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July 27th. WoW! We have a blockbuster trade and it has me scratching my head big time. The 1st place Oakland A's have acquired 32 year old starting pitcher Wilbur Wood from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for 27 year old Joe Rudi and 19 year old CF Dwayne Murphy. Wood was having a really nice season for the vastly improved White Sox. Wilbur is 14-5, 2.57 over 22 starts. Wilbur joins an A's pitching staff of Vida Blue 11-4, 2.59, Catfish Hunter 13-8, 2.66, Ken Holtzman 10-6, 2.49 and Dick Drago 10-7, 3.88. I do wonder if giving up the Joe Rudi, the teams leading RBI(68) man and number 3 hitter was such a smart move for a team that already had a loaded pitching staff.
The White Sox lead the American League in runs scored and adding Rudi will do little to lessen that lead. Chicago now sports a very dangerous lineup. Carlos May bats 2nd and is hitting .302. Jorge Orta is batting 3rd hitting .327. Dick Allen is the cleanup hitter batting .293 with 23 home runs and 70 RBI. Rudi is slated to bat 5th, .259. 14 home runs 68 RBI followed by Bill Melton .268.15,68. Problem is, the White Sox pitching isn't the greatest and losing a pitcher that may have been on his way to a Cy Young is going to hurt.
We will have to see how this plays out.
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