Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
May 30, 2003
Kim on In

So while I'm at my mother's wake, the Red Sox finally trade Shea Hillenbrand. In return, they get Byun-Hyung Kim from the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Baseball Crank does a good job of summing up the trade. I'm also waiting to see what Bambino's Curse has to say about the move.

I have commented on Hillenbrand a bit over the last year. I don't think much of his defense at third. Last year I commented that Hillenbrand seemed to be drawing more walks; after a good start, he slowed down and only drew 25 for the year. He hits much better early (April-May) than late, so the Red Sox probably got the best of the year out of him.

The Arizona third basemen have not hit well this year, but outside the Cardinals and the Marlins, no team NL team is putting up a lot of offense at third base. As Mark Gonzales of the Arizona Republic reports, Hillenbrand may also play first base (the article also gives a good view of the deal from the Arizona perspective, something you won't see much in wire stories).

Meanwhile, Kim pitched much better than his 1-5 record would indicate. His run support per nine innings was only 1.7, too low for an ERA of 3.56. He's given up six HR, but part of that is BankOne; he's allowed 3 HR in 11 innings at BankOne Ballpark, but only 3 in 32 innings on the road this year. One thing I was worried about with Kim moving to a stater role this year was the number of pitches he threw. He tended to use a lot as a reliever. He's been throwing 15.8 per inning this year, down a bit from last year, but a reasonable number.

This now gives the Red Sox two ex-closers in their rotation. I think it's a great trade for the Red Sox and a good trade for the DBacks. The Sox were able to get a good, possibly great young pitcher for a player whose stats aren't as good as they look. Arizona got the kind of player that seems to blossom in the desert. I'll give Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe the last word on the deal:


Epstein deserves credit for being able to get what he did in this deal. Rookie Freddy Sanchez, who has had an outstanding spring in Triple A, can spell Todd Walker at second, and Bill Mueller's other-worldly slugging has earned him the right to play every day at third. David Ortiz and Kevin Millar will platoon at first, and if Jeremy Giambi doesn't start hitting, the Sox will add another bat.

''I think the Sox did well,'' the NL scout said. ''The team is in the place in the standings where they want to be, and if I'm in your place, I'd do the same thing.''


Posted by David Pinto at 07:04 AM | Trades | TrackBack (0)