Is Alex Rios Ken Williams’ $60 Million Mistake?

What a deal. Nine months after trading Nick Swisher to the Yankees for the immortal Wilson Betemit,  White Sox GM Ken Williams has just spent $60 million on Alex  Rios, an outfielder with comparable career numbers to Swisher’s, but half the personality.

Here’s are the two players’ numbers for this season:

Swisher .246 BA/18 homers/.375 OBP/.476 slugging/.851 OPS

Rios .264 BA/14 homers/.317 OBP/.427 slugging/.744 OPS

Actually, Swisher is having a slightly better year than Rios is. And surprisingly, the Yankees’ new band box is not the reason; the switch-hitting Swisher is hitting only .209 at home, and only three of his 18 homers this season came at Yankee Stadium.

Here are the seasonal averages for the two players, who are both 28 years old, and both have played in the majors since 2004:

Swisher
R       H      2B  3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
92    135  31   1    28 86   93 142 2 2 .244 .357 .455 .812

Rios
R     H     2B 3B HR RBI BB SO  SB  CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
90 175  39   7   16 79   45 114 22  7 .285 .335 .451 .786

Swisher has more power, and Rios hits for a higher batting average, but both have similar RBI and runs scored numbers. Also, their OPS figures (On Base Percentage Plus Slugging) are within 30 points of each other.

The two players may have comparable statisticss, but they have very different personalities. Swisher is known as an outgoing, goofy guy, something that seemed to rub Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen the wrong way.  Swisher spent most of his year with the White Sox in Guillen’s doghouse and hit only .219 in 2008.

But the outfielder has become a cult hero in the Bronx, between his playing ability and personality. Swishalicious, as teammate A.J. Burnett calls him, has over 600,000 followers on Twitter. Even his hairstyle – a fauxhawk known as a SwishHawk – has become the talk of the  town.

Alex Rios hasn’t had quite that same relationship with the fans. Earlier this year, he was caught on videotape passing up kids wanting autographs and cursing out a Toronto fan who chastised his poor play that day. But the most important difference between Swisher and Rios is the salary.

While Swisher and Rios, at $5.4 milion and $5.9 million, are making similar salaries this year, their post-2009 contracts are quite different. Swisher is owed $17.5 million through 2011. Rios is owed $59.7 million through 2014.

The White Sox already have a full outfield, with  Scott Podsednik, Jermaine Dye, and Carlos Quentin. But Ozzie Guillen says he will find time for everyone.

This is the second big contract Williams has picked up in the last few weeks;  he also acquired Jake Peavy at the cost of $51 million in salary, and four White Sox players – including pitcher Clayton Richard – in exchange. Williams expressed surprise that the Blue Jays did not want to make a trade for Rios after he put in a waiver claim for the player:

“I expected to make a trade,” Williams said. “[The Blue Jays] deemed my request of money off the contract was not worth as much to them as the savings of cash. At the end of the day, I have to call (Chairman) Jerry Reinsdorf and lay all the cards on the table. “And [Reinsdorf] said, ‘I absolutely love the idea of not having to give up some of these players,’ and we’re OK with the cash because of the way we structured our payroll over the years.”

Is he kidding? Why in the world would Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi want to give up anything in exchange? He got rid of an albatross of a contract, without it costing him anything else. Meanwhile, the Sox will be paying over $110 million on just two players – Peavy and Rios.

Sure, Peavy could end up being an ace again, and Rios could end up being an All-Star again. But whether they are or not, the White Sox will still be on the hook for their salaries.

Maybe  Williams should have held onto Swisher after all. It would have saved him $42 million.

Photos by Keith Allison