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Trade Bait: Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers
After numerous rumors swirled about Manny Ramirez on trade deadline day, the Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, and the LA Dodgers finally settled on a deal. The Dodgers will get the disgruntled Manny Ramirez, while the Red Sox get Jason Bay, and the Pirates will get Andy LaRoche, Brandon Moss, Craig Hansen, and Bryan Morris. You always hear of possible three-way blockbuster trades in chat rooms or blog posts, but having one come together is nearly impossible. When it does happen, it’s awesome.
Good ‘ole Manny, he won’t be able to crawl into the Green Monster to make phone calls anymore. But there are probably a few walls that he can climb in the NL to give people high-fives. Manny instantly becomes the Dodgers’ best outfield hitter. He will play regularly in leftfield, leaving two spots for Andruw Jones, Juan Pierre, Andre Ethier, and Matt Kemp. Will someone else become disgruntled now?
Jason Bay will take Manny’s spot in Boston. The Red Sox will have 1-1/3 years to evaluate Bay to see if they want to sign him long term. He brings a pretty strong bat. He brings a .282/.375/.519 line to Fenway with 22 home runs. Sure, it’s not as good as Manny’s .299/.398/.529 with 20 home runs, but it’s close and he won’t get pitched around nearly as much as he was in Pittsburgh. If he can handle the pressure of playing in Boston, I can see Bay’s numbers actually getting better with the protection he has in the lineup. The one thing that concerns me is how he’ll play the Green Monster. Many complain about Manny’s defense, but for every blunder he had in the field, he had at least one good play off the Monster. He was a master of it and Bay will have to shag balls off of it for a while to get a feel for how it plays.
Neal Huntington should be pretty happy with his haul. Brandon Moss will immediately take over for Bay in left field. He carries a .291/.348/.456 line in limited play in Boston over the past couple seasons, but posted a .904 OPS in Triple-A this year. If he continues to develop well, Moss could possibly hit 25 homers in a season for Pittsburgh. If not, he should be a very good 4th outfielder.
Craig Hansen was drafted by the Red Sox and immediately labeled the closer of the future for the team by Sox fans. Although he’s had good success in the minors, it has never translated to the majors. His hits and, most noteably, his walks go up whenever he pitches in the majors. He has a mid-90s fastball and a hard slider that could be great for the back of the Pirate’s pen if he can improve his mechanics and reduce his walk rate.
Morris missed the 2007 season due to Tommy John surgery after being drafted in the first round in 2006. He slings a mid-90s fastball, a plus curve, and an improving changeup with good sink. If he continues to improve, he could become a decent middle of the rotation starter.
The player I will be watching the most though will be Andy LaRoche. Andy will finally get his chance at full time play. He’s shown good power in the minors, but has never really caught on in the majors. Although he’s a below-average defender at third base, Andy will likely take over Jose Bautista’s spot and give the Bucs some additional offense while playing alongside his brother Adam.
From the intial look at this, it looks as if Theo Epstein gave up a lot just to get rid of Manny. But he won’t have to look for someone to fill left field this off-season and Bay puts up similar numbers to Manny, while playing a little better defense. Moss was never going to play regularly in Boston and Hansen may have worn out his welcome in Boston. The Dodgers add some much-needed power while not giving up a whole lot. But it’s Neal Huntington that I believe improved his team the most with this deal.
Trade Bait: Gonzalez to the Nationals
Trader Jim just couldn’t take it, he had to make a trade today, the itch must have gotten too bad for him. Before the deadline Jim Bowden traded pitcher Jhonny Nunez to the New York Yankees for shortstop Alberto Gonzalez.
Gonzalez has seen major league time each of the past couple seasons, mainly when Derek Jeter was hurt. As with the recently traded Ross Ohlendorf, Gonzalez came to the Yankees in the Randy Johnson trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He has an absolute cannon for an arm and profiles as a very good defensive shortstop. His bat is somewhat suspect though. Although he’s hit well in lower minors, Alberto hasn’t hit well in Triple-A. With Christian Guzman around for another couple years, Bowden may be looking to let Gonzalez play regularly in the minors for another year or two under the eye of a different hitting coach, grooming him to take Guzman’s spot when he gets injured or traded. A lower pressure playing environment may help his development. See more on Gonzalez at Pinstripe Potentials.
The Yankees get Jhonny Nunez in return. Johnny is a typical fastball/slider type with a 94-mph sinker. Aparently he has a changeup, but it’s not something that scouts think will become a viable third pitch for him. Jhonny was converted to relief this season, a position that his arsenal is more suited for.
Why can’t you trade for pitching Jim?
Trade Bait: Manny becomes a Fish
UPDATE 7/31: Latest reports have this trade as dead. Too bad this didn’t work out, I always love a three-way blockbuster!
Wednesday 7/30:
Rumors abound that Manny Ramirez is about to be a Marlin. The most recent rumor has Manny going to the Marlins along with a prospect, Jeremy Hermida and three prospects going to the Pittsburg PIrates, with the Red Sox getting Jason Bay and John Grabow. Apparently, the trade is awaiting Manny’s approval and the MLB front office approval as well.
All I can say is…..WOW!
Trade Bait: Arthur Rhodes to the Marlins
The Florida Marlins must have liked Arthur Rhodes’ fire last night on the mound. After not getting the a strike call (that he should have gotten), Rhodes gave up a hit that scored the winning run for the Texas Rangers. Rhodes was furious at the umpire as he should have been out of the inning before that hit. The Marlins, looking for a left-handed specialist, grabbed Rhodes today for their run at the NL East crown.
Arthur Rhodes has come back from missing 2007 due to Tommy John surgery to become more effective than he was before the surgery. He has a 2.86 ERA in 22 innings this year and brings instant credibility to the back of the Marlins pen.
In return, the Seattle Mariners will get pitcher Gabby Hernandez. Gabby’s been knocked around at Triple-A this season, giving up 94 hits in only 64.2 innings pitched. He actually hasn’t pitched that impressively since A-ball with the Mets before coming to the Marlins in the Paul LoDuca deal. Could a move to the pen be on the way?
It’s a decent move for Mariners’ Interim GM Lee Pelekoudas as there seems to be many left-handed relievers on the market. If Hernandez can switch to the pen and become a solid reliever for a rebuilding Mariners team, this trade looks solid for them. The Marlins though did a good job in getting one of the best lefties on the market for a guy that has a 7.24 ERA at Triple-A this season.
Trade Bait: Ken Griffey Jr. in a White Sox Uniform?
You better believe it! The ‘golden boy’ son of one of the members of the Big Red Machine will be traded to the Chicaco White Sox.
Griffey, who earlier this season passed the 600 home run milestone, will wear a White Sox uniform for the rest of 2008 as the team pushes to win the AL Central. It is unclear where he will play though with Jermaine Dye and Carlos Quentin at the corner outfield positions. There is speculation that they will place him back in centerfield, pushing Nick Swisher into Paul Konerko’s first base slot. It’ll be interesting to see what Paul thinks of all this.
The Cincinnati Reds will get second baseman Danny Richar and pitcher Nick Masset in the deal. Richar showed some promise in the Diamondbacks’ system before being picked up by the White Sox last season. But he didn’t lock down the starting gig in Chicago and has struggled some at Triple-A this year as well. He looks to be more of a utility infielder at this point, if he makes it back to the majors.
Nick Masset has been known to posess low-90s fastball, a big curve, and a changeup. But with control an issue, hitters wait for his fastball and knock him around. If a 3-mph increase in his fastball, as reported on MLB.com, is true, the Reds may be interested in taking him on as a project.
I’m not that impressed with the deal for either side.
Who’s in Who’s Out
As we approach the trade deadline today, we should review who are the buyer and who are the sellers. There are many obvious teams that have already started dishing off pieces of their team, but what about the ones on the bubble?
First we’ll start with the obvious ones, the teams that are out:
Washington Nationals
Seattle Mariners
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
Kansas City Royals
Cleveland Indians
Colorado Rockies
Houston Nationals
Pittsburgh Pirates
Baltimore Orioles
Atlanta Braves
Cincinnati Reds
Texas Rangers
Oakland A’s
Toronto Blue Jays
Who’s on the bubble:
Colorado Rockies
Detroit Tigers
Who’s all in:
LA Dodgers
Arizona Diamondbacks
St. Louis Cardinals
Milwaukee Brewers
Chicago Cubs
Florida Marlins
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
LA Angels
Minnesota Twins
Chicago White Sox
New York Yankees
Boston Red Sox
Tampa Bay Rays
Let the deals fly!
Trade Bait: Pudge to the Yankees
In a rather surprising move, Ivan Rodriguez has been traded to the New York Yankees. The Detroit Tigers traded the former All-Star catcher for reliever Kyle Farnsworth.
Although Pudge started slow, his June and July have been red hot, hitting .333 and .359 respectively. Over that span, he’s also held an on-base percentage of over .390. Although he’s not displaying near the power that he once did, he should serve as a great replacement for Jorge Posada.
Farnsworth was having a decent season for the Yankees, carrying a 3.65 ERA through 43 appearances. As with Pudge, he’s had a good June and July with a 3.38 ERA in June and 2.16 in July. Kyle has closed before and pitched well in the spot. It will be interesting if the Tigers decide to put him back into the closer spot that he once played for Detroit.
Although the move helps to solidify their bullpen and saves them over $2 million in salary, it is an interesting move for a team that was supposedly going for it. Brandon Inge is a rather sizeable dropoff in production. This trade seems to favor the Yankees more than it does the Tigers.
What do the Orioles have to Offer?
The Baltimore Orioles are admittedly in somewhat of a transition period. After dealing away Miguel Tejada and Erik Bedard last off-season, they are trying to rebuild an aging team under Andy MacPhail’s eye. But what do the Orioles have to offer before the coming trade deadline?
The top name that has been gathering interest has been closer George Sherrill. He’s been pretty dependable this season, picking up his 30th save this past weekend. Teams like the Cardinals, Tigers, Dodgers, Marlins and Phillies are all after him, but he’d require a hefty bounty as he’s cheap and under team control for a while.
A couple teams have inquired on catcher Ramon Hernandez. He’s not the offense force he once was, but there’s a couple teams out there that could definately use him and the Orioles would be happy to get rid of his contract.
Reliever Chad Bradford has even drawn some interest from teams looking for a veteran out of the pen. If you remove an ugly May, his numbers are even better than the 2.56 ERA that he’s displaying now.
Other teams looking to trade for a bat may look at Aubrey Huff. Huff is having a pretty good year for the Orioles and it is odd that there hasn’t been much clatter out there about him. There aren’t many batters that are hit .293 with 20 homers on the trade market.
Whatever MacPhail does, it will be interesting to watch. He made a couple very good moves in the off-season. Now lets see what he can do with what little he has at the trade deadline.
Trade Bait: Teixeira Traded to the Halos
The Teixeira sweepstakes ended today. Atlanta Braves first baseman Mark Teixeira was traded to the L.A. Angels for first baseman Casey Kotchman and reliever prospect Stephen Marek.
Teixeira brings a massive power bat to the Angels lineup. He always goes on a tear in the second half of the season that will make the already packed LA Angels lineup even more fearsome. The team also has the finances to sign him long term if they wish.
Kotchman was a rising star that looked to be on a pace for a breakout campaign early in the season, but the past couple months have been somewhat mediocre. He’s probably still going through the typical adjustments a player typically sees in his first three seasons in the bigs, so a .300/30/95 average per season during the three seasons that the Braves have him prior to free agency is not at all out of the question.
Marek was deemed right behind phenom Nick Adenhart in the order of Angels pitching prospects in 2007, but his stock dropped some with injuries and was ranked the 4th best pitcher in their system, 6th best prospect overall by Baseball America at the start of this season. I’m assuming that at the time of their ranking, that Baseball America knew that the Angels were shifting him to the pen from a starting role. He’s had 57 strikeouts in only 46.2 innings this season, but control is a major issue that will have to be worked out before he gets to the majors. He should become a good late inning reliever in time.
Braves GM Frank Wren was supposedly waying offers from a list of teams from the Angels, to the Diamondbacks, to the Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox and even the Rays. I believe it probably came down to the D-Backs and the Angels. Frank was probably wanting Kotchman and Adenhart or Conor Jackson and Max Scherzer/Jarrod Parker, whoever gave him the closest package to that won. Although this is a good trade for both teams, I would have like to see Wren get a little more for Teixeira, even if it was a pure public relations pick, some Low-A pitcher putting up great numbers but projects as a fringe reliever at best if he even makes it to the majors.
Ricciardi Not Giving In
With the trade deadline rapidly approaching and the Toronto Blue Jays’ chances at a playoff birth dwindling, the Jays should be possibly looking to deal some of its veterans for ready, or nearly ready prospects. But as shown by a quote on The Batters Box by GM J.P. Ricciardi, “We’re trying to keep this thing together, so we can have a good run here and be good the next few years, too.”
Although A.J. Burnett has been the source of many rumors, his odd contract and Ricciardi’s unwillingness to give in could keep him around to the end of the season. But then what? Will he walk and leave the Jays with only two draft picks? Or will he stay on for next year? The question remains, why would he? Although the team looks to be improving under City Gaston, if the unhappy Roy Halladay demands a trade after the season, the rotation will be a mess that will make the entire team take a downturn.
There are rumors that the Kansas City Royals are about to pick up shortstop prospect Jason Donaldson for lefty reliever Ron Mahay. With the ugly offense coming from short the past few years, why wouldn’t the Jays be interested in trading Scott Downs for Donaldson?
Maybe Ricciardi thinks he’s only a couple players away from contending next season. Maybe he’s trying to show Roy Halladay his committment to winning. Maybe he’s trying to protect his job by going into the off-season with a decent record. Way to strive for mediocrity rather than build for future success.
