Trades Abound,
Some Even Matter

Jason Michael Barker

The trading deadline isn't until Tuesday afternoon -- it may have passed by the times your read this -- but that didn't stop clubs from making moves in the days leading up to the deadline rather than waiting until the last minute. By now you've heard all about the deals that happened over the weekend, so instead here's a breakdown of the trades that went down Monday, starting with the most recent.

To Minnesota: RHP Rick Reed
To New York (NL): OF Matt Lawton

Here's an interesting one -- instead of one team shipping prospects to another team for an established player, the Twins and Mets actually swapped to known, useful commodities. By adding Reed to the trio of Brad Radke, Eric Milton and Joe Mays, the Twins now boast one of the best rotations in baseball, and they have the luxury of breaking in either Adam Johnson or Kyle Lohse in the fifth slot. Neither has been impressive this season, though Johnson did jump to the majors from AA.

The Mets have been looking for another outfielder all season long, and while it's true Lawton will be an offensive upgrade, he doesn't bring the power the Mets are lacking in the outfield. At his best, Lawton is a top of the order guy, hitting around .300 with enough walks to put up a .400 OBP. It appears his 21-homer effort in 1998 was something of a fluke, and he's never put up a .500 slugging percentage.

It will be interesting to see what the Twins do for offense now, as Lawton was second on the club with a .396 OBP and the only acceptable option at the top of the order. Minnesota must think Christian Guzman is close to returning, but his .345 OBP is hardly what you look for out of your leadoff man no matter how fast he might be. One rumor has the Twinkies interested in Cincinnati's Dmitri Young. Though he isn't suited for the top of the order, he would be a nice addition to the outfield even though he's on Ken Griffey Jr.'s "untouchable" list, along with Danny Graves and the great Pokey Reese.

To San Francisco: RHP Jason Schmidt, OF/1B John Vander Wal
To Pittsburgh: OF Armando Rios, RHP Ryan Vogelsong

At first I was surprised to see the Giants make a move like this, but a closer look at the standings reveals that they're only four games out in the NL West and two and a half games behind Arizona for the wild card. They haven't improved their club as much as they might think, however.

Vander Wal isn't nearly the offensive upgrade you might think initially, once you factor in that Rios plays half his games at Pac Bell Park -- he's hitting .218/.285/.341 at home compared to a robust .308/.380/.610 on the road. Rios is also slightly superior with the glove, though the difference isn't all that great. Overall, I see these two as basically a wash, though the Pirates do get some relief as Rios is younger and cheaper.

The Giants should get some help with Schmidt, although he's been up and down throughout his career and is a free agent at the end of the season. Much has been made of his 2.83 ERA in July, but if you're going to look at that, how can you forget about his 6.67 mark in June and the fact that he's coming off surgery on a rotator cuff that was frayed a year ago?

When the dust settled the Pirates walked away with Vogelsong, a pretty good prospect with a funny name. He posted very good ratios at AA last season, and has been very good at AAA Fresno this season -- a 2.79 ERA in 58 innings, with 53 strikeouts against 18 walks and 35 hits allowed. He should step right into the Pittsburgh rotation.

To Chicago (NL): RHP David Weathers, RHP Roberto Miniel
To Milwaukee: RHP Ruben Quevedo, OF Peter Zoccolillo

Am I the only one who loves this deal for Milwaukee? David Weathers is a good, nay, very good right-handed set-up man, or at least he has been this season. He was pretty good last season, and marginal or worse pretty much every year of his career before that. He's also a free agent at the end of the season. The Brewers, bless their hearts, aren't going to win a thing this season. What do they need more -- two months of a short reliever, or several years of a 22-year old starting pitcher who's posting a 2.99 ERA in AAA?

Despite having been shelled in the majors last season to the tune of a 7.47 ERA, Ruben Quevedo is still a very good prospect. The Braves rushed him to AAA in 1999 after just six starts at high-A ball, and he performed fairly well given his age and lack of experience. The Cubs then saw fit to jump him to the majors last year, even though he clearly wasn't ready. Finally given the chance to pitch regularly in the minors, he's been very good this season -- a 2.99 ERA in 141.2 innings, with 150 strikeouts, 48 walks and 124 hits allowed.

This was a very nice deal for the Brewers, who need all the help they can get at this point.

To New York (AL): LHP Sterling Hitchcock
To San Diego: RHP Brett Jodie, OF Darren Blakely

I don't much care for any of the players included in this trade, but the Yankees should come out on top if for no other reason than they didn't give up anything to get a decent major league starting pitcher. Sure, there are concerns about Hitchcock's health and durability. But with Roger Clemens both old an injured and Orlando Hernandez out indefinitely, the Yankees certainly needed another starting pitcher, even if only for the next month or so.

Jodie has pitched well for AAA Columbus this season, but I'm not sold on a pitcher who has only fanned 59 hitters in 119 minor league innings. Guys who strike out less than five hitters per nine innings need nearly perfect control to be successful in the majors, and while Jodie does have good control (24 walks in those 119 innings), only one out of every eight or ten of these guys ever has a career.

Blakely was hitting for some power and drawing walks at high-A Tampa, but at 24 he should already be hitting AA or AAA pitching to have any shot at a career.

As today's deadline approaches, we all know to be watching out for the likes of Pedro Astacio, Shannon Stewart, Rey Sanchez and Ugueth Urbina. Somehow I get the feeling there's a blockbuster still to come, to be done by teams who have been quiet so far (Atlanta? Seattle? Houston?) and comprised of players whose names haven't been in the rumors, but that's probably just idle speculation on my part.

about the author

Despite rumors to the contrary, there is not currently a Jason Michael Barker bobblehead doll available on eBay. Just supposing there was, though, why not let jmb@strikethree.com know how much you might bid for such an item? You know, just for fun.

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