If he hits .171 over the next 3 months, what will you say then?
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I, too, will say I’m wrong. And I will also say that I am surprised as hell, given his career averages.

exactly right yagottagotomo1. there are reasons besides production that players get traded. my guess is williams could have gotten a lot more had he waited, just look what he paid for him the year before, and imagine what we could get for him now. he bought high, sold low. we bought low, and are getting a good return on investment to date. it will be hard for this not to continue if swisher plays at his career levels over 162.

If Kenny Williams is some sort of baseball savant, why haven’t the White Sox done better on the field than they have?
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If Kenny Williams is some sort of baseball savant, why did he trade three of his top prospects (Gio Gonzalez, Fautino De Los Santos, Ryan Sweeney) for Nick Swisher and his 5Y/$26.75M contract only to trade him (and Kanekoa Texeira) a year later for Wilson Betemit, Jeff Marquez and Jhonny Nunez?

Seems like he bought high and sold low.

By this, I mean, if Swisher is the great asset at the nice price, etc., why would he trade him for Betemit and bushers?
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Could be for any number of reasons. Why did Herzog trade Keith Hernandez? Why did Cashman trade Tabata?

If Kenny Williams is some sort of baseball savant, why haven’t the White Sox done better on the field than they have?

yagottagotomo1 wrote:

A few reasons: Swisher was not getting along with Ozzie, and more importantly, he wasnt working out in CF. They have Dye and Quentin at the corners, and Konerko and Thome at 1st/DH. They needed some help at 3rd and some pitching depth in the minors, and 7M is a lot for a team if they are going to bench him.

Precisely.

Do you think Kenny Williams is an idiot?
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Personally, yes, I do. But that’s neither here nor there.

Generally speaking, it’s very dangerous to fall into a trap where your opinion on a GM colors your view of his transaction ledger BEFORE the results are in.

Kenny Williams could be the greatest GM in the history of baseball but even the best GM in baseball is capable of making a mistake. We all know how well-regarded Billy Beane and Theo Epstein are among baseball fans and even they have made mistakes in their careers as GM’s.

To frame the question of what Swisher may or may not be within the confines of “if a genius like Kenny Williams traded Nick Swisher, then he must know something an idiot like Brian Cashman doesn’t know” reflects a great deal of bias in the evaluation of a player.

A few reasons: Swisher was not getting along with Ozzie, and more importantly, he wasnt working out in CF. They have Dye and Quentin at the corners, and Konerko and Thome at 1st/DH. They needed some help at 3rd and some pitching depth in the minors, and 7M is a lot for a team if they are going to bench him.

Here’s a related question on this topic, for those willing to answer it: Do you think Kenny Williams is an idiot?

By this, I mean, if Swisher is the great asset at the nice price, etc., why would he trade him for Betemit and bushers?

thenewguy wrote:

If Swish hits .400 over the next month, what are you going to say Steve?

That I was wrong on Swisher.

If he hits .171 over the next 3 months, what will you say then?