A modest trade

The acquisition of David Aardsma and Carlos Vásquez from the Cubs for lefty reliever Neal Cotts is a small plus for the White Sox. Mostly, it's a financial plus, as Cotts is eligible for arbitration while Aardsma has less than two years of major-league service time.

Aardsma is a lot like Cotts was a couple of years ago. Aardsma can strike out a fair amount of batters (8.3 per 9 innings in the minors and 7.6 per 9 in the majors) but he walks a lot of batters, too (4.2 per 9 in the minors and 5.4 per 9 in the majors). Sox pitching coach Don Cooper has had some success working with pitchers with this profile: Cotts, Bobby Jenks, Matt Thornton and José Contreras are the best examples.

Sox GM Ken Williams said that Vásquez was just as important to him as Aardsma. I don't see it looking at Vásquez's numbers. He is left-handed and appears to have the good stuff/bad control profile. I have to imagine that the Sox think they can work with him the same way they have with the other pitchers that I have mentioned. According to his page on the Baseball Cube, Vásquez did not play during the 2001 season, so I'm assuming that he was injured. He served a steroids suspension during 2005. If he provides any decent, cheap relief for the Sox in the next year or two, he'll exceed my expectations. Vásquez was among five players added to the 40-man roster on Monday, bringing the Sox roster to a full 40 men.

While he said he would be happy to return to the bullpen, Cotts also said he hopes to get an opportunity to be a starting pitcher with the Cubs, something he knew he wasn't going to get with the White Sox. I wish him well if he gets the chance, but I doubt he would have much success, unless he's been secretly working on a change-up that he's never thrown (to my knowledge, anyway) at the major-league level. A fastball and a slider, neither of them devastating, isn't enough for a starting pitcher.
posted on Monday, November 20, 2006 9:55 PM by Vince

Comments

# re: A modest trade

Wednesday, November 29, 2006 10:24 AM by twillis088
Within the next 1-2 years we will look back at this trade and realize what a mistake it was. Cotts was arguably the best left handed setup man in baseball in '05 and though he had troubles last year, they can be attributed to a lack of confidence stemming from ozzie short leash approach to his releavers. You don't give up on cheap, young, left handed relief this easily. If 2007 proved to be as bad as 2006 the sox could've traded him then for a package equal to the one they just recieved. Teams stand in line for guys like this (see marte).....

# re: A modest trade

Wednesday, December 06, 2006 2:22 PM by jgelfand
Given how poorly Marte did for the Pirates last year, I'm not sure comparing Cotts to him necessarily means the Sox did poorly in trading him. Cotts 2005 season was amazing, but given his lack of control and excellent pitches was most likely a fluke rather than his true talent level. Aardsma is younger and cheaper than Cotts, so I doubt this trade will haunt the White Sox too much.

# re: A modest trade

Thursday, December 07, 2006 8:02 AM by Sox_fan_in_Brazil
fun·gi·ble /ˈfʌndʒəbəl/ [fuhn-juh-buhl]
–adjective Law.
1) (esp. of goods) being of such nature or kind as to be freely exchangeable or replaceable, in whole or in part, for another of like nature or kind.
2) Relief pitcher

# re: A modest trade

Monday, December 11, 2006 11:16 AM by twillis088
My point wasn't that the sox erred in trading marte. It was the marte sucked for 2.5 seasons and the sox were still able to trade him for a package that equals or surpasses what they just got for Cotts. My point was the Sox could've given Cotts more time and if he pitched poorly in 2007 they could've traded him for a package very similar to the one they just got bc teams will line up for struggling left handed relief that they percieve is "fixable".

# re: A modest trade

Thursday, January 04, 2007 10:55 PM by Gregory Pratt
Dude, it's crazy, you never write and that's a shame because you're quite good.

# re: A modest trade

Friday, January 05, 2007 5:52 PM by Sox_fan_in_Brazil
Vince, where'd you go? Stuff's been happening, and I've been checking EiW, but there's been nothing since the 20th of November. I hope everything is OK with you.