We pick on Nick Swisher a lot around here, but a perusal of the archives at the infinitely useful Baseball Reference today gave us reason to be encouraged by what may come of the Dirty 30.

Once, not too long ago, the Sox had another highly-touted, up-and-coming centerfielder (just like Swisher!) who finished sixth in Rookie of the Year voting (also like Swisher!) and showed a healthy mix of a good eye and savage power (eerie!). Like Swisher, this young go-getter also had a hard time following up his first act and his performance fell off considerably (and quickly); in this centerfielder’s case, the cure was a trip out of town, later followed by several trips around both the American and National Leagues and becoming pivotal in an oddly large number of trades involving key players to at least one involved franchise.

That centerfielder was our old friend Mike Cameron, who in 1998 was traded to the Reds for Paul Konerko, then in 2001 became part of the deal that sent Ken Griffey Jr. to Cincinnatti. In 2005, Cameron was then sent to the Mets in exchange for Xavier Nady, whose eventual shipping out of Pittsburgh indirectly made the Manny Ramirez to Los Angeles trade possible, a trade whose effects we can see in the wreckage of the Team of Destiny residing at Clark and Addison. Also of note: Cameron’s replacement was eventual Sox radio broadcaster Chris Singleton.

All that, and why? Because he just wasn’t hacking it on the South Side. More importantly, what does this all mean? If history is any indication, it means whoever the Sox get back for Swish will play a pivotal role in the 2015 World Series, and that Swisher will eventually also be traded for the guy who becomes the Sox’ seventh regular centerfielder since #30 first arrived in Chicago. And that, friends, may just be worth all the stupid television commercials and watched third strikes in the world.