I doubt that the Marlins were thinking they'd flip the two centerpieces to the Miguel Cabrera/Dontrelle Willis trade for three relievers just three years after making the trade, but sometimes trades don't go as planned, and that's just what we saw this week. Here's your rundown of the last seven days here at MLBTR:
- The Marlins sent Cameron Maybin to the Padres in exchange for relievers Ryan Webb and Edward Mujica. Maybin, the former centerpiece to their blockbuster deal with the Tigers in 2007, was out of options and would have had to clear waivers to be sent to the minors. He'll likely receive every chance to be San Diego's everyday center fielder.
- The other centerpiece to that same deal, Andrew Miller, was flipped to Boston in exchange for reliever Dustin Richardson. As I said before, hardly the outcome the Fish had envisioned.
- Busy week for Oakland! The A's acquired David DeJesus from Kansas City in exchange for Vin Mazzaro and minor leaguer Justin Marks. DeJesus presents an upgrade to Oakland's offense, but isn't exactly an impact bat. The Royals receive a young pitcher they can control for years to come, although Mazzaro's peripherals aren't particularly dazzling.
- Oakland was able to comfortably move Mazzaro because they'd won the bidding on Hisashi Iwakuma earlier in the week. The A's bid about $17MM for Iwakuma and now must negotiate his contract.
- The A's also signed Dominican outfielder Vicmal de la Cruz for $800K. The 16-year-old topped Blake Bentley's list of Dominican prospects for MLBTR this past July. Baseball America's Ben Badler had high praise for the center fielder as well. The A's also claimed Edwin Encarnacion from the Blue Jays this week and are rumored to have interest in Lance Berkman.
- The Dodgers are closing in on a one-year deal with Hiroki Kuroda worth $12MM. I'm surprised to see Kuroda signing for just one year, as he's one of the best names available on the free agent market. If the deal gets done, it'll be a nice bargain for the club and provide them with a strong 1-4 in its rotation.
- The D'Backs are nearing a two-year deal with Geoff Blum that's reportedly worth just over $2MM. I'm not sure why Arizona felt they needed to guarantee Blum two years, or sign him this early, but it's not a move that will cripple them even if it flops.
- Iwakuma wasn't the only Japanese name in the news this week. The Braves outrighted Kenshin Kawakami to Double-A, removing him from their 40-man roster. We also learned that Japanese batting champ Tsuyoshi Nishioka is hoping to be posted. The 26-year-old can play either middle infield position and would draw plenty of interest. Akinori Iwamura reached a deal with Iwakuma's former team, the Rakuten Golden Eagles, this week as well.
- The Marlins broke off extension talks with Dan Uggla this week and are now measuring trade interest in the slugger. Earlier today, Buster Olney reported that the Jays would be the favorites to land Uggla's services in a trade. The Tigers are also interested.
- The Tigers are also interested in Victor Martinez, though they're not the only team. The Red Sox are prioritizing V-Mart, along with Adrian Beltre. If they miss out on Martinez, Boston may turn to John Buck.
- Both Jeff Francoeur and Brian Bannister elected free agency this week; they both were locks to be non-tendered anyway.
- The Yankees' main target may be Cliff Lee, but they're also interested in Jorge de la Rosa. We also heard they're planning on offering Derek Jeter $45-$60MM.
- We've heard that there's a good chance Aubrey Huff winds up back with the Giants, but he'll at least have a decision on his hands. He's received offers from several clubs.
- The Phillies signed both Eddie Bonine and Erik Kratz to minor league deals this week, but there were far more minor transactions than that. Be sure to check out our Transactions section for all of this week's minor moves!
I’m all about the Vin Mazzaro trade. A really good trade for the Royals.
I’ve gotta agree with Fangraphs’ analysis that there’s nothing really exciting about Mazzaro. He doesn’t strike people out and doesn’t have particularly good command. He doesn’t induce ground balls particularly well or miss many bats… in 122 innings this year he was exactly replacement level.
I guess if Marks pans out, it could look OK, but the Royals probably could’ve done better than Mazzaro as the centerpiece. Even if his control moves back down toward his minor league levels, I don’t see much that separates him from a guy like Nick Blackburn. Throws strikes, doesn’t miss bats, doesn’t keep the ball on the ground very well.
Both throw their fastball about the same speed and same amount (60%-ish), Mazzaro just relies mostly on a slider and change from there while Blackburn distributes the rest of his pitches pretty evenly between a cutter, curve, and change. He also magically outperformed his peripherals for two seasons, which Vin has yet to do.
Mazzaro might be a passable placeholder until one of KC’s real pitching prospects comes along, but man could they have done better if they’d traded DDJ earlier rather than waiting till the deadline. Not really their fault, you can’t predict a freak injury like that. I still think they could’ve done better than this though, regardless. Moving to a smaller park with a worse defense behind him’s not going to help Vin’s cause any in KC. I’m betting he gets rocked pretty handily in 2011.
Ill he honest, I’ve been commenting on this site for over a year now and you’ve always been one of my favorite and most reliable commenters — you are one of the smartest people here, I just really want you to give Mazzaro a chance because if you subtract his back to back starts against the Yankees, he had a fine sophomore season. I actually he will make great strides this season and develop in to a number 2 or 3 in the rotation simply because I think he has good upside shf knows how to pitch.
I’m not gunna buy in to the pre season hype about A’s just yet. . if success was predictable this early the mariners would have went to the 2010 world series.
Yes they’re interested in Jorge De La Rosa if they can’t sign Lee lol.
Boring Week so far, nothing will happen until December anyways