BBTF's Transaction Oracle Discussion :: Brewers

Transaction Oracle
— A Timely Look at Transactions as They Happen

Monday, July 20, 2009

Brewers - Acquired Lopez

Milwaukee Brewers - Acquired 2B Felipe Lopez from the Arizona Diamondbacks for OF Cole Gillespie and P Roque Mercedes

Not much has gone right for Arizona this season but the Lopez signing was one of them. Lopez has been almost as good as Hudson this season and required no long-term commitment (the Hudson 1-year contract was not something that the Diamondbacks had the luxury of being offered). Lopez’s well-earned reputation for poor defense at shortstop causes him to be sorely underrated as a second baseman, where he has always been adequate. As usual, he’s been right around average defensively (career UZR/150 at 2B, -0.4, at SS, -11.2) and as such, is a fairly valuable regular.

This gives the Brewers the luxury of sending Mat Gamel down to Nashville to get regular playing time instead of spotty play in the majors and have the McGehee/Counsell platoon at 3rd.

The hope with Gillespie was that he could at least establish himself as a 4th outfielder, but he’s had some elbow issues this season and he’s hitting unusually poorly (242/332/424 in the PCL ain’t what you want to see from a prospect). He’s already had trouble with his shoulder and playing mostly left, he’s going to have to get healthy and put up better power numbers. Mercedes and his solid fastball have been dominating in the FSL this season. He’s not particularly young, turning a Dominican 23 at the end of the season but he was just converted to a full-time reliever this season and Arizona will promote him quickly as long as the results keep up.


2009 ZIPS Projection - Felipe Lopez
——————————————————————————————————————

                AB    R    H  2B  3B  HR  RBI   BB   SO  SB   BA  OBP  SLG
——————————————————————————————————————

Year-to-Date   341   44  104  18   1   6   25   34   59   6 .305 .370 .416

Rest-of-Year   252   34   67  12   1   4   21   28   48   7 .267 .341 .378
——————————————————————————————————————

Total          593   78  171  30   2  10   46   62  107  13 .289 .357 .400


2009 ZIPS Projection - Cole Gillespie
——————————————————————————————————————

                AB    R    H  2B  3B  HR  RBI   BB   SO  SB   BA  OBP  SLG
——————————————————————————————————————

Year-to-Date   286   30   65  13   5   5   26   26   68   8 .227 .292 .360

Rest-of-Year   215   26   51  12   2   6   26   21   42   6 .236 .307 .392
——————————————————————————————————————

Year-to-date totals include minor-league translations, if applicable.

Dan Szymborski Posted: July 20, 2009 at 03:29 AM | 7 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
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1. Infinite Joost (Voxter)

Posted: July 20, 2009 at 05:05 PM (#3260049)

Ah, Cole Gillespie, would that you were what we wished.

2. Athletic Supporter gangnam style Posted: July 20, 2009 at 10:17 PM (#3260544)

I initially read that as "Rogue Mercedes" and thought that this was an incredible pair of names the Snakes were getting.

Although Roque Mercedes isn't half bad either.

3. Didi Dodo Doodoo (1k5v3L)

Posted: July 21, 2009 at 02:11 PM (#3261386)

Although Roque Mercedes isn't half bad either.

I'd be cool if he used Twisted Sister's song as his entry music.

Nick Piecoro's last take on the trade:

A little more on the thought process behind the Felipe Lopez deal...

The Diamondbacks saw Lopez as being on the cusp of ranking as a Type B free agent, but the more important question was whether they would have been willing to offer him arbitration. (You must offer arbitration -- and the player must decline and sign elsewhere -- in order to collect the supplemental pick.)

The club didn’t see it as a worthwhile risk to take. Even though he is a Scott Boras client, Lopez said on numerous occasions how much he enjoyed his time with the Diamondbacks and therefore might have been a risk to accept the one-year deal.

Had he accepted, he would have received something in the $5 million-$6 million range in 2010, not a price that was appealing to the Diamondbacks.

Even if they had offered and Lopez declined, the supplemental pick would have been somewhere in the range of No. 45. The Diamondbacks view RHP Roque Mercedes as about the equivalent of that kind of pick, plus they got OF Cole Gillespie in the deal as well.

Moreover, they save about $1.5 million on Lopez; they’re going to finish out of the playoffs with him or without him.

4. Didi Dodo Doodoo (1k5v3L)

Posted: July 21, 2009 at 02:15 PM (#3261392)

On a second thought, maybe Roque should go with The Scorpions.

5. Athletic Supporter gangnam style Posted: July 25, 2009 at 09:56 AM (#3266579)

The club didn’t see it as a worthwhile risk to take. Even though he is a Scott Boras client, Lopez said on numerous occasions how much he enjoyed his time with the Diamondbacks and therefore might have been a risk to accept the one-year deal.

This is hilarious.

"The guy likes it here, so we better trade him."

6. Dan Szymborski

Posted: July 25, 2009 at 05:44 PM (#3266813)

Had he accepted, he would have received something in the $5 million-$6 million range in 2010, not a price that was appealing to the Diamondbacks.

Yeah, that downside risk of having a league-average player for a 1-year, $6 million contract is TOO HORRIFYING TO EVEN THINK ABOUT!

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Monday, July 20, 2009

Brewers - Acquired Lopez

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