Bradford Doolittle hands out grades as the Chicago White Sox acquire 2B Cesar Hernandez from the Cleveland Indians for LHP Konnor Pilkington.
Chicago White Sox: B+
Some deadline deals are about shoring up a skill deficiency for a team, or a weak statistical category, and the position profile of the player is almost a side issue. A lot of trades can be viewed this way, even though we tend to organize our thoughts around the concept of position.
But some trades are straightforward: A team needs to upgrade at a position and the player they acquire plays that position. Such is the case for the White Sox, who needed an everyday second baseman to fill the void created by Nick Madrigal's season-ending injury last month.
Let's assume the White Sox weren't willing to mass together a package of prospects strong enough to entice the Rockies to part with Trevor Story. If that's the case, here are the aggregate 2019 to 2021 numbers for four second basemen who were likely available during the trade period:
Second basemen stats, 2019-21
A: 6.1 bWAR, .761 OPS, .345 OBP, plus-14 defensive runs saved
B: 4.9 bWAR, .786 OPS, .316 OBP, minus-2 DRS
C: 4.9 bWAR, .777 OPS, .306 OBP, 0 DRS
D: 4.7 bWAR, .744 OPS, .329 OBP, 0 DRS
The players in order are Adam Frazier, Jonathan Schoop, Eduardo Escobar and Hernandez. Frazier was traded from Pittsburgh to San Diego earlier this week; Escobar moved from Arizona to Milwaukee on Wednesday.
I was stumping for Frazier as a White Sox pickup for weeks after Madrigal went down. The featured player the Padres moved to acquire him was shortstop Tucupita Marcano, Kiley McDaniel's No. 8 prospect in a loaded San Diego system. McDaniel graded Marcano as a 40-plus Future Value prospect.
When you consider that the top four prospects on McDaniel's preseason ranking of the White Sox's system are all now part of the big league roster, matching the package the Pirates received from the Padres for Frazier would have been tough, and a likely overpay considering Madrigal will be back next season.
The Diamondbacks received a couple of lottery-ticket-type prospects for Escobar, who is headed for free agency. On the other hand, Hernandez not only is earning a team-friendly $5 million this year, but has a $6 million club option for next year.
While Frazier would have been the best fit in a vacuum, Hernandez is a better on-base guy than the other two candidates, and might be underrated by DRS, given that he won last season's Gold Glove for the AL at second base. He's a switch-hitter who puts up virtually identical numbers from either side of the plate.
Hernandez has long been a criminally underrated player and as such, his acquisition might not send the hearts of many White Sox fans fluttering. But he's an excellent pickup heading into the postseason and plugs the one hole in a White Sox lineup that, beyond Madrigal, is getting healthy at just the right time.
Cleveland Indians: C+
Cleveland has a number of promising middle infielders and the identity of their eventual everyday second base-shortstop combo is difficult to discern. Hernandez made sense as the keystone regular for a team trying to contend. Moving on to a younger player makes sense for a team more concerned with the future. Now we know which way Cleveland is leaning.
Nothing says "white flag" like sending a starting position player to the team you ostensibly are trying to catch in your division. Really, though, it's a sensible approach for Cleveland, given the lack of health in the starting rotation and the signs of wear-and-tear for a bullpen that was worked hard early in the season. Hopes for hanging with the White Sox for this offense-challenged team were predicated on an elite level of run prevention that no longer looks obtainable in the near term.
Assuming Cleveland had no intention of picking up Hernandez's option after the season, getting a young player for him is better than getting nothing for him. Pilkington, the young pitcher Cleveland acquired, was not mentioned in McDaniel's preseason writeups of the White Sox system. He was not rated in Baseball America's top 40 rating of the Chicago system.
What we can say about Pilkington is that he's big (6-foot-3, 230 pounds) and left-handed. His numbers suggest a pitcher with good stuff who is hard to hit but perhaps with erratic command. He leads the Double-A South League in lowest opponent average allowed.
What we can say about Cleveland is it has a tremendous record of scouting and developing pitchers. If Cleveland likes something about Pilkington, you are inclined to give it the benefit of the doubt.