Just before the 9 PST waiver trade deadline Monday night, the Dodgers acquired 39-year-old slugger Jim Thome from the White Sox and pitcher John Garland for the Diamondbacks.
Dodgers Deal for Thome, Garland; White Sox Dump Payroll for Little Return
SB Nation’s True Blue L.A. suspects Thome will come off the bench as a pinch-hitter (fielding skills abandoned him long ago) with Garland being a nice bit of insurance for the back of the rotation. The trade also reunites Manny Ramirez and Thome, who played together back in the Cleveland days before Manny was prone to being himself.
As for the White Sox, the deal was mostly about money, especially considering what they got in return from L.A. -- Justin Fuller -- leaves much to be desired. From SB Nation's South Side Sox:
With the Sox sinking out of the race, facing a September of disappointing turnstile numbers, and little to no hope of the significant influx of cash a playoff appearance provides, Kenny Williams' hand was forced. Well maybe not forced, but certainly coerced. Jerry Reinsdorf operates the White Sox as a business. He likes to say that he didn't get in this business to lose money, which has always made him an easy target for ill-informed talk-radio callers. The Sox were probably over their skis even if they made the playoffs, and certainly are now after the last two weeks of uninspired baseball. Thus, Kenny Williams, who is always looking to buy even when he's selling, was in full dump mode looking to shed payroll and send a message to his underachieving club.
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