the dump's sportslog - baseball analysis |
|
|
Writings on baseball by Matt Barnard and Dan Stein.
syndicate us (XML)
the other site thedump.org baseball resources aaron's baseball blog at home plate bambino's curse baseball america baseball blogs baseball interactive baseball junkie baseball musings baseball news blog baseball primer baseball prospectus baseball-reference batter's box bronx banter clark & addison clutch hits cub reporter dan lewis dick allen's dodger thoughts doug pappas blog dugout dollars elephants in oakland espn.com - mlb for rich or sporer futility infielder game chatter hardball times humbug indians report jeremy heit's julien's mike's baseball rants mlb center my d-rays blog newberg report no pepper only baseball matters replacement level rich's baseball beat rob neyer seth speaks some calzone the prospect report the raindrops the transaction guy transaction oracle twins geek universal blog uss mariner wait til next year will carroll's offseason GM recaps Baird(KC) Bavasi(SEA) Beane(OAK) Beattie(BAL) Beinfest(FLA) Cashman(NYY) scoreboards espn.com mlb.com talk to us matt barnard dan stein write to us matt barnard dan stein general feedback buy these books book of bball lineups moneyball nbjhba win shares blogroll us Archives 
|
6.20.2003
Bellhorn-Hernandez Colorado Rockies get: Mark Bellhorn, Travis Anderson. Chicago Cubs get: Jose Hernandez. Okay, you know who Mark Bellhorn and Jose Hernandez are. Both of them can help a team when they're playing well (last year), or be non-factors/detriments when they aren't (this season so far). I would say that I don't really understand the Cubs' motivation for making this trade - as Bellhorn is the better player (he's younger, he's cheaper, has more power and gets on base more often)...but it's become pretty clear that Dusty Baker wasn't going to use Bellhorn at all, so it's better to get something for him than let him rot on the bench. After playing pretty regularly in April - and really sucking (.194/.345/.269) - Bellhorn's accrued just over 80 plate appearances in the last month and a half, not really giving him much of an opportunity to work his way out of his malaise. On top of that, Baker's chosen to use Bellhorn exclusively at third base. This is okay, I guess, realizing that the Cubs have problems at the position, but they're also trotting out Mark Grudzielanek (at second) and Eric Karros (at first) on a fairly regular basis at positions that Bellhorn can handle defensively. Baker's disinterest in playing Bellhorn isn't an issue anymore though, and it seems likely that Hernandez will find some at bats. While he's not the third baseman Cubs fans were hoping for, he can play the position and hit a little. Both of these guys are pretty versatile players defensively, and I guess if it comes down to Baker having a shortened roster (because he won't play Bellhorn regularly) or sacrificing a bit of quality and having a larger one to work with, this deal is defensible. Maybe. That said, the Rockies get a steal here. Hernandez wasn't making much money ($1 million, just this season), but they save some on Bellhorn (making less than half that), who has outproduced Hernandez this year despite the latter playing half his games at Coors Field (.256/.327/.376 at home, .218/.287/.347 on the road). While Hernandez was a nice, cheap gamble to take before the season as team after team passed on signing him this was an opportunity to pick up a guy who is more likely to retain some his success from last season in the future. And you get a minor league pitcher (Travis Anderson) on top of that, who I'll dig up some information on when I get a chance. It'll be interesting to see how the Rockies choose to integrate Bellhorn into their already pretty decent infield rotation, but I'd imagine he'll find at least a semi-regular role before too long. - |