Today, just seconds before the 1pm pacific trading deadline, we acquired LHP Clayton Richard, LHP Aaron Poreda, RHP Adam Russell, and RHP Dexter Carter from the White Sox for RHP Jake Peavy. The final minutes were quite a whirlwind, but in the end it got done.
Here's a quick breakdown of each guy:
Clayton Richard - A 25 year old, 6'5" left-hander out of the University of Michigan, Clayton has spent the entire 2009 season in the Majors with the White Sox. Between 14 starts and 12 relief appearances he has compiled a 4.65 ERA in 89 innings. Particularly tough on left-handed hitters, Clayton has limited them to a .643 ops over his 137 innings in the big leagues. A good strike thrower who also gets more than his share of groundballs, Clayton will move right into our rotation in San Diego.
Aaron Poreda - The first round pick of the White Sox in 2007, Aaron made his Major League debut earlier this season out of the bullpen for the Sox. However, he had spent essentially his entire minor league career as a starter, and that's how we see him fitting with us in the long term. A power left-hander at 6'6", 240 lbs, Aaron has thrown up to 96 mph and generally sits in the 93-94 range. Like Clayton Richard, Aaron is a good strike thrower who also generates groundballs. Over the course of this season in the minors (AA and AAA) he has a 2.54 ERA with 78 k's in 74.1 innings. He'll be reporting to AAA Portland where he'll be part of that rotation.
Adam Russell - At 6'8", 250 lbs and possessing a fastball that runs as high as 97 mph, Adam can be an intimidating presence on the mound. Moved to the bullpen full time in 2008, Adam has split the past two seasons between AAA and the ML (3.07 ERA in AAA and a 5.19 ERA in the ML in 26ip). Like Poreda, he'll report to Portland where he'll go into the bullpen to complete a trio of potential back end bullpen types with 96-97 mph fastballs - Webb, DeLaCruz, and Russell.
Dexter Carter - A 13th round pick in 2008 out of Old Dominion, Dexter is currently leading the South Atlantic League in strikeouts with 143 in 118 ip (meanwhile, our own Simon Castro is leading the Midwest League, the other A league, in k's). Dexter is 6'6", 200 lbs and has a fastball that runs anywhere between 87 and 93 mph. So far as a professional he has a combined 2.80 ERA in 184 innings with with 147 hits and 57 walks allowed while striking out 232. Not a bad start to a career.
In summary, we needed a frontcourt to be able to compete against some of our 2009 draftees.
In all seriousness, we're very excited about the return here. In the past week we've added four young pitchers with Major League experience and power arms (Gallagher, Richard, Poreda, and Russell). In trading someone like Jake, we did not want to have to take all A-ball prospects who inevitably carry high risk and don't show up in Petco for years to come (if they do at all). Instead, we have guys who can contribute either immediately or very soon and who have the chance to be part of our Club for many years going forward. We may have to reload, but that doesn't mean we have to take years to do it.
We need look no further than 2009 to illustrate just how important starting pitching and particularly depth in starting pitching is to winning in the Major Leagues and especially in Petco (we're currently second to last in the NL in ERA for starters). The playoff caliber clubs here in San Diego from 2004-2007 all had solid starting staffs, and two of them (2006 and 2007) led the NL in starter's ERA. We need to get back there, and we believe we can.
Doing it without Jake, of course, makes it challenging. He has been nothing short of a tremendous pitcher for the Padres. We're incredibly fortunate to have had him here, and it was a difficult decision to trade him, as I'm sure it was a difficult decision for him to approve the trade. After all, though this is a business, it is a personal one, not only for us, but also for the players, their families, and all of the fans.
That having been said, though we're not yet all the way to where we want to be, this deal was a significant step toward giving us a better chance to win in 2010 and beyond. Our concentration of talent made us deeply vulnerable to the unexpected, so it's important for us to build quality balance - an imperative that we've been aggressively pursuing and that this deal helps us achieve. We're certainly a younger team, but we're very excited about the potential of these players, especially as many of them (Blanks, Latos, Cabrera, etc) are beginning to show what they can do at the ML level.
It's going to be fun to see what these guys can do.
52 comments:
I understand that sometimes you need to tear it down, then build it back up. So, when does the building back up start?
Might I suggest that you consider siging Tate, Willams and Sampson. That would be a nice start.
field39,
Agreed!
Of course, we're also building it up again from all levels - adding ML players, upper level minor leaguers, lower lever minor leaguers, and amateurs all at the same time. That should help to speed up the process.
In fact, just the other day we signed our 6th rounder, RHP James Needy which required an above "slot" bonus.
Many of the remaining players from this draft across all the organizations will likely come down to the final day or two before the deadline (Aug 17).
Paul,
you guys got a great deal (esp since the White Sox are assuming the full contract money). Thanks for weakening my Twins' division opponent this season :)
We lost our ace but it's going to be interesting to see who cracks the rotation next season. There could be as many as 5-6 solid options that won't earn a spot on the opening day roster. This is what we could be looking at going into 2010:
1. RHP Chris Young
2. RHP Kevin Correia (barring an offseason trade)
3. RHP Mat Latos
4. LHP Clayton Richard
5. RHP Tim Stauffer (is it safe to say that this guy is finally healthy and putting it all together? Don't want to jinx it.)
OTHER CANDIDATES:
LHP Aaron Poreda
RHP Chad Gaudin
RHP Sean Gallagher
LHP Cesar Ramos (pitching very well before injury)
RHP Cesar Carrillo (like Stauffer, he appears to finally be healthy and re-gaining his command)
RHP Cha Seung Baek (if healthy)
Am I missing anybody?
Offensively, Cabrera's speed and Blanks' power has us Padre fans pretty excited and that's a good start. But one more guy besides AGON that will strike fear into an opposing pitcher will make a huge difference.
Paul,
I give the organization credit for having the courage to make this trade, and you personally for being willing to write about it, and address fan feedback.
I understand the rationale behind the trade, and when the hurt subsides and we see these guys in action, I will likely understand it even more.
That said, like Khalil Greene, this hurts, even more so with Jake's incredible accomplishments, and his place in franchise lore.
Being a younger fan, relatively speaking, it seems that the time has come for me to accept the fact that this franchise, more often than not, is just not going to be able to keep its big stars around for the entirety of their career. They'll get noticed here, become stars here, and then go somewhere else. This is just another chapter in that overall pattern.
Franchises like Oakland have shown that you can win that way (if not World Championships, mind you, in the case of the Beane teams) by constantly reinventing the roster. And to be sure, this is not the first time a team let its star go. The Red Sox let Pedro go, and they turned out to be right. He never produced for the Mets.
Peavy has not been healthy 100% of the time, and with his inclination towards power pitching and the strikeout, may yet prove to be more of a risk to the White Sox than they are bargaining for. One point ESPN made was how unusual it was for teams to be willing to trade for a player on the DL. You guys deserve credit for being able to pull this off at all, factoring that in.
But, the logic behind the trade aside, this is another let down for a fan base that hasn't had much to hang its hat on lately. This may be the lowest time for the Padres since the Tom Werner days. That early 90s crudfest beats today's malaise out only because we didn't even know if the franchise was still viable, particularly after the strike. (John Moores, history should note, saved baseball in San Diego, all ups and downs notwithstanding.)
I really hope that tangible good will come of today's action, sooner rather than later. I hope too that if the likes of Bell or A-Go are to be traded, the primary motivation will not be money. (I've no doubt that you like the players you are getting back, but I don't think I'm wrong in figuring that the primary motivation was Peavy's $15 million.)
I hope, for pete's sake, that something is going to be done about this lineup with the money we just saved. I think many fans expected that a Peavy trade would accomplish something towards improving that. (Your point about pitching is well taken, though.)
I hope that, as a fan, I will have a reason to start watching this team again, sooner rather than later.
Right now, I just feel let down, and "same old, same old."
My continued best wishes, and gratitude for your insights.
-Michael
Great haul! I like that we finally have some left handed power arms, and quite a few options to build upon.
How serious did things get with the Red Sox?
You guys are being nice. This was a salary dump and one of the worst trades that I've seen for a Cy Young caliber arm in a long time.
Aaron Poreda is a nice prospect with good upside. I've watched Clayton Richard since HS and he projects a decent reliever. The other two weren't in their top 10.
I've defended a lot of deals, but this deal is horrible. It isn't like you can't use a reasonably young #1 starter locked into a reasonable deal for his production when we do rebuild.
Show me. Sign your draft picks, because right now ... your salary base might be the lowest in the league and it sure looks like Moores/Moorad are in a pocketing money mode.
I'm disappointed. Why sell an ace at a low point if this is what you can get?
Paul --
Sox fan here. Was wondering if you could speak at all about how the deal was consummated. Kenny Williams mentioned on a few different TV outlets how he's been interested in Peavy for over a year now, and everyone knows about the deal that didn't happen two months ago. Did the Sox' second attempt to acquire Peavy happen recently, or has it been an on-going process over the past few months? And -- if I may ask -- when did Peavy (time-wise) finally approve the White Sox as a destination?
I hope I'm not asking you to divulge information that's too 'close to the vest', but if that's the case I'd understand.
Thanks,
-Keith
Paul,
I love the trade. Through all the turmoil this season, lack of signing any international free agents, please, please, can we sign Tate, Sampson and Williams with this remaining cash?
I say if the Padres were going to trade Peavy that they should have traded Gonzalez and Bell as well. If they're gonna start over, blow the whole thing up and start over! This was an obvious salary dump. A rotation of Peavy, Young, Latos, Correia (if resigned), and Stauffer in Petco sounds reasonably competitive next year. With the way that Cabrera, Gwynn, and Blanks have been playing, not to mention the numerous injuries, they could have been relatively competitive next year. and then at the trade deadline we would have all been checking mlbtraderumors.com to see who they were going to add instead of checking every day to see if Adrian was a member of the Red Sox.
Paul, Poreda strikes me as a left-handed Latos. He's got a great fastball, and just needs to work on his secondary pitches to be great.
Is it fair to say he has front of the rotation talent?
Paul,
Sorry about the last post...
What can I say, Peavy was worth the price of admission with the way he pitched and the emotion he showed. As a SD fan, its not every day that we see a competitor of his ilk. Anyways, obviously there has been an organizational change in philosophy from pitchability to stuff. Are you also changing your stance on position players from OBP to athleticism? I could see a lineup similar to the 1980's cardinals being very productive in Petco... a bunch of rabbits with Gonzalez and Blanks (if he pans out) in the middle.
What say you?
Matty D,
Thanks for your comment. I didn't post it because of the players named from the other club. I just didn't want you to think I was blowing it off.
maestro876,
We certainly believe Poreda has the chance to pitch near the top of a rotation. Of course, like most young guys it'll probably take some time, but he has a lot of upside.
I really like this trade. We lost 99 games with Jake last year. We weren't going to get better with so much of our salary dedicated to a player that was on the field 1 out of every 5 days.
It looks to me that we received 3 pitchers that can contribute immediately.
Why not bring up Poreda now?
Paul,
I don't like the idea of this trade but it had to be done so for the team to move on ... so with that ... I move on.
The way it looks right now is the Padres have effectively saved themselves 5M this year and 15M next year by trading peavy and having the sox pick up the tab. When you add Giles' 9M that thankfully we wont have to pay him next year you get $29M to play with for the ML team (since all that money was previously invested in the ML team).
My question to you is are the padres finally going to be players in the FA market this winter or are they just gonna sit around and pick up the scraps like they have the last few years? It seems like $29M could fill some of the offensive holes on this team and maybe even a decent arm to shore up the rotation with some experience. Just wondering if I have anything to look forward too this winter or if I will just be disapointed once again.
Matt
San Diegian proudly serving in the USN in Pensacola FL
PS: it is terrible as a fan when you start the season knowing there is no hope ... lets not make it two in a row :)
Paul,
Please extend Eckstein! Now!
Peavy was pretty good, but a failure on the biggest stage going 0 for the postseason + game 163. It is very disappointing as a fan to see him go.
Do you think MLB will move towards revenue sharing so that 2/3 of the teams are not the professional farm system for 1/3 of the other teams?
I like the shift in going after power and electric arms. I really like the future.u
Pure salary dump. Usually when stud pitchers come up, they don't get bombed to a 5+ era. I'm a bit skeptical about the "MLB ready" guys in this trade.
As a man serving a life sentence as a Padre fan, this trade would be disappointing even if we got a couple of proven major leaguers. There have not been too many players who have come through this town and shown excellence. To see a couple of them in Trevor and Jake dumped for a few bucks when we already have a boiler room payroll is really souring me on the team. I have a feeling that if Tony were with us and in his prime this FO would cut him loose as well.
A little bird told me that negotiations haven't even started for our 2nd round pick Everett Williams. Is there an injury there or something?
Count me as one of the supporters of this deal. It allows us to keep A-Gon and gives us some much needed financial flexability. I do have a question that I think most padre fans are wondering, what was the reasoning behind putting Poreda in AAA? It seems as if he has pretty much dominated the minors this yer and the experience facing major kefir hitting would help him to get ready for next year. Is his secondary stuff not ready yet? Control problems?
While rationally, I understand the trade, as a fan, it's very tough. I really loved watching Jake pitch. It was such a pleasure having one of the best pitchers in baseball taking the mound for us every fifth day. He made us feel unbeatable when the team was competitive a few years ago, and it was even more important while the team sucked the last couple years.
Jake is the greatest pitcher in franchise history, and it was awesome to see him rise through the system and mature into an ace. I was really hoping the team would keep him around long enough for him to stake his claim atop all the franchise leaderboards. Instead, Eric Show will remain the all-time winningest Padre for at least a handful of years. (Jake is tied with Randy Jones at 2nd with 92 wins, 8 behind Show's 100).
Peavy will sorely be missed by this fan. We couldnt have a better face for this franchise than #44. I hope he comes back when his deal is over and at age 31.
I also hope this money will be used for our 3 unsigned picks but if Chief was right and we wont be able to sign all 3 then I am going to be bent!! From what I understand it wasn't the money that was the problem it was that it was all going to one player.
One thing I am encouraged is how our FO can scout other teams players. So I believe that Poreda can be a 15 win type pitcher in the #2/#3 hole. Richard is a real nice piece. A swing man who can give us the flexibility to grab a start or pitch long relief which we can definitely use this year with the LeBlanc, Silva, & Geers we tend to use at the back end. I cant wait til Bals gets his hands on Poreda and Richard. I saw clips where Richard threw 96mph. Swwwweeeet.
Any timetable on CY getting back? I am keeping my fingers crossed that this guy isnt made of glass and can be our #1.
Real quick, can you tell us how long we've got these players for?
Thanks P De P
-Duke
being in chicago, the buzz about the Peavy trade is clearly in favor of the Sox. However, those are 4 very good players they gave up to get him. Besides, Peavy is hurt and it's gonna be at least a few more weeks. I think that it is extremely obvious that next year we'll look at this trade as the Pads getting a fantastic steal. But hey, it's Kenny Williams, you never expect the moves he's going to make.
You know what I am going to say... How about a bat for a change... You guys are taking this c'ant have to much pitching to an extreme, just like you did the slow OBP hitters... Hope that we will start seing some balance in the approach soon...
I agree with Zino, we aren't going to win until we get a few impact bats in our lineup.
I have a #44 jersey and I'll still wear it out to the park. Jake was a great ambassador for our team even if he failed when the stage was the biggest.
I think this was a great trade for no other reason than Jake not being able to provide return on investment. He's hurt EVERY year and I think injuries will continue to be the story of his career. However, the difference is that the elbow strains and shoulder stiffness will begin to manifest themselves as major ailments.
I hope I'm wrong because I'll gladly cheer for Jake with the Sox...but we got out at the right time.
Now sign those early round draft picks.
Question for Paul,
Now that we're entering the August "revocable waiver period", can you please clarify the process as far as what information is known by a club that puts a player on waivers and when?
Are you able to get the information from the league office as soon as another club puts in a claim? I mean, say you're trying to put a player through with the intent of moving him to a certain club, when can you find out who has claims during the waiver period?
And how often does it really happen that a club puts in a claim to "block" a rival from making a deal? Thank You.
Ive been a fan for 40 years and this is just the latest bad move by management because they are not given the finances to compete.
Why would you trade a reasonably young, reasonably priced, pure ace of which few are available, for a bunch of guys, none of which has superstar potential. The Sox just hosed us. Id rather trade a guy for raw talent that has the opportunity to be great then for a bunch of guys who while may stick on the ml roster for a few years, and who might even show signs of talent on occasion, yet are just basically roster fillers that you can get in free agency for a song.
Everyone gives Riccardi crap for holding onto Halladay because he could not get a superstar prospect. I think he is the only one who gets it. Why trade an ace, even if he might leave in a year or two, if you cant get anything substantial back. Might as well enjoy what you have while you can.
After awhile fans just get used to it. That occasional year where things seem to come together is great, but overall we continue to be fans of dreadful franchise whether its deals like this or drafting Matt Bush types or failing to sign players when we need to.
I know your hands are tied Paul and having a ML fronty office job is great, but at some point pride and reputation should make you quit or else you and management are really a bunch of idiots.
Joe in Rancho,
Peavy came up and had a 4.52 ERA and in his second season was 4.11.
I can cite a few dozen Hall of Fame pitchers who came up and had era's over 5 off the top of my head. Relax.
If you are a lifelong Padres fan then you should be extremely happy that you have been able to watch your Padres winning and in the playoffs more often under Moores than at any other time in franchise history. This has been the best time to be a Padres fan ever and with this trade freeing up payroll room along with all the young talent showing what they can do like Latos, Blanks, Cabrera; the future looks bright.
Salary dump!!
I'm really glad most of the posters on here were positive about this trade than negative. Fact is Jake was a level 10 pitcher but our team was playing at level 4. I think the Padres were smart in trying to move a 10 and maybe get four level 8's to raise the overall level of the team.
Hey Paul,
off-topic, but it seems like Tom Garfinkel, who was hired as team president and COO to oversee non-baseball operations, has been involved in quite a bit of baseball operations lately. It's been written that he was in the war room as the trade deadline neared, and KT is quoted as saying he'd like to get Tom and Jeff down to the Dominican Republic facility soon. Could you comment on how much influence Mr. Garfinkel has on the baseball side of things?
Slightly off topic, but what can you tell us about Juan Oramas, a lefty who just won an ERA title in the Mexican League as a 19 year old. He seems very intriguing, and how does the Mexican League compare to AAA or AA? Can Oramas be like Joakim Soria and make the jump to the majors next year? Actually, I'd be very interested to see a whole post about the progress of the Padres international players if/when you have time.
For what's it worth, I like the trade. Hate to see Peavy go but that was a lot of money for the budget it appears the Padres need to go to. It isn't like the team has been doing much and at least it appears we received some potential talent. It is actually fun to watch some of these young players out there.
Amy Cima,
I like the Branch Rickey reference!
As for Poreda, right now Correia and Gaudin have been steady for us in the rotation, and the other three spots are being filled by developing pitchers (like Poreda): Richard, Latos, and Stauffer. I am confident that Aaron will be in San Diego, health and performance permitting, sooner rather than later, but this is a nice problem to have.
SD_Pads1,
Not true. That said, most of the negotiations for players who remain unsigned at this point will go down close to the deadline (Aug 17). That is true for the entire industry, not just the Padres.
Duke Street Kings,
First of all, I like the handle. I grew up right near a "Duke Street", but I'm guessing it wasn't the same one. To your question...
Clayton Richard will have 1 year of service after this season, so we'll have his rights for 5 years.
Aaron Poreda and Adam Russell will not have accumulated a full year of Major League service, so we'll have their rights for at least six years.
Dexter Carter was drafted in 2008, so we have his rights for at least six years, and we can extend that timeframe by placing him on the 40-man roster when he's eligible (three years from now). Once he reaches the Majors, we'll have his rights for six more seasons.
zino and ross,
I hear you. Of course, we have a number of young hitters playing everyday in the Majors right now (Headley, Blanks, Cabrera, Gwynn, and even Hundley when healthy). Furthermore, bats are the strength of our system right now, and our batch is generally better than what we would have received via trade. That doesn't mean we won't acquire a few here and there, but there was a more pressing need for pitching and a greater chance of upgrading.
Paul,
Why did the team hold onto Heath Bell? His value will never be higher, he's arb-eligible after this year, and lets face it - the Pads are not winning anything next year, so whats the point of carrying a closer at a high salary? I don't understand the thinking here.
Also, the organization is saving a LARGE chunk of cash this year by moving Peavy. Can the fans expect that some of that money will be used to make sure that BOTH Williams and Sampson sign? I read some recent Fuson comments that were quite disheartening. He basically said that only one would be signed due to financial constraints. Well, looks like we found some extra dough. Lets get it done and show the faithful that the club is serious about bringing in top talent!
Paul - your joke about a front court makes me wonder whether the front office really has decided to focus on supersizing your roster. If so, do you think you've found a way to bypass the passed-down assumptions that it takes big pitchers longer to master their mechanics? If that's the case, what do you need to do differently to bring in the right people to staff your roving and minor league pitching instructor positions?
David,
That's a fair question. The reason I joked about it is because it's really a coincidence. We're not out there looking for tall guys, but it worked out that way recently in terms of our trade acquisitions and drafts.
Size does play into our evaluations, but it's not the driving factor.
Paul,
Buster Olney's piece from Saturday makes it seem as if the Peavy talks caused everything else to be put on the back burner at the last minute. If it's true that teams were calling on Bell, then it seems to me that we should have been listening to them a lot more carefully. I get the impression from Buster's piece that the FO was in such a hurry to trade Jake when that became a possibility, that Bell was ignored. If there's one thing a rebuilding team should be doing, it's trading relievers when they're at their most valuable. I hope the urgency to save $$$ by shedding Jake didn't cause us to make a bad baseball decision by not trading Bell.
Paul,
I just read an article where they discussed that San Diego, Boston and Seattle were working a three way deal for Gonzales before Seattle nixed the deal.
I'm guessing with all this talk about Gonzales before the trade line, the Padres must be pretty high on Kyle Blanks and maybe the depth of the farm system at this position.
Who do you see as the top prospects the Padres have in our system at 1b? How does Blanks defense compare to Gonzales?
"bats are the strength of our system right now"
Wow, did anyone catch that statement.. That was news to me. If that is true, I take back all my comments about the organization's historic ability to "know" pitching, but to fail misarebly at bringing up bats... One more thing, I've seen enough at bats by Headley that I think you guys would have been better of trading him then Hariston...He'll never be a 30+ HR guy, and he does not seem to hit for average, and its not like he is quick footed, so I am not sure what the thinking is with keeping him...jmho
More in response to Davids post:
If they turned their attention to trading Peavy at the last minute and moved off of moving Bell/Adrian then I'm happy and they stayed true to their word to the fans. KT mentioned they didnt want to trade Bell & AG unless the right deal came across and got more value. Trading Peavy on the other hand was a must for reasons already discussed. Teams who wanted Bell or Gonzo played their cards wrong is how I see it. Bring a deal that the Pads dont have to walk away from and you'll have their attention. I believe that KT and Paul would have their scouts and whomever on speed dial to get any necessary information on another player in another system quickly because there is a deadline. Assuming Buster is correct in his statements of course.
Although Bell is headed for arbitration and likely to command around 6 million I think we can still keep him or if we trade him in the winter from what I've read we would be able to get more. Paul knows more about that I'm sure.
Just my two cents Dave
Any chance that we can get a draft update, so the Peavy trade isn't the first thing we have to read when we look at your blog?
Is it me or do we now have, draft and minors included, the most intimidating pitching staff in MLB? Seriously, how many pitchers have we signed in the past few months that are 6'3" plus with strong fastballs? Interesing. Anything to that Paul? Is it a pitching in Petco thing?
...or hopefully an update that says the team expects to sign its top 3 unsigned draftees (Tate, Williams, Sampson) due to an unexpected windfall of millions of dollars from the Jake Peavy salary dump.
Zino,
Why so quick to write off Headley? Not all guys come up and mash right away. You do know the story of Texas giving up on Adrian Gonzalez, right? They only gave him 200 ab's.
Justin Upton struggled last year (and look absolutely lost in spring training), Adam Jones struggle in his first time up with Seattle and then last year with Baltimore, Delmon Young has struggle until very recently. Should their teams have written them off after a year/year and half (Headley only has 700abs at the big league level, less than a year and half)?
Yeah, sometimes you'll have guys who are AAAA type players (we all know Ruben Rivera all too well).
But with guys like Chase, more often than not they just need the ab's to make things click. Not everybody is like Albert Pujols or Ryan Braun.
I applaud the Pads for keeping Headley with the big league club and he's really started to produce in August.
With regards to your comment about him being a HR hitter, conventional wisdom suggests that most players start turning doubles into HR's around the time they turn 27. Headley is only 25 (Hairston is 29 btw).
I think it's just a matter of time and these ab's are key to his development. He may not be a superstar, but he's looking like a solid major league hitter.
Steve 24,
I sure hope that you are right and that I am wrong... And I don't blame Headley at all, but the expectations for him were much higher, based on the way he was hyped by the organiztion. It just does not make sense what management is doing with him. To me if you are keeping a slow footed player and playing him out of position to keep him, then the player must be an exceptional bat. I just don't see that in Headley. He might turn out to be a solid player, but it still does not make sense the way the organization handled him.
best,
zino
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