Continuing on with the spree of waiver trades, Cincinnati Reds outfielder Marlon Byrd has been traded to the San Francisco Giants in exchange for AA pitcher Stephen Johnson. The Giants’ regular right fielder, Hunter Pence, was placed on the disabled list on August 18th and with Angel Pagan also on the DL, they were in desperate for some outfield help.
Just two games out of the West and three from the second Wild Card, San Francisco can’t afford any set backs if they want to get back to the post-season a year after winning the World Series. With Nori Aoki expected to come off the concussion DL soon, the Giants will at least be able to field three reasonable starting outfielders until the health situation clears up, using Gregor Blanco alongside Aoki and Byrd.
August Personnel Chaos
- The Mariners have finally ended the Fernando Rodney era
- Marlon Byrd traded to San Francisco Giants
- End of an era: Phillies shipping Chase Utley to Dodgers
- Ben Cherington out, Dave Dombrowski in for Boston Red Sox
- Doug Fister’s value has tanked more than any other free agent
- The Boston Red Sox bring in Jerry DiPoto as a consultant
- Report: Rangers acquire Mike Napoli from Red Sox
The Reds originally traded for Byrd this off-season expecting to contend in the NL Central and it was a fairly big surprise that he wasn’t traded at the deadline. The Reds’ financial situation isn’t particularly good thanks to mega deals to Joey Votto and Homer Bailey and Byrd isn’t quite valuable enough to deserve a qualifying offer. Since they likely wouldn’t have used his option either, without the trade Cincinnati would have received nothing for losing Byrd in the off-season or for Ben Lively, who they initially traded to obtain him.
What the Reds did get back was another AA right hander and perhaps one that is slightly better. Johnson was originally taken in the third round of the 2012 Draft by the Giants and has posted a 3.41 ERA in 44 relief appearances so far for the Richmond Flying Squirrels. He has an impressive 10.6 K/9 this year and in his career overall and could be a decent MLB reliever within the next two years.
This isn’t going to go down as a huge deal, but the Giants needed a fill in and they picked up one of the best available. Although not up to the quality the Reds were expecting, Byrd has still been solid, batting .237/.286/.448 with 19 home runs and 44 RBI in a poor Reds offense. Considering his advanced age, Byrd has been pretty impressive overall, earning a 0.8 WAR so far this year and a -6.6 UZR/150 and should be a safe pick up as a short term replacement.
