This is a competent trade. Not a splashy first toe in the pool, but Byrnes did not bend over and hand them the soap, and that's a plus. Prefer if we hadn't chipped in any dough but Oh well.
El D has one more year so he is a near-term salary-clearing move, and my guess is, he will probably be in our Bullpen. (No way we would have gotten someone of Garland's caliber given Javy's past couple years and his price.)
Vizcaino goes in the Pen. OK, short-term Bullpen refurbish pretty much is done.
Chris Young is up here in 2007 - he Ks a lot, but was ranked as by far the fastest guy in the ChiSox farm, also best athlete, and a very legitimate solid CF prospect - 25 HR, 25 steals in 2005. He was in the Futures game this year. Here was BA's post-game capsule:
Top Breakout, U.S. Team
Chris Young, of, White Sox. Athletic center fielders in the White Sox organization will get compared to Mike Cameron. It just happens because the Sox developed Cameron and continue to search for a replacement as dynamic as Cameron, though Aaron Rowand has certainly proved capable at the major league level.
Still, the Sox want another Cameron. Last year at low Class A Kannapolis, manager Chris Cron threw the comparison at Chris Young, particularly noting Young's power-speed combination. Now, managing Young at Double-A Birmingham, Razor Shines is throwing the same words around.
"I say he's Mike Cameron in waiting but with more power potential," said Shines, who knows Cameron has hit 167 major league homers. "He has the total package, and he's getting stronger every year. His legs were little skinny things when I first saw him, and now he's getting big and strong all over his body and his legs.
"I think he's not just going to be a good player; I think he's going to be a dominant player at the major league level."
A recent hot streak in June was what convinced Shines. Young, 21, jumped over high Class A and was struggling with the adjustment during the season's first two months, striking out 63 times entering June in just 197 at-bats. As he kept striking out, though, he realized he needed to be more patient and lay off breaking balls out of the strike zone. As his pitch selection improved, his power exploded.
He homered seven times in June (through the 28th) and ranked second in the Southern League behind Delmon Young in home runs. Moreover, he had a 15-18 walk-strikeout ratio in June in 90 at-bats, nearly halving his strikeout rate. He was batting .254-16-42 overall, with a Southern League-best 29 doubles as well as 14 stolen bases in 18 attempts.
Like Cameron, Young has premium defensive tools as well, Shines said.
"I don't like to hype kids," Shines said, "but this kid is legitimate. He's getting better because he's facing quality arms in this league with quality breaking balls, and he's learning what he has to do against them. Once I saw how he stayed strong mentally when he was struggling, that told me he's going to be tremendous. He didn't let the game beat him."
! Hopefully Glaus is up next...... Then we can turn our attention to pitching and could be real scary in a couple of years
