White Sox trade Frazier, Robertson, Kahnle to Yankees; Moncada coming up
When general manager Rick Hahn said the Chicago White Sox were still open for business on the last homestand, he wasn't lying.
Hahn traded his best player — starting pitcher Jose Quintana — to the Chicago Cubs last Thursday for promising minor leaguers Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease along with two other prospects.
After Tuesday night's 1-0 loss to Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers, Hahn traded three more veterans — third baseman/DH Todd Frazier, closer David Robertson and relief pitcher Tommy Kahnle — to the New York Yankees for three more prospects and veteran reliever Tyler Clippard.
There is more.
After the latest deal, Hahn also announced that baseball's No. 1 prospect, second baseman Yoan Moncada, will join the Sox on Wednesday night at Guaranteed Rate Field.
“We're not bringing him here to sit,” Hahn said of Moncada, who batted .285/.381/.452 with 9 doubles, 3 triples, 12 home runs, 36 RBI and 17 stolen bases at Class AAA Charlotte. “We're bringing him to here to continue to develop, and that needs to take place in Chicago.
“He still has some work to do. He is obviously still very young (22), but we feel that he's ready for that next challenge that comes at the big-league level.”
Getting back to the Yankees trade, the Sox acquired outfielder Blake Rutherford, the No. 30 prospect in baseball according to MLB.com, left-handed pitcher Ian Clarkin, outfielder Tito Polo and Clippard.
The Yankees are picking up all of the money left on the contracts of Frazier, Robertson and Kahnle.
Rutherford gives the White Sox 10 of the Top 100 prospects in baseball, according to MLB.com.
Moncada was No. 1, Jimenez is No. 8, right-hander Michael Kopech is No. 11, outfielder Luis Robert is No. 23, right-hander Lucas Giolito is No. 28, right-hander Reynaldo López is No. 36, right-hander Carson Fulmer is No. 59, Cease is No. 63 and catcher Zack Collins is No. 68.
Drafted No. 18 overall by New York in 2016, Rutherford was batting .281/.342/.391 with 20 doubles, 2 triples, 2 home runs, 30 RBI and 9 stolen bases in 71 games with low Class A Charleston (South Carolina) this season.
“Blake Rutherford, we view him as a similar caliber player to some of the position players that now head up our top prospect list,” Hahn said. “A potential impact bat, left-handed hitter who has a chance to stay in center field and provide us with not only a quality at-bat but also quality defense.”
Frazier was in the White Sox's original starting lineup, batting cleanup as the designated hitter.
Ninety minutes before first pitch, Frazier was scratched.
“I talked to Rick Hahn before the game and he said there might be something going on, so they scratched me from the lineup,” Frazier said. “Usually when that happens, usually something's going to go down.”
In 82 games with the White Sox this season, Frazier slashed .207/.328/.432 with 16 home runs and 44 RBI.
Robertson goes back to the Yankees, where he set up all-star closer Mariano Rivera from 2008-14. The right-hander had 13 saves in 14 opportunities for the Sox this season.
Kahnle was a big surprise for the White Sox, going 1-3 with a 2.50 ERA in 37 appearances. The right-hander had 60 strikeouts and only 7 walks in 36 innings.
“It is nice to go with a couple guys,” Kahnle said. “That way you're familiar with a couple people. I know a few guys over there. That's where I came up. I've had a lot of fun times here. I'm going to miss all these guys. The organization, everybody was great to me.”