Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
August 13, 2007
Tiger Deal

The Tigers are about to trade Jack Hannahan to the Oakland Athletics. The A's are trying ride out Chavez's bulging disk with a third baseman with even less power. No word on what the Tigers are getting in return.

Beane basically picks up a worthless player to fill a hole in a season where the A's are going nowhere. Hannahan is 27, and is probably as good as he's going to get. Judging from his minor league numbers, he'll get on base a bit better than league average, but he's not going to hit for power. Since he wasn't on the 40-man roster, he didn't need to clear waivers. It was an easy, low cost deal that temporarily fixes a problem without impacting the future of the team.

Update: A commenter takes exception to my use of worthless. It's an exaggeration for effect. This is a 27 year old who's only managed a cup of coffee in the majors and who isn't even on a 40-man roster. And it's not like teams were clamoring to get him from the Tigers. Low value might be a better description, but I'll modify the comment as "worthless to everyone but Beane."


Posted by David Pinto at 12:29 PM | Trades | TrackBack (0)
Comments

"worthless player"? A little harsh David, and objectively untrue unless the A's are not obligated to send anyting back to Detroit.

Posted by: Jeremy at August 13, 2007 01:03 PM

Thanks David, seems as though the player coming back from the A's is OF Jason Perry. About the same level of worth, I would say.. :-)

Posted by: Jeremy at August 13, 2007 03:46 PM

"worthless" "worthless to everyone but Beane"

That's COLD, very COLD.

Would you say that to his mother or wife? I'll bet your mother and wife would be ashamed to know you did that here.

As a AAA player he's still an amazing athlete, most likely better than thousands who have played the game in the past year alone. Just because this guy has, so far, not proven to be a MLB starter or is not somebody who you have judged to be a very valuable player does not make it ok for you to label him this way.

I don't know this player and I'm not a Tigers or As fan. But as a baseball fan I'm saddened to think that somebody (you, who I previously thought was a fan of the game) would think this way about a player who, just by virtue of the fact that he's still in the game at age 27, obviously shares a deep passion for the sport.

These are the kind of guys who exhibit what's really good about the game. They have something that's often lacking in the five tool-can't miss prospects you love to write about.

Posted by: Zippercat at August 14, 2007 11:59 AM
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