White Sox Interested In Mark Ellis

The Sox have 3 second base candidates. If they wanted Ellis they should have gotten him with Swisher.

I think Richar would pretty much have to be a given in any deal, wouldnt he? He's one of the only truely valuable guys the club has, would fit the hole left in Oak by losing Ellis and would just be blocked in Chi by Ellis anyway...

I was wondering when we'd hear about another team actually realizing the value of Mark Ellis. His league-average bat and superb fielding abilities make him a borderline All-Star.

I also wonder how much Kenny Williams has picked up from Billy Beane as they'e created their close ties over the years. Williams has definitely improved as a GM during his tenure in Chicago.

I don't know much about the White Sox's farm system, but do they have any good players left? The A's already got the #1/2 and last year's #1 prospect from the Swisher deal.

Does anybody know if they have any good 2B, SS, or 3B prospects? Those positions, with a possible Ellis trade, seem to be the only holes in the system. They have gotten a lot of pitchers recently, and I think that they are set in that regard.

Off related, but i wonder if the A's could get Andy Marte from the Indians somehow. The A's could afford to wait longer then the Indians.

Maybe KWubs will get something in the Crede trade which he will use to acquire Ellis.

"Off related, but i wonder if the A's could get Andy Marte from the Indians somehow. The A's could afford to wait longer then the Indians."

probably pretty easily, he has never really had a true shot in Cleveland and probably never will because there really is something strange going on between Blake and Wedge. Those two give me the creeps really...

"What. the. f&%@. Seriously. Ellis is not a bad player, but this is the opposite direction of where they should be going."

...Yeah, but it fits right in with the other moves taking the team in the opposite direction than they should be going that KW has recently completed...

Ellis has a good chane of being a type A FA, so that would be incentive for A's waiting for a comparable deal or if the White Sox trade for him, they'll get those picks eventually. i'm not sure A's would be too interested in richar, they have several guys that could play 2b among murphy/hannahan/petit/melillo/pennington etc i'm not sue what else white sox have , maybe among egbert/broadway/masset etc. Sox arent in a position of trading away pitching either. if i was the A's maybe the cubs (if they dont get roberts), rockies, or padres might be some teams, if their 2b competitions disappoints.

So much to digest - great comments, guys. To answer green_and_gold's question, the Sox have a 2nd baseman named Getz who (I think is currently their top prospect).

Masset and Floyd being out of options does lead to the possibility of a young pitcher with some upside being moved.

Brian Anderson probably won't end up being the "throw-in" additional player to round off a trade like it seemed he would be. He's got an ax to grind and a lot to prove and he's come out smoking. Jeff Liefer also fits that category.

Overall the Sox do have a bit of a gamble with the current situation, but Ozuna waiting in the wings if Ramirez falters (this is my assumption on how the situation will be on opening day) isn't a dire situation either.

I agree that the White Sox ought to go all in. The Swisher trade moved them in that direction. Get Ellis. Get Bonds. Try to get another starter. It's not like there's much to save in the system at the moment.

“Ellis is exactly the type of player the '08 White Sox should be pursuing. There is a legitimate chance the Sox end up with subpar 2B production, in a year when they've already committed to taking their best shot. Ellis is a much safer bet than anything they've got. The Sox should sign Barry Bonds and throw him in left, too. The Swisher trade was a signal that it's all about '08.”

Yeah, its what they should do since they have already gone down the wrong path to start, but the statements saying it wasn’t the type of player they should be going for is more on the global “what are they doing to this team risking everything on one year” road. Since they have already screwed everything up and traded their best trading chip for a stop-gap, the only two top of the rotation type starters, and re-upped with bad contracts to guys like Dye then, well, why stop now?

Okay, DROPTOP - um, huh?

You call Swisher a non-All-Star kind of player while also stating he should hit 30 homers and drive in 100 RBI. Sounds like an all-star caliber player to me.

The Sox gave up a top prospect in Gonzalez, but, and I can't say this enough - De Los Santos was only a single A player. He's got upside, but let's evaluate this trade in four years or so and see if he's even gotten a Setpember call-up by then.

The Sox also have Swisher through 2011 with an option for 2012 at a good price. Five years of a solid starting outfielder for prospects seems like a favorable gamble, Ever hear the term "prospects are suspect"?

Just because they want to compete in 08 doesn't mean they should. I absolutely agree that the Sox are trying to win in 08. I also absolutely believe that they will be lucky to come in third. Fourth is where my money is.

When this team is muddling below 500 at the All-Star break you should see a fire sale of Thome/Konerko/Dye/Cabrera/Vazquez, etc. Building around Swisher, Fields and Gonzalez is a good start. Tack on the savings from dumping those contracts plus the players you receive back and you can look seriously at a retooled run in 2010/11. By then the Indians and Tigers are going to be dealing with huge payroll increases. It's very likely that their current rosters won't resemble what is on the field then. 2009 savings would be close to $60m.

Your team gets younger, cheaper, and you have tremendous opportunity to go look at Hanley Ramirez, Prince Fielder or Ryan Howard once their respective teams see how steep their asking prices are going to be.

The website might have Swisher as the starting CF, but it also has Crede starting at 3B and Ozzie Guillen has repeatedly said that Fields is currently the starter. Crede needs to win his job back, or in other words has to prove he is healthy enough for another team to take him. In the even t he is 100% healthy and no one takes him, Fields will go to AAA unfortunately and Crede will start.

Swisher is penciled in as the starting CF, but ideally Owens will start there.