Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
August 26, 2003
Sinner to Saint

Brian Giles was traded from the Pittsburgh Pirates to the San Diego Padres today. This give the Padres a legitmate number three hitter as they move into their new ballpark next year. The question is, who is going to go? Rondell White has been playing left most of the year for the Padres. Matthews is the most expendable. We'll see what happens when Giles arrives. Nothing on the SD Union site right now.

The Pirates get Oliver Perez, and minor leaguer and a player to be determined. Perez does one thing really well; strike out batters. He has 211 K in 193 2/3 big league innings. However, he walks a lot of batters, and this year he's giving up a lot of HR. He's young, but if he can cut down on the walks like Randy Johnson did about 10 years ago, he'll be a #1 starter.

I think it's a worthwhile trade for the Pirates. It's better to trade a veteran too soon than too late. While Giles is an excellent player, we've already seen his upside. Perez could be very good for a long time.

For the Padres, Giles will give them an offensive boost going into the new stadium. I doubt he'll give them enough to make the team a contender, even with the return of Phil Nevin.


Posted by David Pinto at 03:55 PM | Trades | TrackBack (0)