On Tuesday, the Chicago White Sox traded centerfielder Chris Singleton to Baltimore in return for prospect Willie Harris. While the Orioles were in need of outfield help because Chris Richard will be out at least until the All-Star break following rotator cuff surgery and Melvin Mora is limited to part-time duty after fracturing his thumb during winter ball, trading Harris for Singleton was a foolish remedy.

Chris Singleton is at best a very average centerfielder. He has fairly good defensive skills, but those are compromised by his lack of production at the plate. He posts high averages because he swings at a lot of pitches. He has three times as many strikeouts as he does walks, along with miniscule speed and power numbers. Singleton is already 29, so there's no reason to believe we haven't seen basically the best he has to offer. What those facts boil down to is that Baltimore traded for a mediocre player as an injury fill-in. If the Orioles were a team that could realistically believe that they were going to be in a playoff race, much less in contention for something grander, the move might be acceptable; however I expect them to be vying with Tampa Bay for 4th place in their division.

Meanwhile the player they've given up in this deal is far from a mediocre prospect. Harris' skills actually make him one of the better lead-off prospects in the high minors. He spent all of last season at AA before receiving a September call-up, where he displayed solid power numbers, excellent speed, and though he still needs to work on his plate discipline as he strikes out too often, a fairly good on-base percentage. Harris played the majority of his games at 2B last season, but the Orioles did start to convert him into a centerfielder near the end of the year and centerfield is where they played him during his nine major league games. Tim Hummel is Chicago's second baseman of the future, so the White Sox will likely continue to use Harris in centerfield. I would expect them to leave Harris in AAA for the season, except for the possibility of a September cup-of-coffee, and then call him up to stay next spring.

Several publications have made it a point to mention that Harris was only ranked 8th by Baseball America among Baltimore's prospects, lowly praise considering the state of the Orioles' farm system. However, what those commentators fail to take into account is what the Baseball America rankings look at and who ranked above Harris. Four of the players were hard throwing pitchers, who will normally rank above most position players because of their tremendous upside, but also have high fizzle rates.

Of the three position players ranked above Harris, Tim Raines, Jr. is likely the only one that probably deserves to be placed above Harris regardless of criteria. Outfielder Keith Reed is tools-rich, which makes him a darling of the scouts BA consults when compiling these rankings, but is well removed from actual major league readiness to the extent that the Orioles exposed him to the Rule 5 draft and didn't lose him. As for SS prospect Ed Rogers, he was unable to perform at the plate in AA and may have held onto his slot in the top 10 only because the editors couldn't stand the thought of potential howls from Baltimore fans if they'd dropped him farther.

Baseball America rates players based upon their "long-range major league worth", but the majority of these players have not yet had success at or above the AA level and will drop in the rankings as they approach the bigs. The publication does an excellent job of providing volumes of information on players who would otherwise be difficult to locate elsewhere, but it is important to keep in mind the context when utilizing analysis tools as subjective as top 10 rankings. Harris was one of four players on the top 10 list to successfully demonstrate his skills at or above AA in 2001, placing a good amount of additional weight in his prospect status. The White Sox received a player who should be with their organization as a key contributor for numerous years in exchange for a player who never really fit their needs.

As far as what this trade means for the two clubs now, Aaron Rowand and Brian Simmons are expected to cover centerfield this season for Chicago. Rowand appears to have the skills to start, though he'll need to learn to watch out for the outfield wall if he's to stay off the disabled list. In all seriousness, he has acceptable numbers across the board with the possible exception of his plate discipline, which has recently shown improvement. With Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Lee, Joe Borchard, and now Harris, Rowand likely doesn't figure into the Sox long-term plans but should be a top notch fourth outfielder for them until he either becomes too expensive and is traded or reaches free agency. At that point, I would expect him to grab a starting job on another club. Simmons' playing time should be limited to work as a late inning defensive replacement, since he appears to have no offensive skills whatsoever.

Baltimore will use Singleton as their primary centerfielder at least until Mora's thumb has fully healed and likely beyond that point. I believe both Singleton and Mora are three years away from free agency, though Mora may be four. I tend to favor Mora over Singleton in terms of playing time, but that's probably based upon my belief that with infant quintuplets, he has a greater need for a larger paycheck. Provided Chris Richard eventually gravitates towards DH, there should be room in the outfield for both of them. Mora also has experience in the middle infield and might receive a few back-up at bats there as well. However, the main problem with this scenario is that the team would need to add a lot of production from unconventional sources if they are going to fill two of their starting outfield positions with Mora and Singleton while becoming competitive, especially if you consider that the third slot will likely be filled by the unspectacular Marty Cordova. The Orioles will simply never reach the playoffs again until they cease completing deals like this and acknowledge that they are in a position that requires rebuilding from the ground up.