Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
December 20, 2005
San Diego Swap Meet

The Rangers picked up a starting pitcher today, getting Adam Eaton from the Padres in a six player deal.

The Texas Rangers have helped address their pitching woes by reaching agreement to acquire San Diego Padres right-handed pitchers Adam Eaton and Akinori Otsuka and minor league prospect Billy Killian in exchange for right-handed pitcher Chris Young, first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and outfielder Terrmel Sledge, ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick has confirmed.

This Chris Young is not to be confused with the Chris Young recently traded to the Diamondbacks. I guess with the two players in the same division, we'll be seeing Chris Young facing Chris Young soon!

I have to say that Adam Eaton looks like another Chan Ho Park to me. He's a guy that posted an unimpressive overall ERA pitching in park that's tough on offense. Last year, his ERA was 1.5 runs higher on the road. On top of that, he's only had two seasons in which he's made 30 starts or more.

Otsuka is the same sort of pitcher. Great at PETCO, terrible away. Killiam is very young and hasn't done anything much in professional baseball yet.

The Padres get Gonzazlez, who had decent minor league numbers, but didn't show the power you'd like to see in a first baseman. Chris Young is probably a better pitcher than Eaton, even though he did go to Princeton. :-) And Sledge was expendable given the outfield depth on the team.

I'm not sure why a team would want Adam Eaton over Chris Young. Young strikes out more per 9 innings (7.3 vs. 7.0) and is the better road pitcher, without taking into account the designated hitter difference. In a trade where no one involved is that good, it looks to me like the Padres got the better of this deal.


Posted by David Pinto at 04:19 PM | Trades | TrackBack (0)
Comments

re: termel sledge

I always thought this guy's name was "terminal sludge".

being that he played in texas near all of our oil refineries, it kind of fit the bill, didn't it? He'd be perfect in a Houston Astro's uniform, huh?

"Now playing for the Houston Oilers, Terminal Sludge!!"

Too bad the only Oilers left were in Houston and Edmonton, and both have moved.

--Arthur John Kyriazis

Posted by: arthur john kyriazis at December 20, 2005 05:21 PM

Gonzalez had 18 home runs in 328 at bats in triple-A last year. If you prorate that to 500 at bats, that's 27 home runs. The kid is 23 years old. He had a .960 OPS in AAA.

And if he even hits 19 home runs in 2006, that will be more than any Padre hit in 2005.

Also, Otsuka was definitely terrible on the road last year with a 6.92 ERA. However, in 2004, he had a 1.36 ERA on the road. Hard to say which of these represents the true Aki, but I think you're underestimating him a bit.

Posted by: michael at December 20, 2005 07:17 PM

The Edmonton Oilers are still there. I went to an Oilers game last month.
As far as this deal goes, I always liked Eaton, but what was the point to this trade? When you need starting pitching, you can't add one and subtract one at the same time. Lucky I'm not a Rangers fan.

Posted by: sweat at December 20, 2005 07:33 PM

rangers look better for getting rid of soriano and able to package some spare parts for eaton and oska.

the padres and dodgers are making more moves than just about anyone besides the mets and marlins.

i miss aki already :(

Posted by: colin at December 20, 2005 07:34 PM

Colin: Spare parts? You'll take that back when Eaton lands on the DL and Young develops into a 6'11" clydesdale.

I think the Padres got a steal here.

Posted by: Nat at December 20, 2005 08:16 PM

wouldnt be surprised to see gonzalez get shipped to boston in a deal for wells

Posted by: scott at December 20, 2005 08:48 PM

gulp maybe the 6'10 pitcher will work out i hate the rest of the junk we got.

trading aki i don't get.

any pitcher going to texas, ahhh era jump!!!

Posted by: colin at December 20, 2005 10:11 PM

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Posted by: Jason Silverman at December 21, 2005 04:12 AM

I don't understand Texas. Daniels follows up the fleecing of Jim Bowden with a fleecing of his own?

Young's number wer as good as Eaton despite the DH and Arlington.

I wonder what this does to Dave Roberts and Ryan Klesko. Is another trade in the works? Roberts to Boston for Wells?

Posted by: Rotomusings at December 21, 2005 07:58 AM

From my understanding, the Padres would not trade Eaton (as a Phillies fan, I still remember the trade for Andy Ashby - OUCH!) unless they received a few prospects in return. When the Rangers added Young, the Padres added Otsuka. The knock against Young (and for that manner most young pitchers) is that they struggle in the latter parts of the season. Here, it also didn't help the hot summer weather of Texas. Likewise, Texas wanted a dependible starter. Eaton is not bad, when he is healthy. I know he pitched in a pitcher's park, but he also played on a team without any run support. I think overall, his record will remain the same with a small jump in ERA. However, the clubhouse presence of an established starter (though not a number one starter), will help the ballclub greatly. Adrian Gonzalez was to remain behind Blaylock or Texeria anyway, so he was very expendable. Likewise, Texas has acquired a proven set-up man. Though he was in the doghouse more than the clubhouse last year, the fact remains that players are not happily flogging to Arlington unless large amounts of money are being thrown their way. This is the only way Texas could acquire an established starter without giving up power. (The question still remains why not give up Blaylock for a more premier starter and work out the Third Base position between Texeria and Gonzalez? The one reason I can think - team chemistry. Blaylock and Texeria are young, can form a nucleus and have a history together already.) We'll see how this trade works. I for one, do not second guess the trades of many GM's in the league. It is very infrequent that you have a Bagwell for Anderson trade. I would like to see a listing of the five worst trades of all time with their comparison's (including how well the teams did before and after the trades). I did not like the Bowden bashing. I likewise, do not like the Daniels bashing. We'll see what happens.

Posted by: Bob at December 21, 2005 12:37 PM
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