Tony Pena's numbers: 5-3, 4.24 ERA

Strange trade for a mediocre relief pitcher, giving up a guy in Allen who most thought was a top Sox prospect.

This minor White Sox/Diamondbacks' trade was announced before tonight's 7:11p starting time. The only thing I could figure is that first baseman Brandon Allen's not in the White Sox immediate plans either in September this year when rosters expand to 40 or when they report back to Glendale, AZ next February/March for Spring Training.

This is an interesting trade. As mentioned before, Allen was the "guy" to replace Konerko, so why get rid of this guy for a mediocore relief pitcher?

Possible answers:

a) to help out the bullpen, thus making it stronger,

b) to be a starter just in case the Contreras (great outing tonite, btw), Richard (who's working on his secondary pitches with the Coop)/Poreda experiment fails and

b) to show good will to the D-Back for a possible future trade involving Danny Haren, without giving up Beckham?? I certainly hope so!

KW is still working the angles, correct? This can't be it?

a) yes, there's a chance KW will move Dotel or Jenks and Pena would be a decent enough stop-gap option in the bullpen, as he fits the profile (hard-throwing RHP)
b) doubtful, Pena's been in a relief role for a good while now and doesn't figure to be a starter at any point in his career.
c?) whaaa?

there's also a good chance that Allen isn't worth all the hype. He had issues breaking in to the minor league system, seemed to figure it out, but then regressed a bit, dropping his power in favor of higher contact. A few things to consider re: players of Allen's profile:

Allen was billed as a replacement for Thome and/or Konerko when they move on. However, that's an immediate sign of trouble, when you are able to compare a player at 23 to those in their 30's. Thome and Konerko were both (believe it or not) athletic players in their youth - Thome spent a lot of time at 3B for the Indians, and Konerko broke in as a 3B as well. That Brandon Allen was immediately considered a 1B/DH, at his age, puts him in a lesser tier of players (more comparable to the likes of the following examples, which should be familiar due to their proximity: Travis Hafner, Ryan Garko, Jake Fox, Micah Hoffpauir. Good hitters, to be sure, but not on par with Konerko or Thome.

Allen has a better shot at breaking in with the big league club in Arizona, and I like the move for the D'Backs. It's worth their while to give a guy a shot on a cheap contract and if it doesn't work out they just stick him back on the farm and shuffle their lineup a bit (moving Conor Jackson back into 1B) while Allen puts his game together. That said, I don't think it's a terrible move for the Sox, especially with the bullpen roles subject to change in the near future.

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I wonder if this is a move to be able to look to move salary - ie Dotel.

I don't think it's about moving money as much as taking advantage of a deep bullpen. Dotel is the 4th guy in the Sox bullpen and could be a closer for teams like Florida and TB or a setup man on LAA, NYM, Milwaukee or Colorado. Kenny trades a prospect for a younger, cheaper arm who can easily slide into Dotel's role and could trade Dotel for a better prospect than Allen. Kenny saves money AND upgrades the talent in the organization.

....and gets more asses in the seats!

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