Billy Beane made a deal with one of his former employees today, shipping utility infielder Marco Scutaro to the Blue Jays for a pair of minor league arms. We know that Billy often values certain players more than others, so let’s see what he got in return.
Kristian Bell, an 11th round pick in 2004, struggled in Advanced A ball this year, posting a 5.33 ERA in 77.2 innings. He struck out just 5.33 per nine, and didn’t even own a 2:1 K/BB ratio. This was the first year that his HR/9 rate climbed above 0.50 — all the way to 1.04. It would appear that he’s a sinkerballer, having a 1.85 groundout to flyout ratio.
The other player, Graham Godfrey, is another groundball guy, with a 1.97 groundout to flyout ratio. He strikes out guys at a slightly better clip than Bell, and kept his BB/9 under 3.00 (2.93) in 2007, his first year of professional ball.
I don’t have much further information on these two guys. Anyone who does, feel free to email me or leave it in the comments.
A final thought occurred to me: Could Scutaro and John McDonald be used in some kind of platoon setting? Scutaro was actually a lot better than Johnny at the plate last year, and isn’t lacking with the glove. Plus, they should make comparable salaries this year. McDonald will make $1.9 million in 2008 (and 2009), while Scutaro is due a raise over his $1.55 million 2007 salary.
Joe Pawlikowski is co-author of River Ave. Blues.
