Potentially horrible trade by Texas Rangers

[Solid D]

Their best young, starting pitcher in years and he's traded to the Padres. :(

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2005-12-20-padres-rangers-trade_x.htm?POE=SPOISVA

Posted 12/20/2005 5:02 PM Updated 12/20/2005 5:18 PM

Rangers get P Eaton from Padres for Young, Gonzalez
By Stephen Hawkins, The Associated Press
DALLAS — The Texas Rangers agreed Tuesday to acquire right-hander Adam Eaton and setup reliever Akinori Otsuka from San Diego for pitcher Chris Young, first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and outfielder Terrmel Sledge.
The deal was pending physicals, according to three baseball officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the trade had not been finalized.

Eaton won 11 games in each of the last two seasons, but this year had two stints on the disabled list because of a strained middle finger that limited him to 128 2-3 innings and 24 games (22 starts). He was 11-5 with a 4.27 ERA, but didn't pitch in the postseason for the NL West champion Padres.

New Texas general manager Jon Daniels' primary focus has been to improve the rotation. While spurned in their pursuit of Matt Morris and Josh Beckett, the Rangers last week acquired former All-Star pitcher Vicente Padilla from Philadelphia and had been in talks with San Diego for several weeks regarding Eaton, who was 47-41 in six seasons with the Padres. He is coming off a $5.3 million, two-year contract, is eligible for salary arbitration and could become a free agent after next season.

The hard-throwing Otsuka was 2-8 with a 3.59 ERA and one save in 66 appearances for the Padres last season, after going 7-2 with a 1.75 ERA in 73 games as a rookie in 2004. The right-hander could become a primary setup man for closer Francisco Cordero.

The Padres also will send a minor league prospect to Texas.

Young, at 6-foot-10 the tallest pitcher in Rangers history and a Dallas-area native, was 12-7 with a 4.26 ERA in 31 starts last season. The 12 wins matched the most for a Rangers rookie, but the right-hander had arm fatigue late in the season.

Gonzalez is a San Diego-area native who was the No. 1 overall pick by the Florida Marlins in the 2000 amateur draft. He was traded to Texas in July 2003, when he was still recovering from offseason wrist surgery. With All-Star first baseman Mark Teixeira in the Rangers lineup, Gonzalez spent most of the past two seasons at Triple-A Oklahoma, and played in just 59 games for Texas.

Sledge came to Texas earlier this month in the trade that sent All-Star second baseman Alfonso Soriano to Washington. Sledge, who hit the first homer in Nationals history, played in just 20 games last season after tearing his right hamstring off the bone while chasing a ball in the outfield May 2.

Contributing: AP Sports Writer Bernie Wilson in San Diego

[King]

IF he turns out good - but Otsuka is a great middle reliever, and Eaton's a good SP that's still pretty young. Texas should be fine.

[SequSpur]

you don't know jack about baseball do you?

[FromWayDowntown]

I'd have thought the Rangers could get more for Gonzalez but I think a young arm like Eaton and a solid middleman like Otsuka is decent -- certainly Eaton would seem to be an upgrade over Young. The Ballpark is still a morgue for pitchers, but if the Rangers could get any kind of quality pitching in exchange for their excess offense, this is a good deal for them.

[Solid D]

Eaton's potentially a 1-year acquistion and then he's off to free agency land or arbitration. Chris Young got tired at the end of the year but he had spectacular stuff throughout most of last season. He and Rogers were the Rangers' only quality starters and at times, Young was pitching like their #1 starter.

Adrian Gonzalez was marked to be moved, had good value and is a better than avg. fielder at 1st base...he just didn't have a place in the infield behind Tex.

Eaton had a good year on a team that played at a high level but he doesn't have the stuff that Young has.

The Rangers did need a good setup guy so Otsuka is good addition.

I'm disappointed though, because unless Chris has some arm instability that led to the late fade in velocity last season, he's got the potential to be great and the Rangers come 2007 have only Otsuka and a minor league catcher to show for this.

[T Park]

Otsuka is unhittable.

The Cardinals could never hit him.


This IMO, is a good trade for the Rangers.

Eaton, if healthy is one hell of a pitcher.

Good bullpen pitcher, good rotation guy,

Good trade :tu

[T Park]

Rangers come 2007 have only Otsuka and a minor league catcher to show for this.
Offline | Online



What

Eaton wont be around in 07?

[Solid D]

What

Eaton wont be around in 07?

Eaton signed a 2-year deal last season. 2006 is his final year and although eligible for arbitration, he could easily be a free agent.

[T Park]

trade Kevin Mench or Brad Wilkerson for Jason Marquis.

Solves that problem :)

[Solid D]

This thread was started December 20, 2005. Let's revisit this thread after 9 months, shall we?

[Solid D]

9 months later....

For the Padres:
Adrian Gonzalez is now San Diego's leading hitter. Best batting average (among starting lineup). Leading the team in HRs. Leading the team in RBI. Leading the team in hits, doubles, and total bases. He's got a .995 fielding pct. at 1B.

Chris Young just won his 11th game with only 5 losses. The win came after narrowly missing out on a no-hitter with 1 out in the 9th inning. He has an ERA of .355.

Young and Gonzalez are arguably two of he best additions to a team in the National League this season. They have been difference-makers.

For the Rangers:
Adam Eaton in the last year of his contract injured his finger in spring training and has had a decent showing since coming back halfway through the season (7-4, .480 ERA). May not be retained beyond this season due to Free Agency.

Okinori Otsuka went from late reliever to closer early in the season and did an excellent job, with only 4 blown saves in 36 chances up to this point. Makes the trade lose some of it's bitter taste.

[BeerIsGood!]

Texas Rangers... once again providing the talent to put other teams over the hump and into the playoffs. You're welcome San Diego.

[TheSanityAnnex]

San Diego says thanks for the two of them.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

I hope Kevin Towers kissed the Rangers at least.

[TheSanityAnnex]

And thanks for taking Nevin off our hands as well.

[timvp]

This seems like an appropriate time to bump this thread.

:stirpot:

[T Park]

yeah this is about as dumb a trade as trading carlton to the phillies...

[Extra Stout]

This has gone down as one of the worst trades of all time. Great job Rangers!

[Marklar MM]

Placido Polanco for a guy in prison and another journeyman player.

[FromWayDowntown]

Adam Eaton > Chris Young. :lmao

What kind of a dope would say something like that?


I think a young arm like Eaton and a solid middleman like Otsuka is decent -- certainly Eaton would seem to be an upgrade over Young.

:oops

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/10-06/1005rang.jpg


"I'd like to apologize to the thousands of Rangers fans out there for saving over my Dec. 19 gamefile. I was drunk on Christmas morning and I forgot to switch my Xbox360 memory cards and just saved over the gamefile so I could save those 12.5 megabytes of space and play 'Gears of War.' I'm truly sorry."

[Melmart1]

http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/10-06/1005rang.jpg


"I'd like to apologize to the dozens of Rangers fans out there for saving over my Dec. 19 gamefile. I was drunk on Christmas morning and I forgot to switch my Xbox360 memory cards and just saved over the gamefile so I could save those 12.5 megabytes of space and play 'Gears of War.' I'm truly sorry."

Fixed.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Fixed.

I didn't want to be cruel.

[BUMP]

didnt the Strangers pass up a Blalock for Beckett trade also?

[Melmart1]

didnt the Strangers pass up a Blalock for Beckett trade also?
For the Ten Millionth TIME.... The Rangers would have done that trade, the Marlins backed out because Beckett didn't want to come to Arlington. :pctoss

[CubanMustGo]

Who does?

Meanwhile one of the Dallas Boring News columnists is putting Teixiera through the wringer for saying he's tired of playing for a team that has no clue about winning. So they're going to get rid of him too and will no doubt do what they always do, which is get nothing in return.

[monosylab1k]

didnt the Strangers pass up a Blalock for Beckett trade also?
ehh there's 2 versions of this story...both of which seem very plausible.

One story (mainly supported by those who hate Rangers management) is that the Rangers pulled out of this deal because they thought that Mike Lowell was "done" and a throwaway piece of the deal, and didn't want to give up Blalock, Danks, and Arias for "just Beckett".

The other story (mainly supported by those who are more favorable towards Rangers management) is that Florida had no intention whatsoever of making a deal with Texas, and they just used Texas' interest to drive up the price. The Red Sox were initially unwilling to include Hanley Ramirez in the deal, but once they heard the Rangers were involved in talks, they decided to put him into the package and the deal was done.

I hate Tom Hicks and Rangers management, so I tend to believe the first story more.

[Melmart1]

Who does?

Meanwhile one of the Dallas Boring News columnists is putting Teixiera through the wringer for saying he's tired of playing for a team that has no clue about winning. So they're going to get rid of him too and will no doubt do what they always do, which is get nothing in return.
No, they will get value for him.

As for putting Tex through the ringer... THEY SHOULD!!! He has been coddled by the media for far too long because he is our best player. But fuck him. He is a RANGER for the next year and a half unless he is traded. So he needs to shut the fuck up and play. Who the hell talks about wanting to go to BALTIMORE instead of Texas. Fuck that!

Pitching is in large part responsible for the meltdown of the first two months.. HOWEVER the fact that Tex couldn't get his head out of his ass for even a single most of that time didn't help. How many times did the Rangers lose a game by one or two runs, or did Tex strike out in the 9th with RISP? More than most who suck Tex's cock are willing to admit. The Rangers still would have sucked, but it would have been nice for our supposed BEST PLAYER to play a full fucking season instead of half.