Angels - Acquired Teixeira
Los Angeheim Angels - Acquired 1B
Mark Teixeira from the Atlanta Braves for 1B
Casey Kotchman and P
Stephen Marek
I'm guessing some of the Primates are unhappy with this trade (I haven't read the thread), but I don't think this is problematic for the Angels as I think a lot of people will. Teixeira's a true upgrade at first base, a star player having a star season and the Angels have an excellent record and heading to the playoffs. This isn't a trade of unrealistic benefits (Wolf to HOU), smacking of desperation (Nady to NYA), or just downright being confused on what a player's value is (whatever additional move Ned Colletti makes).
Let's be honest. Casey Kotchman could develop into Mark Grace, but he's 25, not 22, he's not drawing walks, and he'll be lucky to be anything more than a 20-homer hitter. The Angels should have little trouble keeping Mark Teixeira if they want to and spending money on Teixeira might help the Angels give an easy excuse to the fanbase for not signing K-Rod to a $13 million/yr contract. Tex is the best player in the Angels lineup, a lineup which has survived by having nobody horrific, not by having a ton of quality. Stephen Marek's either a guy from Timeline or a converted starter with a good curve. If he's the former, he certainly didn't help the Angels go back in time and not sign Sarge Lite and if he's the latter, the Angels are always developing decent relievers.
2008 ZiPS Projection - Casey Kotchman
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Period AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB BA OBP SLG
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Year-to-Date 373 47 107 24 0 12 54 18 23 2 .287 .327 .448
Rest-of-Yr? 150 19 41 10 0 5 21 12 13 1 .273 .331 .440
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Total 523 66 148 34 0 17 75 30 36 3 .283 .328 .446
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2009? 442 57 127 30 1 14 69 38 40 2 .287 .348 .455
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Top Comps: Jim Spencer, Chris Chambliss
2008 ZiPS Projection - Mark Teixeira
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Period AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB BA OBP SLG
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Year-to-Date 381 63 108 27 0 20 70 65 70 0 .283 .390 .512
Rest-of-Yr? 203 34 60 14 0 10 41 31 38 0 .296 .391 .512
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Total 584 97 168 41 0 30 111 96 108 0 .288 .390 .512
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2009? 551 90 156 36 1 26 100 84 112 0 .283 .384 .494
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Top Comps: Norm Siebern, Chili Davis
2008 ZiPS Projection - Steve Marek
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W L G GS IP H ER HR BB SO ERA
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Year-to-Date* 4 4 34 0 44.0 45 22 3 24 32 4.50
Rest-of-Yr? 1 2 22 0 26.0 26 14 3 12 19 4.85
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* - Includes Minor League Translation
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2009? 5 4 64 0 75.0 73 37 9 35 63 4.44
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Top Comps: Neil Allen, Elias Sosa
Dan Szymborski
Posted: July 29, 2008 at 07:32 PM |
29 comment(s)
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I also don't think that this gives the Angels the inside track on re-signing Tex (that's just a hunch, based on Beltran's partial year with Houston). This trade seems like a pure rental, and if the Angels should re-sign Tex it would be the same as if he had arrived as a free agent from Atlanta.
Kotchman is likely the Braves 1B for the next few seasons.
Kotchman was a super-2 and so is already getting "expensive." I doubt he'll produce enough to become EXPENSIVE during his arb years (and if so, that's a nice problem in a way) and the Braves could probably get him to sign a fairly nice-priced buyout right now. But my point was that Tex is only 3 years older than Kotchman, the Braves only have Kotchman under their control for 3 more years -- it's not exactly a great move for the Braves' long-term.
It is hard for me to see Kotchman developing significant power. For a guy who K's as little as he does, he should be sporting a much higher BA. His career BABIP is just 278 (just 279 this year) which is rather pathetic actually and suggests he's not exactly pounding the ball or a line drive machine. Maybe this will be a real test of the evil influence of Mickey Hatcher ... maybe the Braves will get him to trade contact for power and lift and he'll be a much better hitter. Not counting on it though.
Marek does seem a rather disappointing throw-in. Still, hard to argue against this for the Braves -- they traded 2 months of excellent 1B production for 3 years of average 1B production.
he's = he is - so anything but that...
"he had" usually.
If Walt was unsure as to the gender of the person who runs Cot's rather than the appropriate use of the contraction...as far as I can tell it's a guy named Jeff, so "he" would be the correct choice there as well.
As for the deal, it's exactly the sort of thing the Angels needed to do. No, they didn't need Tex to win their division handily, but that's not the point. This is the kind of deal you make when you're serious about doing more than just making the playoffs. Bully for the Angels for making the aggressive move and not simply settling for a pennant.
They could've realized more of a gain by cutting bait on the Anderson/Matthews Jr. mess and trying to get one of the premier leftfielders that are available. However, that probably wasn't realistic for a whole host of reasons, including Matthews' contract and Anderson's standing with the franchise.
This upgrade, while perhaps not as great as adding one of Bay/Dunn/Holliday, is still significant and was almost certainly easier to achieve. Easier in the sense that the Braves were probably asking less for Tex than the Pirates, Reds, and Rockies were asking for their guys, and easier in the sense that it didn't result in the Angels having to marginalize (a) one of their most expensive FA signings of recent years or (b) a long-serving, popular player.
I was going off the assumption that the organizational plan is to decline Anderson's option for 2009 and go with Matthews. Acquiring a new LFer, particularly one under contract for 2009 such as Bay or Holliday, would've basically turned Matthews into a $33M fourth outfielder or (unattractive) trade bait.
I admit I'm no expert on the Angels, though. Am I off base with any of that?
OK:
Figgins to LF, Rodriguez or Wood to 3B
resign Juan Rivera
play Willits
sign one of Ramirez/Dunn/Burrell/Bradley
Bad:
play GMJr.
exercise Anderson's option.
The interesting thing is that Owings has the best career OPS+ of any player mentioned in the trade rumors. If I were the Braves I would have considered that deal with the thought of Ankieling him.
I do, starting with jeff francouer.
He's closer to the latter than the former. But I go back and dust off my standard comment:
Good stuff, needs better command of it.
The curveball is legit, and when it's on he gets lots of grounders with it. But he doesn't throw nearly enough strikes with it, his offspeed stuff is ordinary, and his fastball is about what you see from about three dozen other prospects out there. I see him as a setup guy at best.
Owings isn't any better than starting candidates the Braves already have; he's not a significant upgrade over James, Reyes, or Morton. Marek does fill something of a need; the Braves have had trouble building a bullpen over the last few years.
-- MWE
Depends on the pitcher. Marek's raw stuff is better than Owings's, which to my mind makes him a better candidate to succeed in the bullpen. Owings doesn't have a consistent out pitch anything like Marek's curveball.
-- MWE
Or he's America's only mutineer...
I cannot remember the last time the Braves were sellers at the deadline. 1988? '89?
Micah's brother is a OF in the Atlanta system. And he would be an upgrade over Francoeur too!
Dale Murphy, 1990.
Atlanta will have +/- 25 mil to spend on free agents this winter. They need to spend that on a top of the rotation starter - CC Sabathia for example - not Tex. Not if they can fill 1B with a useful player instead. Keep in mind that Smoltz is in no way guaranteed to return next year (if he doesn't that's another $12 mil they can spend) and Hudson is almost certainly going to be out the entire year recovering from Tommy John surgery. They need to spend their money on someone to take the pressure off of Jurrjens and Campillo (assuming Campillo doesn't implode himself.)
I thought that this meant guys named Matthew, not the player named Matthews. I also thought that it was harsh because Mattbert was most likely named Matthew.
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