Evaluating the Freddy Garcia Trade

Over the Winter the Chicago White Sox traded Freddy Garcia to the Philadelphia Phillies for Gavin Floyd and Gio Gonzalez. This is an interesting trade because it involves a proven veteran starting pitcher being traded for two unproven prospects. Who got the better of this deal? Let's look at the stats for each player involved.

Phillies Get:

Freddy Garcia - will be 31 years old. An established big league pitcher with a lifetime record of 116-71 (.620). Garcia has K'd 6.6 batters per 9 innings, while walking 2.9, with a 4.01 ERA in his career, while pitching to 89% of the League ERA. Garcia is a Quality major league pitcher any team would like to have.

White Sox Get:

Gavin Floyd - will be 24 years old this baseball year. Floyd's record in the minors is 549 Innings/ 7.0 K's/ 3.4 BB's/ 3.77 ERA. OK overall numbers, but his stats the last 3 years at AAA are terrible at 282 Innings/ 6.4 K's/ 3.6 BB's/ 5.27 ERA. He's also pitched in the Majors parts of the last 3 years going 108 Innings/ 6.3 K's/ 5.3 BB's/ 6.96 ERA. Terrible numbers any way you look at them. Other than the fact that he was a high #1 draft pick, nobody would even look at Floyd as a real prospect.

Gio Gonzalez - 21 years old. His minor league numbers are, 342 Innings/ 10.3 K's/ 3.9 BB's/ 3.63 ERA. Not bad numbers, but last year in AA he was 154 Innings/ 9.7 K's/ 4.7 BB's/ 4.66 ERA. That was his first year in AA, and it was not good. He's young yet, and his K rate is good, but I would not consider him too highly as a prospect. His best chance for the bigs is probably as a reliever.

EVALUATION - on paper this trade makes absolutely no sense. The White Sox gave up a quality starting pitcher that any team in the majors would be glad to have for a couple of very suspect prospects. Why did the White Sox do it? Freddy Garcia is in the last year of his contract and the Sox were afraid they would lose him for nothing next year. But you could certainly argue they gave him away for almost nothing anyway. Couldn't the White Sox have gotten back something more for a quality starting pitcher with a .620 lifetime winning percentage who pitches to 89% of the league ERA?

The Philadelphia Phillies are the clear winners in this trade. They gave up two mediocre prospects for an established quality big league starter.