White Sox Acquire 3B Conor Gillaspie For RHP Jeff Soptic

The White Sox added some more infield depth today with the addition of Giants 3B Conor Gillaspie for Sox prospect Jeff Soptic.

First, here's what Rick Hahn had to say about the addition.

"(Gillaspie) conceivably fits in nicely on the roster, which we’ll obviously decide more about toward the end of next month," general manager Rick Hahn said. "But we see him having a solid hit tool, above-average awareness of the strike zone, solid defensively. He gives us a little versatility in his ability to play third base as well as first. He gives Robin (Ventura) some options potentially."

The 25-year old has spent the last two years playing in 130+ games for AAA Fresno in the Pacific Coast League.  2012 didn't prove to be as good of a year as 2011 for Gillaspie, but he still batted .281/.345/.441/.786 along with 14 HRs (an improvement from 11 in 2011).

Gillaspie's value to the Sox is the fact that he is a left-handed hitter and also gives more depth at third.  With this trade, Angel Sanchez will be used for the middle infield while Gillaspie will add depth to the corners.  Those two along with DeWayne Wise and Hector Gimenez will likely be the bench players on Opening Day.

With the addition of Gillaspie, Brent Morel will almost certainly start the season in the minors.  Also, because of the addition, newly acquired Lars Anderson has been DFA'd.

Now a little more on the loss of Jeff Soptic.  Soptic was drafted in the third round in 2011 out of community college in Kansas.  He possesses a big time fastball that could reportedly touch 100, but he struggled last year in Kannapolis with a 5.40 ERA.  Still, atleast the Giants got something in return for Gillaspie who was certainly going to be lost on waivers in a couple of weeks.  Soptic's big arm gives the Giants something to work with.

Overall, I like this trade for both teams.  The White Sox got what they needed; a lefty and more infield depth.  It's not flashy, but hopefully it will be effective.

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2013 White Sox Spring Training Preview: Corner Infield

Up next in the set of spring training previews are the first and third base positions.  Besides Paul Konerko and Adam Dunn, no players have proven their worth with the White Sox yet.  Brent Morel struggled early last year, Kevin Youkilis is gone, Jeff Keppinger hasn't played with the White Sox yet, and nobody else below has seen the big leagues with the White Sox.  You can find the previews for the outfield here and catchers here.

40-man roster:

Paul Konerko and Adam Dunn - These guys are pretty good.  That can't be said for the rest of the corner infielders.

Jeff Keppinger (3B) - Rick Hahn decided to make Jeff Keppinger the guy at third.  Not many White Sox fans were screaming with joy after they heard the news of Keppinger's deal (12M/3yrs), but it is a solid addition.  Keppinger batted .325 last year and had an OPS north of .800.  Also, only Juan Pierre has struck out less in recent years than Keppinger.

Lars Anderson (1B) - Former top Red Sox prospect Lars Anderson was picked up by the White Sox earlier this month.  There's nothing Lars really brings to the White Sox that they need.  Expect Lars Anderson to fill the Dan Johnson role.

Angel Sanchez (3B/SS/2B) - The White Sox used the Rule 5 draft for the first time in several years to draft Angel Sanchez.  Sanchez will likely be the White Sox utility infielder this year.  Sanchez has had a cup of tea with the Royals, Red Sox, and Astros.  Last year with in the 'Stros organization, he batted .320/.390/.407 with 5 HRs in AAA last year.  Before that in 2011, Sanchez spent 110 games with the Astros.

Brent Morel (3B) - After a terrible start to the 2012 campaign and back problems, Morel was demoted to Charlotte.  Morel is feeling healthy again and he has a slight chance to be on the Opening Day roster.  If that were to happen, Morel would have to have a much better spring than Sanchez.  However, because Sanchez plays two positions, Sanchez has the definite advantage.

Non-roster invites:

Josh Bell (3B) - Like Lars Anderson, Bell was once a highly-touted prospect.  However, Bell has struggled mightily at the major league level.  In the past three years with the Orioles and Diamondbacks (100 games), Bell has batted below the Mendoza line and striking out way over 20% of the time.

Andy Wilkins (1B) - Wilkins is the only actual prospect in this bunch.  Wilkins belted 17 HRs in AA Birmingham last year and 40 in the last two years combined.  He participated in the Arizona Fall League and got off to a red hot start, but slowed down toward the end of the season.  Keep an eye on Wilkins this spring training.

Steve Tolleson (3B/SS) - The White Sox are the fifth organization that Tolleson has been a part of.  The White Sox signed Tolleson to a minor league deal back in November.  He spent last year with Baltimore where he batted .183/.227/.310 in 29 games.  Tolleson can play a little bit of everything (except 1B and C) and the White Sox see potential in him to become a utility player.  However, he's behind Angel Sanchez right now in that category.

Seth Loman (1B) - Loman has been in the White Sox system since 2009 and spent last year primarily with Birmingham.  He batted .276/.364/.453 and hit 16 HRs with the Barons.  However, he has been in the minors since 2006 and is currently 27-years old.

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Daily White Sox Farm Report - 2/5

US Cellular Field (andrewclem.com)

I haven't done a Daily White Sox Farm Report in a really, really long time.  Hopefully, with the season getting closer and closer, more content and news will appear.  Below are some stories/articles dealing with the Sox that have happened in the past few days.

Trayce Thompson.  Today, prospect expert John Sickels did a prospect report on Trayce Thompson.  Here is just a small excerpt from the report:

He's a very good center fielder. I remain quite impressed with his tools, and I think the chance that he'll figure out how to use them is getting better. It isn't a slam dunk, and he needs a full year against Double-A pitching (and probably another year against Triple-A pitching) to fully adapt. That would put him challenging for a regular job in 2015, which seems like a long time from now, but he'll still be just 24.

Another White Sox prospect list.  South Side Sox released their top 10 list yesterday in two parts (part one and part deux).  It really is a great list with tons and tons of content and I suggest reading it.  SSS went against the grain of basically all national lists with putting both Scott Snodgress and Andre Rienzo ahead of Erik Johnson (Johnson was a top 4 prospect on almost all lists).  Recently, I've seen more and more lists place Jefferson Olacio toward the top (comes in at #10 at SSS).  Check out my profile on him if you aren't familiar with Olacio.

Hooray, we're not last.  Keith Law released his farm rankings($) and the White Sox aren't last unlike last year.  However, they are still near the bottom of the league at 28th.  John Sickels released his last week and the White Sox are also 28th on the list (Detroit is last, by the way).

ICYMI.  The White Sox signed former top Red Sox prospect Lars Anderson on Friday and I started spring training previews with the outfield.

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White Sox Claim Lars Anderson

Today, the White Sox claimed first baseman Lars Anderson off of waivers.  Anderson was involved in a trade between the Indians and the Diamondbacks just last December after being traded from the Red Sox to the Indians in July.  The White Sox now have added a left-handed bat, which they can't have enough of.  However, unless there are injuries to both Paul Konerko and Adam Dunn, don't expect to see Anderson on the South Side for any extended period of time.

Anderson was once a highly touted prospect with the Red Sox.  He was the top prospect with the Red Sox and a top 20 prospect overall in baseball earlier in his career.  Anderson hasn't lived up to the hype and his career so far can be summed up in one word; bust.  Yet, Anderson is only 25-years old so there is still a glimmer of hope that he can become a productive player.

Last year, he batted .250/.353/.396/.750 with 9 HRs in AAA.  He'll be back in the International League with Charlotte again this year.

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