Paul Konerko and Some Prospect History

Konerko is staying in Chicago to join future bash brother Adam Dunn for a reported $37.5M over 3 years.  If Carlos Pena gets $10M after an atrocious 2010, then ~$12M a year for 3 years is reasonable for Konerko.  Konerko has been very consistent throughout his career and is by all accounts a great clubhouse guy as team captain -- if he simply does what he has been doing since he started on the White Sox he'll earn his keep.

However, it's hard to tell how players will age as they approach their mid to late 30s.  Not everyone ages gracefully or even gradually, and since Konerko has no defensive value, he'll have to avoid years like 2003 and 2008 to make due on his contract.  Also working against Konerko is the fact that players with his skill set don't tend to age that well.  Konerko is coming off of his best year yet so there are no grounds to assume he'll stop producing, but age is a funny thing and in 2 years the White Sox can't be too shocked if this contract looks bad.

Still, with what we know about Konerko it looks like a fine contract as they are trying to compete next year and aren't paying Konerko above his market value.

As I searched for a nice Konerko pic for this entry I couldn't help but notice the gem above, which reminded me how Konerko was traded twice even though he was a top prospect.  So, I decided to indulge into a brief history of Paul Konerko, as his history of being traded is interesting during the Winter Meetings and offseason, when many prospects much like Konerko are traded or rumored to be.

Paul Konerko was drafted as a catcher with the 13th pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1994 amateur draft out of Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, Arizona.  Konerko stayed at catcher until he was moved to first base in 1996.  Catcher or first base though, Konerko destroyed minor league pitching as we can see here:

Year	Level	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG
1995	A+	448	77	124	19	77	59	88	0.277	0.361	0.455
1996	AA	557	78	141	29	86	72	85	0.300	0.397	0.543
1997	AAA	483	78	156	37	127	64	61	0.323	0.407	0.621

After his monster 1997 season in AAA Konerko (22 years old) was approprietly ranked #2 on Baseball America's list of top prospects and started the year on the Dodgers going into the 1998 season.  The Dodgers had Erik Karros at 1b but Konerko's bat was too good to keep down so Konerko was moved all over the field getting time at first base, third base and left field.  Konerko struggled in his first 18 games in 1998 batting .197/.275/.197 in 69 plate appearances and was sent down to Albuquerque, the Dodgers AAA affiliate where he appropriately raked to the tune of a .379/.436/.701 line in 24 games.  Earning his way back to the majors on May 24th, Konerko continued to struggle over his next 31 games (89 PAs) playing all over the field again inconsistently and was promptly traded on Independence Day to the Cincinnati Reds along with Dennys Reyes for reliever Jeff Shaw.

Jeff Shaw was a great reliever before and after the Dodgers acquired him, but the Dodgers, after seeing the #2 prospect in all of baseball step up to the plate 239 times playing inconsistently at foreign positions, decided to give up on him.  Mistake.  As good as Shaw was he wasn't great and he was done with baseball 3 years later.  Meanwhile Konerko has been a consistent power threat for over a decade.*

*You would think the Dodgers would learn their lesson, that trading young, valuable prospects for a relief pitcher is never a good idea but during this years trading deadline the Dodgers got the "reliever fever" again when they traded prospect Andrew Lambo and  starter James McDonald to the Pirates for reliever Octavio Dotel.  And as careless and short-sighted as that deal seems now, the one with Konerko was probably worse at the time.   

ANYWAY, now on Cincinnati, Konerko entered a game on July 10th in the 8th inning and proceeded to start in the next 10 games but couldn't find a rhythym going 7/48.  Konerko played here and there for the next week until he was sent down again to AAA although this time to Indianapolis, the Cincinnati Red's AAA affiliate.  As he always did, Konerko hit in the minors, batting .327/.402/.540 in 150 at bats until he was called up in September with the expanded rosters.  Playing here and there in parts of 9 September games, Konerko finally showed some signs of light going 6/18 with 3 walks and 6 RBI.

But that wouldn't be enough.  Konerko was blocked at 1b by the Reds own top 1b prospect, Sean Casey, and that November Konerko was traded to the Chicago White Sox for center fielder Mike Cameron.  The next year, at 23 years old in 1999, Paul Konerko was finally given consistent playing time at a specific position and he accordingly started to hit; .294/.352/.511 in 142 games with 24 HR and 81 RBI.  While it's hard to call that a bad swap for Cincinnati (in fact when you take defense and position into account, Cincinnati got the better end of the deal, until of course they traded Cameron a year later in a huge package for Ken Griffey Jr.) it is interesting that two teams traded the #2 prospect within just a few months of each other.

As the offseason is in full swing we hear rumors upon rumors about trades, often involving top prospects, and  Paul Konerko was definitely one of them years ago.  While I would struggle to call it a bad swap for Cincinnati (in fact when you take defense and position into account, the Reds likely got the better end of the deal) it's interesting that two teams would give up on the #2 prospect in baseball after seeing him for only100 or so at bats.  So, next time your teams top prospect is struggling, have some patience because he may pull a Konerko.