Disappointing seasons up to this point means that both the White Sox (somewhat) and Cubs (completely) are sellers at the trade deadline. The White Sox struck first, shipping Edwin Jackson and Mark Teahen to the Blue Jays for Jason Frasor and a minor league pitcher on Wednesday. The Cubs followed up yesterday, shipping the underachieving and overpaid Kosuke Fukudome to the Indians for two unheralded minor leaguers, while still paying most of his remaining salary.
Jackson came to the White Sox at the trade deadline last season in a controversial trade that sent top pitching prospect Dan Hudson to the Diamondbacks. Expectations at the time was that it was a move made in anticipation of a trade for Adam Dunn, as the Nationals were reportedly interested in Jackson. When he wasn’t flipped to Washington, Jackson settled in to the White Sox rotation and did what he always did: fought through bouts of wildness to go along with his flashes of brilliance. In the 7 starts I saw him make as a member of the White Sox, Jackson was 3-2 with a 3.59 ERA.
Teahen’s stay on the south side was slightly longer, and filled with a little less controversy. Acquired from the Royals for Chris Getz and Josh Fields before the 2010 season, he was immediately signed to a long term extension. A bad back made his defense at third base a travesty and, when he hit the DL last summer with a broken hand, the team immediately went on their hottest streak of the season. I saw him appear in 37 games in his White Sox career, hitting a pedestrial .244 with 0 home runs, 8 doubles, and 5 RBI.
When Fukudome signed out of the Japanese leagues, he was supposed to follow in the footsteps of Ichiro and Hideki Matsui. He specifically chose the Cubs over other suitors, including the White Sox, because he would be their first Japanese player. The fans ate him up, especially after he hit a walkoff home run in his first opening day as a member of the Cubs. Unfortunately, it was all down hill from there. After parlaying a good April into an All Star appearance, Fukudome struggled the rest of the rest of the season, eventually playing his way out of the starting lineup. The same formula continued for the rest of his time on the North Side. A strong start, then the long fade through the summer months. It’s not that he was bad, but he was worth nowhere near what he was making. In 80 career appearances as a Cub, he hit .257 in games I attended, with 1 HR, 17 doubles, 3 triples, and 20 RBI.
Back in April, on the eve of the 2013 baseball season, I looked into my crystal ball and tried to predict the outcomes of the division races and the major awards. Now that the season has come to an end the playoffs are in full swing, let’s take a look back at how things unfolded and how wrong my predictions were.