Thome To White Sox for Rowand

[Guest Beenso]

PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Phillies reached a preliminary agreement Wednesday to send Jim Thome and cash to the World Series champion Chicago White Sox for center fielder Aaron Rowand.

The deal, first reported by ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney, is subject to the players passing physicals, the Phillies said.


Thome, an oft-injured first baseman, is owed $43.5 million in the final three seasons of his contract. He hit .207 with seven homers and 30 RBI in just 193 at-bats last season and became expendable after the emergence of Ryan Howard, who won the NL Rookie of the Year award.

Thome, 35, is due about $12.5 million in 2006 and $14 million in each of the final two seasons of his six-year contract. The Phillies have a club option for 2009, and he has a no-trade clause. Rowand, 28, set career highs in 2004 by hitting .310 with 38 doubles, 24 homers and 69 RBI.

He became eligible for salary arbitration for the first time after making $340,000 in 2004, and signed a new contract with the White Sox in January.

He earned $2 million in 2005 and is expected to receive $3.25 million in 2006. Chicago has a club option for 2007 at $5 million and Rowand holds a player option for 2007 at $3.25 million.

[metsmarathon]

wow. good move by the phils. the sox better be getting quite a chunk of change along with mr thome.

[Guest Beenso]

nice move for the phils...

rowand is a nice player and howard has all the potential to be huge.

[Elster88]

]Rowand, 28, set career highs in 2004 by hitting .310 with 38 doubles, 24 homers and 69 RBI.

They gave him up for a left handed hitting first baseman coming off a shitty, injury-plagued year who is a year older than Delgado with a slightly larger contract?

If the Mets had done that I think Shea would have been burned down.

[Frayed Knot]

Except that Rowand's '05 wasn't nearly as good:.270, 30, 13, 69

He's a heckuva CFer though; something the Phils haven't had for a while.
Could be a good deal for both sides.

I guess this officially closes the Frank Thomas ChiSox career as Thome essentially slots into his spot.

Not sure how well Posednik can handle CF; there's been intermittant talk about Griff Jr. joining the Pale Hose since last summer.

[Elster88]

Oops, I read '04 as '05. I still like the player we received better.

[MFS62]

Copied from my reply on this topic in the hot stove thread:

Now I understand why my friend the Chisox fan told me they had interest in acquiring Juan Pierre. I couldn't see how they could have both Rowand AND Pierre in the same lineup.
The GO-GO Sox were so forty-five years ago.

Later

[seawolf17]

I think this is a good move for both teams. The White Sox are covered if they don't bring back Konerko, and the Phils save money that can be used to re-sign Wagner.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

I just saw Wagner interviewed on Philadelphia TV. He seemed to see the Thome trade as a loss for the Phils, not a gain. Says the Delgado deal shows that the Mets are really trying hard.

[smg58]

Thome could still hit 35 HR, and as long as the CWS aren't footing most of the bill this could work in their favor. They wanted to make room in their outfield for Brian Anderson, and they decided Rowand was the most expendable of their starters from this year. Obviously the deal doesn't hurt Philadelphia, either. They should be happy to have gotten legit major league talent in return.

With Cameron and Rowand dealt, the market for centerfielders is shrinking considerably. That could boost Damon's asking price.

[Guest Rotblatt]

The deal gets even worse for the White Sox--here are the prospects they parted with:

Daniel Haigwood, 22 yo LHP
AA: 67.1 IP, 1.74 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 76 K, 31 BB
A: 76.1 IP, 3.78 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 84 K, 33 BB

Gio Gonzalez, 20 yo LHP
A (SAL): 57.2 IP, 1.89 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 84 K, 22 BB
A (CARO): 73.1 IP, 3.57 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 79 K, 25 BB

Those are some pretty solid stats for some young lefties, and Gonzalez has really nice K/BB ratios.

I have to say, this makes our deal for Delgado look pretty reasonable.

[Zvon]

Smart move by this new phils GM.

A decent CF'r and frees up alotta $$$ in thier quest to keep Wags.
Dagnab those pesky Phils.

[Zvon]

Yancy Street Gang wrote: I just saw Wagner interviewed on Philadelphia TV. He seemed to see the Thome trade as a loss for the Phils, not a gain. Says the Delgado deal shows that the Mets are really trying hard.

I likeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey

[smg58]

That list of prospects surprised me. The CWS evidently have a lot of confidence in Thome fully recovering his health and his stroke. I guess we'll see if it's warranted. It could still work to the Sox benefit, but the exchange had to exceed the Phillies' most optimistic expectations going into the offseason.