Royals Acquire Tony Pena Jr.
Yesterday we learned that the Royals had a list of 20 shortstops in their sights; today they made a deal. Dayton Moore nabbed Tony Pena Jr. from his former employer, the Braves.
Pena, 26, is the son of the former Royals manager. I'm not sure he'll be of much value offensively, but at least he'll play good defense. Pena's PECOTA calls for a Berroa-like .244/.279/.337 line.
A Berroa-like offensive line will be very acceptable without as many errors. The Royals needed the defense up the middle. Also, Pena is hitting like .360 this spring. I'm sure all of my fellow Royal fans would LOVE to see Berroa outright released in the next week or so. Long Live Dayton Moore! lol
Posted by: kyledavidson | March 23, 2007 at 04:26 PM
Hmmm...I am not sure that kind of offense is acceptable with anything less than Ozzie Smith defense.
Posted by: RotoAuthority | March 23, 2007 at 04:31 PM
Speaking of which...Ozzy Smith signed on board over at roto hog...are you playing over there this year roto?
Posted by: greenbaydude1232 | March 23, 2007 at 04:34 PM
Tim, if you were a Royals fan, you'd find that somewhat acceptable if he plays fine defense (which I hear he does).
Berroa was outright atrocious. I mean IS outright atrocious.
Posted by: firesticks | March 23, 2007 at 04:38 PM
Obviously not a long term solution...if I where a Royals/Angels fan, I would like to see some sort of permutation of DeJesus-for-Erick Aybar.
Posted by: zubes007 | March 23, 2007 at 05:28 PM
how about teahan + somethin lil for wood?
Posted by: greenbaydude1232 | March 23, 2007 at 06:05 PM
Then Royals fans are setting the bar too low. Atrocious offense plus fine defense still equals a bad player. This guy should be a reserve.
Posted by: RotoAuthority | March 23, 2007 at 06:05 PM
I'm just glad to be close to the end of the B-Error-oa era at SS in Kansas City.
Posted by: kyledavidson | March 23, 2007 at 06:24 PM
Baseball Prospectus: "He's nothing special defensively."
I think Pena's greatest asset is being not named Angel Berroa.
Posted by: nickjs21 | March 23, 2007 at 07:09 PM
Man, I totally called this. Well, sorta. :-p
Tony Penya should be a reserve, and when the Royals find a real SS, Pena will be a good defensive bench guy. He can play 2B and 3B as well as SS, and his defense isn't "fine"; it's "very good".
Anyone know anything about the guy the Braves got? All I know is that he's a former-second-round draft pick with a long-ish injury history.
Posted by: mraver | March 23, 2007 at 08:40 PM
Like you said, Cordier has injury problems. He'll be out all of 2007 recovering from TJ surgery. However, JS is a fan of high ceiling guys and Cordier is certainly one of those. I'm still looking for real stats but some of the scouting has him a consistent 90-94 mph fastball.
In terms of a trade this is a win for the Braves. Particularly because Pena was set to be released before the regular season (out of options and no room at the inn). At this point Dayton Moore paid a low price just for the assurance he would have Pena at the end of the day.
Posted by: Torchy | March 23, 2007 at 10:55 PM
I see this as a small deal that Moore had to make to silence the crowd. He's not finished. He would be burned at the stake if he traded Teahen, so cross that off the list. Now, the Dejesus angle is interesting because they're playing Teahen at centerfield right now. This leads me to believe that Dejesus might be expendable. Orlando Cabrera or Freddy Sanchez could be options for Dayton Moore to pick up using Dejesus as bait. In my opinion, Dejesus is overrated because he doesn't have much power or ability to steal bases. Dejesus and Huber for Sanchez and B prospect would work for me.
Posted by: royaldaddy | March 24, 2007 at 11:07 AM