Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
December 15, 2007
Trade Reactions

The Arizona Diamondbacks executed three trades, sending prospects to the Oakland Athletics for Dan Haren, but replenishing the system from elsewhere. Josh Byrnes explains:

So aside from getting Haren, who had the third-best ERA in the American League last season (3.07), the Diamondbacks acquired a proven and reliable reliever in Qualls, whom they have under control for three seasons; partially replenished their upper-level pitching depth with Buckner and Gutierrez; and rounded out their roster with Burke, who has played all three outfield positions as well as second base and shortstop in parts of four seasons in the majors.

"They were very much connected," Byrnes said of the deals. "I think again one of the hesitations of the Oakland deal was giving up depth, which is invaluable. The Houston deal brought back some of that depth."

And they did it without having to give up any of their young talent in the majors - Chris Young, Justin Upton or Stephen Drew - or top pitching prospect Max Scherzer.

It will be three years before Haren is a free agent, giving the DBacks a Webb-Haren 1-2 punch for a few years. The trades don't address the Diamondbacks offense, however. While improving the pitching staff certainly will help a negative run differential, there's a lot more room to improve the offense. Maybe Arizona feels that letting their young hitter mature will be enough to score more runs.

Athletics Nation sees this as a deal for 2009, and is ready to write off the 2008 season. Possibly, the Athletics are looking toward going into a new stadium at the top of their game.

Ed Wade explains the Valerde trade from his point of view:

"This something we worked on for a long time, and we felt that with the trade of Brad Lidge it opened up an opportunity for Chad Qualls, and we thought Chad was able to handle it," Wade said.

"But at the same time when we pursued the Valverde trade and thought we would be able to bring it to closure, it made all the sense in the world for us to do it because we believe it takes us one step closer to being a champion."

In my mind, you need a team capable of getting to the closer before you can start talking about a World Series champion. But the Astros didn't pay too high a price to land the closer they wanted, and given the level of play in the NL Central, they may very well be competing for a playoff spot this season.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:43 AM | Trades | TrackBack (0)
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