Revisiting That Ridiculous Yankee-White Sox Deal

Back in the heat of the baseball season I shared my impression of the Yankee-White Sox trade that send two key relievers, a slugging third baseman and salary relief to New York for a prospect and two roster pegs. 

The impression I shared looked like this: The Worst Deal Ever? with a photo of Hitler and Chamberlain shaking hands.

Now that we've had the rest of the regular season and some of the post-season to digest the swap it's a good time to reconsider it.

And so, with the perspective of time and some additional evidence, I offer this evaluation:

It was worse than I thought.

Of course, if you're a Yankee fan, it's even better.

On Chicago's Side
The three White Sox minor leaguers obtained in the deal continued to do what they were doing before hand. One 23-year-old outfielder hit pretty well at Double-A. The 22-year-old relief pitcher looks good at High-A, but at that age at that level he's not a prospect. The 20-year-old at mid-A is nothing to look at.

The White Sox might have brought back a relief pitcher and possibly an outfielder with speed. Time will tell but the tea leaves aren't steeping in their direction.

On Bronx's Side
The Yankees obtained Kahnle and Robertson. Both have been as advertised. Kahnle whiffed 36 in 26 innings and hadn't relinquished a postseason run until the team's final loss in the playoffs. Robertson limited opponents to a 1.03 ERA with the Yankees. Together, they have formed half of a shutdown bullpen in the post-season.

And they'll both be back next season at very affordable prices.

Then there's Todd Frazier. Many saw him as the pill the Yankees had to swallow in order to procure such a scrumptious meal. For the year, Frazier hit 27 home runs, played stellar defense at the hot corner and earned 3.4 wins against replacement. 

He wasn't much in the division series against Cleveland, but hit well against Houston. 

The Final Calculus
The Yankees netted two highly-coveted, first-rate, fireballing relievers and a solution to their problems at the corner. Beyond that, they get to keep the bullpen guys -- one for 2018 and one for three years. In addition, they saved salary by dumping Tyler Clipparrd on the White Sox. (Chicago flipped him to Houston where he locked opponents down to six-and-a-half runs a game and got left off the post-season roster.)

What they gave up might very well be nothing. Maybe a guy. Certainly nothing as enduring as a pennant. There had to be better offers out there for a pair of highly coveted relievers, plus, plus.

Worst deal ever, White Sox.