Royals determined to unload Callaspo...
by slamcactus on Nov 12, 2009 3:11 PM PST
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The part of this article that interests me:
Rumors suggest the Royals are seeking to swing a deal with the Dodgers to acquire catcher A.J. Ellis for second baseman Alberto Callaspo. If true, financial benefits would be down the road. Callaspo should reach arbitration eligibility after next season, but Ellis not until after 2011 at the earliest.
If those talks stall, the Royals seem determined to unload Callaspo in hopes of selling high after a season in which he batted .300 with a .356 on-base percentage, 11 homers and 73 RBIs.
Well, you can't say Dayton Moore doesn't evolve. He's gone from his "look at the wrong things and buy high" strategy to a modified version of "sell high" that has led him to the conclusion that after batting .300 in his age-26 season and failing to qualify for super-2 status Alberto Callaspo has to go. Wow. Callaspo is coming off a 2.8 WAR season where he maintained his excellent contact rate (8.9K%) and nearly tripled his career .ISO. Yes, he's not great on defense and a lot of his value lies in his batting average, but with his ability to make contact there's good reason to believe he isn't due for major regression, and his .315 BABIP this year doesn't exactly scream fluke. The return Moore appears to be looking at? A 28 year old slap-hitting catcher who failed to hit a single home run in the Albuquerqe band box.
Callaspo failed to qualify as a super-2, so he's near league minimum for another year. He's bad at 2B, but he's not a total butcher and he's shown some ability to play 3B in the past. He's also under club control for his age 27-30 seasons, and he's coming off a .352 wOBA this year. He's a switch-hitter whose value shouldn't be undermined too much by the Safeco effect, and as a guy with a good bat who doesn't steal bases or put up gaudy HR totals, he's likely to get undervalued a bit in arbitration, keeping his price tag low through his prime. In short, I'm a fan.
This looks like a great opportunity to add a couple wins to the 2010 roster for virtually no cost. If the rumors are true and AJ Ellis is the kind of return that Moore's looking for, I have to believe the Mariners are capable of stepping in and offering more. We already know Moore overvalues scrappy Mariner castoffs.
Thoughts?
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Forget Alberto Callaspo.
Think Alex Gordon.
Rany Jazayerli wrote this piece before the Callaspo/Ellis rumors.:
Ultimately, this trade is going to be judged by the moves that it emboldens the Royals to make. I honestly think that Moore didn’t have any grand plan in mind for how to resolve the logjam of talent at third base and second base when he made this move. I think he made this move precisely because he doesn’t know where this off-season will lead, and so by bringing Fields and Getz into the fold, he puts the Royals in a position where they can pull the trigger if the right deal for someone like Callaspo comes along, but they don’t feel obligated to make a deal just for the sake of making one.
With the Royals trading Mark Teahen for Josh Fields and Chris Getz, this puts their team in position to move Callaspo and Alex Gordon. This might be an opportunity for the Mariners to trade for Alex Gordon.
Offer a tantalizing talent like Greg Halman and we might have our third baseman of the future.
It would be cool to get Alex Gordon
It would even be cool to get him for Halman. But I can’t really be excited for him until I see him do something that doesn’t involve coming on and off the DL.
...and now I'm here
Which makes him the perfect buy-low candidate.
I shouldn’t have speculated on who we could trade him for, but I think there is a window open to make a move like this.
I don't disagree. And I'm not really rosterbating either. I just won't be wowed by his acquisition until he does something that doesn't injure him.
A year ago I probably would have been overjoyed though. Right now he’s pulling a Doyle, except without the occasional bursts of sexy hitting prowess.
...and now I'm here
Alberto Callaspo could fill the Mariners' vacant Wife Beater role.
angels fan in seattle
by Eyebrows on Nov 12, 2009 4:10 PM PST via mobile reply actions
So he's a free swinger. We knew that.
by abender20 on Nov 12, 2009 4:22 PM PST up reply actions 5 recs
That's bizarre.
Not guilty plea, but agreed to a temporary protection order?
Fans are typically idiots.
by The Typical Idiot Fan on Nov 12, 2009 7:26 PM PST up reply actions
We do every 5 days when they need Lopez to pitch another perfect game.
...and now I'm here
We can always run Hannahan out there on those days
plus, with Felix back in the fold, we’ll only need Lopez to throw a perfect game every other time through the rotation anyway
by seattlebruin on Nov 12, 2009 4:59 PM PST up reply actions
I don't understand this logic at all.
Why would we purposely not utilize all of Lopez’s skills in order to achieve a victory? He can still bat in place of the DH.
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Lopez's 5 home runs per game are going to be more valuable when he's got the other team putting up zeros.
Rather than when we have some replacement level pitcher giving up additional home runs.
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Dammit Rany
(Say what you want about the Indians, but no team does a better job of trading for prospects. They also turned Eduardo Perez into Asdrubal Cabrera, and Ben Broussard into Shin-Soo Choo.)
Thanks for twisting the knife =(
Yeah, credit really goes to the Indians on that one.
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It did take skill to not crack up laughing after picking up the phone and hearing the offer.
I suspect Billy Beane would have shit himself from a hard guffaw.
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I've been high on Callaspo since we played KC in August.
He’s a lefty who would provide us with the versatility to either shift Lopez to third or move him to another team. If we could pry either him or Alex Gordon from Moore, I’d flip.
If they thought Yuni was good before maybe they don't realize how it went
by Jeff Sullivan on Nov 12, 2009 8:24 PM PST up reply actions
Also, why they'd blame us for that is beyond me.
Our team clearly wasn’t high on him. I doubt they bothered claiming he was any better than he was.
...and now I'm here
Callaspo is a much worse defensive 2B than Lopez by most accounts, though.
I’d rather see Lopez stay there and have them try Callaspo at 3rd if the M’s do trade for him.
by I Lick Squirrels on Nov 12, 2009 8:53 PM PST up reply actions
What accounts?
This was Callaspo’s first full year at second base. While he posted a poor UZR/150, sample size ought to be taken into context.
Kansas seems to be willing to move Gordon in to LF
So if I were Z and making a trade offer to KC I think I would start with Saunders. He’s a good/young player, gives them a LF if they trade DeJesus, and allows them to put Fields in at 3B.
I don’t know who you bring in to play LF this next year, or if you just re-sign Langerhans, but I don’t see this as hurting us in the long run. Gillies and Ackley are ‘supposed’ to have 4th OF floors and not be too far off from the ML level.
/rosterbation
His career UZR at second is only -2.9.
It was quite a bit worse this year than it’s been in the previous years, but we all know about the innate fluctuations in UZR. -2.9 isn’t too bad. I’d absolutely be in favor of the Mariners buying Callaspo on the cheap and then dealing Lopez for a pitcher or something.
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