AL Central Clubs Shake Up Rosters

Sports News - November 7th, 2009 - Written by John

When the Chicago White Sox paid a premium to sign Alex Rios off waivers to play right field, there were rumors swirling about the future of Jermaine Dye with the team.

Those questions were answered on Friday, when the team cut ties with the -- year veteran who had been with the club since. In a move to get younger, the White Sox bought out Dye's contract, and are seemingly satisfied with Rios to anchor the team. The move comes a day after Dye informed the team that he was picking up his $12 million option with the team to stay another year. Instead, they chose to pay him $950,000 to go away.

They made several other moves two days after the World Series finale.

The club also traded away second baseman Chris Getz and third baseman Josh Fields to the Kansas City Royals on Friday in exchange for Mark Teahan. The move frees up space in the infield for celebrated first-round pick Gordon Beckham to his home at second base. Beckham was an All-American in his collegiate days with Georgia as a second baseman. General manager Ken Williams confirmed Teahan would play third, where Beckham was resigned to during the '09 year.

The move also allows Kansas City to free up some cap space, pawning off Teahan's contract that could increase to $5 million next year after arbitration. Getz and Fields make a combined $900,000.

Getz played 107 games with the club, hitting .261 with two homers.

Both Getz and Fields spent their tenures with the club moving up and down between levels. Fields played 79 games at the major league level after being sent to Triple-A in July and recalled on the first day of September.

Another AL Central team made waves on the transaction report. The Minnesota Twins shipped center fielder Carlos Gomez to the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday for shortstop J.J. Hardy. Hardy had a down year in '09 after combining for 50 home runs between the '07 and '08 seasons.

"J.J. has been a steady performer for the Brewers," Milwaukee general manager Doug Melvin told ESPN in a statement. "His professionalism and popularity with our fans and his teammates made this difficult, but he has been given the opportunity to go to a great organization to play and perform at the high level he is capable of playing."

Gomez was a key component in the trade that sent Johan Santana to the New York Mets.

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