Red Sox Deal with Casey Kotchman
The Red Sox, just minutes after getting catcher Victor Martinez from the Indians, have reached a deal to acquire first baseman Casey Kotchman from the Braves for first baseman Adam LaRoche.
LaRoche, 29, played for the Braves from 2004 to ’06. He hits for more power than Kotchman and traditionally hits well in the second half. The Braves’ thinking is that he could ignite returning to familiar surroundings.
The Red Sox’s motivation in adding Kotchman is not as clear. Kotchman is an outstanding fielder, and the Red Sox’s defense would improve if he were at first and Kevin Youkilis got the majority of playing time over Mike Lowell at third.
Martinez, under that scenario, presumably would get most of his at-bats at catcher and DH.
This is the second straight year that Kotchman has been dealt at the trade deadline. Last year, the Angels sent him to Atlanta as part of the Mark Teixeira deal.
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White Sox acquire Jake Peavy
Jake Peavy has finally agreed to pitch for the Chicago White Sox.
The San Diego Padres traded their ace to the White Sox on Friday, barely beating the deadline to make deals without waivers.
The Padres got four young pitchers for Peavy — Clayton Richard, Aaron Poreda, Dexter Carter and Adam Russell.
In May, the Padres and White Sox agreed to a deal for Peavy, but the 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner turned it down. But this time, Peavy agreed to waive his no-trade clause and joined the AL Central contenders.
“He never said no, he just said ‘not yet,’” White Sox general manager Kenny Williams said.
The 28-year-old Peavy is 6-6 with a 3.97 ERA in 13 starts with the Padres this season but has been on the disabled list since June 13 with a strained tendon in his right ankle. Williams said the White Sox didn’t expect Peavy to pitch until the end of August.
Over eight major league seasons with the Padres, Peavy is 92-68 with a 3.29 ERA and 1,348 strikeouts in 212 starts. He was a unanimous selection for the Cy Young Award in 2007 when he went 19-6 with a 2.54 ERA and 240 strikeouts in 34 starts.
He will give the White Sox a top starter along with lefty Mark Buehrle, who pitched a perfect game in July. Peavy joins a rotation that includes Gavin Floyd, John Danks and Jose Contreras. The White Sox began play Friday in third place in the AL Central, two games behind first-place Detroit and a half-game back of the Twins.
Richard, who pitched well in his past two starts, was the scheduled starter Friday night against the Yankees before the trade was announced.
The 25-year-old lefty was 4-3 with a 4.65 ERA in 26 games, including 14 starts, with the White Sox this season.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
George Sherrill Loses Value
Fantasy owners shouldn’t be at all surprised that the Baltimore Orioles finally traded closer George Sherrill. We’ve been preparing people for this day for awhile, whether in “Relief Efforts” or other content online and in podcasts and on television. Sure, last-place teams like the Orioles need closers, too, but generally not 32-year-old lefties with limited experience in the role who don’t figure to develop with a young team.
George Sherill racked up 51 saves in two seasons with the Orioles, but he'll be a set-up guy for the Dodgers.
The Dodgers, on the other hand, have one of the most overworked bullpens in baseball, and desperately needed help for Jonathan Broxton, Hong-Chih Kuo, Ramon Troncoso and pals. Entering Thursday, Dodgers relief pitchers had thrown an amazing 350 innings, with only the Padres bullpen logging more. Of the seven bullpens currently logging the most innings, only the Dodgers would be playoff participants if the season ended today.
Sherrill will certainly help, but from a fantasy aspect, don’t expect saves. This is the danger of owning closers on bad teams, that they sometimes get dealt and become setup men for good teams. Broxton, abused or not, has been fantasy’s top closer this season, in part from his seven wins, but he also leads all relief pitchers in strikeouts and he’s among the league leaders in saves. Troncoso, a 26-year-old right-hander, leads all major league relief pitchers in innings. Kuo just returned from an elbow injury that three months ago was rumored to possibly end his career. The Dodgers needed Sherrill bad to help set up Broxton. I don’t envision saves coming the left-hander’s way.
The Orioles now need someone to save games, and don’t think this is a meaningless role. Sherrill had 20 saves for a team with 43 wins, which is not a bad percentage at all. The obvious choice would be the team’s main set-up man, Jim Johnson, a groundball-throwing right-hander who leads the Orioles with 14 holds, and pitched in with two saves as well. Johnson has a solid 3.17 ERA and 1.24 WHIP, but he isn’t having quite the same season he did in 2008, when he threw 68 2/3 innings and allowed nary a home run. Johnson has already given up five home runs, and right-handed batters held a .296 batting average against him. Johnson could pick up 10 or more saves the rest of the way, so he’s worth adding in pretty much any format, but he’s no guarantee to be successful.
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