Trading Burger one of many bad memories from White Sox's season to forget

As it turns out, Jake Burger won as many playoff games with the Marlins as he would have with the White Sox.

Zero.

In this case, the numbers do not tell the whole story.

One bad decision after another finally caught up to general manager Rick Hahn and executive vice president Kenny Williams.

The dysfunctional decision to trade Burger to the Marlins for an injury-prone pitching prospect was undoubtedly one of the last straws for chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, who fired Hahn and Williams on Aug. 22, three weeks after the deal.

Maybe Jake Eder, the minor-league pitcher Miami sent to the Sox for Burger, will one day pan out.

Then again, Eder was 0-3 with an 11.42 ERA in 5 starts for Class AA Birmingham after joining the White Sox.

Time will tell, but trading a rising slugger like Burger for an iffy prospect looked bad at the time. It looks even worse now.

The Marlins were swept out of the first-round of the playoffs by the Phillies Wednesday, but they probably wouldn't have made it to the postseason without Burger.

In 53 games with Miami, the third baseman hit .303/.355/.505 with 9 home runs and 28 RBI. Over his last 16 games, Burger hit .328 and had 3 homers and 12 RBI.

The Marlins were no match for Philadelphia in the National League Wild Card Series, but Burger gives them hope for the future.

With the Sox and Miami, the 27-year-old Burger combined to hit 34 home runs. That ranked him No. 15 overall in major-league baseball.

The White Sox ranked 20th in MLB with 171 homers, so they obviously need as many power bats in the lineup as they can get.

It sure sounds like Hahn did not want to trade Burger to the Marlins. Williams was the one who pushed for the deal.

"It's brutal," Hahn said after the trade was announced.

Not only did Burger add needed thump in the Sox's lineup, he was a fan favorite and one of the very few bright lights in a dreary clubhouse.

"We've been clear that culture is of the utmost importance to us and in that end, Jake Burger fits that, on the relationship side, on the human side, on the clubhouse side," Hahn said. "It's a difficult move to make."

As it turned out, it was the last trade Hahn and/or Williams made before Reinsdorf finally pulled the plug.