Two more trades to report. Randy Winn was sent to the Giants for Yorvit Torrealba and Jesse Foppert. Jose Cruz Jr. was sent to the Red Sox for minor leaguers Kenny Perez and Kyle Bono. Let's analyze these, powered by the hope that more interesting trades happen before 4 p.m. today.
Randy Winn most likely will not be missed in the Seattle lineup. Yorvit Torrealba will have more use for Seattle than San Francisco, since he is blocked by Mike Matheny. Seattle just released Pat Borders, and refuses to try and fix Miguel Olivo, so Torrealba will most likely assume the catching duties. Let's check out the numbers:
We can see that the Mariners are better off with Torrealba in their lineup than Winn, especially when you see they were reduced to Pat Borders at catcher.
Torrealba
.226/.301/.344
AB: 93
2B: 8
HR: 1
BB: 9
SB: 1/1
SecAvg: .226
Iso: .118
EqA: .228
Winn
.275/.344/.391
AB: 386
2B: 25
HR: 6
BB: 37
SB: 12/18 (67% success)
SecAvg: .228
Iso: .116
EqA: .263
Torrealba is great behind the plate, which more than makes up for the difference at the plate.
Jesse Foppert was included probably for potential purposes. He has not done anything to impress at any level this year.
The BABIP's are below league average or at the league average, so no improvement is going to come from there. Too many walks and too many homeruns preventing success ofr Foppert.
Update [2005-7-31 10:21:51 by Marc Normandin]: I forgot to mention that Jesse Foppert underwent Tommy John surgery, so the Mariners are most likely hoping he comes back completely healthy.
Jose Cruz Jr. might be a helpful acquisition if he can stay healthy. If he does not work out for the Red Sox I'm sure Gabe Kapler will start in right field again. The best thing that can happen to the Red Sox is that Trot Nixon comes back healthy sooner than expected.
Cruz's NRAA/59 (games remaining) is +1.60 when his Rate2 is 100. I give him 100 rather than punishing him for his horrible centerfield play this season because it is roughly where his career Rate2 for right field is, and it is where he will play while Trot Nixon is out of the lineup. Kapler's projected NRAA using 2004's MLV and Rate2 for right field is -3.86. If Cruz can start hitting at his regular career levels, he will most likely help much more than Kapler rather than somewhat better. We will see though.
Kenny Perez and Kyle Bono were not really that much to give up in the grand scheme of things.
John Sickels did not even rate Kenny Perez at the beginning of the year, and Baseball Prospectus felt Perez was running out of time in the Boston organization thanks to the middle infield trifecta of Hanley Ramirez, Dustin Pedroia and Luis Soto. Kyle Bono has not really impressed either. The strikeout rate is excellent, but he walks way too many batters.
Bono Rate Stats
K/9: 10.35
K/BB: 1.75
BB/9: 5.91
H/9: 7.21
HR/9: .924
BABIP: .304
Two minor leaguers who the Sox are not going to use in their future for one Jose Cruz Jr. who has overstayed his welcome in the D'backs lineup. More updates as the trades come in later today. I'll be around all day.