Re: Jake Fox and Aaron Miles traded to Oakland for 3 prospects

[Guest]

Morla doesn't seem like much obviously, but Gray and Spencer straight up for Fox honestly doesn't seem too bad to me, if that was the entire deal. To lose Miles' and only have to pay a mill of his 2.7 is pretty damn strong as far as I'm concerned. Pretty good deal, all in all really......

I'm reasonably intrigued by Morla. His numbers were pretty darned good last year. Need to find out more about him, though, as that's pretty much all I know at this point.

[Post Count Padder]

Gray seems like a decent cheap reliever and the other two seem like they have some potential. That might not sound great, but it's awesome considering they took Miles off our hands. Thank you Billy Beane.

[Little Slide Rooter]

I'm curious....if you ignore the Miles part of this deal, would everyone still be happy with it? Fox for the 3 prospects?

 

I think so. Im glad Fox will go somewhere where he has a chance to play. Also, Fox is one of those guys that a lot of teams would be intrigued by, but hes not proven enough for them to give up anything of value. However, if the season were to start today, and assuming Baker was our starting 2B, we have 0 righty pop on the bench. Yeah, Blanco and Hill are switch hitters, but they dont exactly qualify as "pop"

[Post Count Padder]

Rotoworld on the guys we got:

 

Cubs acquired RHP Jeff Gray, RHP Ronny Morla and INF/OF Matt Spencer from the Athletics for 3B Jake Fox, 2B Aaron Miles and cash.

 

Gray finished the 2009 season with a 3.76 ERA, 1.29 WHIP and a 19/4 K/BB ratio in 26 1/3 innings of relief. The 28-year-old was a bit more impressive at Triple-A Sacramento, where he posted 1.54 ERA in 41 frames. He'll serve as a nice middle reliever for the Cubs in 2010.

 

Morla, 21, posted a 1-7 record, 4.86 ERA and 73/24 K/BB ratio in 63 innings (12 starts) at low Single-A in 2009. He could find his way to the big leagues in a few years as a middle reliever or setup man.

 

Spencer, 23, hit .289/.345/.488 with 19 home runs and 91 RBI in 488 at-bats this season between Single-A and Double-A. He's a left-handed hitter with decent pop, but doesn't project as an impact major league player.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Jake Fox-3B-Athletics Dec. 3 - 7:27 pm et

 

Athletics acquired INF/OF Jake Fox, 2B Aaron Miles and $1 million from the Cubs for RHP Jeff Gray, RHP Ronny Morla and INF/OF Matt Spencer.

 

Fox, 27, hit .259/.311/.468 with 11 homers, 12 doubles and 44 RBI in 216 at-bats this past season for the Cubs. He was buried on the depth chart in Chicago and should find more playing time in Oakland. That said, he's not much of an upgrade over Jack Cust at the DH position or Eric Chavez at third base. Oakland GM Billy Beane must be banking on another Chavez injury. The $1 million thrown in by the Cubs will help cover the remaining salary of the offensively- and defensively-inept Miles, who was basically a throw-in.

 

Aaron Miles-2B-Athletics Dec. 3 - 7:22 pm et

 

Athletics acquired 2B Aaron Miles, INF/OF Jake Fox and $1 million from the Cubs for RHP Jeff Gray, RHP Ronny Morla and INF/OF Matt Spencer.

 

Miles had a disastrous season for the Cubs in 2009, finishing with a .185/.224/.242 batting line in 157 at-bats. He also brings horrible range to every infield position and probably won't play a major role in Oakland next season. It's likely the Cubs demanded he be thrown into the deal.

 

 

Sounds like the folks at RW love Miles as much as we do.

[Rob]

Looking at what we got back, I'm willing to give this trade a big ole thumbs up.

 

And not that it was ever particularly likely he'd end up our starter at 1B next season anyways, but I'm very interested to see how the Cubs decide to handle the situation there after this season.

[Guest]

What does our 40-man look like now?

 

definitely taller, leaner, and more talented

 

Classic! :rotfl:

[cubsfan26]

From reading about Spencer he seems to be pretty simliar to Jake Fox. Even there numbers at the same age are simliar and they played at the same levels as well.

 

Fox at age 23(2006)

294/350/864-21 and 86 RBI between A and AA

 

Spencer at age 23(2009)

289/345/833- 19 HR and 91 RBI between A and AA

 

 

Both aren't great defensivly and I believe both were also 3rd round draft picks.

[toonsterwu]

I'm fine with this deal. Fox really didn't have a role here, and let's face it, we might have to put Burrell on the bench at some point. The 1.7 million saved on Miles is a key factor, since we are so tight with the financial aspect this offseason.

 

In return, we get a usable middle reliever (don't really buy Gray as a late inning type), an upper level positional asset (granted, I don't think Spencer is more than a Quad-A type, but he does have some pop and his bat could perhaps develop somewhat like Jake Fox's), and a very intriguing arm in Morla. Morla's a lanky, young guy who has some physical maturation left, throws strikes, throws in the low 90's with a good change. Some work to do, but it's an interesting package.

[dew1679666265]

Why trade Fox?

 

 

Why not, he's a future DH in the AL.

 

Because he doesn't hit well enough to cover up for his terrible defense? Is it that hard to understand?

 

Your comments describe Cust perfectly too. And I think Fox is better than Cust with his .239 career average.

 

Cust is actually probably the upside of Fox. Cust has a career .829 OPS, he's fairly valuable.

[Post Count Padder]

Why trade Fox?

 

 

Why not, he's a future DH in the AL.

 

Because he doesn't hit well enough to cover up for his terrible defense? Is it that hard to understand?

 

Your comments describe Cust perfectly too. And I think Fox is better than Cust with his .239 career average.

 

Cust is actually probably the upside of Fox. Cust has a career .829 OPS, he's fairly valuable.

But Cust's plate patience is much better than Fox's.

[SouthSideRyan]

Pretty happy with this. Not enamored with any of the 3 guys we got, but they're something.

[davell]

Morla doesn't seem like much obviously, but Gray and Spencer straight up for Fox honestly doesn't seem too bad to me, if that was the entire deal. To lose Miles' and only have to pay a mill of his 2.7 is pretty damn strong as far as I'm concerned. Pretty good deal, all in all really......

 

I totally agree with you, but we have to be careful saying something good about Hendry around here.

 

Hendry has lots of faults, but trading is probably his single biggest strength......

[davell]

Morla doesn't seem like much obviously, but Gray and Spencer straight up for Fox honestly doesn't seem too bad to me, if that was the entire deal. To lose Miles' and only have to pay a mill of his 2.7 is pretty damn strong as far as I'm concerned. Pretty good deal, all in all really......

I'm reasonably intrigued by Morla. His numbers were pretty darned good last year. Need to find out more about him, though, as that's pretty much all I know at this point.

 

 

I had glossed over his numbers and missed his K/9 honestly. Consider me reasonably intrigued as well, making the deal even a tad better than I had originally thought. :D

[sneakypower]

yessssssssss

[ISUCubsFan]

Pretty happy with this. Not enamored with any of the 3 guys we got, but they're something.

This. Well, this plus Miles isn't on the team anymore.

[dew1679666265]

But Cust's plate patience is much better than Fox's.

 

Right. I'd take Cust over Fox now, but with time Fox may develop into a similar player as Cust.

[Guancous]

I'd trade $1,000,000 for Miles' roster spot. Getting three prospects for Fox is intriguing too. Best of luck to Jake.

[toonsterwu]

Mayo's report makes Morla sound much better than I thought. Says 93-94 with a good slider.

 

http://minors.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/12/as-cubs_trade_prospects.html

[UMFan83]

Haha my friend said he played soccer and basketball in HS with him. The HS is near St. Louis and Gray grew up a big Cardinals fan yuck.

[TruffleShuffle]

good, [expletive] you miles. he should either be physically out of chicago by daybreak or be run out of town by an angry mob wielding pitchforks and torches.

[rocket]

beane must have owed hendry a favor something. or he's buttering him up now so he can screw us on a trade later.

 

wtg jim

[Rob]

Morla doesn't seem like much obviously, but Gray and Spencer straight up for Fox honestly doesn't seem too bad to me, if that was the entire deal. To lose Miles' and only have to pay a mill of his 2.7 is pretty damn strong as far as I'm concerned. Pretty good deal, all in all really......

 

I totally agree with you, but we have to be careful saying something good about Hendry around here.

 

Hendry has lots of faults, but trading is probably his single biggest strength......

 

It certainly is... but only when he chooses the right attributes to be focusing on. Nolasco, Pinto, and Mitre for one year of Juan frickin Pierre will forever haunt me.

[SweetZombieJesus]

beane must have owed hendry a favor something. or he's buttering him up now so he can screw us on a trade later.

 

wtg jim

 

J.P. Blevins and Mike Wuertz

[davell]

Morla doesn't seem like much obviously, but Gray and Spencer straight up for Fox honestly doesn't seem too bad to me, if that was the entire deal. To lose Miles' and only have to pay a mill of his 2.7 is pretty damn strong as far as I'm concerned. Pretty good deal, all in all really......

 

I totally agree with you, but we have to be careful saying something good about Hendry around here.

 

Hendry has lots of faults, but trading is probably his single biggest strength......

 

It certainly is... but only when he chooses the right attributes to be focusing on. Nolasco, Pinto, and Mitre for one year of Juan frickin Pierre will forever haunt me.

 

 

Yeah, that one by far was his worst. I guess, in a way, it's good to have a blip like that on your record though. If not, other GM's could get wary of dealing with you possibly. But, it was BAD, without a doubt.

 

The only other ones I can think of off the top of my head, were the Juan Cruz trade to Atlanta for that Pratt guy that made Ankiel look like a control pitcher. And the Maddux-Izturis debacle. Which I still wonder what prospects the Dodgers may have offered instead of Izturis......

 

And I guess tehcnically anyway, that Josh Hamilton was traded by us for cash, but I don't hold it against Hendry(as we weren't going to take him in the Rule V anyway, although it would be awfully damn nice to have him right about now obviously).