White Sox Teardown: Part 2 featured another very good and popular player shipped away for a solid haul of prospects.
The White Sox sent Adam Eaton to the Washington Nationals on Wednesday for a trio of prospects, according to multiple media reports.
The prospects, Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, and Dane Dunning, are all right-handed pitchers ranked in Washington’s Top 10 by Jeffrey Paternostro and the BP Prospect Staff. Rumor has it this was the package offered for Sale minus Victor Robles.
Giolito is the centerpiece here. The No. 3 overall prospect and top pitching prospect in the league entering 2016 has front-end starter upside with a nasty curveball and fastball that has touched triple digits. He threw 21.1 innings in the majors in 2016 and could be in the rotation as soon as the start of the 2017 season. It should be noted that he took a step back this year, as the Nationals fiddled with his mechanics, and he struggled with his command even after reverting to his Global No. 1 pitching prospect delivery.
Still, that seems like quite a haul for Eaton, even with his friendly contract and five years of control, but Lopez is also a Global Top 50 prospect, jumping as high as No. 39 in BP’s midseason rankings. He also saw time in the majors in 2016 after tearing through both Double- and Triple-A at the start of the season, and even if he doesn’t work out as a starter could be a dominant bullpen piece.
Dunning, the third prospect in the deal, isn’t exactly a throw in, either. The Nationals made him the 29th overall pick the draft in June after pitching mostly in relief for the University of Florida. One would assume the White Sox will see if he can start in the low minors.
In Sale and now Eaton, the White Sox have now acquired arguable the top positional prospect and top pitching prospect in the game, as well as two other Top 100 prospects. In two days they’ve transformed their system from Bottom 5 to, probably, Top 5. That has come at the cost of their best pitcher and best position player, of course, but it’s clear the White Sox are going all-in on a teardown. This, of course, will make the 2017 (and probably longer) product unbearable, but the White Sox have obviously chosen a direction and are “going for it” in a way we’ve never really seen before.
While the idea of a rebuild is a tough pill to swallow, now that it has reached full swing the best one can hope for is that they get the best value possible for all the pieces they are set to unload. So far, it would seem, so good.
Lead Photo Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Impressive collection of arms. I hope they try Burdi as a starter in the minors next year.
Saw the Cubs talked about signing Hudson as a starter. I think that’s definitely something the Sox should explore as well as signing Holland. Build value and then deal them.
Don’t need Burdi as a SP. There’s so many power arms to choose from now… and I still see you Alec Hanson.
Burdi is ready to be in the pen next year. Since this rebuild is going to take a bit why waste his service time? Give him a chance to start and if it doesn’t work out he goes back to the pen.
Burdi is a reliever. I don’t know that they need to stretch him out.
Kopech, Giolito and Lopez are enough to stretch out to see what you have. Probably need to do the same with Fulmer to find out where he winds up.
Hahn may end up fleecing Rizzo here when all is said and done. I couldn’t believe what they gave up to get Aaron Rowand Jr.