White Sox' Quentin on trade block?
As the White Sox were taking batting practice Thursday afternoon before being taken to school yet again by the Minnesota Twins in a 6-2 loss at U.S. Cellular Field, general manager Kenny Williams was sitting on one of the top benches at the far end of the dugout.
Williams was talking to Dr. Jeffrey Fishbein, of all people, the same guy he brought in this year as the Sox' sports psychologist. Dr. Fishbein has been in the headlines quite a bit this season, but for all the wrong reasons.
The White Sox are playing with the confidence of a bleeding seal during Shark Week, specifically the offense.
Not to harp on Dr. Fishbein, but Sox manager Ozzie Guillen again questioned his presence, without any prompting, before Wednesday's loss to the last-place Royals.
“We have a shrink out there,” Guillen said when attempting to explain what is wrong with Sox hitters. “I don't know what he's doing, but we have him.”
Well, Ozzie, maybe the good doctor can be provide some help after all.
Just maybe, Williams was using Dr. Fishbein as a sounding board before finally making a move to shake up this sleepy team.
There was an interesting story out of Atlanta on Wednesday, published on the Braves' website. Apparently, White Sox advance scout Bill Scherrer has been watching the Braves for the past week, and you know what that could mean …
Let's make a deal.
With a payroll close to $127 million, Williams continually has said the Sox can't afford to trade for any more salary this season.
Fair enough, but the White Sox actually could improve themselves by subtracting a salary — let's say up-and-down Carlos Quentin's salary.
I've proposed trading Quentin in each of the past two seasons and was widely met with ridicule. But Quentin did proceed to go on impressive hitting streaks both times, so perhaps that was the problem.
Anyway, the Braves need an outfielder and the Sox need to clear a spot for Dayan Viciedo, who hit a 3-run homer Thursday night for Class AAA Charlotte, upping his season total to 16 to go along with a .324 batting average and 62 RBI.
By trading Quentin, an all-star despite batting .179 (12-for-67) with no home runs and 4 RBI over his last 20 games, the White Sox can bring up Viciedo and get a quality young pitcher or two back from Atlanta.
True, the Sox are back to having six capable starters when John Danks returns from the disabled list after the all-star break, but what about next season?
There is almost no chance Edwin Jackson comes back in 2012, so trading Daniel Hudson to Arizona last July for Jackson is going to go down as a really bad deal for Williams, if it hasn't already.
There probably is a 50-50 chance Mark Buehrle doesn't return, either, so trading Quentin or even Juan Pierre could net the White Sox one or two of the following Braves prospects:
ŸJulio Teheran: He is the prize and is 9-1 with a 1.79 at Class AAA Gwinnett.
ŸRandall Delgado: He is 5-4 with a 3.67 ERA at AA Mississippi.
ŸArodys Vizcaino: He's a combined 4-5 with a 3.32 ERA at Mississippi and Class A Lynchburg.