I’m pretty sure my
interest in the Transactions’ part of the sports section dates to October 18,
1966, or the day after. The Senators
released 32-year old outfielder Willie Kirkland on October 18th in
my freshman year of high school. The
notice probably ran the next day.
With 148 career
homeruns, Kirkland would have been a great pickup for my White Sox, or so I
thought at the age of 14. But Kirkland
was too young. In 1967, when the Sox
would challenge for the AL pennant down to the last weekend of the season
despite hitting all of 89 homers, they acquired outfielders Jim King (two
months shy of 35) and Rocky Colavito (two weeks shy of 34). It’s fitting somehow King was part of the
deal that brought Colavito to the South Side.
Along with the end of a
season, the start is a another good time to scan Transactions for a sense of
who’s coming and who’s going. The Sox
have something like nine players who are making their first Opening Day roster;
those are some of the “comings.” Nationals’
catcher Pedro Severino, a prospect rumored to be part of the Adam Eaton deal,
is one of the “goings.” So is Gordon
Beckham.
The onetime golden boy
of the South Side may be done at age of 31, after his release last week by the
Mariners. Beckham never replicated the
success of his rookie season in 2009, when he hit .270 with 14 homeruns and 63
RBIs in just 378 at-bats. After that
were injuries and maybe a dash of stubbornness in regards his approach at the
plate, but the man definitely played a nice second base. How he missed earning a Gold Glove is beyond
me.
If Beckham earns a
second act, it’ll be with his sixth team.
Otherwise, T.S. Eliot was right—April is the cruelest month. And March, too.
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