Today, Seattle and Walla Walla entered into the fourth trade between the two teams this year alone. Seattle, which traded elite closer Pedro Morales just two weeks ago to Danville for 4-star closer Joel Calles, remade its bullpen again, acquiring a pair of 5-star relievers with expiring contracts: Samuel Contreras and Mark Deschamp. Seattle also received prospect infielder Daniel Depalma. Walla Walla received Calles as well as the #30 prospect, infielder Marvin Cardoza.
Contreras will take over closing duties for the Monarchs. He was 3-4 with 18 saves for Walla Walla, featuring a 2.44 ERA and a 56 to 7 strikeout to walk ratio. Contreras had a 1.89 ERA last year.
Deschamp has a 2.45 ERA in 73.1 innings this year and has given up just one home run in the last two years. A righthander, he is expected to share set-up duties with lefty Timothy Vallejo.
Depalma, who had been traded to Walla Walla this offseason as part of the deal for Gene Icenhour, hit .264/.332/.453 in A ball this year as a 20-year-old. He can play both second base and shortstop.
Calles was with the Monarchs for just two weeks. In that span, he pitched in 6 games, giving up six runs (two earned) in 7.1 innings. He had four saves and struck out four. His contract is also expiring at the end of the year.
Cardoza, 24, was ranked among the top ten prospects in baseball when Seattle acquired him from River Cities in a 2006 offseason in a deal involving SP John Okane. He posted a .759 OPS with AA Olympia this year and can play second, shortstop, or third base.
Jesus, Mack, haven't you heard about not rocking the boat?
ReplyDeleteYou have a huge lead, just tinker, don't overhaul the franchise.
What can I say? I get bored easily and like making trades.
ReplyDeleteActually, if you take the last two trades I made and put them together, I think I come out pretty well. If I could have done it in one deal, I would have. I dealt Morales and Zamorano off the ML roster for Contreras and Deschamp and, on the prospect front, sent Guzman and Cardoza out for Frau, Cedeno, and Depalma. I wasn't going to resign Morales and Zamorano was expendable with the rise of Machen in AAA. Adding Deschamp is a big plus to the bullpen and outweighs the drop between Morales and Contreras. I also like the Frau/Cedeno/Depalma package better than the Guzman/Cardoza duo.
If I can get better in the future without any significant cost to the present, I'll always do that. I'm a little nervous that I'll lose a game in the Cecil Cup when my closer doesn't hold a lead, but I feel much better with Contreras in there than Calles.
I'm also really excited that my team is playing this well when I've got one rookie starting pitcher and two rookie starters at second base and right field.