The D'Backs made a very odd trade yesterday sending up and coming power hitter Matt Davidson to the Chicago White Sox for closer Addison Reed.
Davidson is coming off a AAA season where he hit .280/.350/.481 with 17 HR. In 87 PA with Arizona, he hit .237/.333/.434 with 3 dingers. He was blocked at 3B by Martin Prado, but Davidson will be just 23 yo and Prado can play multiple positions, so it was not an impossible situation to manage. Of course, Reno is a hitter's paradise so the D'Backs may have felt his AAA numbers were inflated.
Reed is a proven closer who will take over that role for the D'Backs. His record last year for the ChiSox was 5-4, 3.79, 71.1 IP, 23 BB, 72 K. He is a flyball pitcher who keeps his HR/FB low which is not ideal for the Arizona ballpark. Then again, the White Sox crib is not exactly pitcher friendly. His fastball velocity was reportedly down by two ticks at 93 MPH last year.
I'm not as convinced as some that Davidson will hit in the majors, but I'm not in love with Prado as a starting 3B either. The D'Backs needed a closer, but they gave up a lot and it's far from certain that Reed is going to hold up in the long run. This may pay off big time for the D'Backs in 2014, but could come back to bite them in the long run.
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Arizona seems to be putting everything on the table... maybe they felt the acquisition of Trumbo allowed them to part ways with Davidson. Reed doesn't seem too exciting, but 40 saves for a pretty young guy isn't too shabby either. Who knows how all of these moves will play out, but I can tell you one thing: Arizona is tired of hearing about the Giants and Dodgers. They're going for it, as is Colorado.
ReplyDeleteYup, it will be a very competitive division. Any team got weaker?
DeleteDavidson's K% was up around 27. After adding Trumbo and his high K rate, they may been encouraged to find the best possible deal for Davidson in order to keep Prado at third instead of right field.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the Diamondbacks are done either. They seem to be looking at Garza and the other available FA starters. I hope they don't sign Ubaldo Jimenez. That's a move that could track them ahead of the Dodgers. I was high on him for the Giants.
Every improvement for the DBacks makes the Giants' road a little bit tougher.
Interesting dynamic that the Saber sites all seem to think Towers is out of his mind, yet the consensus here is that he is loading up for a serious run.
DeleteOne other thing to note is that his defense at 3B is not good enough to stick. So if that is the case, he is blocked by Goldschmidt, and there's no way he is going anywhere.
DeleteMy guess is that the Dbacks don't think that he has much of a bat, and also don't think he can play third. If they are right, then they definitely win this trade.
Well, there's a story out there about Davidson getting hit in the face by a groundball that took a bad hop off a rock in spring training right in front of Towers and Gibby that may have sealed his fate in their minds.
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