Brian Sabean and Dayton Moore make a trade with each other and the smartest item in the deal is the pen the contracts were signed with.
That would normally be the joke, right?
But then you see why this particular deal was made and, well…um, it’s a good trade for BOTH general managers?
Yeah, we’re talking about GMs that have either tradef for Yuniesky Betancourt or decided that the average player age for his starting lineup should be 75, but every now and then, they’ll do something good. Today, the San Francisco Giants and the Kansas City Royals traded for players that at one point in their careers, were each one of the best young players at their respective positions. Melky Cabrera, coming off the best season of his career at Age 27, was traded to the Giants for Jonathan Sanchez, coming off the worst season of his career at Age 28. The Giants also threw in right-handed minor-leaguer Ryan Verdugo.
The basis for the swap was simple: The Giants are in need of a center fielder after Andres Torres came back to earth last year. The fact that Melky is a couple of different things outside of just your regular center fielder (mainly, one that hits with some power and is a good switch-hitter) makes him a better guy to run out there every day than Torres, although Torres is still better defensively. Torres has a fourth-outfielder profile anyways, and his glove plays as a good backup all across the field. A quick comparison of last season between the two sees it’s an obvious upgrade:
Cabrera: .305/.339/.470, 18 HR, 102 R, 4.2 fWAR (with below-average defense)
Torres: .221/.312/.330, 4 HR, 50 R, 2.1 fWAR (with above-average defense)
For the Royals, they got a starting pitcher that they desperately needed, albeit an erratic one. Of the press releases I saw today, the one stat everyone points to is that his career strikeout rate (9.36 per 9 IP) is only bettered by Tim Lincecum and Clayton Kershaw with a minimum of 700 innings pitched in his career. But Sanchez last year walked nearly 7 guys per 9 innings, saw bicep issues creep up again (and linger) and has never really capitalized on the talent that led him to his memorable no-hitter in 2010. A career walk rate of 4.78 per 9 innings and some homerrific tendencies has never allowed him to settle in, and we’re looking at another Oliver Perez sighting if this continues.
But the reason the trades were made weren’t necessarily made just for the players themselves. It’s also for the residual effects. Although he does have only a .331 career on-base percentage, Cabrera is a good guy to have at the top of the order for a team that has needed some semblance of a leadoff man for years. Not the prototypical leadoff guy, but a decent one, nonetheless, mainly in part to his speed and power skills. He’s a much better solution than Coco Crisp, who is in a decline and would have cost the team more money than he was worth. It also keeps center field warm for another year as the Giants prep for the arrival of stud prospect Gary Brown, who will most likely start the year at Double-A and should get a look at the Major League level by season’s end. However, the lack of Sanchez means that the Giants will most likely look to either Eric Surkamp or (gulp) Barry Zito for the 5th and final spot in the rotation, and that’s not exactly a great decision to have to make. Luckily, the rest of the rotation is so good that even if the fifth starter can’t hack it, Cabrera’s presence can make up for it in spades.
For the Royals, it means the arrival of center field prospect Lorenzo Cain to the Major League level (perhaps a few months later than he should have, to some) and adds an arm to the rotation where if he flames out, the Royals won’t exactly lose sleep over it considering he’s a free agent at season’s end. If their farm system arms turn around, Sanchez would be expendable anyways. It keeps the Royals on the young, controllable side of the spectrum, and allows them to keep developing the talent they have in a very good minor league system as they prepare for a core of Alex Gordon, Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas.
It’s a low-risk trade for both teams, but the Giants are closer to the postseason than Kansas City is, meaning that the Giants should hope that they get the Cabrera who burst onto the scene last season and is entering his prime years. He did get some luck from the BABIP fairy last year (.332), but he has a relatively low strikeout rate (12% for his career) and has good secondary skills. I’m more optimistic about Melky continuing to do well at this stage in his career, especially considering that after he bulked up in Atlanta, he shed the weight during an offseason workout routine before last season and the work paid off. If he can continue with that work ethic, the trade should work out better for San Francisco than Kansas City, but there’s definitely a chance that this could backfire on both teams, simply due to the enigmatic ways of the players involved.
