The Trade Deadline Thread

[Sharkweather]

Anyone know anything about the Red Sox farm? Not sure how well regarded those three players the Dodgers got, but Trayvon Robinson is a nice get for Seattle.

[Sharkweather]

Stymied in their first attempt to acquire an often-injured starting pitcher for their rotation, the Boston Red Sox finally acquired one in Seattle Mariners left-hander Erik Bedard as part of a three-team trade that also involved the Dodgers. As a result, Boston nets Bedard, Seattle gets some long-term value, while the Los Angeles Dodgers simply rearrange deck chairs.

Bedard is mostly just fastball-curveball these days, touching 93 with good two-plane break on the curveball and missing a good number of bats with both. He has a show-me changeup but relies more on deception and fastball location to get right-handed hitters out, coming somewhat across his body to add to the deception. He's better than the fifth starter options available to Boston even when everyone's healthy. He's probably worth a solid win or two over the rest of the season and can provide some insurance if any of their top four arms has to miss a playoff start.

Josh Fields is a throw-in who has never matched his college (he was a closer at Georgia) velocity, mostly around 90-93 now with a fringy curveball and no clue where anything is going, with 72 walks in 101 career minor-league innings and 13 walks in 13 innings this year in Triple A.

The Mariners get Chiang Chih-Hsien, a potential 4th/5th outfielder who is having a huge year in Double-A Portland but doesn't have the bat speed or raw power to match the stats he's put up in 2/3 of a season in AA. They also receive outfielder Trayvon Robinson, still somewhat raw at 23 with the athleticism to play center but an arm that limits him to left. The switch-hitting Robinson has above-average power from both sides of the plate, although his swing is better from the right side (particularly for generating power from his lower half) and so is his pitch recognition. His ceiling is an above-average regular in left because of his potential to hit for power and show plus range, although he'll have to work on his contact rates and ability to adjust to offspeed stuff. For two months of Bedard and a castoff relief prospect, Robinson's a good return, just not a sure thing yet.

The Dodgers get ... I'm not really sure what they get. Tim Federowicz is a catch-and-throw specialist who isn't likely to produce enough at the plate to be an average regular, but is plus across the board behind the plate (including a career 34-percent caught-stealing rate) and is no worse than a good backup in the majors. Stephen Fife probably profiles as a right-handed reliever rather than a starter because he lacks the out pitch to start; he'll touch 95 as a starter with a fringe-average curveball. Juan Rodriguez has a plus fastball, no average second pitch, and below-average command and control -- a nice arm to add to your system but a reliever at best and not a high-probability guy either. Unless Robinson was somehow burning a hole in their pockets, this doesn't make a ton of sense to me, as they didn't get any prospect as good as he is in the exchange.

[Sharkweather]

Projecting the acquisitions using the ZiPS projection system

Insider article, http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/story...deadline-deals

Michael Bourn: .277/.348/.366, 17 SB
Carlos Beltran: .279/.370/.476
Ubaldo Jimenez: 6-2, 3.09
Doug Fister: 4-3, 4.05
Erik Bedard: 3-2, 3.58
Hunter Pence: .291/.340/.469
Edwin Jackson: 4-3, 3.78
Jerry Hairston Jr.: .270/.333/.399
Kosuke Fukudome: .245/.354/.368
Rafael Furcal: .260/.331/.368
Ryan Ludwick: .267/.331/.451
Orlando Cabrera: .265/.302/.353
Jason Marquis: 3-3, 4.41
Derrek Lee: .258/.331/.418

[Mogriffjr]

Braves #Winning

what website is that from? wanna take a look on it...

nevermind, found it

[Sharkweather]

what website is that from? wanna take a look on it...

http://www.fangraphs.com/

[Slateman]

Yea. Great job Rizzo! Keep on trying to trade for a concussion injured Denard Span and a team that is out to exact revenge for trading Wilson Ramos for Matt Capps

Ugh ... Nats could have beat that package ... ugh

[nflman2033]

Yeah the Reds silence isn't a big deal, I mean I honestly don't think they are in position to be buyers this year, and if they are, I would want something that will help in the long term, and not over pay for mid level guys. I would have probably rather see them be sellers this year, maybe move Cordero, Arroyo, or Rolen to get some prospects since they really don't factor much into the future anyway.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Yeah the Reds silence isn't a big deal, I mean I honestly don't think they are in position to be buyers this year, and if they are, I would want something that will help in the long term, and not over pay for mid level guys. I would have probably rather see them be sellers this year, maybe move Cordero, Arroyo, or Rolen to get some prospects since they really don't factor much into the future anyway.

Can't really move Arroyo, and nobody would want Rolen (who i'm also positive has a no trade that he wont budge on anyway since he wants to retire here).

I think they didn't move Cordero or Hernandez because at the end of the day Dusty & Jocketty decided that finishing up the year going all out and not throwing the towel was more advantageous than picking up a few C level prospects.

As you said, it's not a big deal, you never know. Get within 3 by Sept.1 and lets see what happens.

[Rudi]

Apparently there was a possibility of the Reds and Blue Jays swapping Votto and Bautista. Very interesting

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/reds/

[Obst]

Apparently there was a possibility of the Reds and Blue Jays swapping Votto and Bautista. Very interesting

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/reds/

This reminds me of the Howard for Pujols rumors around 2 years ago

[nflman2033]

Apparently there was a possibility of the Reds and Blue Jays swapping Votto and Bautista. Very interesting

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/reds/

that would be terrible

[Kuzzy Powers]

I love Bautista but it would be pretty cool to get the home-town boy. HIGHLY doubt this has any legs tho.

[Rudi]

It makes sense on the Reds part. Votto will probably walk in 2013 and that would open up Alonso to play 1st. That being said, theres no way this will ever happen lol

[Goober]

this is perfect for the phillies. Pence starts and then next season you have him and Brown on the corners as Ibanez is FA

Okay, you're like the third person to tell me this, so I took a breath before thinking about a response.

Singleton and Cosart are towards the bottom of BA's Top 50 list. 41 and 43 respectively.

Pence may be having a lucky year, but he's still good. He's put up back to back season of .280+ 25homer seasons. He's hitting for better average, but less power. He's got more doubles than normal, but fewer homers. You could argue that he's not hitting the ball well.

Either way, the guy was 28, plays decent right field, hits well and for power and was under team control.

And they got two single A guys who are supposed to be good in three years and a guy who MIGHT become a number 5 starter and could PROBABLY become a decent bullpen arm? Oh and they had to pay money too? What am I missing? Seems like an awful lot of potential, but nothing that was even remotely close to certain or even probable.

I dunno. I wish I knew what other teams were offering.


So they traded a very good player for another very good player? I mean, why bother?

This. I really think the Astros should have gotten more out of this deal. The Giants gave up Zack Wheeler for 2 months of Beltran. Surely the Astros could have gotten a little more for TWO years of Pence?

If the Astros had gotten Dom Brown, I would have agreed with you, but under the circumstances, I think that Ed Wade needs another cheesesteak named after him.

Singleton is a top 30 prospect. Cosart is top 50. Zeid isn't special, but he has a chance to be a 4/5 starter in the majors, otherwise he'll be a usefull bullpen arm, either way he'll be in the majors by the end of 2012.

Pence isn't a great player. He's a good player, who has been extremely lucky this year. The Astros sold high, and got a nice return.

So how about that?

[Goober]

Singleton is a top 30 prospect. Cosart is top 50. Zeid isn't special, but he has a chance to be a 4/5 starter in the majors, otherwise he'll be a usefull bullpen arm, either way he'll be in the majors by the end of 2012.

Pence isn't a great player. He's a good player, who has been extremely lucky this year. The Astros sold high, and got a nice return.

Im fine with this, I just wanted for Dom to stay a Phillie and Ruben made that happen

We call it an "Ed Wade" here in Philadelphia. I'm surprised it isn't a variation of a cheesesteak at this point.

I disagree. Dom Brown is not ready to be an every day right fielder on a playoff contender, we needed a player like Pence to take over for him this year and it's a guarantee that he will produce more in this lineup. I don't think anyone is expecting MVP type numbers, but he is a guy who can add some pop to the lineup and adding a right handed bat was crucial for us. Also I think working with Charlie is going to help Pence out a bit with his approach.

Down the road, Singleton is going to be a very good player. I think he has a chance to his .280 and hit 30 HR's in his prime, but the Phillies were ok with trading him because they drafted almost his clone in the first round with Larry Greene. Cosart has a very unorthodox delivery which could result in him seeing a few injuries in his career, right now he is struggling in A ball, but he does have filthy stuff and down the road could be a number 2 guy in the rotation. The Phillies are obviously happy enough with how May, Colvin and Biddle are progressing and weren't too worried about losing Cosart. The Astros farm is so thin that this is a great move for them, and hopefully both players work out but on the other hand I don't see us being upset with Pence.

It's a great deal for both sides I think, both teams selling high on the players they need to sell high on at this time.

:wildthing: