Kevin Kouzmanoff to Oakland

[Little Slide Rooter]

Athletics To Acquire Kevin Kouzmanoff

By Tim Dierkes [January 15 at 7:44pm CST]

7:44pm: Slusser tweets that the minor leaguer going to Oakland is infielder Eric Sogard. Baseball America ranked him as San Diego's 17th best prospect coming into the 2009 season, though that was before he hit .293/.370/.400 with more walks (58) than strikeouts (47) in Double-A.

 

5:57pm: The Athletics have reached an agreement with the Padres to acquire third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff and a minor leaguer for outfielder Aaron Cunningham and another player, MLBTR has learned from a source close to the Padres. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle confirmed that the A's are sending Scott Hairston to San Diego along with Cunningham (via Twitter). The players still need to pass physicals.

 

Kouzmanoff, 28, hit .255/.302/.420 in 573 plate appearances for the Padres last year. He's arbitration-eligible for the first time. His glovework grades out as slightly above average, according to UZR/150.

 

Cunningham, 24 in April, spent most of '09 at Triple A where he hit .302/.372/.479. ESPN's Jerry Crasnick mentions in a tweet that Cunningham recently underwent surgery for a sports hernia, so his physical is more than just a formality. This is Cunningham's third time being dealt. Hairston, 30 in May, was traded by the Padres to the A's in July. Now he's headed back to San Diego. He hit well with the Padres last year but struggled with the A's. He's arbitration-eligible for the second time.

 

Our apologies for initially naming Gio Gonzalez as part of this deal.

 

Kouz may not be a superstar, but he was one of the few guys resembling a major league baseball player left on that team. The Pads need to hope some team is willing to empty out their farm system for Bell and Gonzalez because they are years away from resembling anything close to a major league ball club. Im surprised they havnt contacted Lou Brown to be their next manager yet.

[Clem Fandango]

I would imagine as a player to be traded from one team only to be traded back to that team a year later really makes you feel like crap

 

For some strange reason though Scott Hairston seems to be really productive, power wise, playing for San Diego, which is odd.

 

Career with San Diego = 35HR in 610AB

Rest of Career = 34HR in 1046AB.

 

Weird

[Post Count Padder]

Apparently, Hairston found out about the trade by reading MLBTR. Oh how the times have changed.

[Backtobanks]

Hairston would have been a decent pickup as a 4th OF/platoon.

[TruffleShuffle]

here's a nice photo of kevin:

 

http://images.gaslampball.com/images/admin/kouz_kiss.jpg

[Little Slide Rooter]

With the addition of Kouz and the re signing of Jack Cust, I wonder what that will mean for Jake Fox. does he have any options left?