Braves Shopping Wilson Betemit
It's well known that the Braves are shopping infielder Wilson Betemit for more relief help, with the Yankees and Padres interested.
At this point, Betemit is a .282/.340/.434 career hitter in about 500 ABs. The 24 year-old has played second base, third base, and shortstop in the Majors. Any team acquiring him should use him in the middle infield, where his offense is above average.
As far as projection goes, Baseball Prospectus sees Betemit peaking in 2009 with an OPS around .815. Scouts have always loved him. Baseball America ranked him 99th in 2000, 29th in 2001, 8th in 2002, and 49th in 2003 among all prospects. Non-contenders should get in on this - Betemit is a good, cheap middle infielder who can help you for the next three or four seasons.
I wish the Reds would get in on that.
Posted by: Blue | July 26, 2006 at 03:12 PM
Where would the Yankees use Betemit? Is it a stretch to think that Betemit would replace A-Rod in separate trades?
Posted by: leshii | July 26, 2006 at 03:59 PM
I think I read that it would enable them to shop Robinson Cano this winter.
Posted by: RotoAuthority | July 26, 2006 at 04:02 PM
I would love to see the Cubs get Betemit for some of our bullpen help. Would Ohman + a C prospect be enough?
Betemit has a decent OBP and could be put in our hole at 2nd base for next year.
Posted by: krushagent | July 26, 2006 at 04:06 PM
No, I think it would take Howry or Eyre and maybe the eating of salary too.
Posted by: RotoAuthority | July 26, 2006 at 04:09 PM
I hope that the Yankees do NOT trade away Cano. He was hitting the hell outta the ball before he went on the DL and can play in New York. I think it would be a horrible move to trade Proctor for Betemit. He has been our best reliever after Mariano since the break. I really do not want this to happen, I think it would be a bad deal for the Yankees.
Posted by: TheHall | July 26, 2006 at 04:16 PM
Personally I would jump on a Proctor for Betemit trade if I were the Yankees. 29 year-old reliever, even if decent, doesn't compare to a good young middle infielder.
Posted by: RotoAuthority | July 26, 2006 at 04:18 PM
I'm not seeing why the braves would accept betemit for proctor. I honestly think they'd hold out for more.
If the yanks do get betemit they'll probably use him as a late inning defensive replacement and Cano's back up. I doubt they'll shop Cano, Cashman's a damn good GM. I think they'll go after the free agent pitchers in the offseason instead
Posted by: start_wearing_purple | July 26, 2006 at 04:25 PM
Betemit is 26 and Cano is about 3 years younger. Why would they do that?
Posted by: njer | July 26, 2006 at 04:32 PM
Odd, Yahoo and BP have different birth dates for Betemit. Anyone got a Braves media guide?
Posted by: RotoAuthority | July 26, 2006 at 04:40 PM
Baseball-Reference says Nov 1981 and Braves.com says July 1980.
Weird.
Posted by: njer | July 26, 2006 at 05:10 PM
Ah, Betemit does appear to be 24 after all, my bad. Look in the link in the sponsor's page of Wilson Betemit on baseball-reference:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/betemwi01.shtml
Posted by: njer | July 26, 2006 at 05:11 PM
Another link about Betemit's age from a Braves blog:
http://www.braves.net/bravesjournal/?p=1461
Posted by: njer | July 26, 2006 at 05:13 PM
And another one:
http://www.braves.net/bravesjournal/?p=2071
Sorry for my 4th post in a row :)
Posted by: njer | July 26, 2006 at 05:16 PM
I was talking about this from the beginning but with Giles suffering from a nagging injury and now Chipper injured Betemit isn't going anywhere. They need him as too much of an insurance policy and he'll be the starting 2B next season. I could see them trading giles though
Posted by: was385 | July 26, 2006 at 05:41 PM
Today in a chat Buster Olney speculated that the Yankees would acquire him only if they could deal him to San Diego for Linebrink. As for the "I wish the Reds would get in on that" comment, why isn't 7 middle infielders enough for one team?
Posted by: davidmp2 | July 26, 2006 at 08:37 PM
hehe, if it wasn't for the fact that we need one of them as our rightfielder (Freel), one of them has no range (Aurilia), and two of them can't hit (Castro and Clayton, or "Claystro" for short), you might have a point.
The Reds need another young, solid MI to go with Brandon Phillips.
Posted by: Blue | July 26, 2006 at 08:48 PM
It doesn't make a lot of sense for the Yanks to jump on this, their infield is fine, with the only possible hole being 1B.. but they have some possible in house solutions and Betemit isn't a fit for 1B anyway.
From a chips stand point I can definately understand ur point Roto, but since when did the Yankees care about stocking up on trading chips? espically when they are in the heat of a race? are you implying that Betemit would be more helpful than Proctor in the race for and in the playoffs?
Posted by: Yu Hsing Chen | July 26, 2006 at 08:49 PM
I'm thinking the Braves probably have a small list of names of relievers from these teams. I would hope to get Proctor from the Yanks and would be very wary of a reliever from the Padres since they have been self-imploding dince the all-star break. But Linebrink would be my choice from the Pads. If the Braves could get that then we might not have the worst bullpen in baseball!
Posted by: A2000 | July 28, 2006 at 08:21 AM
Freel for Betemit? Freel is a leadoff man which we need and Betemit can hit. Giles goes for pitching.
Posted by: A2000 | July 28, 2006 at 08:23 AM