White Sox Jettison Jim Thome, Jose Contreras Out Of Town

By Ryan Corazza

Last evening, shortly after another White Sox loss (shocking!), news broke that Jim Thome and Jose Contreras had been traded. Thome is now a member of Dodgers. The Sox sent cash and got a Class A infielder who’s hitting .254. Contreras is now a member of the Rockies. The Sox received Triple-A pitcher Brandon Hynick, who is 24, in exchange for the AL leader in losses. They sent cash to the Rockies as well.

Most will view this as the Sox throwing in the towel, and while there’s certainly a case to be made for that, it’s not the entire story. With Alex Rios and Jake Peavy coming aboard, the Sox needed to dump some salary. Instead of waiting till the off-season to try and pull some moves, Kenny Williams decided to do it now, while a few teams in the postseason hunt were looking to bolster their 40-man roster. Simply put: either Thome, Paul Konerko or Jermaine Dye were going to be gone before the start of next season. Williams just pulled the trigger a bit earlier than most expected on it.

Thome is a 39-year-old DH with a sizable salary, and he’s only hitting .249. Contreras has been downright awful this season. It’s not like the Sox got rid of their best talent here.

And considering Williams sent a memo around the league that his core players were available, don’t be surprised is Dye is gone before next season too, and possibly Konerko.

As far as Thome is concerned, it’s a shame he couldn’t get a title here. He’s baseball’s Nice Guy, and hit 134 homers in his (almost) four seasons on the South Side — including No. 500. He’s a likely Hall of Famer, and has never been brought up in any steroids discussion, which should only help his cause. Contreras, though up and down for most of his tenure with the Sox, was a big part of their World Series title in ‘05, including a brilliant second half.

Sure, the Sox kept it competitive till the end of August, but the reality of the situation is they needed to dump some of their old-timers. The middle of the lineup is slow as molasses, and was eating up some salary.

Rios and Peavy, though young, are still a gamble. For the Sox’ sake, let’s hope Williams made the right moves here.

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