got. Since sellers were getting something of worth for bullpen arms, another prospect should have come the Sox way for Kopech.

The third mistake was he failed to trade veterans such as Chris Flexen, Gavin Sheets, and John Brebbia.

Flexen's value was not going to be high, but his ability to be a decent fifth starter and then move into long relief for a contender should have netted a prospect who the team could take a flier on.

Brebbia is having a terrible July, but he is still a veteran and most contenders have a better pitch lab than the Sox. Plus, Flexen and Brebbia are not going to be on next year's team, so it would have smart to get a scratch-off prospect and see if it hits.

Gavin Sheets is another player who is not a long-term piece, but he is a left-handed bat with some pop and ability to get on base. It would have made more sense to trade him for even a reclamation project.

The Sox need bats in their system, and even if they are someone you are taking a flier on, it is better than what the team will get from Flexen and Brebbia next season--which is nothing. This should now be the evaluation of younger players to see if they can help next season. All Flexen, Brebbia, and Sheets are doing is getting in the way.

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