Posted by Steve
A couple of the Brewers’ NL Central foes made big time deals today. One should be bad news to the rest of the division, the other, not so much.
We’ll start with the bad news, which is the Cubs’ signing of Japanese free agent Kosuke Fukudome. It’s never easy to guess how a foreign pro will perform in MLB, but PECOTA projects him as .289/.401/.504/.905. Those are some huge numbers and if he’s anything close to that he’ll be a great addition batting second and playing right field for the Cubbies. It’s a 4 year/$48 mil deal so it’s definitely not cheap, but money isn’t a big deal to Chicago. Bottom line is that he’ll almost certainly make the Cubs better.
On to the goofy, head-scratching news. The Astros acquired Miguel Tejada today in a six player deal from Baltimore. The Stros sent Luke Scott, pitchers Matt Albers, Troy Patton and Dennis Sarfate and third baseman Michael Costanzo to Baltimore.
Luke Scott is the main major league piece, as he’s a nice lefty hitter who I would have liked the Brewers to consider. Albers and Patton are two of Houston’s top young starters, and although Albers took his lumps for much of last season, he’ll only be 25. Patton debuted at the end of last season at age 21, so you know he’s highly regarded. Sarfate, the long-time Brewer prospect before being dealt to Houston last season, may make it as a reliever, and Costanzo is power hitting third base prospect they got from Philadelphia in the Lidge trade.
This is the type of trade that a team might make when they think they are one player away. In other words, a team like the Brewers! This is similar to the Crew trading Gabe Gross, Manny Parra, Mat Gamel and Jeremy Jeffress for one player (sidebar: Manny Parra, Mat Gamel and Tony Gwynn Jr. could probably bring in a sweet player without giving up anything from the MLB club. Just saying…). Thing is, this type of package should bring in a much better player than Tejada for more than one or two years. I expect something like that to be able to get Carl Crawford, or maybe even Dan Haren. Instead the Astros get a former All-Star who definitely appears to be trending downward.
Now Tejada’s a big name, but that’s more because of what he did a few years ago than in recent history, namely last season when he dropped to a .797 OPS. (Luke Scott’s was .855, granted mainly against RHP), only he’ll be making $13 million in his age 32 season after which he has the option of opting out of his contract. In other words, the Astros have mortgaged much of their future for what could be one year of Tejada. Making matters worse is Rosenthal’s report that Tejada will play shortstop rather than moving to third like many have speculated he’d do upon being traded. So now the Astros will take a step down defensively from a top-two defensive shortstop in MLB (Adam Everett) to one who may be below average.
Like I said, dealing prospects is a good move if you feel it will put you over the top. Thing is, even with this trade, Houston isn’t close to contending. Let’s take a glance at their team.
Outfield: Lee in left, Bourne in center, Pence in right. Good outfield, particularly at the corners.
Infield: Berkman at first, presumably Everett at second, Tejada at short, and probably Wigginton third (maybe Loretta?). I also don’t know what they plan to do at catcher… Not sure if they’ll bring back Ausmus.
Pitching: This is where it gets comical. I have no idea who Houston will send out to the mound in 2008. Here’s a glimpse at last year’s rotation.
1. Roy Oswalt
2. Woody Williams (gone)
3. Brandon Backe (meh)
4. Wandy Rodriguez
5. Matt Albers (gone)
My other candidate for post title was “Introducing Wandy Rodriguez, number two starter for your Houston Astros!” Oswalt is obviously great, but the Astros pitching staff after that is brutal. Rodriguez is good as a 4/5 guy. Backe hasn’t shown anything other than a propensity to get hit hard since returning from injury, and then… What? I can’t wait until they give Paul Byrd or Carlos Silva a $45 million deal and still take fifth place.
