Why Trading Nate Jones was the only move that made sense for Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox traded a relief pitcher at Wednesday afternoon's deadline.
It wasn't Alex Colome, the Sox's standout closer who is under contract through the 2020 season.
It wasn't Aaron Bummer or Jace Fry or Evan Marshall.
It was injury-prone righty Nate Jones.
Out for the season following right forearm surgery, Jones was sent to the Texas Rangers on Wednesday morning for minor-league pitchers Ray Castro and Joseph Jarneski. The White Sox also are sending Texas international signing bonus pool money and cash considerations.
“(Jones) was not, I think, on anyone's hit list or predicted in trades in the columns you've been writing, but we had the opportunity to add a little bit of depth to our pitching staffs in the lower levels of the minors as well as trade a little bit of economic savings as we move forward,” said Rick Hahn, White Sox general manager. “Nate was our longest tenured player, he's had to battle through some injuries over the years, but he's been an absolute class act for us every step of the way and a great presence in our clubhouse. Certainly wish him well going forward.”
Jones pitched in 13 games for the Sox this year and was 0-1 with a 3.48 ERA and 1 save before getting hurt again.
Over eight seasons with the White Sox, the 33-year-old reliever was 22-13 with a 3.48 ERA and 9 saves.
Jones had Tommy John surgery in 2014 and missed most of the 2017 season with right-elbow neuritis. Last year, a pronator muscle strain in his right arm limited Jones to 33 appearances.
Jarneski, 19, was 2-0 with a 1.62 ERA in 10 games for the Arizona Rookie League Rangers this season. Texas' 12th-round draft pick in 2017 sat out last year after having Tommy John surgery.
Castro, 22, was 4-0 with a 2.02 ERA in nine games (7 starts) for the Dominican Summer League Rangers.
In 2017-18, Hahn made 10 trades in July and August that subtracted 12 veteran players and brought back a wave of prospects.
There is no longer an August waiver trading period, but Hahn could have added more young talent Wednesday by dealing players such as Colome, Jose Abreu, Ivan Nova and Jon Jay.
“This is a logical spot to be at in terms of where we are in this rebuild,” the Sox's GM said. “We're obviously moving away from the player accumulation standpoint in terms of these veterans or short-term assets for long-term player moves. “A lot of our conversations, actually all of our conversations, were centered around long-term fits, some of them involving pieces off the big-league club and even many that were more of the prospect-for-prospect variety.
“As you come to these points in time where you have the opportunity to improve the club, it's the natural desire of all the front offices to make moves. We prefer to make trades than not make trades, but given where we're at in terms of this rebuild, it made more sense to only move if there was something that made sense for the long term, and that did not present itself.”
Hahn could have easily moved Colome, but his asking price was high. With the White Sox positioned to be a much better team in 2020, finding a new closer is no longer an issue.
“It was a matter of, were we getting what we felt made enough sense to potentially put a hole in next year's roster, and how were we going to go about filling that hole?” Hahn said. “We just didn't get to the point where we were motivated by what was coming back to potentially weaken the 2020 roster.”