San Francisco Giants Acquire a Pair of Relievers

Many predicted a slow trade deadline this year, but I thought it was pretty active. The only player in my opinion who was “supposed” to be traded, but wasn’t was Adam Dunn. Other than him, all the players that were rumored to be traded were sent packing by their team.

I covered all the trades leading up to the deadline, but with my softball tournament and dad’s 60th birthday celebration on Saturday night, I haven’t touched upon the trades that were made prior to the 4:00 pm est deadline on Saturday.

Let’s take a brief look at some of the other trade deadline deals, starting with the deals the San Francisco Giants made.

San Francisco Giants acquire LHP Javier Lopez and RHP Ramon Ramirez.

With Jeremy Affeldt and Dan Runzler on the DL and Brian Wilson hurting, the Giants needed bullpen help.

Lopez has a 2.79 ERA, but his peripherals are terrible. He has given up over a hit per inning and has walked 18 in 38.2 innings. As long as the Giants use him against one or two left-handed batters a game (lefties are hitting just .204 against him), then he should be fine.

Ramirez was solid in his first year in a Red Sox uniform (2.84 ERA), but has really fallen off in 2010. He has a 4.46 ERA and his K/9 has declined three years in a row.

Relievers are really tricky because you just never know what you are going to get from them month to month and even day to day. Lopez and Ramirez join Chris Ray as new relievers added for the Giants this season.

In exchange for Lopez and Ramirez, the Giants sent OF/1B John Bowker and Joe Martinez to the Pittsburgh Pirates and and minor league pitcher Daniel Turpen to the Boston Red Sox.

Turpen, 23, had a 4.09 ERA with 7.5 K/9 in 50.2 innings for Double-A Richmond this season. The 254th overall pick in the 2007 draft was not ranked as one of the Giants’ 30 best prospects before the season according to Baseball America.

Martinez has a career 3.49 ERA in six minor league seasons with the Giants. However, he has really struggled when he has been called up to the big club posting a 6.80 ERA and a 1.93 WHIP in 41 innings.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg