For once, I wish that Terence Moore were here to weigh in on the Braves clubhouse being too professional. We can only assume that the Braves trading Yunel Escobar for Alex Gonzalez relates to a locker room issue about which we don't have all the facts, because on the numbers, this trade makes no sense at all. Gonzalez is a 33-year old shortstop who is terrible at getting on base and has durability concerns. Gonzalez has never finished a season with an OPS above the league average. Escobar is a 27-year old shortstop who has never finished a season with an OPS below the league average. In short, Gonzalez is a below average player who is leaving his prime, while Yunel is an above average player who is entering his prime. Either Yunel did something appalling behind the scenes or Frank Wren has forgotten everything that he should have learned over the first three months of the season about the importance of baseball players who don't make outs.
5 comments:
this is like evaluating the offseason trade with the Yankees by only considering Vazquez v. Melky
True that ike. I got Toronto to take Jo-Jo away from us. I'm a genius!
I have been a huge Yunel fan these past couple of seasons and have that lurking fear that he will turn into a star in coming years. But this year he has been a shell of himself. One wonders how much of that is due to his sulking and feelings of "I get no respect"? My guess is that Bobby and/or Braves management finally got tired of the act and decided it was time to move on.
Note that when the new SS came into the Braves clubhouse that he was greeted with an ovation. Relief at getting Yunel out of there?
I wonder how much of Yunel's struggles came from hitting in the 8 spot?
Last year he had an excellent year at the plate and hit anywhere from 2nd-6th.
Ryno -
He started the year hitting 6th. His lack of production warranted dropping to 8th in the lineup.
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