I've had a hard time tracking down stats on Fautino de los Santos. Some people spell his first name Faustino, but MiLB has him as Fautino. As you can see, he's a strikeout artist, setting down 153 batters in 122 1/3 innings via the K in 2007. Just the kind of pitcher the A's like.

Ray Ratto correctly points out that Oakland is now a baseball desert:

Understanding the Swisher trade from the A's view is easy - it's the same justification that they made when they shipped Haren to Arizona for twice as many bodies. But the starker truth is that for the short term, the A's are very likely the worst team in the American League, and without question the least interesting for the casual fan.

Swisher may have been a flawed player, a sort of supercharged Eric Byrnes with a more disciplined strike zone if you must, but he did have his clientele, just as Haren had his. Now what is left is the oft-injured Eric Chavez, Huston Streeet and Bobby Crosby, the efficient but largely spectral Mark Ellis, and a new, younger Sacramento farm team. As a ticket buyer, you can be forgiven if that doesn't heat your home this winter.

The Athletics are doing what the Indians did at the start of the decade and what the Marlins appeared to be doing two years ago, dumping players for prospects to rebuild. It took the Indians a while to get there. The Marlins just keep going backward. Up until now, Beane tried to keep fannies in the seats with a competitive team. It will be interesting to see how quickly he can turn these prospects into a winning MLB team.

Nick gives the White Sox a formidable outfield and solves their centerfield problem much more cheaply than if they had hired one of the three free agents. Swisher makes just over $5 million a year. That's another good reason to sign youngsters to long term contracts; it makes them very easy to trade.

Update: At Athletics Nation, Blez interviews John Sickels:

Blez: If you put the Swisher deal together with the Haren deal, how much have the A's improved their farm system?

Sickels: Well, look at the Top 20 list I posted a few days ago at MinorLeagueBall.com. These two trades, plus the good early returns on the 2007 draft class, completely rebuild the farm system. It has been a huge infusion of talent in a short period of time. 2008 might be a rough year, but the future looks really good. Masterful rebuilding by Beane.

Sox Machine doesn't like the deal, and neither does South Side Sox. Will Chicago flip Swisher for pitching?