Giants might follow White Sox 'White Flag' strategy

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NEW YORK -- It all happened nearly 11 years ago.The San Francisco Giants sent Dick Tidrow to the Chicago White Sox to get pitcher Danny Darwin. White Sox general manager Ron Schueler was interested in unloading any tradable piece of his roster. The way Schueler recalls it, he plied Tidrow with cocktails and had his caterers follow the Giants' executive around Comiskey Park with platters of delicacies -- anything to keep him in town long enough to expand the deal."I had the perfect guy in town," Schueler said. "We kept expanding and expanding and expanding. Next thing we know, we had a few beers each night talking and talking and talking, and it drug into the fifth day, and then we announced the deal."It was an old-fashioned baseball swap. On July 31, 1997, the Giants sent six prospects, including pitchers Bobby Howry and Keith Foulke, to Chicago for three experienced pitchers: Darwin, Wilson Alvarez and Roberto Hernandez.The Chicago fans and media derided the "White Flag Trade" because the White Sox held a fire sale despite trailing Cleveland by 3.5 games in the American League Central. For the Giants, the acquisitions helped cement the club's first division title in eight years.It was the type of blockbuster that rarely happens anymore in the summer. Notwithstanding Monday's trade that sent CC Sabathia to Milwaukee, there is more blustering and rumoring than actual deal-making ahead of the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.The White Flag Trade has some relevance for the 2008 Giants because general manager Brian Sabean might move potential free agents such as Rich Aurilia, Ray Durham and Omar Vizquel, and perhaps some relief pitchers, for prospects in deals that could benefit the team for the future at the expense of winning a weak N.L. West.Foxsports.com reported Monday that the Brewers, whose farm system remains loaded even after the Sabathia deal, are interested in Durham and lefty Jack Taschner.Schueler, now a senior adviser to Sabean, believes the White Flag Deal not only helped the White Sox win their division in 2000, but set in motion a rebuilding of the farm system that his successor, Kenny Williams, used to help build the 2005 World Series championship team.Older potential free agents such as Aurilia, Vizquel and Durham probably would not attract prospects labeled as future stars, but even mid-level prospects could help. For the Giants to attract the kind of power hitter they desperately need, they probably would have to dig into their store of prospects."We have a depth of young pitchers," Schueler said. "If Brian feels like some of these guys can go out and get us some young players -- a first baseman or a third baseman or a middle infielder -- I think you've got to do it. That's just me. That's going to be a tough decision on Brian's part. The main thing is, we've got young pitching stacked up and coming."That, though, is the type of deal that ordinarily gets made in the offseason. The July 31 trade deadline is about strengthening rosters for a playoff push. The rumor season has begun and will swing into full craziness after the All-Star break.For all the names that will be mentioned, few big deals will get done if the last few years are a guide. In 2007, the Rangers and Braves completed a blockbuster deadline deal involving Mark Teixeira and Jarrod Saltalamacchia. The Rangers also sent Eric Gagne to Boston. The year before, the Yankees got Bobby Abreu and Cory Lidle for four prospects and Carlos Lee went from Milwaukee to Texas in a seven-player trade.Compare that to 1997. That July alone, besides the Giants and White Sox completing their nine-player deal, Mark McGwire went from Oakland to St. Louis for three prospects, the Red Sox got Jason Varitek and Derek Lowe from Seattle, the White Sox shipped Harold Baines to Baltimore, the Angels and Rangers swapped Jim Leyritz for Ken Hill and the Indians got pitcher John Smiley from Cincinnati in a deal that helped persuade the White Sox that Cleveland was going to win the division.Those were all pretty big names back then.Why are there fewer deadline deals like that now? The two main reasons are parity (far more buyers than sellers) and teams' unwillingness to add salary."A lot of teams right now are really keeping an eye on the budget," Sabean said. "I think we've seen the last couple of years especially, very much so in our division, how valuable young players are, and we're reluctant to trade them. Quite frankly, the rent-a-player is not very popular anymore."Sabean believes any general manager who considers moving prospects for an established player has to make sure that player is a "difference-maker."Even then, Sabean said, "What's the price for a playoff spot? Is just getting in and taking your chances worth giving up a good snapshot of your future? That's what we're all going to have to weigh. In our case, we're certainly not inclined to do that."Sabean said any big-league players he targets this month would be ineligible for free agency. He cited two of his previous deals as a guide, for pitcher Livan Hernandez (in 1999) and outfielder Randy Winn (in 2005), "where it's (for) now and something you can sink your teeth into for the future." (E-mail Henry Schulman at hschulman@sfchronicle.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)