Trades Galore

There were a couple more big trades worth mentioning.  Orlando Cabrera went to the Twins, and Scott Rolen went to the Reds.

The Cabrera Trade.  The A’s received 21 year old shortstop Tyler Ladendorf and paid cash to the Twins to cover some or all of Cabrera’s remaining $4 million 2009 salary.  Ladendorf was the Twins’ second round pick (60th in the ‘08 Draft), one pick before the A’s would have used their 61st pick on Ladendof.  So the A’s liked him already.

Ladendorf is only playing in the Class A Midwest League right now, and his offense there leaves something to be desired, so it will be a long time before we see Ladendorf in the majors, if he makes it at all.

It’s obviously a good move for the Twins.  Their middle infield offense is awful, so Cabrera, even at his current .695 OPS is a distinct improvement on what they were getting before. All they had to give up was a single 2nd round draft pick, who hasn’t impressed so far and may or may not ever amount to anything.

It also shows the Twins’ players that management is committed to winning.  There have been reports that Joe Mauer is getting frustrated with management not making the big trades at the deadline and may become a free agent so he can play on a team that tries to win every year.

Twins management needed to get a player at this trade deadline, and at only three games out of the AL Central lead, they give their fans and their players hope that they might yet win the division.

The Rolen Trade.  Rolen’s healthy this year, and when he’s healthy, he’s a great player.  It looks like 2009 will be his best year since 2006.

With the Reds now out of the race, trading for Rolen no matter how good he is right now doesn’t make at lot of sense.  He’s a big man and already 34 years old.  At his age, the far more likely outcome is that he never has another season as good as ‘09.

The Reds gave up 3Bman Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Roenicke and Zach Stewart.  You probably now that Encarnacion is a 26 year old veteran, who hits well for a major league 3Bman, but doesn’t play major league defense at the position.  The problem is that Encarnacion’s hitting isn’t good enough for a 1Bman, so I don’t really now where you play him, at least not on a regular basis.

Josh Roenicke is a 26 year old right hander who turns 27 on August 4th.  At this moment, he is a major league pitcher both in fact and in performance level.

Roenicke pitched well in the high minors in 2008, got a brief cup of coffee with the Reds at the end of last year, and began this year at AAA Louisville.  He had a 2.57 ERA with 12 saves in 27 appearances there, and was promoted to the majors.  In 13.1 major league innings over eleven appearances so far, he has a 2.70 ERA with four walks and 14 strikeouts.

Obviously, Roenicke is not young for a guy establishing himself as a major league player.  However, based on his performance in ‘08 and so far in ‘09, he looks like a pitcher who could be a good middle reliever for the next few years.

Zach Stewart.  He’s a 22 year old right-hander who the Reds selected in the third round of the 2008 Draft.  He has been terrific in his minor league career so far.  He has a career minor league ERA of 1.52 with 113 hits allowed, 40 walks and 115 Ks in 124.2 IP.  He’s now playing AAA ball and pitching very well through nine relief appearances.

This is a terrible long-term move for the Reds.  The Blue Jays are sending the Reds about $4 million for the rest of Rolen’s ‘09 salary, but Rolen will make $11M next year, which the Reds will apparently be on the hook for.

I don’t think much of Encarnacion, but the two pitchers the Jays got look like major league pitchers.  The Jays also appearently saved a lot of money next year by moving Rolen’s big contract.  It’s a crap shoot whether Rolen will be healthy enough to be worth the $11 million he’ll be getting next year.