Offseason trading begins, Nats move Castilla to Padres

[Guest OlerudOwned]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2213182


Get:
3B Vinny Castilla (.253, 12 HR, 66 RBI)


Get:
RHP Brian Lawrence (7-15, 4.83 ERA, 1.91 K/BB)
Cash

Nationals make room for their own 3B man-child, Ryan Zimmerman (.397 with 6 RBI in 20 games). They also get a serviciable starting arm in Lawrence, who had the worst season of his career in '05. He's been dependable though, with a 4.11 career ERA and averaging 200 IP his last 4 years.

Castillia will be used by SD to try to fill the void at 3rd now that Professional Hitter has filed for free agency. Castillia was decent at best last season and is 38. But he'll get more ABs at Coors in the NL West. He led the NL in RBI 2 seasons ago as a Rockie.

[smg58]

Sounds like both teams were making room for younger players by moving mediocre veterans. I think Lawrence has a bit more upside. If Castilla needed Coors Field to put up big numbers, he's not going to like Petco very much.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Let's put all off-season trades in this thread.

Frayed Knot would love it.

[metirish]

Was Lawrence a big time prospect at one time?.

[nymr83]

Edgy DC wrote: Let's put all off-season trades in this thread. Frayed Knot would love it.

ok, but then we need a title-change.

castilla stinks, take away his coors field numbers and he's a glorified scott brosius. lawrence had a bad year but i'd trust him to rebound based on the previous 3, good move for washington.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

No loss for Washington for sure, if Zimmerman is as studly as he looked early on.

[Elster88]

I'm glad that neither of those players are on the Mets.

[nymr83]

="Elster88"]I'm glad that neither of those players are on the Mets.

lawrence is as good as zambrano if not better. but yeah, i don't particularly want either of those players.

[Elster88]

Nymr83 wrote: lawrence is as good as zambrano if not better

I guess, but I put Zambrano at seventh in our rotation anyway.

[nymr83]

]I guess, but I put Zambrano at seventh in our rotation anyway

so do i, but unfortunately Willie may not be on the same wavelength. i'd be VERY upset to see Zambrano in our rotation the way things stand right now.

the ERA+ over the last 3 years for our (main) current options:
player 2005 2004 2003
Martinez 148 125 212
Glavine 118 119 94
Benson 101 97 85
Seo 162 87 111
Traschel 101 107 112
Heilman 132 78 63
Zambrano 100 101 108

It is clear that Pedro is and should be in.
it is clear (i think) that Glavine is and should be in.

after that its pretty difficult, but here's what i'd do and why:
the 3rd spot would go to Jae Seo who clearly outpitched the others this past year.
this leaves Heilman, Benson, Traschel, and Zambrano for 2 spots.
I would leave Heilman in the bullpen. he might be better than these other guys, but he might not be, and his (i think) proven value in the bullpen makes him worth leaving there as long as there are roughly equivalent options available for the rotation.
Traschel has been slightly better than the other 2 and, we believe, he would not be easily converted to relief pitching. i'd give him the 4th spot.

that leaves us with zambrano and benson...and you know what? i might have spent the last year and a half bashing zambrano, but when you look at the numbers he has been a slightly better pitcher than kris benson (though both have spent their careers being essentially average.)

the only thing to think about here is that since the two of them (and Traschel) are probably about equal, shouldn't you trade the one with the most value to other teams insteda of the one with the most objective value?

in the end i'd start Martinez, Glavine, Seo, Traschel, and Benson with Heilman in the bullpen and trading Zambrano for some kind of help.

[Elster88]

I'd keep Zambrano around just because recent history shows that just about every team needs an emergency starter for a solid month, if not more. The guy I see being traded is Traxxxxx. I get the (totally unsupported by solid facts) feeling that Willie doesn't have him in his plans, and that Traxxxxx was turned off by the drama from last year, and will get pissed if it happens again in 2006. Then Heilman goes to the rotation. My guesses for '06.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Do I correctly assume that his DL time delayed Trax's 10-and-five eligibility?

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Edgy DC wrote: Do I correctly assume that his DL time delayed Trax's 10-and-five eligibility?

I don' t think so. I think he attained 5-and-10 at the end of the season.

[Elster88]

Edgy DC wrote: Trax's 10-and-five eligibility?

True enough. But if he's ticked off maybe he'll waive it. Everyone had a hard-on for the Red Sox's catching prospect earlier on. They need pitching, we need a long term plan for catcher.

Though maybe Trax would garner more if we held onto him until right before the trading deadline. There will probably again be about 10 teams right at .500 who will be fighting for every scrap of pitching out there. I'm sure we could find a use for him over the first half of the season.

[nymr83]

]I'd keep Zambrano around just because recent history shows that just about every team needs an emergency starter for a solid month, if not more.

moving Heilman into the rotation would be my plan if that happened.

]Everyone had a hard-on for the Red Sox's catching prospect earlier on. They need pitching, we need a long term plan for catcher. Though maybe Trax would garner more if we held onto him until right before the trading deadline. There will probably again be about 10 teams right at .500 who will be fighting for every scrap of pitching out there

if we could get Shopach for him i'd probably want to do it now, if not holding him (or zambrano, whichever you want to trade) till june doesn't sound like a bad idea

[seawolf17]

Hey! Is this a Zambrano thread, or are we discussing trades?

What the hell happened to Sean Burroughs? Talk about a prospect who never became anything. This kid was supposed to be such hot shit at third a few years ago. He came up, sucked, was moved all around the diamond, and now the Pads would rather have a 40-year-old retread at third than Burroughs. Ouch.

[nymr83]

seawolf17 wrote: Hey! Is this a Zambrano thread, or are we discussing trades? What the hell happened to Sean Burroughs? Talk about a prospect who never became anything. This kid was supposed to be such hot shit at third a few years ago. He came up, sucked, was moved all around the diamond, and now the Pads would rather have a 40-year-old retread at third than Burroughs. Ouch.

we're discussing trading zambrano.

burroughs had a high BA for whatever reason (maybe luck?) in the minors but never showed any other skills to go along with it. the average dried up and now he's in the same place as every other singles hitter with no ability to draw a walk or get extra base hits should be...the dog house.

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy DC wrote: Do I correctly assume that his DL time delayed Trax's 10-and-five eligibility?

Nope. DL time = Service time, putting Trax officially in the 10 & 5 club now.

Speaking of DL time equaling service time, that little fact got me to wondering whether Reyes is arb-eligible yet.
At this point he's got 2 yrs + 111 days of ML time (or approx 2.62 years as the ML season is divided into 180 days). All 3 yr players are eligible, plus 1/6 of those with the most time between 2 & 3 years.

Since I haven't heard that he is I assume he falls short although it's probably pretty close. It would all depend on how many "super-2" players there are and whether enough of them are over the 2 + 111 mark.

[Guest OlerudOwned]

If we really do want this to be another All Purpose Thread, just tell me and I'll change the subject line.

[metirish]

The Yankees trade Lofton to the Reds for a pair of 24-year-old prospects and are close to signing Mike Myers.

The prospects are infielder Kevin Howard and outfielder Ben Himes.

[Guest OlerudOwned]

metirish wrote: The Yankees trade Lofton to the Reds for a pair of 24-year-old prospects and are close to signing Mike Myers. The prospects are infielder Kevin Howard and outfielder Ben Himes.

Womack? Lofton was a Philly, psilly

[metirish]

Yeah of course, what was I thinking....

[Guest OlerudOwned]

Hmm, this thread made me notice something. I think every deal the Padres have made was a direct player-player swap.

Castilla for Lawrence
Cameron for Nady
Brazelton for Burroughs
Mirabelli for Loretta

[nymr83]

the loretta move was foolish and i like lawrence, but they do seem to be doing ok this offseason.

[smg58]

I'm trying to figure out why Mirabelli instead of Shoppach, but I can understand making an opening for Josh Barfield. And returning Giles and Hoffman doesn't hurt them, either. But will 82 wins take their division again?

[Guest Edgy DC]

Do you see any team in the West besides San Diego that has anything like their act together?

[nymr83]

the pythagorean wins for each team last year:
SD: 77
LA: 74
SF: 71
COL: 70
ARZ: 66

wow. they were even worse than they looked, every single one of them. even with regression to the mean i see no reason why 82 wins won't win this division again unless someone actualy goes out and significantly improves themself.

[metirish]

Tejada is not happy...

] Associated Press SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic -- Baltimore Orioles shortstop Miguel Tejada said Thursday he's unhappy with the team's direction and wants to be traded. "I've been with the Orioles for two years and things haven't gone in the direction that we were expecting, so I think the best thing will be a change of scenery," Tejada told The Associated Press during a telephone interview in his native Dominican Republic. Tejada signed a $72 million, six-year contract with the Orioles before the 2004 season. He hit .304 with 26 home runs and 98 RBI this year, but Baltimore finished 21 games behind the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox in the AL East. "I've done many things with this team and I haven't seen results, and the other teams are getting stronger while the Orioles have not made any signings to strengthen the club," said Tejada, the 2002 AL MVP while with Oakland. Orioles owner Peter Angelos and team executive vice president Mike Flanagan did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

[nymr83]

Tejada's 2005 may look worse than his 2004 across the board, but his OPS+ was actualy 6 points better. the AL league OPS this past year dropped significantly to what i believe was its 2nd lowest number in 15 years.

[Frayed Knot]

]Baltimore Orioles shortstop Miguel Tejada said Thursday he's unhappy with the team's direction and wants to be traded.

Dems da breaks big guy.
When you sign a multi-year deal the team gets you - and PAYS you - for better or for worse, in sickness and in health.
Well guess what? You get THEM for better or for worse too.
You can request all you want but they don't have to oblige.