BOSTON — Chris Getz had been through two trade deadlines as the White Sox’ general manager, but neither compared to the one he just went through with a first-place team.
“It is very grueling,” he said Wednesday from a makeshift workout area in the Fenway Park concourse. “I wake up in the middle of the night, I wake up early in the morning, and your mind is going.
“It’s definitely a stimulating time, but because probably of the lack of sleep and the actual work that it entails, it takes its toll. But you’ve got enough adrenaline to work your way through it. And then, when it’s over, you feel like you’ve been hit by a Mack truck.”
Getz stood as he spoke in the cramped space with weights and machines protected by black curtains, so he seemed to have recovered enough to keep his balance. And as tired as he was, he felt good about what he and his staff accomplished before the deadline at 5 p.m. Monday.
The Sox acquired a three-time All-Star starting pitcher in Luis Castillo, a two-time Gold Glove center fielder in Brenton Doyle, a reliable reliever in Huascar Brazoban and a veteran catcher in Joey Bart. They had to part with some quality prospects, but none of their coveted ones.
“We accomplished our goal,” Getz said. “We got better in the areas that we needed to get better in. We built some depth. We got controllable players. We maintained the top-end talent in our organization. It has been a long road to get where we’re at. We feel very good about the process that we’ve been able to carry out.”
Some of those good feelings come from feedback from other organizations. Getz said clubs were supportive of the players he acquired and understood what his plan was. It reinforced the relationship-building aspect of trading that Getz said is imperative.
“So much of this is building a rapport with whomever you’re dealing with,” he said. “It may not be a GM or an assistant GM or a president. Oftentimes, organizations are dividing and conquering because you’re talking about so many different players. You might have someone broker a deal, and you come in late to get something to the finish line.
“The more that I’m doing this, the more value I put in that. In a world that has become highly objective, highly analytical, there’s a difference between valuing the players and actually getting to the finish line in a negotiation. And it takes a combination of all of those things.”
Getz said trade talks with other teams begin weeks before the deadline, with clubs explaining what they’re trying to accomplish. He said this deadline was unique in that, with a glut of teams in playoff contention, many still were deciding whether they were buying or selling.
“So not only are we waiting for that clarity, they’re looking for clarity themselves,” Getz said. “It’s a waiting game: Which direction are you going to go? But most of those teams are planning for different scenarios, in that you earmark certain players that you would have interest in.”
Even when there is clarity, a deal could be made at the oddest of hours, as was the case with the Mets and Brazoban, the late-looming 36-year-old who’s under club control through 2029, when he’ll be 39.
That trade went down after midnight Monday morning. Getz said he still was looking for another starting pitcher at the time — he had acquired Castillo from the Mariners on Saturday night — but he wasn’t comfortable giving up what it would’ve cost.
“So therefore, OK, let’s take a step back, let’s assess other pitching talent that’s out there; in this case Brazo,” he said. “He has control, it’s an upgrade for our bullpen, what we felt like was a fair price for someone of his level. And that’s why we chose to go that path. The timing of it just so happened to be fairly late.”
Getz said he was open to acquiring rental players, but “it became very clear that our systems just didn’t match up for some of those guys.” And as important as it was to Getz that he not disrupt the chemistry in the clubhouse, it was equally as important that he not trade away the Sox’ top prospects.
“We wanted to maintain the integrity of that, continue to fuel this organization,” Getz said. “We feel like we’ve done that.
“So I can sleep well now, not purely because I’m exhausted.”