Dodgers Acquire George Sherrill; Cubs Get John Grabow

Two more big trades today:

Sherrill Trade: The Dodgers obtained left-handed reliever George Sherrill in exchange for minor leaguers 3Bman Josh Bell and right-handed pitcher Steve Johnson.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Sherrill, he’s a classic good-year-bad-year pitcher.  He’s having a good year this year with a 2.40 ERA, 20 saves in 23 opportunities, almost a strikout per inning pitched and a 3-to-1 Ks-to-walks ratio.  It’s a great trade for the Dodgers, who are obviously trying to win it all since they have the NL West all but wrapped up already.

It’s not a bad trade for the O’s either.  As usual, they’re going nowhere, and Sherrill’s already 32 years old.  And, like I said, he’s inconsistent with ERAs of 4.28, 2.36 and 4.73 the three seasons before this one.  The O’s might as well move him now while his trade value is at its peak.

What did the O’s get in return?  Josh Bell can clearly hit.  He’s got an .883 OPS in the AA Southern League at age 22.  There are some doubts about his defense at 3B, however.

Steve Johnson is originally from Baltimore, and at age 21, he’s had a fine season mostly at Inland Empire (San Bernardino) in the California League.  It’s a hitters’ league so his 3.82 ERA is better than it looks.  Mainly, though, he’s notched 102 Ks against 42 walks in 96.2 IP.  He was recently promoted to AA Chattanooga, where in two starts he posted a 1.69 ERA with 15 Ks in 10.2 IP.

Johnson’s age and his numbers remind me of Scott Barnes, the young pitcher the Giants just sent to the Indians for Ryan Garko, except that Barnes is a lefty.

Grabow Trade.  The Cubs got left-handed pitchers John Grabow and Tom Gorzelanny in exchange for right-handed pitchers Kevin Hart and Jose Ascanio and minor league 2Bman Josh Harrison.

This was a trade the Cubs made because they were desperate for left-handed pitching.  In particular, Gorzelanny and Hart look very similar except for the fact that they throw from opposite sides.  Both are 26, and while Gorzelanny has more major league experience, he’s currently pitching well at AAA Indianapolis (2.48 ERA in 15 starts), while Hart won his third straight start for the Cubs today, before finding out he was traded.  However, Hart hasn’t pitched as well as his 2.60 major league ERA so far this year suggests.

Hart can’t be happy about this trade.  He wins his third consecutive start for a pennant contender, goes into the locker room and finds out he’s been traded to a team with no chance of winning for the foreseeable future.  That’s Baseball, and sometimes it’s cruel.

So the trade was basically Grabow for Ascanio and Harrison, with the Cubs adding organizational depth in left-handed pitching (Gorzelanny will go at least initially to AAA Iowa).   Grabow isn’t a bad left-handed relief man, although he’s been wild this year.  He’s certainly no Geroge Sherrill.

Jose Ascanio is 24 this year, and he looks ready to help the Pirates right away.  After twelve starts at AAA Iowa where he pitched well (3.16 ERA and good ratios), he was called up to the Cubs.  He has made 14 relief appearances for the Cubs in which he’s posted a 3.52 ERA with nine walks and 18 Ks in 15.1 IP.  That’s too many walks, but the strikeouts number is great.

Hard to project Josh Harrison at this point.  He’s 21 and hit .337 with an .856 OPS in the Class A Midwest League this year before recently being promoted to the Class A+ Florida State League, where he’s hitting .286 with a .751 OPS in 70 ABs.

These numbers are promising, but he hasn’t drawn a lot of walks or hit with much power this year.  Also, as someone who played three years of college ball, he’s only just reached a league where the quality of play is clearly better than college ball.  All you can really say about him it this point  in his career is that he isn’t a dog.