Who did Chicago White Sox get in Melky Cabrera trade with Royals?
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Breaking down the return for the Chicago White Sox from the Kansas City Royals on the Melky Cabrera trade.
The Chicago White Sox continued their sell-off on Sunday when they traded veteran outfielder Melky Cabrera to the Kansas City Royals. Cabrera is on the last year of his three-year deal and did not make much sense on a White Sox’s team not ready to compete. Trading him away for anything made the most sense.
According to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, the White Sox will pay about half of the $5.1 million remaining owed to Cabrera.
Cabrera was hitting an impressive .295/.336/.436 with the Chicago White Sox this season and will be a valuable addition to the Royals’ lineup. Cabrera has only played left field in recent years and that is where Alex Gordon plays for Kansas City. Will Cabrera take starts from Gordon? Perhaps he will fill in at DH for Brandon Moss? It should be interesting to see what Kansas City has in mind.
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The White Sox were not able to land a huge haul for Cabrera. They simply did not have the leverage to do so. However, they were able to bring in a couple of interesting pitching prospects in A.J. Puckett and Andre Davis.
Who are these prospects?
Puckett is the most interesting player here. Drafted in the second round of the 2016 draft, Puckett is a command pitcher who has some nice mid-rotation upside in the big leagues. Prior to this season, he was ranked as the 11th best prospect in a rather uninspiring Royals’ system by MLB.com. After the trade, MLB.com ranks Puckett as the 25th best prospect in the White Sox’s loaded system.
Here is what MLB.com has to say about Puckett:
"Puckett is more about pitchability than power. His best assets are his tumbling changeup, a legitimate plus pitch, and his advanced command. His fastball usually ranges from 90-94 mph with some run and sink, and his curveball can be an average third offering at times but lacks consistency.His stuff plays up because Puckett works both corners of the plate and lives down in the strike zone. He also uses his size to create angle to his pitches, studies hitters carefully and has a high pitching IQ. A potential No. 4 starter, he should advance quickly and has one of the highest floors among Royals pitching prospects."
Puckett was pitching at the High-A level for the Royals. In 20 starts this season, he had posted a 3.90 ERA. He had also struck out 98 and walked 46 in 108.1 innings pitched.
There is less information on Davis out there. He was not ranked on any Royals’ top prospect list that I was able to come across. Davis was an eighth round pick for the Royals back in 2015. He has been a full-time starter for the Royals over the last two years. Through 2017, Davis has started 18 games at the Low-A level and has an uninspiring 4.83 ERA.
That being said, he is striking out a fair amount of batters. Through 85.2 innings pitched, Davis has struck out 87 batters. If nothing else, that is encouraging.
Next: White Sox: Ranking the Top 15 Prospects
The Chicago White Sox did not get a huge haul here. However, they did land a couple of interesting pitching prospects to add to the mix. In a deal where they had no leverage, Rick Hahn and company did not do too bad.