Snake Bite: Trades Trades Trades
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by Sasha
So first of all I would like to apologize for Snake Bite’s lack of activity. It is finals week so I have been busy but with the flurry of D-Backs’ activity this seems like to perfect time for a beat report.
So lets go in chronological order:
On December third the Snakes sent outfielder Carlos Quentin to the Chicago White Sox for first baseman Chris Carter. This trade accomplished two things, first it cleared up outfield space by getting rid off the oft’ injured hitter and two it fulfilled the D-Backs’ quota for first basemen named Chris Carter (they had a triple A first basemen named Chris Carter but he was traded as part of the three-way deal that sent Wily Mo Pena to the Washington Nationals). But seriously this deal sent a major league ready outfielder, from an outfield where he would have had no place, to the Chi Sox for a powerful minor league bat. Carter, who hit .291/.383/.522 with 25 homers and 93 RBI, was thought to be the White Sox top position player prospect and will most likely start the year in high A ball.
The D-Backs started today (December fourteenth) off by shipping infielder Alberto Callaspo to the Kansas City Royals for RHP Billy Buckner. Callaspo had preformed exceptionally well in the minors but was unable to produce in the majors. Couple that with his arrest for domestic abuse up here in Tucson last year, Callaspo had to go. Buckner played well in the minors but struggled in his September call-up. The important thing that Buckner provides the Snakes is rotation depth. With Randy Johnson and his injury problems the D-Backs needed a contingency plan and Buckner helps to do that.
Arguably the biggest move of the day was the acquisition of the As’ RHP Dan Haren. The snakes sent outfielders Carlos Gonzalez and Aaron Cunningham with first baseman Chris Carter and LHPs Brett Anderson, Greg Smith and Dana Eveland and received Haren and triple A pitcher Connor Robertson. Gonzalez had been ranked by Baseball America as the Snakes best prospect but with a full outfield for the next few years he and number seven ranked Cunningham were made expendable. Carter ranked as the eighth best prospect but as he was not expected to get above A ball next year so he was no big loss. Anderson might have been the biggest loss because, even though he was not expected to go above double A ball next year, he was the Snakes second best pitching prospect (third overall) but you have to give a little to get a little. Smith and Eveland are both back of the rotation/left-handed specialists types and seem to be pretty easily replaceable. Of course with Haren the Snakes get a workhorse and one of the best pitchers in baseball to compliment the incumbents Brandon Webb, Randy Johnson, Doug Davis and Micah Owings. And Robertson well he will play in AAA and maybe he can help with bullpen depth.
And with the final move of the day Jose Valverde was traded to the Houston Astros for RHPs Chad Qualls and Juan Gutierrez and utility man Chris Burke. Valverde was the major league saves leader in 2007 and was seen as having his highest trade value now. The D-Backs were comfortable with trading “Papa Grande” because of the confidence in Tony Pena and Brandon Lyon, the later having had closing experience and the former being seen as the “closer of the future”. With Qualls the Snakes get a quality arm for the pen who the D-Backs hope can take over a set-up role. Gurierrez was the ‘Stros’ number four prospect according to Baseball America and as such comes highly touted. And Burke was Houston’s number one prospect three years ago but has fallen on hard times and is now seen as a utility man.
So my reaction to these trades? Well at first I was kind of dubious about it, especially the Valverde move (I’m kind of a Papa Grande homer). But on a second look GM Josh Byrnes’ genius really shows. First Quentin is turned into a much more tradable piece in Carter. Then Byrnes got rid of a bad attitude in Callaspo even gaining rotation depth in the process. Byrnes next made the tough decision and sent a ton of quality prospects to Oakland for a quality ace (by the way the trade was not the biggest news in Haren’s life this week as he became a father on Tuesday). And finally Byrnes sent away an inconsistent reliever (Valverde had a 5 + ERA in 2006) for a more consistent reliever with a lower ceiling (Qualls has never had a year where his ERA was over 3.76 but never under 3.05), a quality prospect to try and start to replace the ones sent to the As and a utility man to replace Callaspo. So really in two weeks the Diamondbacks traded three very good young outfielders with nowhere to play for one of the best starting pitchers in the game (Carter basically Quentin in a different form and the pitchers were nearly replaced by the ones acquired) and then they traded ability in a reliever for consistency within the relief corps.
