I loved the move. Uribe's a disaster. He hits below .240, has an OBP below .300, and isn't as good defensively as O-Cab. O-Cab's a good baserunner (anyone watching the White Sox knows they need this), a leader, and can steal a base.
Garland, despite his record in the past 3 years, has been fairly pedestrian. Lance Broadway's had success at all levels of the minors, and looked fine in his MLB debut. Gio Gonzalez (the main part of the Freddy Garcia deal last year) had an amazing year in AA and could fill his spot in the rotation. The only sad thing is, I think Gavin Floyd's probably the odds-on favorite to take the spot. I'm worried about his mental fortitude, though he does have the stuff to be a good pitcher. He's never been able to make it in the majors and he's had more than his fair share of shots.
Point is, there was no answer for "where do we go after Juan Uribe?" I think there are many answers for "what do we do now that Jon Garland is gone?"
Not to mention, Garland was owed something like 17 million this year, O-Cab only 9. Reducing the payroll a bit, and having a desired commodity at 3b in his walk year, could free up Kenny to make a different, bigger trade. Of course he's aiming as high as he possibly can (Miguel Cabrera), but the Dodgers are very interested in Crede. The White Sox don't really have the farm system to land Cabrera, but the Dodgers might be able to add a few prospects to what the White Sox can offer to land Crede and ship Cabrera to the South Side. I'm very skeptical of this happening... however I do think Joe's gone by mid-May if the Sox aren't on a complete tear.
I'm also VERY glad the ship sailed on Torii Hunter. 5 years?!! For what do we want to lock up a 33 year old who's started to miss games? Linebrink is a fine addition.
*BOOT* goodbye, Peter Pan Podsednik. Owens is a better base stealer (read: way less CS), is younger, better defensively, and played really well the last couple of months of the season.
I'm still worried that outside of their top 2 starters, the White Sox are very unstable. Jon Danks is probably the key here. Hopefully he'll eat up some more innings at the very least, and really I'm expecting him to take the next step and put together some good months. Jose Contreras is old, and probably even older than he's let on. I hope he's gone quickly, to make room for Gio Gonzalez, Lance Broadway, or Heath Phillips.
The lineup's getting old, and definitely isn't fast. The middle of the order is bogged down by Thome, Konerko, Dye, Crede, Pierzynski, who all just plod along the basepaths. The bullpen is a concern off the top, but at least it's strong in the last 2 innings now.
