January 18, 2007
The Other Players
It looks like Brent Lillibridge heads to Atlanta and Jamie Romak winds up in the Pittsburgh system as part of the LaRoche-Gonzalez trade. Romak is young, 21 in 2007 and put up decent numbers at A ball after three seasons in rookie league. That seems like a long time in rookie ball, but he started when he was 17. Lillibridge put up .400+ OBAs in 2006 at both levels of A ball. Why didn't he advance more? As someone drafted out of college, as someone who was playing very well at A ball, shouldn't the Pirates be moving him along faster? One of the reasons to draft a college player is less minor league development time. I wonder if the Braves will move him to second as a possible replacement for Giles? Or let him develop for a couple of more years, then replace Renteria?
Posted by David Pinto at
08:49 AM
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I was wondering the same thing about Lillibridge. Are there any Pirate fans who know why they made him stay in A-ball?
One of the reasons Lillibridge was brought along slowly is the depth the Pirates have had at middle infielder. The Pirates seem to like Brian Bixler a little more in the long run. They believe he has better power potential with similar tools as Lillibridge. According to one scout, Bixler has a better glove.
Lillibridge is a fine player, someone I have seen play in college ball. He definitely stood out amongst the other NCAA players. He looked like a MLB player.
Atlanta fans should be happy with this acquisition.
I was looking at this trade and I think Lillibridge could move real fast for the Braves. I wouldnt be suprised if he laps Andrus in the system. The Projection systems love him. ZIPS and CHONE think he could be Chone Figgins with less steals next year in the majors. I wouldnt be suprised if he goes to AA to work on second base and comes up mid season when the Braves realize Kelly Johnson isnt the option at second.
well the pirates aren't real too swift about their player development.
to be nice about it...
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I agree that the Braves picking up the better prospect makes this a win for them, but it's not clear that they did that. Shortstops who haven't made it past A-ball have huge error bars on their projections, and while PECOTA loves him and I've drunk the KoolAid, I'm not buying that he's ready to put up a 790 OPS in the majors next year.
I disagree that LaRoche for Gonzalez straight up is a win for the Braves. Gonzalez is a reliever. Yes, he's a good reliever, but good relievers can be found with only slightly lower frequency than loose change in sofa cushions. Relievers are fungible unless they're Mariano Rivera. Even the best non-Rivera closers are not so much better than the next guy in line that it's worth trading a regular player for them, and Gonzalez isn't that good (yet). The other guys who most resemble him are notoriously inconsistent; despite getting a name reliever with solid-to-excellent peripherals, there's a significant chance that Gonzalez-for-LaRoche won't actually help their team in 2007.
Turning to LaRoche, he may never make an All-Star team (although in a conference with Pujols, Howard and Delgado, that would be hard even if he was on a level with those guys). However, he's got quite a bit going for him: he just experienced a major power spike (right on cue), is about to turn 27, is very cheap, an excellent fielder and looks to be capable of 3-6 seasons of average-to-good 1B production with top-tier 1B fielding.
It sure seems like it's always a good idea to exchange a reliever for a average-to-good position player under 30, unless the reliever is Rivera.