The Athletics traded catcher Kurt Suzuki and cash considerations to the Nationals for catcher David Freitas, the teams announced. It sounds like the A's are picking up most of Suzuki's 2012 salary and a bit of next year's salary, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports (on Twitter).
The move provides the Nationals with Major League catching depth to complement Jesus Flores and Sandy Leon. Washington manager Davey Johnson said Suzuki is a "number one catcher" who will bring a "veteran presence" to the Nationals, Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post reports (on Twitter).
Suzuki has posted a disappointing .218/.250/.286 batting line in 278 plate appearances so far in 2012. To his credit, he has prevented 38% of stolen base attempts against him this year (23 of 60) and the Athletics have an American League-best 3.43 ERA. The A's are now likely to rely more heavily on rookie catcher Derek Norris and recently-acquired backstop George Kottaras.
The 28-year-old Suzuki earns $5MM in 2012 and $6.45MM in 2013. His contract includes a $8.5MM club option for 2014 ($650K buyout). Evidently no American League team placed a claim on him when he hit the waiver wire. Every National League team but the Reds had to pass up chance to claim Suzuki for him to become available to Washington.
Freitas, 23, has a .271/.374/.407 batting line in 321 plate appearances at Class A Potomac this year. The Nationals selected him in the 15th round of the 2010 MLB draft.
Good luck Kurt!
Nice little move for both sides
This is huge for Gio.
Isn’t Gio performing better AFTER Suzuki stopped catching him? Or am I missing something here?
better numbers slightly from being in N.L. But he was already good before the Nationals
I don’t understand why the nats had to give up anything of value to get Suzuki. Freitas was not a blue chip prospect, but there is a chance he could develop into a bat first type of catcher.
Agreed. Also, how many minor league catchers are the Athletics going to get from us?
As many as it takes to find one who can hit major league pitching on a consistent basis.;)
He’s 23 in single A, and he’s hitting just alright. It’s not like they gave up Joe Mauer, or even Derek Norris.
probably because the A’s are eating part of the salary.
And he has another year and $7 million left on his contract? Rizzo must be trying to buy some more good will in the Asian markets.
Kurt Suzuki is from Hawaii.
At A’s fanfest a couple years ago before there trip to Japan. A fan asked him how excited he was to go back to Japan. He was just like umm it will be fun but I’m from Hawaii. There was an awkard laugh by all.
I’m surprised nobody else claimed him before Nats.
Yeah, considering he had to pass through every other team in the majors except the Reds to get to Washington. Maybe other teams found him to be too pricey. Did the Nats even make a claim or was this a post-clearing trade?
Very good fit. Everyone happy from the last off-season trade = good relationship.
If Suzuki can figure himself back out, this’ll be a steal for Washington. Maybe the change of scenery will do him some good.
Suzuki has been trying since 2009 to figure himself back out.
Yea pay him $12M to “figure stuff out”
I don’t understand why we got a catcher…We have Norris and stassi. Susuki has been on the decline since 2009 however i do believe that he will be better then he has been this year. This trade was great for the nationals while we should have traded him in the off-season when his value was a ton higher
we also have beau taylor in AA, I think either Stassi is called up since he’s been tearing the cover off the ball or Freitas is jumped to AA.
Either way, catcher is a volatile position, and you can never have enough depth there
Yea and Stassi is far from a sure thing at this point. Young, high-OBP catcher was the perfect return. Good trade all around: The A’s get salary relief next year from Zooks contract and a young catcher w/potential; Nats get a very good defensive catcher who can’t hit. Maybe Kurt will find National League pitching a bit more agreeable.
It’s starting to look like Moneyball is back. Freitas has great on base skills and some pop. He takes a lot of walks and makes a lot of contact.
Moneyball isn’t about OBP. It’s about valuing the undervalued. Everyone who follows the A’s knows this, and the other 99% of the population doesn’t. Pitchers who avoid walking batters while consistently missing bats is Beane’s current “Moneyball.”
Everyone but this Twins looks for that.
Yes exactly right, Moneyball is about finding undervalued (pay < performance/vlaue) players
This certainly means the Nats won’t be re-signing Wil Nieves, which I was expecting.
Huh, when I first saw this I immediately thought somebody hacked the A’s twitter account, since that had been happening lately. Then SuSlu and john shea confirmed it and yeah, wow. Congrats to kurt for moving from one contender to another, and congrats to Gio for having his old battery mate join him. Kurt should pick it up in a less pitcher friendly environment
Yep. And he’ll get more playing time in Washington than he should logically get with the A’s. It’s a classic win-win-win move.
Yep, win for all parties involved, except Freitas, since now he’s lost in a jumble of catching prospects the A’s have: Norris, Stassi, Taylor, Maxwell, Freitas. That’s a good issue to have
I thought this might open the door for Anthony Recker to be recalled, but forgot they got Kotteras now. After a pretty brutal May and June, he put up a .919 OPS last month for Sacramento
Recker is 29 and he stinks. Bring back Norris!
What?
What the hell? We trade away Kurt to bring in another catcher!? We need a shortstop!
Great move by Rizzo. Huge upgrade defensively from what the Nationals have had this year and gives Gio a veteran former teammate.
Overall I think it’s a fair deal for both teams. Freitas could definitely be a major league catcher a few years down the road, good mix of offense and defense.
We need a shortstop Billy!
but the point that needs made again is that Gio gets his old catcher….. gio/kurt was a good combo in OAK and maybe thats what the Nats were wanting to calm Gio down and make him more comfortable having a old mate calling the shots.
Nice trade for the A’s. Not sure why the Nat’s don’t just go with Solano as their everyday catcher. He has those natural instincts for catching that I haven’t seen in a prospect since Yadier Molina.
I can see this being a move in which they add salary now. Suzuki made a lot of money and the timing is a bit weird. They must have a plan
Not weird at all. Suzuki is due to make over $6 million NEXT year and he can’t hit anymore. The A’s will pick up part of that, but still see some savings. This happens to every single A’s vet with a multi year contract with no exception.
I dont know if this will be enough to hold off the braves.
The Nats got a good guy in Kurt Suzuki.
Great receiver and a good veteran to have especially with his game calling skills.
On another note Kurt is a good guy had a chance to help him here in the Bay Area at a store with his in-laws. While it was a SSS he was super nice and courteous. No one in the store seemed to know who he was.
Not an A’s fan in anyway but I’ll be cheering for this dude wherever he plays.
Top notch defensive catcher and agree he is a excellent game caller as well.
Very hard to understand how he slipped past a few teams supposedly in the PO picture, like the NYM with a cast of ??? behind the plate and the LAD?? Since when did one of the finer defensive catchers have less worth over a career MiLB veteran having a fluke season thus far that can blow up any second and all really behind him is an unproven rookie playing in AAA, Tim Federowicz?? Hard to understand when they are willing to fork over 90m to Cliff Lee, yet not 10m total on a superb upgrade at catcher.
Norris is being called backup.
Salary dump to add a big contract. Timing is off to not have something like added salary through a waiver claim.
Solid move by Rizzo!! The defense behind the plate has been awful. Jesus has taken a beating and Leon/ Solano have let way too many balls get away. Suzuki Is a terrific defensive catcher and is one of the best at calling a game. The Nationals can sacrifice a catcher not killing the ball. However, he wouldn’t be the first A’s hitter to leave Oakland and start hitting.
haha funny how the dude replacing Suzuki was one of the National prospects brought over in the Gonzalez deal. talk about going full circle here. the A’s have some master plan stocking up on National’s catching prospects?