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| 29th July, 2009 - 8:20 pm | Christopher Reina/RealGM - In case I needed to be reminded, Brian Sabean is still the general manager of the San Francisco Giants and he traded Tim Alderson to the Pirates for Freddy Sanchez.
The Giants have been unquestionably horrible at second base offensively and his .776 OPS for 2009 will be an upgrade over the collective 28th ranked .604. But I don't see the logic in propping up this club's flimsy chance of being a true contender with a light hitting 31-year-old.
Sanchez is ranked 12th in OPS amongst second basemen, ahead of Dan Uggla's .764, but the Giants have a far greater need for a slugger than another high average, low OBP, low pop hitter. Sanchez has just six homers and none since June 21st.
Sanchez has also been battling a bum knee throughout the month of July, a month where he is hitting .193/.220/.246 (.466 OPS).
His best season came in 2006 when he had an .851 OPS and had a batting average of .344.
With Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and eventually Madison Bumgarner, Alderson was a spare part in the Giants' long term rotation plans. His numbers project out to a fourth or fifth starter, especially given how quickly his strikeout rates have dipped as he advanced through each level.
Alderson had a 3.46 ERA in 13 Double-A starts, posting a modest 5.7 K/9 rate. Bumgarner, for comparison sake, has a 1.90 ERA in nearly the same number of Double-A innings, though his K-rate of 6.6 isn't significantly better.
We are not going to see Alderson become a Cy Young contender in the vein of Francisco Liriano-circa 2006, but he could have been packaged for more in return than Freddy Sanchez.
Grade for Giants: D+
The Pirates probably get better value in this deal than they did collectively in the moves they made last year when they dumped Jason Bay and Xavier Nady.
There was little need for the Pirates to retain a player like Sanchez (or Jack Wilson, who they also traded on Wednesday) as long as they did, but the return was as good as it ever would have been in the past.
Grade for Pirates: B+ [READ] |
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