I'm going to have to be away awhile

Yes I know I just began updating again, but I already had this trip planned so I can't just not go because of the trading deadline.

When I get back mid-next week expect topics about every trade that went on while I was gone plus my feelings on the Carlos Lee deal.

Stanton moved... whoop de doo... 7/28 trade

Giants trade: Shairon Martis

Nats trade: Mike Stanton

Stanton is old... 40 years old in fact. His idol is Jesse Orosco the god of left handed one out guys. Unfortunately Stanton has already beginning to succumb to the treacherous beast of time as he no longer is the dominant setup guy he was in times of yore. Instead he is a slightly below average lefty one outer who will only get worse as time goes by.

Shairon Martis on the other hand is a decent prospect who although not doing great this year still is showing quite a bit of promise striking out 66 batters in his 76 innings of work and maintaining a 3.62 ERA.

Final Verdict

San Francisco - 2.5 Riley points - well they accomplished their goal of getting older...

Nats - 9 Riley points - sure Martis might never throw a pitch in the major leagues but whenever you can trade a scrub for potential you do it.

Betemit/Baez deal of 7/28

Dodgers Trade: Danys Baez and Willy Aybar

Braves Trade: Wilson Betemit

Well the Braves wanted to upgrade their bullpen, and evidently thought Baez would help. Baez after all three years ago was regarded as a decent young closers in baseball. Unfortunately although he once had the peripherals worthy as a decent closer he now lacks them. Look at his numbers in the past http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/B/Danys-Baez.shtml and you'll see an unusal trend from the time he entered the majors until last year that even though his ERA consistently went down, his strikeout rate fell every year. This year he has continued the trend to 5.25 batters in 9 innings which is very mediocre for a pitcher, especially a pitcher who only works one inning a game. According to DIPS theory pretty much everything except strikeouts, walks, and homeruns are not dependent on a pitcher but rather the defense and luck, and if Dips theory is correct Baez had been relying more and more on luck every year, and this year the K rate just finally got to such a poor level that it's finally caught up with him. Nowadays he is what he is... a league average relief pitcher who had past success as a closer and is getting the paycheck of a top setup guy or a closer. Unless Baez can improve that K rate or just get some more luck on his side he isn't going to really impress the Braves.

Everybody acts like Willy Aybar is a future utility player in the making. Maybe I'm crazy but his numbers to me show he has decent power for a middle infielder and an okay eye, and although average is very variable as a stat he sure looks like he can consistantly hit the ball. Honestly he reminds me more of Wilson Betemit then anybody else in baseball, with his upside being Carlos Guillen.

Wilson Betemit is finally going to get an everyday job. I'm proud of him as he definitely deserves a shot. However basically what he is, is a one year older, more established version of Willy Aybar who will probably be a league average SS for the next decade.

Final Verdict:

Atlanta: 6 Riley Points - Traded away Betemit for his clone (Aybar) and an expensive league average pitcher who may regain his greatness if he can strike people out again. If Baez didn't cost so much this would warrant an 8 or so.

Dodgers: 4.5 Riley Points - Got rid of an expensive pitcher for a young guy just ready to start. If only they didn't trade away an exact replica of the guy they got.

--Riley Points are given on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being a terrible trade with no redeemable qualities, and 10 will be an amazing deal that has no negative quality to the trade--

Trading Deadline Central 7-28 the David Bell Trade

I've decided that trades are something that really interest me, so I'm going to cover all of the trading deadline deals starting with today. First on the agenda is the seemingly minor David Bell trade. Tomorrow I'll give an analysis over the Carlos Lee/Coco deal, and the Betemit/Baez one. Plus I'll try to get any other deal that comes along.

Phillies trade: David Bell
Brewers trade: Wilfrido Laureano

Wilfrido Laurenao is a 22 year old A-ball relief pitcher with a 4.10 ERA in 29 games this year. I've heard many places call him an average A prospect. Now I apologize to Laurenao's parents for my bluntness, but he is much worse then an average A ball prospect. Relief pitchers in the low minor leagues very rarely amount to anything, since a player who a team feels will amount to something will either be a starter to get a lot of innings to ready themselves for the majors, or in rare instances be a closer so they can be in pressure situations. Sure he has a decent strikeout rate (62 K's in 63 2/3rds IP) but his walk rate is below average (36) and his amount of homeruns given up is frightening for such a low amount of innings (8). If Laureneo ever makes it to the majors I will be shocked. He is organizational filler, nothing more.

Bell is what he is... a below average 3B with a little power (very little), terrible contact, an average eye, and a 4.5 million dollar salary. He's a decent backup, but if he's starting on your team then it's a pretty good sign your team isn't going anywhere.

Well the Phillies got what they want. By trading David Bell they'll save over a million dollars. The problem for the Phillies comes from who replaces Bell in the lineup, as there are no top prospects in the minors waiting for the callup. Early reports say that Abraham Nunez will take his place. Judging from previous years, Nunez won't even be able to get close to match Bell's mediocre numbers. So if Nunez becomes the starter the Phillies would regret the loss of production from Bell.

The other option in the Phillies team is a career AAAA guy named Chris Coste. Sure his primary position is catcher, but he has played 3rd base before in the minors so he should be in the discussion. Even though he never really has impressed in the minors, he has an interesting past where he spent four years in the Northern Independent League before ever even getting signed by a team. When he finally got signed by a big league team he performed relatively well in AA action, of course by then he was 27 years old. Since then he has bounced from the Indians, to the Red Sox, to the Brewers, and finally to the Phillies. Looking at the numbers of the 33 year-old journeyman it's obvious that he should be given the chance over Nunez. He's got some power, he actually has a decent average and his eye looks about average. I'm not saying he would be great if getting a job, but I think the Phillies at least have David Bell Jr. on their hands... even though this guy is older then Bell.

With the Brewers all I can say is that this trade must imply either Koskie's or Week's injury is much more serious then they've let on, or they just felt they had to get the insurance in case something does go wrong with their injury recovery. Well for backup insurance, Bell was a pretty decent acquisition that costed nothing except the money it takes to pay him. It's just the Brewers better hope they don't have to use him anymore then a typical bench player.

Final Verdict

Brewers: 7.5 Riley Points - Insurance for nothing except money. Nothing wrong with that.

Phillies: If Nunez gets the job... 4 Riley Points - save money but will actually miss Bell's production.
If Coste wins the job... 8.5 Riley Points - save money and replace Bell with his twin who has a history that should make a couple of interesting minutes on Sportscenter.

Sure this won't send either team to the playoffs but this is definitely a deal that can help both teams. If only the Phillies take the risky choice instead of the known mediocrity. Come on Phillies... do the right thing.

--Riley Points are given on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being a terrible trade with no redeemable qualities, and 10 will be an amazing deal that has no negative quality to the trade... of course this isn't certain because every trade can have something go wrong... (or go right) that nobody could expect--

Sheesh I've got to update more...

Well I've decided to actually start updating this again. I have a lot of ideas to put on here but unfortunately I can't find the correct data I need freely available... so I can't prove anything about it.