Maybe This Time

Who knows? Three could be a charm for the White Sox and Gio Gonzalez.  The Sox drafted Gonzalez as an 18-year old; traded him away at the age of 20; got him back a year later; and traded him away a second time thirteen months after that.  And now the Sox have signed the now 34-year old lefty to a one-year deal with a club option for the second year.  Confused?  Join the club.

Gonzalez was proof that the Sox could draft talent as opposed to developing it; then-GM Kenny Williams was always in too much of a rush to bother.  After his team won the World Series in 2005, Williams thought he could earn a repeat trip in part by packaging Gonzalez with center fielder Aaron Rowand and a third player for Jim Thome.  For all you fans out there keeping score, that’s a 20- and a 28-year old for a 35-year old.      

 And, yes, there’s more.  That same December of 2005 Williams decided to package outfielder Chris Young to the Diamondbacks for starter Javier Vazquez.  How Vazquez fit Williams’ mold of a grinder is beyond me.  I swear, the man never pitched a game he refused to come out of if asked.  Young went on to hit 191 homeruns and drive in 590 runs in a 13-year career.  Part of the reason the Sox let him go—and Rowand, for that matter—is they had Brian Anderson ready to play center field.  Anderson managed 22 homers and 80 RBIs in a career that lasted five disappointing years.  Compared to Anderson, Adam Engel knows what he’s doing with a bat.

So, now, 130 wins and fourteen years later, Gonzalez is back where he began.  Here’s hoping he’s got something left in the tank.  Did I mention that we traded him that second time in a package for Nick Swisher?  My God, Nick Swisher.