barfield and buck

so, the off season is here. baseball happens all year round. right now, it just happens to be the less exciting time, the off season. although not as exciting, it is a crucial developmental period where teams remake themselves to fill holes and fix the wrongs that were evident during the past season. since the end of the world series, almost 200 players have made themselves eligible for free agency. not one yet has switched teams, but two teams have made trades. both teams reside in the AL central. yup, one being the indians, the other being the AL champs, the detroit tigers. both trades have been of major significance.

the detroit tigers have traded three young pitching prospects to the new york yankees for gary sheffield. unfortunately, i believe this is a good trade for the tigers. they needed a big bat to help with an offense that was sporadic at times, and they got such the bat they needed in shef. he is old. but the pitching prospects they gave up to get shef are very inexperienced. pitching is detroit's strong point. the yankess have been trading away their farm system over the years. they have plenty of offense, but not much young talent. sheffield was hurt for much of 2006, and the yankees did fine offensively without him. it is doubtful any of the three pitching prospects the tigers gave up will be ready to pitch at the major league level next year. and although all three have been successful in the minors, that is no guarantee of success in the majors. especially in the toughest stadium / market that there is in the majors, the bronx. so really, this trade works out well for both teams. sheffield is signed for two more years. as long as he can stay healthy, he should live up to his huge 13 mil per year contract. healthy or not, it is questionable whether sheffield's attitude / personality is one that will last two years in detroit, especially if the team regresses back to the loosing ways that were a trademark of detroit teams before this surprising, unexpected break through year they enjoyed.

now for the trade the 'good guys' made. they addressed their second biggest need, that of a second baseman. they obtained runner up for NL rookie of the year josh barfield from the san diego padres. they gave up two rookies to obtain barfield. third baseman kevin kouzmanoff and relief pitcher andrew brown. both of these players made their ML debuts this year. kouzmanoff has the distinction of being the only player in ML history to hit a grand slam on the first pitch he saw of his ML career. he did so in texas. he was called up after travis hafner was sidelined with a year ending hand injury that was sustained when a texas pitcher hit pronk on the hand. paybacks are a bummer, eh texas? i am a bit torn on this trade, but my initial gut reaction is that of approval. of course, as with all trades, only time reveal who got the better end of the trade.
barfield does seem to be a legitimate talent. most importantly to me, he finished third in the NL in fielding percentage for second baseman. infield defense for the tribe last year was average, at best. so i like this aspect of the trade. often, rookies experience what is termed a 'sophomore slump' when it comes to their offensive abilities. the sophomore slump most often does not effect fielding though. and speaking of offense, barfield has a 'nice bat'. he finished with a .280 batting average, clubbed 32 plus doubles and 13 home runs. his home run total was probably adversely affected by playing in gargantuan pertco field. he also provides decent speed that the indians also lack. he was 21 of 26 in stolen base attempts. he also finished third in batting average on the road, hitting .319 away from petco. one thing i do not like is that in 539 at bats, josh only walked 30 times, while striking out 81 times. this is something that can go either way. either pitchers will all figure out and take advantage of the 'holes' in his swing, and barfield cannot adjust and will fizzle, or he will learn and grow, and improve in this area. once again, only time will tell. from reading reports on the padres website, josh has an incredible work ethic, which of course, is a good thing.
as for what the indians are giving up. kouz may be a great hitter. he batted .379 between AA and AAA ball last year. he has decent power, and the grand slam claim to fame. as a third baseman, he is not good defensively. being in san diego, he will not have the DH to reside in where his lack of fielding talent can a non factor. he has been tried out at first base, and supposedly this option has not showed much promise. but he is young. any power hitter will suffer in petco park. this is something that can feasibly mess with a young players mind. and as stated above, minor league success does not always translate into major league success. but it is very conceivable that kevin will become a major league force with the bat. and offense is somewhat of a strong point of the indians. they have andy marte at third. although marte's bat does not seem as strong as kevin's, it is well above average, and andy has the obvious edge in fielding. but next year will be his first full year in the bigs. if he flops offensively, or gets hurt, the indians right now do not have a capable replacement on the big league roster, or the minors. ok, they do have casey blake. blake used to play third base before he switched to left when the indians added aaron boone in 2005. casey had decent range, but always made alot of errors. and that was when he was playing regularly there. so, although casey could play there, it is not a desirable long term solution. they are well off at first though, as they have ryan garko, victor martinez, casey blake, and travis hafner who can all play there. i can easily foresee kevin becoming the next brian giles or sean casey. young players the indians traded away in the late 90's who ended up becoming all star players with their new teams.
so, because of kevin's offensive potential, i felt this trade would have been fair straight up. but instead, josh barfield's one year of success prompted the indians to include young and talented andrew brown in the deal. andrew was acquired in the milton bradley deal with the dodgers. he has a power arm. he was expected to be a part of the bullpen much earlier than he actually was. problems with his control kept him in the minors though. and he is now out of options, meaning any team that owns him MUST keep him on the major league roster, or fear loosing him to another team. he did well in his limited, late season appearances this year. but a majority of them were when the games were not close. either the indians were blowing out a team, or themselves being blown out. pitching primarily in spacious petco will help keep his HR total down. but as with kouz, he is an unknown commodity. having a suspect bullpen, i would have preferred to keep a promising young talent like brown.
right now, i do like general manager mark shapiro's move. now, before he does anything else, he MUST acquire a proven major league closer. he took care of priority number two. priority number one now must be addressed.

then there is buck showalter, who is rumored to soon be joining the tribe as a special assistant to mark shapiro. apparently, his main focus will be helping set up the indians(hopefully) imminent move of their spring training home to goodyear, AZ. supposedly, he was suggested by manager eric wedge. i have not been 'sold' on wedgy. but i love that this was wedge's suggestion. buck has been a successful manager for many years. he was 'let go' by texas. eric knows if the tribe once again does not live up to expectations, he will be on the hot seat. having a viable replacement in house often would be disconcerting to a manager. but wedge must truly want what is best for the indians. this fact is proven to me by wedge's suggestion in the hiring of buck.