In our quest to add starting pitching depth that has gone on since well before the trading deadline last summer, one of the names at the forefront of that search was the Chicago White Sox Jon Garland. He was an established veteran starter - even though he is not yet 30 years old - and a two-time 18-game winner. While this was always just a rumor, there was a lot of chatter about us sending Edgar Renteria to the Sox for the right-handed Garland. This never came to be. Not last year before the deadline when we badly needed another starter, and not this off-season, when the acquisition of more reliable starting pitching was number-1 on our agenda.

Then today we get news that the White Sox have traded Garland for a shortstop - straight-up. That shortstop is Anaheim's Orlando Cabrera. Renteria and Cabrera are virtually the same shortstop, with Edgar winning by a slight margin. This is one of those times I wish I knew what was discussed or what was offered (if anything) last July. Did we turn down the offer for Garland and Renteria straight-up, or did they turn it down? Was there ever a trade discussed between the Braves and White Sox with those two players involved?

I saw that trade today and I let out a big, "huh!" Garland may not be the "best" starting pitcher out there, but he sure seemed to be the "best" at the trade deadline last year - at a time when the Braves could have benefited from having another reliable starter on their staff. He also seemed to be one of the better arms available on the trade market this winter.

I guess I'm not too chapped by the non-trade now, as I think we may have gotten a better return for Renteria in Jurrjens and Gorkys. And maybe that's what we were holding out for all along. At the time of the Renteria trade, Wren said discussions about the players involved had been going on for several months. So maybe it took us a while to convince the Tigers to give us two good prospects.

With the moves we've made this off-season, I can see us going with the old starters this year (Glavine-42, Smoltz-41, Hampton-35, Hudson-32), and then turning it over to the young kids like Jurrjens, Reyes, and any of the combination of young guns we've got in our system (Rohrbough, Hanson, Locke, Evarts). Much like we're publicly bridging the gap from Andruw Jones to Jordan Schafer, I think we're also bridging the gap in our rotation. In that respect they must have thought Jurrjens was just as good as Garland (if not better), and that Gorkys was a bonus. Many scouts at the time of the Renteria trade said Edgar for Jurrjens straight up would have been a good move for the Braves, but adding Gorkys made it a great move.

On the flip side, we can stop talking about Garland now - he's in Anaheim to stay. Besides, I'm guessing our rotation is going to be fine next year. By my count we've got eight or nine legit contenders for five rotation spots.

Update [2007-11-19 15:38:55 by gondeee]:

Via MLBTR, U.S.S. Mariner has an interesting take that the White Sox got the better end of this trade.