The Royals sent Melky Cabrera to the Giants for Jonathan Sanchez and minor league left hander Ryan Verdugo.
Now I have many Giants fan readers (and not just my dad.) And I got a lot of e mails and text messages asking "What do you think of the deal?" or "Why haven't you talked about the trade?"
I guess with a few days to think about it, I have to supply my amazing and insightful breakdown of the deal.
I have no clue.
Seriously. How can ANYONE have a clue if this was a good trade?
Jonathan Sanchez? Sure he has talent. He's left handed. He's under 30. He won 13 games a few years ago and threw a no hitter a few years before that.
He also has had a grand total of one, count em, ONE noteworthy season as a big league pitcher. And even THAT season he could be agonizingly inconsistent. And only once did he post an ERA below 4.
And he did that in one of the best pitchers ballparks in the game. I felt the Giants should have traded him after the 2010 World Series when his value was at its peak and Bumgarner could take his spot in the rotation.
Instead Sanchez had an injury plagued 2011 and they HAD to deal him now or else they'd have nothing. 30 year old injury plagued pitchers don't fetch what 29 year old injury plagued pitchers get on the market.
Will he pitch well for the Royals? Or was he a flash in the pan?
I don't know. Neither do you.
They got Melky Cabrera who is better than anyone else in the Giants outfield. He had career highs in homers, RBI, stolen bases, batting average, OPS, OPS+ games played and plate appearances. He was OK with the Yankees for 4 years, lousy with the Braves for one before flourishing with the Royals.
Did he find himself?
Did he have a fluke good year?
Is he well suited for Kansas City?
Who can honestly say?
But he IS going from the American League and their many hitters parks to the worst hitters park in the game. Will that derail him? Or will he launch drives into the gap and stretch them to triples?
Your guess is as good as mine.
Thrown in for good measure is Ryan Verdugo. He had two very good seasons in the Giants farm system as a relief pitcher. So naturally everyone thought he'd make a great starting pitcher. (Classic Joba Chamberlain syndrome.)
He was eh as a starter for the Double A Flying Squirrels of Richmond. So naturally the Royals will probably keep him in the rotation. He's 24, left handed and has a pulse, so he will pitch for the next 20 years.
Basically this is a team swapping question marks. The Royals needed an arm. The Giants needed a bat.
Who got the best of this?
Who got the worst?
No clue.
And it is hard hitting analysis like THIS that you can only find on Sully Baseball!
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