Junius Worth
David Kerr
Charlie Nehl
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Andrew Martin
Jonathan C. Mitchell
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Daniel Marino
Michael Schwartze
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Spencer Schneier
William J. Tasker
The Chicago White Sox have sent right handed reliever Sergio Santos to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for right handed prospect Nestor Molina. This was a trade that came out of no where and I love it for both teams but more for the White Sox.
Santos just signed a three year deal for $8.25M in September with three club options that potentially take Santos up to the 2017 season. That’s six years of relatively cheap cost control for a reliever with a career 3.29 ERA, 2.97 FIP, and 11.58 K/9 in 115 innings. Santos’ K/9 in 2011 was an insanely good 13.07 which was 2nd in the American League.
Santos will make $1M in 2012, 2.75M in 2013, and 3.75M in 2014 with a 750K buyout of each option. The options are for $6M in 2015, $8M in 2016, and $8.75M in 2017. In today’s market where closers are getting ridiculous money this is a luxury for Alex Anthopoulos but it did come at a cost.
Nestor Molina was a relatively unknown prospect until this year when he posted eye-popping numbers in 130.1 innings between High-A and Double-A. He has 148 strikeouts to only 16 walks and a 2.21 ERA. His Double-A stint was only five starts but he had a 0.41 ERA and 0.47 FIP while striking out 33 in only 22 innings and walking just 2 hitters.
Molina keeps the ball down in the zone and his fastball sits 89-93 mph and he compliments it with a plus change/split and fringe-average curve. He commands all of pitches well and should move quickly through the system. His approach reminds me a lot of James Shields but with the build of Mariano Rivera.
Molina easily becomes the top prospect in the White Sox organization and shouldn’t be more than a year away from the bigs unless he has a major setback in 2012.
The Blue Jays received a high strikeout reliever who has no problem pitching in high-leverage situations and got him at a very reasonable cost making this a solid trade for them. But the White Sox received a future top-of-the rotation starter that is not far from Major League ready.
Like I said, I like the deal for both teams but when you turn a reliever into a prospect like Molina it is hard to call the trade anything but a win.
-Jonathan C. Mitchell can be found writing about the Tampa Bay Rays at DRaysBay and you can follow him on twitter at @FigureFilbert. Be sure to follow MLBdirt at @MLBdirt
Filed under: Digging Deep - Analysis, On the Farm - Prospects Tagged: | Chicago White Sox, Nestor Molina, Prospects, Sergio Santos, Toronto Blue Jays, Trades
Sergio is a great add for the Blue Jays. Whether the White Sox got good value will remain to be seen. As you’ve so well pointed out, Molina’s numbers sure look good.
I really like the deal for both teams. AA picks up a closer younger than everyone else that would be available via free agency and for a good price too. And i love Molina’s K/BB numbers.
I actually feel this is on the bad side for the Jays. Santos is promising, but at the end of the day he is still a reliever and relievers are a dime a dozen. Obviously there is no guarantee that Molina will be able to carry over his performance against higher levels of competition, but I feel I would much rather be on the side of the Sox in this trade.
Blue chip Starter prospects are a thing to treasure and hoard. Productive relievers can always be created from within your organization.
This is why I leaned towards the White Sox winning this deal. When you can get a legitimate starting pitching prospect for a reliever, no matter how good, then you got a good deal in my book.
He commands all of his pitches well? His approach reminds you of James Shields with the build of Mariano Rivera?
What in the world are you talking about?
It’s pretty self-explanatory.
If your purpose is to throw ad-hominem attacks out there then you came to the wrong place. Ask real questions. We’re not asking you to agree with anything we say but if you really want to contribute to a conversation then you need to change the way you comment. If you feel the need to just throw random comments around with little-to-no purpose then go over to ESPN.