The General Manager Who Went Up a Mountain but Came Down a Hill

In a move perhaps deemed too small to even issue a media release, the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday dealt Single-A reliever and South Side Sox No. 32 prospect McKinley Moore to the Philadelphia Phillies for outfielder Adam Haseley.

To make room for Haseley on the 40-man roster, the White Sox designated SSS No. 34 prospect Blake Rutherford for assignment.

Haseley has had a rough couple of years since a strong 2019 MLB debut, tallying 1.8 WAR in just 67 games, much of it with defensive value. The lefty hit the majors for the Phillies just two years after being drafted No. 8 overall from the University of Virginia.

The strong offense that had rushed him to the majors disappeared in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, and then in the full 2021. Both in the brief tea cups of time with the Phillies and (in 2021) at Triple-A Leigh Valley, Haseley’s offense completely abandoned him.

At this point, turning 26 on Opening Day, Haseley has to be regarded as a lottery ticket who might regain form in the new surroundings of Charlotte. Consider it a sure sign of how far Blake Rutherford’s star has fallen that he couldn’t even be the challenge-swap bounty with Philadelphia to get Haseley, as the White Sox instead had to trade longshot-but-with-velo mountain man Moore.

For a brief moment, our writer Luke Smailes was giving us some hope that Haseley was the token return for Philly eating most or all of Craig Kimbrel’s deal:

But then again, no:

And completely wasting all that I’ve written above, our Tyrone Palmer succinctly provided (via our sister site The Good Phight) most of what we need to know about Haseley: