There is the obvious fantasy baseball perspective that can be taken. Jon Garland in a better pitching park, and Orlando Cabrera with a more powerful middle of the lineup behind him. But what about the flip side?

This trade opens the doors for two top tier prospects to begin to have regular fantasy value. With the departure of Jon Garland, the White Sox can finally bring up Gio Gonzalez. He led the minors in strikeouts with 185 in 150 innings. That is a solid 11.10 K/9 rate, and he showed good control with a BB/9 rate of 3.42. I personally would like to see the walk numbers come down a bit more. Young pitchers who strikeout a ton of hitters will generally walk more batters, because they are trying to punch out each and every hitter. I had the pleasure of watching Gio throw a 1-hitter while playing for the Readings Phillies.

In Anaheim, the open spot at Shortstop should allow Brandon Wood to finally play everyday. Wood was the first round draft pick of the Angels in 2003. From a fantasy perspective, Wood’s main contribution will be decent numbers from a typically shallow position. He can most likely post a decent batting average, but he has potential to be a 20/20 player. Le last two seasons he has hit 48 homeruns, and stole 28 bases. In 2004 he managed to steal 21 bases. So the potential is there, but I don’t think he will be a 20/20 player for a few more seasons.

Gio Gonzalez is an excellent late round pick in 2008 fantasy baseball drafts. Brandon Wood would be more of a speculative late round pick in deep leagues. Both have significant value in keeper leagues.