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Trade Bait: Yankees snag Berkman
The New York Yankees have been on the look out for an extra bat recently to ensure they have enough offense to pull away from the Tampa Bay Rays. They found a suitable bat in longtime Astro Lance Berkman. On Friday the Yankees snagged Berkman in exchange for two minor leaguers.
Berkman has had a very inconsistent season that makes one wonder if his knee is still bothering him or his age is catching up with him. His July statistics have been the most interesting of his season. This month he has hit .233/.404/.521 in73 at bats. Although the batting average makes you cringe, the OBP and the SLG (6 HR) makes your eyes pop. However, Yankees should not celebrate too early as Lance will probably not be pitched around as much in New York and he has had a .179/.385/.282 line since the break.
In the trade, the Astros will pay the Yankees $4 million of what’s left of what is owed to Berkman. In return for Berkman and cash, the Astros will receive minor leaguers Mark Melancon and Jimmy Paredes.
Melancon is a righty reliever that has enjoyed sub-1.00 WHIPs throughout much of his minor league career. But this season he’s been rocked to a 1.67 WHIP. Both his hit and walk rates have made major jumps. His walk rate is over twice his previous career high. But John Sickels ranked him as the team’s 6th overall prospect heading into the season, but he didn’t rank in Baseball America’s top ten.
Paredes is a switch-hitting utility infielder that has a very light power tower and poor walk rate. He’s posting a .282/.312/.408. He ranked outside of Sickels’ rankings in the “Others” area. Sean over at Yankees Daily profiled Paredes, noting his strong arm and soft hands. The Astros may be able to mold this raw infielder into something usable, but GM Ed Wade may be expecting too much from his minor league staff.
Unlike with Oswalt, it looks as if the Yankees will be picking up what is remaining on his contract. But they now have a veteran switch-hitting DH with power and the approximate $6 million is just a drop in the bucket to the Yanks. The rich just keep getting better without hesitation of the financial impacts.
But it is the Astros that are the story of this trade. They have just traded their two storied names since Bagwell and Biggio for very little. Although there were extenuating circumstances that have hurt the trade value of Berkman and Oswalt, it is sad that the Astros have fallen so far and are unable to rebuild their relatively pathetic farm system through the trades.
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