Let's look back at a 2017 trade between White Sox, Yankees

David Robertson

Whenever veteran players are traded for prospects, we always say we have to wait four or five years until we can fully judge the trade.

Well, more than five years have passed since the White Sox swung a seven-player deal with the New York Yankees on July 19, 2017.

New York received:

• 3B Todd Frazier
• RHP David Robertson
• RHP Tommy Kahnle

White Sox received:

• OF Blake Rutherford
• RHP Tyler Clippard
• OF Tito Polo
• LHP Ian Clarkin 

Ugh. You can see where this is going. It will probably go down as one of Sox GM Rick Hahn's worst deals. This trade has been in the news recently, because Rutherford recently signed a minor-league deal to join the Washington Nationals. Now that he has left the Sox, all the players they acquired in this trade are gone from the organization.

Here's a look at how each player involved in this trade has fared since that day in July:

Frazier. The veteran third baseman played 66 games with the Yankees and hit 11 homers while batting .222. That's similar to the performance he had with the Sox -- good power, but not much average. He eventually signed a two-year contract with the New York Mets and hit a combined 39 homers for them in the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Frazier split time between the Texas Rangers and Mets in 2020, batting .236 with four homers in the pandemic-shortened season. He played briefly with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2021, but he was done at that point. He was released and retired.

Robertson. The relief pitcher did well for the Yankees, going 5-0 with a 1.03 ERA in 30 games after joining them in 2017. He appeared in 69 games for the 2018 Yankees. He went 8-3 with a 3.23 ERA and five saves. Robertson has bounced around the league since then -- Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, the Cubs, then back to Philadelphia again. He pitched four scoreless innings with one save for the Phillies during the 2022 World Series. This offseason, he signed a free-agent deal with the Mets.

Kahnle. Would you believe it if I told you that Kahnle is still a Yankee? He's on his second stint with the team. He pitched in 129 games for New York from 2017-20. He was 6-3 with a 4.01 ERA over that time, working mostly in middle relief. Elbow surgery sidelined him for all of 2021, but he resurfaced with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2022. He pitched 13 games (2.84 ERA), did enough to prove he was healthy and signed a one-year deal to return to the Yankees in 2023.

Clippard. The veteran reliever is the only one of the four players the Sox acquired in the trade to play for the major league club. He pitched in 11 games for the 2017 Sox, recording two saves. After roughly three weeks in a Sox uniform, he was traded to the Houston Astros for cash considerations as part of a waiver deal. He's since bounced around the league -- Toronto, Cleveland, Minnesota, Arizona, Washington. The Nationals let him go last August. At age 37, his career is likely over.

Polo. By 2019, Polo was out of the Sox organization. He was in Double-A Birmingham in 2018, where he batted .245. The last time he was in affiliated ball was 2019, at Triple-A Tacoma in the Seattle organization. Since then, he's been playing for assorted teams in the Mexican League.

Clarkin. The left-hander last pitched in the Sox organization in 2019, at Class-A Winston-Salem. The Sox designated him for assignment and tried to sneak him through waivers, but he got claimed by the Cubs. For the past two years, he's pitched in the Colorado organization. He had a 8.77 ERA last season in 17 games at the Triple-A level.

Rutherford. The left-handed hitting outfielder was a consensus top 50 prospect at the time of this trade, and hey, at least he hung around in the Sox organization through 2022! Unfortunately, he wasn't good enough defensively to cover center field, and he never developed the pull-side power necessary to be a good corner outfielder. Rutherford, who turns 26 this May, simply lacks a carrying tool that will lift him about Quad-A status. In two seasons at Triple-A Charlotte, he batted .260/.298/.416, but he hit only 24 homers despite playing in a notoriously hitter-friendly park. Without question, the Sox have had a need at corner outfield over the past few years, but Rutherford was never good enough to merit a look. That about says it all.

In the final analysis, the Sox accomplished little with this trade other than offloading a bunch of salary. Frazier, Robertson and Kahnle were all assets to varying degrees, and it's unfortunate the Sox didn't get any production from the players they received in this deal.