June 08, 2005
Phillies-Tigers Deal
The trading deadline is a month and a half away, but the Phillies and the Tigers got the ball rolling today. The Phillies send Placido Polanco to the Tigers for Ugeth Urbina and Ramon Martinez (no, not that Ramon Martinez). Palanco can play all three infield positions and is doing a good job getting on base this season. If he can keep that up, the Tigers improve greatly at 2nd base offensively, where their hitters have a combined OBA of .271.
Urbina is doing what a relief pitcher should do, striking out lots of batters. He has 31 in 27 1/3 innings. That gives the Phillies a great 1-2 combination of Urbina and Wagner, and should help the team shorten games to seven innings. The move should also improve the Phillies 5.68 ERA from the bullpen, 14th in the NL.
Looks like a good move for both teams. The Phillies had a comparative advantage in offense at 2nd base, the Tigers had a comparative advantage in relief pitching, so interleague trade occured. Economists will be very happy. :-)
Posted by David Pinto at
04:57 PM
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Considering how many teams were asking for Polanco, I'm surprised this is all the Phillies got. With the Dodgers without a third baseman, the Yankees without a second baseman, and the Cubs without a shortstop, why couldn't Wade leverage Polanco into something more than a relief pitcher and a lousy utility infielder? I think this is a bad trade for the Phillies.
My guess is that the Yankees are willing to wait on Cano. Wade is under pressure to win now, and this trade improves the team in a way it needed to be improved. Leveraging often requires waiting, and I bet Ed didn't want to wait.
Have you seen the Phillies bullpen? Urbina is the best available reliever out there and Wade filled the team's most obvious weakness. Plus Urbina provides Wagner insurance. Great deal for both teams, I think.
Inflated market for closers, too-- so few are doing it well and healthy...
As a Yankee fan, I'm willing to wait on Cano. It's nice to have a core of homegrown players, plus I think he'll be a good glove, decent bat player.
The early word from the Phillies blogs I've been reading is that this was a pretty solid deal for the Phils. Instead of the usual shot arm they trade for, they ended up with a real reliever, one their bullpen can use, as well as a versatile infielder.
It is better than Wade normally does, but it is still the same old thing...trade for a middle reliever. It would've been nice to see him take a chance and leverage Polanco for a solid starter...every Padilla start makes me wince. I like the fact that they can now go Madson-Urbina-Wagner though. Games should now be 6 innings for the Phillies.
Finally, Utley has 2B all to himself. I think he can be 2B version of David Wright. Well, almost there.
This is a great deal for the Phillies. Only 5 pitchers have pitched in higher-leverage situations than Urbina this year, and Urbina has outperformed them all, except for K-Rod, to whom he is equal.
The market for starting pitching is so thin, Wade did the smart thing and traded for the best available pitcher without giving up any prospects and only increasing payroll by about half a million dollars. Not too shabby.
Really, what is the mystique about Polanco? Okay, he can play different positions. But he sports a career .751 OPS (yes, he's doing a little better this year, though Babe Ruth still doesn't have to worry) and he's probably not going to improve at age 29.
Meanwhile Utley is putting up a .934 OPS this year and at age 26 may well improve. So it's not like the Phillies need Polanco's bat desperately. I figure the Phillies got pretty good value for an expendable second baseman.