Jon Garland is seems headed to the Astros in exchange for Willy Taveras and Taylor Buchholz.

 

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/4385643.html

just saw that too, it makes no sense for the CWS. They just traded off one of their SP and now another. They can slide in McCarthy but what are they going to do for the last spot?

 

Flip whomever they get (pence perhaps?) to another team for more pitching?

I dont get it either

 

 

Guess that just means Floyd will be in their rotation - Buehrle, Contreras, Vazquez, McCarthy, Floyd

 

 

Personally, I think they're loading up to make a move at Crawford

TB is going to want to get McCarthy in any trade for Crawford + 2 more top young arms. I dont see how that one is profitable.

I've heard they may be in on Zito...still makes no sense whatsoever.

Hirsh is part of the deal according to ken at foxsports

 

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6248404

 

White Sox could trade Garland to Astros

 

Ken Rosenthal / FOXSports.com

Posted: 19 minutes ago

 

ORLANDO, Fla. - The White Sox might not be done trading starting pitchers.

 

One day after sending right-hander Freddy Garcia to the Phillies, the White Sox were discussing sending right-hander Jon Garland to the Astros for center fielder Willy Taveras and right-handed pitching prospects Taylor Buchholz and Jason Hirsh, FOXSports.com has learned.

 

 

Boards: MLB

 

White Sox general manager Ken Williams said no deal was close, and Sox officials left the winter meetings and returned to Chicago on Thursday morning. Most clubs were planning to leave the winter meetings Thursday as well.

 

The trade, if completed, likely would signal the end of the Astros' quest to re-sign free-agent left-hander Andy Pettitte, who is strongly considering the Yankees.

 

It also would fit the White Sox's strategy of acquiring young pitchers and building toward the future while giving the team an upgrade over Brian Anderson in center field.

 

The mere fact that the White Sox are considering trading Garland in addition to Garcia signals a critical ? and perhaps visionary ? shift in direction for the 2005 World Series champions.

 

The price of starting pitching has risen dramatically this off-season, and the Sox are trying to replace their expensive pitchers with more affordable options.

 

The Sox acquired minor-league right-hander Gavin Floyd and left-hander Gio Gonzalez for Garcia on Wednesday night. Garland, 27, would command a higher price than Garcia, 31 ? Garland is under contract through 2008, while Garcia is a free agent after this season.

 

Ken Rosenthal is FOXSports.com's senior baseball writer.

Hirsch makes this deal alot easier to swallow, but right now before they make a big move, this is a wtf move

This isn't official. ESPN1000 says the deal is dead.

 

That would have been a dumbass trade by the Sox.

i dont know why the astros would give up on both buchholz AND hirsh, but whatever, we'll see what ends up happening if this deal actually does occur.

this deal would make more sense if the Sox had a tentative deal in place with Zito. They can't move two SP's and put rookies in their spots, that wouldn't be logical.

DEAL IS DEAD!

 

White Sox downplay Garland report

Deal with Houston apparently falls short as Meetings end

By Scott Merkin and Alyson Footer / MLB.com

 

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- The only concrete plans on Ken Williams' agenda over the next couple of days were to take his wife to dinner and a movie Thursday night after returning home from baseball's 2006 Winter Meetings and then play golf on Friday morning.

 

Nowhere on the White Sox general manager's schedule was any sort of time allotment for completing a trade with the Astros, sending Jon Garland to Houston in exchange for pitcher Taylor Buchholz and center fielder Willy Taveras. In fact, Williams and the White Sox strongly denied a report posted on the Web site of the Houston Chronicle that any such trade involving these particular players was imminent.

 

"We were close to about four or five things that didn't materialize for us, for various reasons," Williams said. "We've got nothing going on."

 

At 25, the right-handed Buchholz stands as another young arm that would fit into the White Sox overall plan of giving the team a chance to win presently while maintaining a steady flow of future success without overpaying in the wide-open market. Taveras, who turns 25 on Christmas Day, would provide a fleet-footed challenger to both Brian Anderson and Ryan Sweeney for the starting center field slot, but he also could make recently signed leadoff man Scott Podsednik expendable.

 

But in Garland, a 27-year-old right-hander who has perched himself amongst the pitching elite during the past two seasons, the White Sox clearly would need more return on their investment to complete the trade. Garland has posted back-to-back 18-win seasons for the South Siders and is under contract for the next two years at a seemingly reasonable $22 million.

 

Foxsports.com reported that in addition to Taveras and Buchholz, the trade may include Houston right-hander Jason Hirsh, a former No. 1 draft pick who is expected to serve as the Astros' No. 4 starter in '07 and also would figure to compete for a starting slot with the White Sox. SI.com also reported the four-player deal hit a snag and fell apart when Buchholz did not pass a physical.

 

The article in the Chronicle claimed the Garland-for-Buchholz-and-Taveras deal was close enough for a morning announcement to be made, according to Tal Smith, the Astros' president of baseball operations. But Smith denied telling the Chronicle that a "deal was close."

 

Smith confirmed that the clubs were talking about Garland and that the teams "had some discussions" about possible players who could be included in the deal, but the two sides were "still working on it."

 

If the Astros were to trade for Garland, that would likely put them out of the running for left-hander Andy Pettitte, who is being courted by the Astros and Yankees and could command upward of $15 million for one year. Pettitte may also desire a multi-year deal.

 

A trade of Garland by the White Sox would further turn over one of baseball's top starting rotations, and Williams always has been willing to listen to offers for even his top-flight players. But the rumored trade of Garland to Houston at the close of this week's activities Thursday at the Dolphin Hotel does not seem likely in the immediate future.

 

"There are so many rumors. Sometimes the rumors are right and sometimes the rumors are wrong. Sometimes they are partly right," White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said. "We just aren't going to comment on rumors."

If the ChiSox traded Garland that would probably have meant they had Zito locked up ang I believe this would just have been a balance move in reference to payroll and young pitching depth. Without Zito it wwould have been a crazy move on William's behalf