Why Swisher Was Traded

From Baseball Prospectus (chat with Steve Goldman):

Josh (Chicago): Steve, there are several reasons Kenny Williams may have traded Nick Swisher that have nothing to do with money/talent. As it’s been reported on the Chicago stations, Swisher shut out the coaching staff completely last year, blew off the hitting coach when he tried to help him, and simply withdrew into himself once he was put in a platoon. Additionally, Swisher’s locker room clown act was beginning to wear thin (his partner in crime, Toby Hall, has also been shown the door). Just something to keep in mind before blasting Kenny Williams…

Steven Goldman: I wasn’t necessarily blasting him, but the trade was uneven, even if his reasons are of the off-field variety. Whatever the issues with Swisher’s personality and comportment, he’s a guy with value, a four-position guy who has produced in the past and even in a miserable year took a whole bunch of walks and hit with power. Players are traded for all kinds of reasons, even the one you site–that they’re too annoying to live with. That still doesn’t mean that the team shouldn’t get value for them. At first glance it doesn’t appear Williams did that.

The assertions put forth by Josh of Chicago were more interesting than what Goldman had to say, although Goldman defends Swisher (and the trade) pretty nicely. If Swisher was, in fact, difficult during his short stint in Chi-Town, I would think that you could easily attribute such a disposition to his playing time woes (which were brought on, primarily, by a poor start—his own doing—but that doesn’t mean he should be sitting out in September or be serving as a platoon player).

Of course, this could just be damage control on behalf of the White Sox, especially after, what I would call, a bad trade (for them). Trash the player that left, it’s the oldest trick in the book (the Red Sox have perfected it).