Dempster Traded to Texas for 3B Villanueva & RHP Hendricks

[RynoRules]

Exactly. If he puts up a .260/.340/.450 line you can probably live with it assuming his defense is as good as advertised.

Hopefully the patience will develop. You can't count on the HBP to continue holding up his OBP like that in the future.

 

True. I forgot about that.

[Guest]

I like it. Positional depth is key to building a winning machine.

 

It's so nice to have a FO to believe in.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

The Rangers have just announced that Feliz needs TJS. They were motivated to make a deal.

 

Rangers will move Oswalt to the pen to make room for Dempster.

[Guest]

Baseball America Trade Central[/url]"]Christian Villanueva, 3b

 

The Rangers are loaded at third base with Adrian Beltre in the majors and stud prospect Mike Olt in the minors, which made the well-regarded Villanueva expendable. Signed out of Mexico, he ranked No. 100 on our Top 100 Prospects list entering the season. Villanueva has a broad base of tools that include a solid bat, potential average power, fringe to average speed with good instincts on the bases and standout defense with soft hands and a strong arm at third base. He's just 21 and in high Class A, so he still needs time to develop. He'll have to tighten his strike zone, and some scouts question if he'll grow into enough power to be a big league regular at third base.

 

Kyle Hendricks, rhp

 

Hendricks has had a fine season with Myrtle Beach, as detailed in a recent BA Prospects Blog post. He throws an upper-80s two-seam fastball, a four-seamer that bumps 92 mph and mid-80s cutter to go with a curveball, slider and changeup. None of the pitches grades as plus, but he has feel for his craft and for the strike zone. He ranked second in the Carolina League in ERA, WHIP and innings as well as third in strikeouts, while leading the league in walk ratio (1.0 per nine innings). At a listed 6-foot-2, 165 pounds, he has room to get bigger and stronger.

[AlwaysaCub]

Baseball America Trade Central[/url]"]

 

Kyle Hendricks, rhp

 

Hendricks has had a fine season with Myrtle Beach, as detailed in a recent BA Prospects Blog post. He throws an upper-80s two-seam fastball, a four-seamer that bumps 92 mph and mid-80s cutter to go with a curveball, slider and changeup. None of the pitches grades as plus, but he has feel for his craft and for the strike zone. He ranked second in the Carolina League in ERA, WHIP and innings as well as third in strikeouts, while leading the league in walk ratio (1.0 per nine innings). At a listed 6-foot-2, 165 pounds, he has room to get bigger and stronger.

 

Dude needs to eat his wheaties

[neely crenshaw]

Bottom line is we need as many prospects as possible.

Just because we like them and what they are doing in the minors, it does not translate into making it in the bigs. Having two guys at a position with a similar arrival time line greatly increases that the chance that someone works out. It also gives us chips to someday sell off to fill in the spots we haven't been able to develop.

 

After the play by Dempster, anything good that we got is a bonus because we may have been looking closely at draft pick or even worse Dempster excepting the offer and coming back again.

 

The talk today was to simply forget the Delgado part when evaluating the deal. Delgado was a "mistake" by the Braves and although we could have pulled it off, when that fell through it would be a disservice to count on that type of value showing up again.

Edited July 31, 2012 by neely crenshaw

[A New Era]

The overall dissapointment is Delgado and not getting a haul to squeeeeeel over for Garza. If you take all that aside these 2 guys are intriguing and a good value return for Dempster. We just don't have an OMG Olt! OMG Snydergard! to squeel over.

 

On the plus side, we still have Garza + some nice additions to the farm system.

[davell]

Syndergaard's not the OMG guy for Toronto, as far as pitching goes, it'd be Sanchez.

[illiniguy]

I wanna lol one more time at the dodgers. Thought you had Theo bent over on that Dempster deal. Ha.

[davell]

Honestly, I think the Dodgers played that pretty smart in their own right. Dempster's probably going to regress the rest of the season(especially now though in Texas).

[Rob]

Signed out of Mexico in 2008, the 21-year-old Villanueva is one of those players whose greatest strength might be a lack of weaknesses. He has a good idea at the plate and a quick bat; he uses all fields and projects as a .280 hitter in the big leagues. He has gap power now, and scouts believe that will turn into solid average power down the road as he fills out, with 15-20 home run potential. He's a good athlete and an average runner, and an easy plus defender with a strong arm. He's a bit on the small side at 5-foot-11, which hurts his projection, but he looks like he should be a solid-average everyday third baseman if his development stays on track.

 

An eighth-round pick in 2011 out of Dartmouth, Hendricks has had a successful full-season debut, with a 2.82 ERA and a remarkable 112-to-15 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 130.2 innings for High-A Myrtle Beach. Based on those numbers, it's no surprise that some feel he has the best control in the system. That's also his best asset, as his below-average fastball sits at 86-90 mph with a bit of life, and his arsenal is no more than average across the board. He succeeds by throwing strikes and changing speeds, and it will be a challenge for him to find the same success at the upper levels while lacking an out pitch

 

I'm starting to think Theo has a type.

[toonsterwu]

My quick thoughts (haven't read anything here, so I'm guessing a lot of what I'll say has been said):

 

Overall .. okay.

 

If someone had told me that, at the start of this "process", a Dempster rental would net a borderline top 100 guy at a position of weakness in the system, I'd be pleased. Villanueva probably gets put with Baez, pushing Geiger to a 1st/corner OF role, which is a better fit for Geiger.

 

I'm not that excited about Hendricks, but he sounds like an arm that can fit in the upper levels.

 

It's only a disappointment because of what we knew could've been with the Delgado deal, but then again, that was always a possibility. I'm a bit annoyed with Dempster, after giving him the benefit of the doubt for awhile, for hamstringing the Cubs until the last second basically. He had to know that by playing the position he played, the Dodgers weren't going to give a decent offer (I mean, I can sort of understand the Dodger's keeping Webster off limits ... but Reed?)

 

I wonder if the Dodgers offered Martin/Lindblom for Dempster. That would've gotten my attention a tiny bit.

[toonsterwu]

Syndergaard's not the OMG guy for Toronto, as far as pitching goes, it'd be Sanchez.

 

I like Sanchez a lot, but I'm worried that he's headed for the pen long run. His raw stuff is better than Syndegaard's (probably), but I'm not yet convinced that he'll have the command/consistency to be a quality, top level starter.

[XZero771679666304]

Honestly, I think the Dodgers played that pretty smart in their own right. Dempster's probably going to regress the rest of the season(especially now though in Texas).

 

Yeah, but they seem to be going "all in" and their rotation after Kershaw is less than inspiring. I think they needed a SP.

 

I think they might have thought the Rangers/Yankees stuff was just a bluff until it was too late.

[Warpticon]

Syndergaard's not the OMG guy for Toronto, as far as pitching goes, it'd be Sanchez.

 

On the other hand, Syndergaard is a way cooler name than Sanchez.

[Little Slide Rooter]

I remember a few weeks ago when it was said that we'd probably get one of somebody's Top 10 plus 1-2 other pieces. Then came the talk of Zach Lee and the Delgado deal, and with it delusions of grandeur. Well, we got someone's Top 10 and another piece.

[GvilleCub]

(You may mix in a hummable tune for the 1st two stanzas at your option)

 

Ding Dong the Dumpster’s GONE! Can it be? Yes, he’s GONE!

Ding Dong the dumpy, Dumpster’s GONE!

 

You tried and tried to hold us up. Bend us over. Lather us up.

But rejoice sucklers you may now wake up!

 

(Continue with grave solemnity.)

 

I now declare you to be, with no hint of sentimentality,

That you are most morally and ethically,

Spiritually and physically,

Positively and absolutely,

Undeniably and reliably

 

G...O…N...E… GONE!

 

Good riddance, loser! And don’t come back! Please?

 

And to our newest Cubs, WELCOME!!!

[A New Era]

Honestly, I think the Dodgers played that pretty smart in their own right. Dempster's probably going to regress the rest of the season(especially now though in Texas).

 

Plus they didn't even really want him. So how anyone can say it's a loss for the Dodgers I do not know. Ok we probably don't want a SP and some team wants us to give them our #2 pitching prospect, lol.

[bcl412]

(You may mix in a hummable tune for the 1st two stanzas at your option)

 

Ding Dong the Dumpster’s GONE! Can it be? Yes, he’s GONE!

Ding Dong the dumpy, Dumpster’s GONE!

 

You tried and tried to hold us up. Bend us over. Lather us up.

But rejoice sucklers you may now wake up!

 

(Continue with grave solemnity.)

 

I now declare you to be, with no hint of sentimentality,

That you are most morally and ethically,

Spiritually and physically,

Positively and absolutely,

Undeniably and reliably

 

G...O…N...E… GONE!

 

Good riddance, loser! And don’t come back! Please?

 

And to our newest Cubs, WELCOME!!!

 

I was hoping the GvilleCub reaction to the trade would be better than this. Sad.

[Guest]

Villanueva probably gets put with Baez, pushing Geiger to a 1st/corner OF role, which is a better fit for Geiger.

Villanueva has been at A+ all season.

[toonsterwu]

Villanueva probably gets put with Baez, pushing Geiger to a 1st/corner OF role, which is a better fit for Geiger.

Villanueva has been at A+ all season.

 

 

ah, thanks. for some reason, i thought he was in A ball.

[Shilzzz]

in the end, the cubs net a couple top 100 prospects, along with a couple of other arms who figure to floor as fringe major leaguers. vizcaino is obviously not a starter any longer, so his stock drops considerably, but the likelihood of a late innings guy all but seemingly guaranteed; villaneuava (sp) has the glove to play above average 2nd or 3rd and what sounds like a work ethic and intelligence to live up to his talents; hendricks is not only named after the most delicious gin in the world but went to dartmouth, (the front office is really pushing these smart leader type of players)... in the end the cubs are long term improved, and also it's my slight hope that dumping a few of these better players positions the cubs better in next years draft, also, as july saw the team go from one of the top 2 picks to around the 6 spot. maybe it's not ethically proper to be crappy, but the difference between 4 spots that high in the draft can be one between a hall of famer and an average every day player. #kanyeshrug

[XZero771679666304]

I think it's probable that Vizcaino is a reliever long term, but I don't think it's a given yet. His elbow was an issue for a while before his TJS, and I think giving him another shot to start once it's recovered would be reasonable.

 

On a related note, when are the other guys getting their assignments?

[tgkimmel]

Keith Law

After much speculation, Ryan Dempster was finally traded just moments before the trade deadline. In the end, he was sent to the Texas Rangers, and the Chicago Cubs received prospects Christian Villanueva and Kyle Hendricks in exchange.

 

Dempster isn't an ace, but he will give the Rangers quality innings.Dempster could easily be worth two wins to Texas through the end of the season over what the Rangers would have gotten from the shattered remains of Roy Oswalt, which are being vacuumed off the Ballpark at Arlington mound as I write. That said, Dempster has been extremely lucky this season in several areas that are not actual skills, from a .245 batting average on balls in play to an extraordinarily high strand rate, and he has the worst ground ball rate of his career.

 

However, he has two strong offspeed weapons in a mid-80s slider that he throws for strikes (and throws quite often) and a low-80s splitter that functions like a hard changeup with some late tumble to keep hitters from elevating it. He's good enough to start a playoff game for Texas, but I don't think he's the No. 1 starter for which many Rangers fans were clamoring -- even though the team is four games up in the loss column and didn't need to pay that kind of price.

 

The Cubs' leverage to move Dempster was limited by his 10-and-5 rights, allowing him to veto any potential trade, and his impending free agency, so acquiring a solid prospect in Villanueva is a reasonable return. A third baseman, Villanueva was hopelessly blocked in the Rangers' organization, where Mike Olt can't even find a place to play because of Adrian Beltre, but he does have major league potential as a plus defender with doubles power. He's a below-average runner and is not patient, which means he'll fit right in with most of the Cubs' other offensive prospects. He turned 21 in June and put up a .285/.356/.421 line this year for high Class A Myrtle Beach, which has one of the toughest parks for hitters in the minors.

 

Hendricks is more of an organizational starter, 87-89 mph with an average cutter and changeup and below-average curveball but good command and a repeatable delivery and arm action. The right-hander could surface as a fifth starter, but his stuff is probably too fringy for that.

 

The Cubs' haul from the trades of Dempster, Paul Maholm, Reed Johnson and Geovany Soto over the past few days netted one major prospect in Arodys Vizcaino, who once healthy will be the best pitching prospect in their system, as well as a solid quantity of organizational prospect depth. They also still have Matt Garza, a valuable trade asset because he's both effective and under control for 2013, and who should return at least one above-average prospect in a trade this offseason.

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/blog/_/name/law_keith/id/8219802/ryan-dempster-gives-texas-rangers-some-much-needed-reliability-rotation-mlb

[Little Slide Rooter]

(You may mix in a hummable tune for the 1st two stanzas at your option)

 

Ding Dong the Dumpster’s GONE! Can it be? Yes, he’s GONE!

Ding Dong the dumpy, Dumpster’s GONE!

 

You tried and tried to hold us up. Bend us over. Lather us up.

But rejoice sucklers you may now wake up!

 

(Continue with grave solemnity.)

 

I now declare you to be, with no hint of sentimentality,

That you are most morally and ethically,

Spiritually and physically,

Positively and absolutely,

Undeniably and reliably

 

G...O…N...E… GONE!

 

Good riddance, loser! And don’t come back! Please?

 

And to our newest Cubs, WELCOME!!!

 

I was hoping the GvilleCub reaction to the trade would be better than this. Sad.

 

I wouldn't' be surprised if he's had it saved up for years.