Willingham traded to A's

[Post Count Padder]

Athletics acquired OF Josh Willingham from the Nationals for OF Corey Brown and RHP Henry Rodriguez.

Willingham is expected to start in left field next year for the A's and hit in the heart of the Oakland batting order. He had real injury problems during his time with the Nationals, but the 31-year-old has always been productive when healthy and still managed to finish the 2010 season with a strong .268/.389/.459 batting line and 16 home runs over 370 at-bats.

 

Nationals acquired OF Corey Brown and RHP Henry Rodriguez from the Athletics for OF Josh Willingham.

Brown, 25, was selected 59th overall by the A's in the 2007 MLB Amateur Draft. He posted a very strong .320/.415/.502 batting line in 386 plate appearances at the Double-A level in 2010, but his numbers fell flat in his first taste of Triple-A. Maybe that will change in the Nats' system.

 

Nationals acquired RHP Henry Rodriguez and OF Corey Brown from the Athletics for OF Josh Willingham.

Rodriguez, 23, registered a 4.55 ERA and 1.37 WHIP over 27 2/3 innings of relief this past year in Oakland. The hard-throwing right-hander should find a spot in middle relief on the Nationals' 2011 roster.

[RynoRules]

Damn it - figures Bean would see the value here. Willingham is vastly underrated.

[TruffleShuffle]

henry rodriguez is pitching now?

[NCCubFan]

If Javier Lopez can turn into a pitcher there's no reason Henry can't as well. :D

[Cubs Fan Dan]

That really is a good move for Oakland although he and Matsui as their "middle" of the lineup is far from desireable.

[Little Slide Rooter]

I wonder who the A's will trade him to in July.

[Northside Blues]

The A's will probably still be in contention in July.

[Northside Blues]

That really is a good move for Oakland although he and Matsui as their "middle" of the lineup is far from desireable.

 

I think they'll be fine on offense, especially if carter plays well. theyll be middle of the pack in the AL in runs, with an above average staff. should be enough to get them 85 Ws minimum. The Angels and Mariners arent going anywhere. The A's actually won 81 games last year and had a pythagorean win total of 85 and they have only improved. The Rangers will probably slip a bit. It's going to be a good race.

[Post Count Padder]

That really is a good move for Oakland although he and Matsui as their "middle" of the lineup is far from desireable.

Considering the middle of their order last year was Ryan Sweeney and Kurt Suzuki, I'd say this is a step up.

[Geech]

That really is a good move for Oakland although he and Matsui as their "middle" of the lineup is far from desireable.

 

I think they'll be fine on offense, especially if carter plays well. theyll be middle of the pack in the AL in runs, with an above average staff. should be enough to get them 85 Ws minimum. The Angels and Mariners arent going anywhere. The A's actually won 81 games last year and had a pythagorean win total of 85 and they have only improved. The Rangers will probably slip a bit. It's going to be a good race.

 

Is Carter actually playing anywhere? If Matsui is the DH, I don't see Carter pushing Barton from first. There isn't much room in the outfield after acquiring Willingham and DeJesus.

[Clem Fandango]

Is Daric Barton a good defensive 1B? Don't know much about his defense, but offensively he's basically Jack Cust but without the power. He's great at drawing walks and that's about it.

 

Carter is able to draw a lot of walks while providing serious power. I don't see why they wouldn't immediately move Barton in favor of Carter so long as he shows the ability to stick at the MLB level.

 

Barton's numbers would be great if he was a scrappy 2B, but he's not. He's a 1B and as a result, walk rate aside, his numbers are pretty uninspiring

[Geech]

According to fangraphs, Barton was worth 12.1 runs above average in the field last year, and he had a WAR of 4.9, higher than any Cub.

[Guest]

Barton's a failed catcher and UZR(or really, all advanced defensive metrics) are pretty useless for 1B. I wouldn't count on him realistically adding a win with his glove.

[Geech]

Fine, but Bill James' handbook still predicts him to be the better offensive player between the two next season.

[Clem Fandango]

Fine, but Bill James' handbook still predicts him to be the better offensive player between the two next season.

 

I wouldn't doubt that since Carter might not be read for the majors yet. And Barton isn't a bad hitter, per se, he's just not great for his position. Unless you have someone at a generally weak offensive position (like SS, CF, C, or 2B) providing big offensive production that would make up for Barton's lackthereof, there shouldn't be a reason not to move Barton as soon as Carter is ready for the bigs

[Geech]

Out of curiosity, though, why do you believe the advanced defensive metrics are all worthless for first basemen?

[Guest]

Out of curiosity, though, why do you believe the advanced defensive metrics are all worthless for first basemen?

 

They are extremely simplistic about how they grade the reception of throws at the bag. A problem only 1B have on a large enough scale to matter.