Obtaining Wily Mo Pena (No relation, as far as I know, to Wile E. Coyote):
Pluses:
He is 24 years old and can seriously mash. His power numbers reveal the ever-popular upside -- in just over 300 at-bats last year, he hit 19 dingers and drove in 58 runs. His slugging percentage was over .500 and most assume that he is heading into his peak. He should be a servicable platoon with Trot Nixon, and the odds are pretty good that he'll have plenty of opportunities to accumulate at-bats. He is a dead pull hitter, a righty who might dent the Monster when he isn't clearing it. Among the "ten players he could be most like" are names such as Frank Howard, Willie Stargell, and Jessie Barfield.
Minuses:
Let's say that Wile E. is not especially patient, with a laughably low on-base percentage and a disinclination to walk. He also hit below .260 last year. So if his slugging percentage drops, what we have here might be less Willie Stargell and more Dave Kingman. That ain't good. And by most accounts he ranges from mediocre to a butcher with the glove, a fact that will be exacerbated by the fact that the corner outfield positions at Fenway are not especially friendly to fielders. He also hinted at being a malcontent last year when he was not playing enough. There is no guarantee that he'll surpass last year's at bats, though Nixon is fragile and is good for at least a couple dozen missed games due to injury, and Nixon cannot hit lefties, which will open up more at bats.
Parting With Bronson Arroyo (Who earned the nickname "Saturn Nuts" on the Sons of Sam Horn website after Curt Schilling declared during the 2004 pennant chase that Bronson "has nuts the size of Saturn" -- referring to big-game cajones, and not to some bizarre form of elephantitis, we were all led to believe):
Minuses:
Is it ever a good idea to get rid of productive pitchers, especially swingmen who can both start and come out of the pen? And while there has been lots of talk about the Sox having too many guys for too few slots, I look back on 2004 when we started the season with a similar surfeit, only to have Byung Hyung Kim come up lame, and possibly insane. Furthermore, while emotion may have no place, Arroyo took a serious hometown discount this offseason to stay with the Sox because this is where he wanted to be. It seems lame to send him away like this, the sort of thing that comes back to bite you when things are not going quite so swimmingly. Plus there is the whole Saturn Nuts thing. And somehow we are also giving up cash, which is crazy.
Pluses:
You have to give value to get value. At least for now we DO have too many guys for too few slots, and Arroyo has been unimpressive in camp -- in his latest start he went five innings in which he was not scored upon; this performance LOWERED is ERA to just over 10.00. Last year it looked as if the league had caught up to him. And he cannot get out lefties -- not a good thing in the American League, and especially when the season is yet again likely to come down to a confrontation with a lefty-stocked Yankee lineup. Arroyo was one of the 25, and we'll always remember him for that, but his VORP will never be all that high, and the fact remains, Wily Mo has that upside.
In Sum: I hate to do it, but on the whole this is a trade that might bear out this year, but more importantly, it might yield serious fruits in the years to come. I do not deny that we might lament this move, but in the end, you have to give value to get value, and Bronson might have been the odd man out in the Sox rotation. We filled a need. It might backfire on us, but I give the trade a thumbs up.
No comments:
Post a Comment