The White Sox designated IF-S D'Angelo Jimenez for assignment after acquiring Roberto Alomar last week. Yesterday, Chicago dealt him to Cincinnati for RHP Scott Dunn. The Reds drafted Dunn out of the University of Texas with their 10th round pick of the 1999 draft. He spent the remainder of that season at Billings in the Rookie-level Pioneer League and then advanced to A Clinton in the Midwest League for the 2000 season. Dunn split 2001 between A+ Mudville in the California League and AA Chattanooga in the Southern League, returning to Chattanooga last season.

While he pitched as a starter in the early portion of his career, last year the organization had him move into relief. At the time of the trade, Dunn held a 54:16 K:BB with 31 H and 3 HR allowed over 40.1 IP for a 3.79 ERA in 31 relief appearances at Chattanooga this year. He still needs to make the jump to AAA, but he appears capable of developing into a solid major league reliever by sometime next season.

Jimenez's skills indicate he has the potential to succeed in a starting role. However, he's proven vulnerable to slumps that seem related to his relationship with his ball club. When a team backs him and gives him playing time, he does well, as he did with the White Sox in April. Unfortunately, when he cooled off in May, Chicago began to experiment with alternatives and Jimenez reacted by digging a larger hole. The 35-year-old Alomar may no longer have the offensive upside of the 25-year-old Jimenez, but Jimenez easily could have slouched for the rest of the season. As a result of the deterioration of Jimenez's relationship with the Sox organization, we can't really say that whatever success he has over the rest of the year with the Reds he could have had in Chicago.

If Cincinnati wants the most out of Jimenez, they will give him regular playing time and Manager Bob Boone will show confidence in him as has happened with Jose Guillen. However, I believe Rainer Olmedo has a strong hold on the Reds' second base job, so Jimenez may turn into a cranky unproductive bench player.