The White Sox have traded away many prospects over the last couple of years but to date none of them have come back to bite the Sox. Here I will review all of the prospects traded away by Kenny Williams in 2009 and will try to determine whether this latest crop of former prospects will come back to haunt the White Sox in the future.

Lance Broadway

Prior to Lance Broadway’s trade to the Mets (in return for Ramon Castro) he actually put up some decent numbers at Charlotte including a 3.75 SO/BB rate and an 8.4 SO/9, by far the best strikeout rate he had posted since his debut season. The ERA was high but there was reason to be encouraged. After the trade, however, Broadway was awful, the strikeouts plummeted, the walks rose as did the ERA and WHIP. Broadway has made several appearances with the Mets but his performances have been weak, he’s giving up an extreme amount of hits, which either says his stuff is very hittable or he has been very unlucky. Time is running out for this former first round pick and he will need to make some significant improvements next year if he wishes to be successful.

Brandon Allen

Brandon Allen’s trade has been spoken about often, by a lot of people including me, here, so I’ll try and keep his review brief. After being traded to Arizona for Tony Pena, Allen went on a 38 game tear at Reno showing great power and strike zone judgement. Soon after, Allen received the call from the D’Backs and thus far has done exactly what I would have expected from him, and that is hit for power and strike out… a lot. I still don’t think Allen will become a star but he is very capable of becoming a solid regular in the Majors and he has had a very good season.

Aaron Poreda

Aaron Poreda’s season prior to his trade was going quite well, his K rate had spiked to 9.1 SO/9 with Birmingham after a somewhat disappointing 6.6 SO/9 in 2008 and his ERA sat at an impressive 2.38. After the trade, however, his control disappeared completely as he walked 37 batters in 32.2 IP, leaving him with a disastrous 0.81 SO/BB and 7.16 ERA. Reports indicate that Poreda’s slider has made significant improvements over the last year and the limited Pitch f/x data we have of him would seem to agree but his control still needs a lot of work, as does his change. Poreda looks like a definite reliever to me at this point.

Clayton Richard

Clayton Richard was traded to the Padres off the back of two straight 8 inning, 1 run performances which led to many people hailing him as a potential frontline starter, I remained unconvinced, and thus far he has performed more of less how I would have expected with an ERA in the mid 4’s. His strikeout rate has been better than expected and his walk rate worse than expected. I think both his K rate and BB rates will fall slightly next year, but overall it should result in his ERA remaining around the 4.50 range. I still see a career as a useful backend starter for Richard as his stuff just isn’t good enough for him to be more than that.

Dexter Carter

I noted Dexter Carter as the wild card of the Peavy trade at the time it happened but so far he his post-trade performances have been disappointing, and like Poreda his control has vanished. An awful 21 inning stretch with Fort Wayne, which included a 6.4 BB/9 and a 12.86 ERA doesn’t sway me from my projection of him as a potential mid rotation starter, but the control and changeup must both improve for this to happen. Carter’s fastball/curve combo could be enough for him to make it in the bullpen if he can’t improve the aforementioned aspects of his game.

Adam Russell

Like Dexter Carter, Adam Russell hasn’t pitched much since being traded and walks have continued to be a problem for Russell in the limited action he has seen. Control has always been a weakness for Russell but he was doing a good job of limiting the free bases prior to his trade, but as with several prospects who were traded to San Diego, his control fell apart and he walked 15 batters in 20.2 IP. Russell is capable of making a name for himself in a Major League bullpen but he still has lots of work to do before that becomes a reality.

Michael Dubee

Michael Dubee was more of an after thought when he was traded to Pittsburgh in return for Andy Phillips all the way back in April, but he has opened eyes since the trade. In 23 appearances with Lynchburg he posted a sparkling ERA (1.05) and SO/BB rate (17.33) with 54 K’s to just 3 BB’s. At 23, he was old for the Carolina League and after his promotion to Double-A the numbers tailed off, but they still remain good as his K/BB rate sat at 2.80 and his ERA at 2.91. Dubee will probably need to spend all of 2010 in the Minors but if continues to pitch like this we’ll be seeing him pitch out of a Major League bullpen sooner rather than later.

Stats accurate as of 9/17