Teixeira Traded to the Angels…
… for Casey Kotchman and Stephen Marek.
Eh.
This is a great trade for the Angels, obviously. Teixeira is a substantial upgrade over Kotchman for the balance of the season, and Marek isn’t exactly a huge part of their future. If they re-sign Tex, great, if not, they’ll have two picks to console themselves with. However, that would leave a rather large hole at 1B in the short-term after this year, with the likely options being Kendry Morales or moving Brandon Wood or Sean Rodriguez to 1B. None of those are ideal solutions.
The Braves didn’t get ripped off or anything, but I’m not thrilled with what they got in return. Marek was a disaster as a starter, leading to his move to the bullpen for this year. He’s actually been rather impressive as a reliever in the Texas League, so perhaps he has a future in middle relief. However, before the season Kevin Goldstein suggested that Marek doesn’t get any good movement on his pitches, so unless that’s improved, Marek doesn’t have much value at all.
Kotchman isn’t a bad player. He’s always shown excellent contact ability, and he usually had a very patient approach, but he’s never shown more than gap power. The power hasn’t seen any change, but that patient approach certainly has. After walking in 10.4% of his PA and taking 3.73 P/PA last year, those numbers have plummeted to only 4.5% and 3.35 P/PA. That’s a serious, serious drop. If he’s not going to hit for power, he at least needs to be able to put up a good OBP.
Perhaps this is just a result of the Angels’ management and their aggressive approach, and a new team could make adjustments. If Kotchman could go back to hitting like he did last year, and move away from the tough AL and a pitcher’s park, he can be a very productive player. However, in his current state, he’s not at all what you want from a 1B, and certainly not worth trading Tex for.
If you're new here, subscribe to my blog through RSS or Email. Thanks for visiting!
Related posts
Comments
Comments »
Subscribe
No comments yet.