Trade Deadline Random Thoughts/Rumors

[FirstTimer]

Now Yankees are in on Dempster :yao:

 

[FirstTimer]

Keith Law on the Barves-Scrubs Deal

Late Monday night it was announced that the Chicago Cubs had sent left-hander Paul Maholm and outfielder Reed Johnson to the Atlanta Braves for right-handed pitching prospects Arodys Vizcaino and Jaye Chapman.

Atlanta gets marginally better for this year with the additions of Maholm and Johnson, but the Cubs land the best prospect they're likely to obtain in this year's trade market in exchange for two players they didn't need.
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Paul MaholmKevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesMaholm has a 3.69 ERA over the last two seasons.

Maholm is a back-end starter with a great track record of durability, and is on pace to qualify for the ERA title for a seventh straight season. He has compensated this year for the slight decline in his ground ball rate with a slight drop in his walk rate and a boost in his strikeout rate, the latter coming from increased use of a slider/cutter that he uses to attack the outer half of the plate against right-handers.

He's a big improvement over Jair Jurrjens, who was leaving the rotation anyway; Maholm should provide more innings than Kris Medlen, who isn't stretched out to handle a starter's workload yet, but also provides insurance in case Ben Sheets gets hurt, which he has a habit of doing. The net gain for Atlanta is probably an extra win over the rest of the season, and Maholm has a reasonable club option ($6.5 million) for 2013. Johnson is a capable extra outfielder who can fill in at any of the three spots and who has a long history of mashing against left-handed pitching -- which I fear may mean we see Jason Heyward pulled for matchup purposes late in some games.

The price for Atlanta, however, was too high. I had Vizcaino ranked as the 14th-best prospect in baseball coming into 2012, but an elbow ligament he partially tore in 2010 flared up again in March, leading to Tommy John surgery that ended his season, although he should be back for spring training.

When healthy, Vizcaino throws 92-96 mph as a starter, with an out-pitch curveball, showing slider velocity but with two-plane action and depth. He has good arm speed on his changeup and was very effective against left-handed batters in the minors in 2011, a testament to that pitch given his arm slot, which is a little below three-quarters. (Pitchers with lower arm slots are easier to pick up for opposite-handed hitters.)

His arm is very quick, but he has been a little fly-ball prone in the minors. Atlanta seemed ready to pigeonhole him in a relief role due to the lingering injury, but the Cubs have to let him prove he's not a starter, given his repertoire and history of throwing strikes.

Chapman is an organizational arm who could end up a back-end reliever. Vizcaino alone is a tremendous return for what the Cubs gave up, a shot at a No. 2 or better starter in exchange for an extra outfielder and a pitcher anyone could have signed for $5 million last winter.

It was a busy night for the Cubs, who also flipped catcher Geovany Soto to the Texas Rangers for right-hander Jacob Brigham. Soto gives the Rangers a capable backup catcher who is a better defender than starter Mike Napoli and can draw the occasional walk; he's under contract for 2013, so if he remembers how to hit (.623 OPS this year) I suppose he could give the Rangers an option to replace Napoli if the latter leaves as a free agent.

Brigham has a plus fastball and power breaking ball but lacks the command and the third pitch to start; lefties have lit him up for a .287/.388/.503 line in 412 plate appearances since he reached Double-A.

 

[Woy]

@TrippingOlney: #ANALYSIS RT @keithlaw: Please, butter is an 80, margarine is a non-prospect RT @TrippingOlney: SOURCE: BUTTER IS WAY BETTER THAN MARGARINE.

 

[Villain]

So to recap what the Dodgers did:

Added:
-Hanley Ramirez (3B/SS)
-Shane Victorino (OF)
-Randy Choate (RP - L)
-Brandon League (RP -R)

Gave up:
-Nathan Eovaldi - (SP - R)
-Josh Lindblom - (RP - R)
-Buncha low-level minor leaguers.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with all of this. It did seem kind of silly to grab Brandon League, but I think that was necessary if Lindblom was going to be traded. Lindblom has been relatively solid in his first full season as an MLB reliever, but our bullpen had been a strength so it was more important to finally fill that LF hole. Victorino will be an upgrade and he comes with about 1000x less risk than Alfonso Soriano (SRSLY - did not want). Eovaldi had also been playing decently, about MLB average which is alot to get from such a young guy. I know that his future is projected to be a relief pitcher and well, would you rather have a future releiver (dime a dozen) or offensive production from a premium position (Hanley Ramirez)? Seemed like a no-brainer to me.

As to all the minor leaguers given up... I could care less. The Dodgers have been ranked in the dumps as far as their organizational depth was considered outside of a few players - Eovaldi/Lindblom (who obviously made it to the bigs and were traded), as well as pitchers Zach Lee, Allen Webster, Garret Gould, Chris Reed, Shawn Tolleson (see why I'm not sweating the Eovaldi/Lindlom... arms are at a surplus) and none of the other top arms were sent out. From hitters it's really just Joc Pederson and Alex Castellanos.

The question becomes, who is the arm to replace the hole Dempster was meant to fill? Right now it's Steven Fife who's had two phenomenal starts, including beating Matt Cain in San Francisco. In the near future it'll be Ted Lilly, who's less than two weeks from returning from injury, and Rubby De La Rosa, who is also looking to return from injury.

I think these trades were fantastic and I think that the Doyers got a lot without completely punting their minor leagues.

 

[NAHSTE]

Hahaha at the Phillies trading 4 guys for Pence, then turning around and a year later only getting back Schierholz and two fringe prospects. They got pretty crappy return for Victorino too, so looks like Amaro's thought process over the last few years has worked out great.

But hey, at least Howard and Hamels are still under contract for 6 more years at $23 per!

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Good to see my boy Gaby get a fresh start...throw him right into the middle of a playoff race, hope it lights a fire under his ass, plus, get out of the shit hole that is the Miami Marlins. Going from demoted-to-AAA shitty ballclub to oft-starting 1B on a playoff contender is the upgrade of the week.

 

[NAHSTE]

Good to see my boy Gaby get a fresh start...throw him right into the middle of a playoff race, hope it lights a fire under his ass, plus, get out of the shit hole that is the Miami Marlins. Going from demoted-to-AAA shitty ballclub to oft-starting 1B on a playoff contender is the upgrade of the week.

Will be interesting to see how the Snider/Garrett Jones/Gaby timeshare works out.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Will be interesting to see how the Snider/Garrett Jones/Gaby timeshare works out.

Probably exactly how you think it will...a three way time share between RF and 1B. Play matchups, who is streaking, etc. Same with Marte on the other side, Snider could flop over and play LF on some days. The Pirates definitely got a little deeper during the trade deadline stretch. Called up Marte, acquired Snider and Gaby. For a team looking to make the playoffs, they got some bats.

If Gaby comes out and keeps playing like shit though, he'll be riding pine, that much is obvious...but I gotta think the change of scenery will do him a little good.

 

[shag773]

Hahaha at the Phillies trading 4 guys for Pence, then turning around and a year later only getting back Schierholz and two fringe prospects. They got pretty crappy return for Victorino too, so looks like Amaro's thought process over the last few years has worked out great.

But hey, at least Howard and Hamels are still under contract for 6 more years at $23 per!

Was saying the same thing today. I'm just hoping Cosart and Singleton are colossal busts. Don't understand the move for a catcher when we have Valle in double a already.

I have no problem with Hamels contract, and howards is what it is. Hopefully the money we freed up will be used to grab guys who give us better at bats then Vic and Pence.

 

[Tailback U]

The addition of Pence can be huge for the Giants. When Pablo and Hector Sanchez return, the Giants will have a decent lineup.

That said, I think Schierholtz will do pretty well in Philly. He's better suited to hit in that park and he has one of the best arms in baseball.