Red Sox Trade Arroyo to Reds for Wily Mo Pena - Page 5

bills217 · #41 03-20-2006, 05:25 PM

Gammons seems to like the deal for both teams...

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The Reds had to trade for pitching, and they were not going to part with Austin Kearns or Adam Dunn unless they got a Jon Lester, or two. Bronson Arroyo, who threw a career-high 205 1/3 innings last season, posted 14 wins and was 10th in the American League in quality starts -- will be the Reds' best starter.
And while Wily Mo Pena is a .303 career on-base guy who sometimes plays out of control, he is still only 24, and about to begin learning the game with David Ortiz. Boston is not usually a tools-oriented organization, but one thing they lack through the minor leagues is right-handed power, and Pena is a project whose skills are worth the effort to hone.

Right-handed corner power bats are hard to find, and Pena has awesome power and remarkable speed. The Red Sox were looking for a right-handed hitting outfielder, and Pena can platoon with Trot Nixon; Pena had an .881 OPS against left-handed pitching last season (Mike Sweeney and Andruw Jones were .877, Manny Ramirez .885). He can fill in for Coco Crisp and Ramirez, when necessary.

The Red Sox hope this is a deal for today, giving them a boost against lefties and cutting down on the lefties coming out of the bullpen to face Nixon -- and for the future. Pena loves to play, wants to learn and because he was out of options and in the big leagues at 20, his development has been seriously retarded. Boston hopes it has another Jesse Barfield, who after the age of 23 and with almost an identical number of at-bats, had a .309 on-base percentage, the same exact .780 OPS and 45 homers, in contrast to Pena's 51.

Nixon can become a free agent at season's end, so if Pena develops, they have added a 26-year-old center fielder in Crisp and a 24-year-old power bat in right field in Pena.

The fact that former Reds GM and current Nationals GM Jim Bowden has spent more than 1,000 hours trying to reacquire Pena speaks for his character.

Pena's career OPS at Great American Ball Park is .875, .741 on the road. Arroyo's OPS against was .790 at Fenway, .665 on the road. However, going from one offensive park to another is difficult to quantify.

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MinRaise · #42 03-20-2006, 05:40 PM

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yes, but they still suck and traded a possible stud. i mean, what does this deal do for them? make them a 75 win team instead of a 74 win team in 06?

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This is the right answer as to why this trade sucks. Bronson Arroyo does not make the Reds a playoff team. Wily Mo Pena is a project to be sure, but he certainly has potential. Getting a No. 4 starter for a few years is not going to make this team a contender. On the other hand, I will reserve judgement since this ownership/front office is still new. Marge Schott was a deplorable bigot, but a good owner if you can ignore her antics. The last ownership group made this team irrelevant which was truly sad. Hopefully this group will make this team competitive again.

Moneyline · #43 03-20-2006, 05:44 PM

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If the Sox were gonna make a trade...they shoulda traded for a third baseman. Cuz Lowell is gonna suck hard this year

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Even if he does suck, the Sox seem like they have a pretty good plan B with Youkillis taking over third and Snow at first. I'd like it better if they still had Petagine around instead of Snow, but it's not like Snow is horrible.

bugstud · #44 03-20-2006, 05:44 PM

I'll prop bet anyone harang vs arroyo

bills217 · #45 03-20-2006, 05:52 PM

I still like Harang a little better, but I'll take Arroyo over the other trash they would have had to run out there.

Not sure if that makes it a good deal, but I'm glad the Reds are finally taking some action, and I was never a big Pena guy.

rwperu34 · #46 03-20-2006, 05:54 PM

The Reds don't really make themselves better. They are going from Pena to Hatteberg in the offense and Paul Wilson to Bronson Arroyo in the rotation. If they do get better, it's only slightly. Add into that the fact that the Reds should be going after young talent and not dealing it away, and this deal reserves their seat on the short bus.

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"Signing Hatteberg was the key" to the deal, Krivsky said.

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Ouch. Looks like another ten years of futility in Cincy.

The only positive for the Reds is they get some cash. If they are willing to take GM lessons, they will be able to deal Arroyo and Harang for youth at the trade deadline.

From the Red Sox perspective, along with all the other positvies already mentioned, Willy Mo will give them an option in right next season when Nixon is a free agent, and possibly left when the anual Manny trade talks resume.

AllinOnDraw · #47 03-20-2006, 06:03 PM

A few people are mentioning it but it has been overlooked by the people who like the Reds side in this trade. Potential. The Red Sox give up a solid 3-4-5 guy for a guy with tremendous potential. Sure Arroyo might outperform Pena the next year or 2. There is the decent possibility that Pena could explode though. Theo is taking a shot and I admire GMs willing to do that, thinking about the team's long term vs. short term(just this year) future. Can we give Pena 500 ABs just to see what he does please?

Victor · #48 03-20-2006, 06:07 PM

gawd the reds are a bad franchise. what a shame.

Jack of Arcades · #49 03-20-2006, 06:22 PM

you and I have very diffent definitions of "awful," and "terrible" apparently. Austin's been a roughly average corner of for his career...

wisehandpoker · #50 03-20-2006, 06:30 PM

A friend who is more in the know than most told me he'd heard that this was the beginning of something bigger. Apparently, the Mets want Soriano badly and are willing to give up Lastings Milledge for him.

Jim Bowden wants Wily Mo in DC and is unwilling to trade within the division. He trades Soriano to the Sox, then Boston flips him to the Mets. Don't know if it'll go down, but the idea has a lot of merit.