Never Can Say Goodbye

 I must be getting old.  The White Sox pull off a trade for Todd Frazier, the Cincinnati third baseman who hit 35 homers last year, and all I can do is think about the two nice boys they shipped off to the Dodgers in a three-team deal.

I’m serious.  Second baseman Micah Johnson has everything you want in a major league ballplayer—smart, articulate, willing to be the face of the franchise.  Ditto for outfielder Trayce Thompson, who seemed to realize what a break he got in being promoted last summer; Thompson hit 35 points higher for the Sox over his AAA-.260 batting average.  The camera loved Thompson even more than Johnson.  You just can’t beat an athlete with good looks and a humble disposition.

But Thompson is a career .241 hitter in the minors, so that .295 in 122 at-bats with the Sox could be a fluke, and Johnson basically played himself out of a job by the end of last May.  As for pitcher Frankie Montas, he throws the ball very hard, which is the same way it goes out.  Put a gun to my head, and I’d make this deal, but I can still wish we’d hung onto Thompson at least.  Maybe we can interest the Dodgers in giving him back for Avasail Garcia.

If I am getting old, the memory hasn’t started to go on me yet.  I thought I remembered another big trade the Sox made in December.  Indeed, on December 15, 1967, the team sent Tommie Agee and Al Weis to the Mets for Tommy Davis, Jack Fisher, Billy Wynne and Buddy Booker.  The Frazier trade happened 48 years and one day later.