The Master Builder
Draft and develop—that's the best way to put together a contender, right? Someone forgot to tell White Sox G.M. Kenny Williams: His team had a 2½-game lead in the AL Central after 100 games with an every-day lineup constructed mainly through savvy trades, waiver pickups and free-agent signings. (To wit: Williams's June 24 trade for third baseman Kevin Youkilis, who has bumped his OPS from .692 in Boston to .882 in Chicago.) Using WAR data, Fangraphs.com estimates the dollar value of a player's production—and by that measure many of Williams's pickups have already outperformed or nearly matched their 2012 salaries.
[The following text appears within a diagram. Please see hardcopy or PDF for actual diagram.]
CF
ALEJANDRO DE AZA
ACQUIRED Waivers, 2009
2012 PERFORMANCE $10.7 million
2012 SALARY $495,000
LF
DAYAN VICIEDO
ACQUIRED Amateur free agent, 2008
2012 PERFORMANCE $2.2 million
2012 SALARY $2.5 million
RF
ALEX RIOS
ACQUIRED Waivers, 2009
2012 PERFORMANCE $11.7 million
2012 SALARY $12 million
SS
ALEXEI RAMIREZ
ACQUIRED Amateur free agent, 2008
2012 PERFORMANCE $4.4 million
2012 SALARY $5 million
2B
GORDON BECKHAM
ACQUIRED 1st round pick, 2008
2012 PERFORMANCE $700,000
2012 SALARY $520,000
3B
KEVIN YOUKILIS
ACQUIRED Trade with Red Sox, 2012
2012 PERFORMANCE* $4.6 million
2012 SALARY* $1.1 million
1B
PAUL KONERKO
ACQUIRED Trade with Reds, 1998
2012 PERFORMANCE $11.9 million
2012 SALARY $12 million
C
A.J. PIERZYNSKI
ACQUIRED Free agent, 2005
2012 PERFORMANCE $10.8 million
2012 SALARY $6 million
DH
ADAM DUNN
ACQUIRED Free agent, 2010
2012 PERFORMANCE $9.5 million
2012 SALARY $14 million
* REFLECTS PERFORMANCE FOR AND AMOUNT OF 2012 SALARY PAID BY THE WHITE SOX
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ILLUSTRATION
Illustration by CHRIS ALLEN