Kenny Williams used to be called a gambler when he was the White Sox GM. His replacement, Rick Hahn, is also not afraid to pull the trigger on a trade that may raise some eyebrows.
The White traded closer Addison Reed to the Diamondbacks in exchange for 22-year-old third baseman Matt Davidson.
Reed, 24, has saved 69 games for the White Sox over the past two
seasons, posting a 4.20 ERA with 9.0 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 126 1/3 innings
in that time.
The Diamondbacks will control Reed through the 2017 season and he is not
arbitration eligible until next offseason, making him a highly
affordable piece to add to the back-end of their bullpen. Reed will be the Arizona closer, displacing J.J. Putz and Brad Ziegler for that role.
Davidson, who was ranked the Diamondbacks #2 prospect, made his big league debut in 2013, slashing
.237/.333/.434 with three homers in 87 plate appearances. The 2009
supplemental-rounder entered the 2013 campaign ranked as Baseball
America's No. 88 overall prospect and MLB.com's No. 77 overall prospect.
Davidson delivered on that praise by slashing .280/.350/.481 with 17
homers in 500 plate appearances prior to his promotion to the big
leagues. He is controllable through the 2019 season and can't reach
arbitration eligibility until at least the 2016-17 offseason.
The White Sox have had a hole at third base for a long time. Whether Davidson will win the job in spring training, or whether the team will push through another year of a Conor Gillaspie/Jeff Keppinger platoon will be a short term issue. Hahn is now banking on Davidson to be the long term solution for third base.
It is strange to trade the team's established closer for a nearly major league ready prospect with less than 100 major league at-bats. But filling a third base hole has created another issue for the White Sox: closer. The team will have to sign another bullpen arm or by default give the role to Nate Jones, who has yet to post a save in his major league career.
