You have to give props to White Sox general manager Kenny Williams. When his team has a glaring need, he finds a way to make a trade to help the club.
He has been on fire this season. He traded two marginal utility infielders (and one, Lillibridge, was cut by the team who traded for him) and two very low level prospects (#24 and #30 in the lowly rated White Sox system) for Youkilis, Myers and Liriano.
The White Sox had a wormhole at third base. Starter Morel has a back injury and no bat. The Sox tried to bandage the position including using Orland Hudson there. Defense suffered and offensive waned. So Williams got an unhappy Youkilis out of the nasty backstabbing Red Sox clubhouse. Youkilis has immediately paid dividends anchoring third base.
The White Sox, due to injury, have a rookie heavy bullpen which is not what a contender wants to have going into the post-season. As a result, Williams picked up a proven closer from the Astros, Myers, which immediately makes the entire pitching staff better.
The White Sox rotation began the year as a solid core. Danks, Peavy, Floyd and Humber were supposed to carry the team. But Danks got hurt, and after his perfect game, Humber was simply bad. However, a waiver pick up from the Yankees organization, Quintana, has been very good spot starting for Danks. Now, with the addition of another lefty starter in Liriano, Williams has given pitching coach Don Cooper enough arms to survive the heat of a pennant race in September. Liriano is not having a very good season for the Twins, but it was clearly a cheap gamble for the White Sox to make. Every pitcher they bring onto the roster, Williams has the confidence that Cooper will correct any mechanical flaws and get an upside performance from any pitcher.
The plus factor is that adding veterans to a vocal veteran clubhouse can only help solidify a player mission to get into the playoffs and win.
