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« Rosenthal On Melky, Matthews, Pedro, Ohman | Main | Royce Ring Placed On Waivers »
Padres Acquire Eulogio De La Cruz
According to MLB.com's Corey Brock, the Padres acquired pitcher Eulogio De La Cruz from the Marlins today for a player to be named later or cash. Cruz is out of options, so the Padres may have to keep him in the Majors to retain him.
Cruz, 25, posted a 4.34 ERA in 25 starts at Triple A last year. He came to Florida as part of the Miguel Cabrera deal in December of '07. Cruz fits the Padres' desire for hard-throwing pitchers. Here's Paul DePodesta's take on him.
The Marlins subsequently signed lefty Carlos Vasquez to a minor league deal, according to Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Vasquez has been a minor league reliever in the Cubs' and Red Sox systems.
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Eh, worth a shot.
Posted by: Calriver | March 25, 2009 at 05:24 PM
As a groundball pitcher (2.23:1 in 08) with a very good curveball and fastball, I wouldn't be surprised to see him become one of the Padres best relievers this season.
Posted by: kgbaseball | March 25, 2009 at 05:37 PM
If he isn't on the 40-man roster, does that mean they have to keep him?
Posted by: AA | March 25, 2009 at 05:51 PM
er, I mean keep him in the majors?
Posted by: AA | March 25, 2009 at 05:51 PM
I'm sure any young pitcher (groundballer or not) looks over his shoulder in PETCO and thinks, "S#!t, I can do this."
Posted by: jrfukudome | March 25, 2009 at 05:56 PM
AA: If you are on the 25 man active roster, meaning you are in the majors you are on the 40 man roster. So yes, they have to keep him in the majors, unless the pass him through waivers.
Posted by: AirmanSD | March 25, 2009 at 05:59 PM
How many of the Six (?) players the Tigers traded will pan out for the Marlins (I think they were Miller, Maybin, Trahern, Rabelo, De la Cruz, and Badenhop)?
And who is still left in the organization?
Posted by: pskip13 | March 25, 2009 at 06:43 PM
pskip13: You got the 6 players right.
Maybin should become at worst Mike Cameron, which is still a good player.
Miller should do well, he had an ugly ERA last season but he also had a huge BABIP and his FIP was pretty damn good (4.00 FIP).
Trahern's stock took a huge plummet last season, however 1) the main issue was HRs, and that's playing in probably the most HR-prone park in all of baseball and 2) He was suffering from a blister injury. This coming season will be big to see if he'll work out or not.
Burke Badenhop is basically a #4-#5 pitcher at best and doesn't really fit into any long term plans considering we have SP both at the majors and minors that surpass him. His role is looking more like the long relief option.
Mike Rabelo is a back up catcher at best.
And DLC now with the Padres.
Posted by: Nny | March 25, 2009 at 06:52 PM
Anybody know the book on de la Cruz? I seem to remember him being an important part of that package, but I haven't heard anything about him since then.
Posted by: VAFriar | March 25, 2009 at 06:54 PM
Thanks Nny!
Posted by: pskip13 | March 25, 2009 at 07:30 PM
"Anybody know the book on de la Cruz?"
I saw him pitch 2-3 of his games last year is about all I can add.. remember he threw HARD and had -0- idea where the ball was going. Got himself behind in the count early most times and lost it, kind of like Dave Aardsma trap.
Posted by: johns | March 26, 2009 at 09:24 AM
De La Cruz is a big time fireballer, his fastball routinely sits around 93-96, and his main second pitch is a changeup that sits around 84-87. He also has uses a slider and curveball, but those are clearly below average pitches, and he doesn't often them.
In spite of his hard stuff, he hasn't posted the big strikeout numbers that you would expect, and his ability to keep the ball in the park didn't translate to the majors in his time in Florida.
If he can keep his walks down and figure out how to keep MLB hitters from knocking out homers, then he could probably be a pretty good pitcher, but obviously those are big ifs.
With his stuff, there's some upside, and he did post a 4.13 FIP in 147 AAA innings last year, but unless he makes some major strides in his command, he'll likely be doomed to being a decent middle reliever.
Posted by: scribbletone | March 26, 2009 at 11:46 AM