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How a trade gets done: Chicago White Sox GM Chris Getz breaks down the steps to a deal
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- How a trade gets done: Chicago White Sox GM Chris Getz breaks down the steps to a deal
BOSTON — Reports of a trade in which the Chicago White Sox would receive reliever Huascar Brazobán from the New York Mets first surfaced after midnight on the final day of the deadline.
In return, the Sox were sending minor-league pitchers Gabe Davis and Zach Franklin to the Mets. The deal became official around 9 a.m. Monday.
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Sox general manager Chris Getz walked reporters through the general mechanics of the trade, one of four made by the team over the final three days before the deadline.
"A couple weeks out, you have conversations with opposing teams," Getz said Wednesday at Fenway Park. "What are you trying to accomplish? You try to describe on both ends what each team is trying to accomplish."
Getz said there were some distinctive qualities across baseball leading up to Monday.
"Now, the unique thing about this particular deadline was the fact that so many teams hadn't gained clarity yet — they hadn't chosen directions," Getz said. "And so, not only are we waiting for that clarity that they're looking for, they're looking for clarity themselves.
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"It's this kind of waiting game, which direction are you going to go?"
Getz said most of those teams planned for different scenarios.
"And in that you earmark certain players that you would have interest in," he said.
In the case of Brazobán, Getz said, "We were still on the hunt for starting pitching. And we knew we were going to remain, regardless of whether we did that deal or not, but you get a pretty good idea of a rhythm of each deal. A back and forth, a dialogue — they seem to be really engaged with us, or lack thereof.
"And at that particular time, we didn't feel like the starters that we were targeting within what we were comfortable to send in a potential deal — they were responding in a different fashion than what we were willing to do."
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The next step was taking a step back.
"OK, let's take a step back, let's assess other pitching talent that's out there, in this case (Brazobán)," Getz said. "He has control. It's an upgrade for our bullpen. What we felt like was a fair price for someone of his level. And that's why we chose to go that path. And the timing of (completing the trade), just so happened to be fairly late."
The Sox acquired outfielder Brenton Doyle from the Colorado Rockies and catcher Joey Bart from the Atlanta Braves later in the day . The active trade deadline for the team also included trading for starter Luis Castillo from the Seattle Mariners on Saturday.
Getz noted the importance of building relationships and rapport with other organizations.
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"It may not be a GM or an assistant GM or a president," Getz said. "Oftentimes organizations are dividing and conquering because you're talking about so many different players. And you might have someone broker a deal over here, and then you come in late to get something to the finish line.
"You reflect back, and those opportunities to — whether we're coming to Boston and spending time with members of their organization, you go to the GM meetings, the winter meetings, I think all of those interactions are really valuable. The more that I'm doing this, the more value and stock I put in that. In a world that has become highly objective, highly analytical, I think there's a difference between valuing the players in a certain fashion and then actually getting to the finish line in a negotiation to get a deal done. And it takes a combination of all of those things."
Getz felt the Sox were able to accomplish their goals.
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"We got better in the areas that we needed to get better, and we built some depth," Getz said. "We got controllable players, we were maintaining the top-end talent that is in our organization. And that was important to us. When you're going to a trade deadline, and you're in first place, you're playing all these what ifs, 'If we did this scenario and we did this, we got super aggressive there.'
"It has been a long road to get where we're at. We feel very good about the process that we've been able to carry out. We wanted to maintain the integrity of that, continue to fuel this organization. We feel like we've done that. So I can sleep well now, not purely because I'm exhausted."
