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« Odds And Ends II: Longoria, Manny, Giambi, Tejada | Main | Gammons' Latest: Crisp, Piazza, Wells »
Gabe Gross Traded To Tampa
In a quick, surprise move, the Brewers have traded outfielder Gabe Gross to the Rays for 23-year-old Class-A right hander Josh Butler. There is no word on Tampa Bay's roster move to make room for Gross, who can play all three outfield positions. Presumably, it will be Justin Ruggiano, but I suppose it could be Nathan Haynes.
Gross has 48 plate appearances in the young season, but is hitting only .179/.303/.205. That's just extra base hit, a double. He does have eight walks to seven strikeouts, which is a plus. But certainly not enough to keep him around once Mike Cameron returns from his suspension in a few days.
Butler has struggled in three starts in High-A ball this year, posting a 6.35 ERA. He was the 46th overall pick in the 2006 draft. The Baseball America handbook says he has a 92 to 95 mph fastball with outstanding movement, hard overhand curve, and a good change.
Posted by Joe Pawlikowski.
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Rosenthal's article shows that Rays execs think Gross can flash .500 slugging off RHP. Will Hinske be demoted from RF and see his role limited to reserve corner infielder? We know that Dan Johnson can handle 1B fielding duties too. Hmm, are Hinske's Rays days limited?
Posted by: DoubleSteel | April 22, 2008 at 07:22 PM
hinske to the a's for a low-level prospect? or maybe ruggino
Posted by: fgsfsfbbbrd | April 22, 2008 at 07:26 PM
Wow. Gabe Gross? And even if Butler is struggling, he's still a good arm with a decent ceiling. I'm not sure what the Rays are thinking here. The Rays keep talking like they want to win now...but Dan Johnson and Gabe Gross? Watch out Red Sox, Yanks!
Posted by: crunchy1 | April 22, 2008 at 07:51 PM
On the flip side, sir, I love both Gross and Johnson. With regular playing time, both could be very solid contributors. Friedman is gaining on Josh Byrnes on my GM crush list.
Posted by: Not Joe Morgan | April 22, 2008 at 09:48 PM
…But…but…but…but weren’t we told they wanted to trade a couple B prospects for Murton? Isnt that what all the Cubs fans said?
Seriously though, good move for the DRays. Haynes has no business on a ML team, so this should easily allow him to be removed. And they don’t need more corner/1B/DH types, so pulling in someone who can actually back-up Upton while providing depth and leadership is a great move. I mean, you don’t become a coach for nothing, and wasn’t that what he was doing last year?
Coupled with the acquisition of Johnson (who is basically the AL-Murton clone), they made two solid moves for next to nothing of a cost, solidifying their bench in a major way. This team is becoming very interesting to watch!
“Friedman is gaining on Josh Byrnes on my GM crush list.”
…that, I agree with 100%…
Posted by: darkstar1661 | April 22, 2008 at 11:09 PM
Well, Gross to Tampa makes somewhat more sense than Gross to Oakland. I'm not convinced he adds much to the Rays either, though.
Although if Hinske can still play any third base, Hinske to Oakland makes some sense, unless the A's want to give Hannahan an extended trial there. He's been pretty bad so far, and Hinske would be an upgrade, although that concept fails the same test that the Gross-to-the-Rays move does -- a minor upgrade gained by acquiring a washed-up semi-vet isn't exactly what teams in this position should be going for.
I seriously doubt Gross is any better at the plate than Hinske. Defensively, maybe. But then Hinske was mostly DHing lately, anyway. Haynes not being on a ML roster I agree with, except that Gross is LHB, and the Rays are now way overloaded with lefty platoon players.
The idea of Dan Johnson being an AL-Murton clone, though, is a little strange. I mean yeah, I guess except for one of them being a right-handed outfielder and the other being a left-handed infielder, they're sorta similar, kinda?
Posted by: asm | April 23, 2008 at 01:31 AM
Yeah, should have said “the LH Murton” I guess. The point was that the (Park-Adjusted) stats are extremely similar. And the positions aren’t really that different ~ questionable corner-OFer who could/should probably be taking ABs at 1B soon vs solid but unspectacular 1B who can probably still handle part-time duty in LF if ya asked him to.
Gross does 2 things ~ 1) it removes Haynes, 2) it doesn’t remove the back-up CFer when it removes Haynes. Gross, although most likely unimpressive at the plate, will be good enough for his limited duties, and has solid overall fundamental baseball skills when in there. Unlike Haynes, Gross has the ability to actually hit the ball out of the infield from time to time. So when he posts his .315-.330ish OBP, it will come with a couple doubles and dingers. Don’t see a downside there, and you cant expect extreme upgrades when you are talking about guys who will almost never get ABs being upgraded by other guys who will almost never get ABs…
Oh, and the Rays need their back-up CFer to be LH since Upton is a Righty and struggles against tough RHP.
Posted by: darkstar1661 | April 23, 2008 at 02:10 AM
The Rays would have to be crazy to take Hinske out of the lineup. He is absolutely raking right now. He's hitting .327 with five homers, 10 RBI and 12 runs scored so far this year. Hinske was a former ROY award winner and seems to be thriving in a starting role. I don't think there is any chance that changes, not with how he's been hitting. He missed the cycle against Toronto because he didn't have a single.
Posted by: Sesshomaru | April 23, 2008 at 02:21 AM
"I mean, you don’t become a coach for nothing, and wasn’t that what he was doing last year?" -darkstar
That was Gabe Kapler. He's still with MIL
Posted by: BravesFan | April 23, 2008 at 06:23 AM
Well one less team looking to trade for Murton. I think i said it the other day that the cubs should be looking for a high A/AA pitcher with good upside for Murton, and what did the Brewers get...
But i see the Rays holding on to Hinske, unless they got something of good value for him, since he is raking at the moment it might be better to hold onto him until the trade deadline and than part with him.
Posted by: AirmanSD | April 23, 2008 at 07:22 AM
""I mean, you don’t become a coach for nothing, and wasn’t that what he was doing last year?" -darkstar
That was Gabe Kapler. He's still with MIL "
...Yeah, realized that one by the time I sent that post ~ got my Gabes crossed for a second :)
Posted by: darkstar1661 | April 23, 2008 at 01:11 PM
Considering Dan Johnson is a .230 hitter and Murton has never hit less than .280, yeah they're clones! I guess park-adjustments will raise Johnson's batting average 50-60 points? That adds to the darkstar list of worst comparisons I have ever read but, of course, my favorite is still the Andy Marte will be Brandon Phillips gem. I'll take this Murton/Johnson comparison with the usual grain of salt.
Posted by: crunchy1 | April 24, 2008 at 06:34 AM