6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog

News

• The Dodgers are considering converting Sergio Pedroza to catcher, since he's blocked at high class A. Pedroza, hitting a Sally League-leading 21 homers as the Columbus Catfish starting right fielder, hasn't caught games since high school. Russell Martin followed a similar path to Dodger Stadium.
• The Dodgers acquired Wilson Betemit from the Atlanta Braves for Danys Baez and Willy Aybar. This kills the Braves for third base depth: last offseason, they unloaded 3B prospect Andy Marte for Edgar Rentaria, who struggled with the Red Sox, and in Friday's game, the Braves lost Chipper Jones to an oblique strain that will take him out for the series and possibly longer — meaning Willy Aybar is their first resort at third, at least for a while.

  How much you like this trade really depends on how much you like the prospects involved, because unloading Baez and getting something back for him without demanding a disposal fee amounts to an act of superhuman kindness on the part of John Schuerholz. It was becoming clear that Aybar's glove wasn't going to play at third especially well, or really, at any position; as his most recent Baseball America profile said, "[t]he problem is that while he has attractive tools, he doesn't profile well at any position", lacking the power needed for a corner infielder and minus the range and agility of a second baseman. Ultimately, he sounds a lot like Antonio Perez v2.0. That is, he's a player who needs to be on an AL team, but minus the kind of pop you expect to see in a DH, he may be flirting with career irrelevance, or a career as a utilityman.

  Betemit, on the other hand, stalled in AAA, repeating the level three times — rarely a good sign, but in 2004 at age 24, it wasn't terrible, either. His 2005, a partial season where he played infrequently, was quite similar to his minor league career: a very solid .305 average (better than he'd posted AAA), not so much power, but a substantially below-average glove (Rate2 scores of 86, 91, and 88 in 2004 through 2006) at third base. Like Aybar, Betemit doesn't really walk all that often, striking out about two or three times more often than he walks. I'll call this trade a wash for both sides until I find a more compelling argument for or against.

  Update: For the more literal-minded, this trade swaps Edwin Jackson and Chuck Tiffany for a second-class third-baseman. I'm not sure what that says about Ned Colletti, but we'll probably have to wait a couple years to find out.

• I also wanted to make a note about Andy Marte, the castoff prospect who's been making the rounds through three different teams. Marte was originally considered the Braves' long-term answer at third after Chipper Jones either moved to the outfield or out of the organization. But then the Braves made an unaccountable trade with the Red Sox, getting Edgar Rentaria for Marte. The Sox, in turn, subsequently shipped off Marte to the Indians for Coco Crisp along with junk going in both directions. Marte, who had been a highly-thought-of prospect, had been unable to dislodge 36-year-old Aaron Boone from third at the big club, despite Boone's protracted slump (hitting .250 with five homers in 316 at bats). But the Indians finally had enough, and Marte will finally get his chance, getting the callup Friday. Boone, in turn, is being thought of as a utility guy, though there's talk he will be chased from Cleveland as early as Monday.

Scores

Update: Okay, in the afternoon.

// posted by Rob @ 1:44 AM link  //  3 comments