Trade Targets Separated At Birth: Pence/White

Since the Philadelphia Phillies traded four prospects for Hunter Pence last month, things couldn't be going better - Pence is at .344/.408/.557 in his first 16 games. Still, the price was awfully steep for a year and two months of Pence, a 28-year-old corner outfielder with a career OPS+ of 118. The four players Houston received - Jarred Cosart, Jonathan Singleton, Domingo Santana and Josh Zeid - represented three of the top nine Phillies prospects heading into the season, according to Baseball America, with Zeid checking in at 23rd. If the Phillies win another World Series or two, all that is likely to be forgotten. But when compared to Rondell White, a strikingly similar player in terms of value at the time he was traded, it is hard to feel as if the Phillies got a proper return. When the Montreal Expos traded Rondell White in July 2000, he was 28 years old, just like Pence is now. His career OPS+ at the time was 113, lower than Pence's 118, though his offensive ...