Posts tagged ‘Nick Swisher’

Hello again A’s fans, its Jordan here, and I have some sad news for all that liked Nick Swisher. He was traded today to the Chicago White Sox for three prospects. The A’s did acquire the top two pitching prospects in the Chicago White Sox’ farm system, as well as a former top prospect outfielder.

The three that the A’s received in exchange for the fan and clubhouse favorite Nick Swisher were left handed pitcher Gio Gonzalez, right handed pitcher Fautino De Los Santos, and outfielder Ryan Sweeney. Just so everyone knows a little bit more about each of these three prospects, here is some information:

Gio Gonzalez

He is a 22 year old left hander who led the minor leagues in strikeouts last year at AA Birmingham with 185 in just 150 innings of work. He started 27 games for the Barons and went 9-7 with a 3.18 ERA. He was also a Southern League All-Star, and was the 38th overall pick in the 2004 Draft.

Fautino De Los Santos

He is a 21 year old right handed starter who pitched at A level Kannapolis and A level Winston-Salem. He was a collective 10-5 in his time last year, with a 2.65 ERA, and was a South Atlantic League All-Star, and was named the league’s best prospect. He has a low to mid 90s fastball with late movement and good command and a pretty good breaking ball, this according to Baseball America. He will most likely be in the minors for another year or two, probably popping up some point in 2009, unless he is rushed.

Ryan Sweeney

This young left handed outfield prospect will be 23 in February, and was regarded in 2006 as the best prospect in the White Sox system. He played at AAA Charlotte, where he was a .270 hitter with 10 HR and 47 RBI. He did get some time in the big leagues with the White Sox where he hit .200 with one homerun with 5 RBI in 15 games.

The information on these prospects comes from espn.com, oaklandathletics.com, and baseballamerica.com.

Nick Swisher will certainly be missed by A’s fans everywhere, myself included. He was the heart and soul of this team, and arguably the face of the franchise. The White Sox made a great move for their franchise in getting a hard-working, fun-loving guy to help their team. Swisher hit .262 with 22 HR and 78 RBI last season, and his career numbers in Oakland through his three years of service included a .251 average, 80 HR, 255 RBI and a .361 OBP. We here at Athleticscast wish the best of luck to Swish in his new city. I am sad to see Nick go, and thought that Nick was going to be the centerpiece of this franchise for at the very least the remainder of his very affordable contract. I was shocked when I learned of this trade, and quite frankly, I believe that more could have been had for a player the caliber of Nick Swisher. I am not upset at the trade of Nick Swisher as much as I am at what the return was. He was my favorite player on the A’s, but hey, as I’ve reiterated in the past, it is a business, and this was a business move by the front office. Only time will tell the fate of this trade, maybe we will get lucky and we can make out well in this trade. At the very least, we have clearly improved our farm system with these prospects on top of those we received in exchange for Dan Haren. I still right now have a sour taste in my mouth from this trade, but I will be wishing for the best out of these young players and maybe it will all work out well for all parties concerned. Stay tuned for a new episode coming soon with all of the Swisher discussion you could ever want.

How do you feel about this trade? How do you feel about this rebuilding process? We want to know. Hear your ideas discussed on the show. Contact us by phone (415-691-6185), email us at hosts@athleticscast.com, or get at us on our Myspace at myspace.com/athleticscast. Hopefully everyone had a Happy New Year and a great holiday season.

That’s how I see it…Let’s Go Oakland