Numbers Since “The Trade”

We are only about a week shy of it being two months, about a third of a season, since “The Trade”. Thought it would be a good time to look at the numbers of the players involved and see if we figure out how this deal is panning out. With “The Trade,” we believe it was Krivsky’s hope to solidify the Reds bullpen and defense, while hopefully not taking enough offense away from the club to allow the Reds to maintain their Wild Card playoff aspirations. We since know that the Wild Card is rapidly slipping away, for which the bullpen and a offensive slump are largely responsible.

First let’s lay out the numbers:

Reds/Nationals Trade July 13

Reds Acquire:
RHP Gary Majewski, Washington
LHP Bill Bray, Washington
SS Royce Clayton, Washington
INF Brendan Harris, New Orleans (AAA)
RHP Daryl Thompson, Vermont (SS)  

Name      TM  G    IP   H  R ER HR BB  SO W L SV HLD BLSV   ERA WHIP  OPSA
Majewski Cin 13  10.1  22 13 13  1  3   7 1 2  0   2    2 11.32 2.42 1.199
Majewski Was 46  55.1  49 24 22  4 25  34 3 2  0   6    5  3.58 1.34  .678
Majewski Tot 59  65.2  71 37 35  5 28  41 4 4  0   8    7  4.80 1.51  .776
Career      154 172.2 179 84 72  9 70 103 8 9  2  32   12  3.75 1.44  .724

Name    TM  G   IP  H  R ER HR BB SO W L SV HLD BLSV  ERA WHIP OPSA
Bray   Cin 22 22.1 29 14 11  2  8 18 2 1  2   2    1 4.43 1.66 .823
Bray   Was 19 23.0 24 11 10  2  9 16 1 1  0   1    0 3.91 1.43 .749
Career     41 45.1 53 25 21  4 17 34 3 2  2   3    1 4.17 1.54 .787

Name     TM  AB   R    H  2B 3B  HR RBI  BB   SO  SB CS  AVG  OBP  SLG  OPS
Clayton Cin 118  11   28   4  0   2   9   7   26   6  2 .237 .280 .322 .602
Clayton Was 305  36   82  22  1   0  27  19   53   8  3 .269 .315 .348 .663
Clayton Tot 423  47  110  26  1   2  36  27   79  14  5 .260 .306 .340 .646
Career     7153 909 1849 345 55 109 707 547 1356 229 98 .258 .313 .368 .681 

Name     TM  GP   GS   INN   TC   PO    A   E   DP FPCT   RF   ZR
Clayton Cin  30   27   240  120   44   72   4   11 .967 4.34 .784
Clayton Was  86   83   720  361  110  240  11   39 .970 4.37 .829
Clayton Tot 116  110   961  481  154  312  15   50 .969 4.37 .818
CareerSS   1974 1907 16793 8944 3012 5701 231 1186 .974 4.67 .851 

Name   Lvl  AVG  AB  R   H 2B 3B HR RBI BB  K SB CS  OBP  SLG  OPS
Harris AAA .300 367 59 110 28  1 10  60 40 85  5  2 .381 .463 .844

Name      Lg W L  ERA G GS   IP  H R ER HR BB SO GO/AO AVGA WHIP
Thompson NYP 0 1 6.75 4  4  6.2  5 5  5  0  5  8  0.86 .200 1.50
Thompson GCL 0 0 2.57 5  4 14.0 10 4  4  1  4 16  0.75 .222 1.00
Totals       0 1 3.92 9  8 20.2 15 9  9  1  9 24  0.79 .214 1.16

Nationals Acquire:
SS Felipe Lopez, Cincinnati
OF Austin Kearns, Cincinnati
RHP Ryan Wagner, Louisville (AAA)

NAME   TM  AB   R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO SB CS  AVG  OBP  SLG  OPS
Lopez Cin 343  55  92  14  1  9  30  47  66 23  6 .268 .355 .394 .749
Lopez Was 169  32  49   8  1  2  14  25  41 10  5 .290 .381 .385 .766
Lopez Tot 512  87 141  22  2 11  44  72 107 33 11 .275 .364 .391 .755
Career   2012 303 526 101 18 56 230 217 487 66 31 .261 .333 .413 .746 

Name   TM  GP  GS  INN   TC  PO    A  E  DP FPCT   RF   ZR
Lopez Cin  84  82  736  339  98  227 14  45 .959 3.98 .785
Lopez Was  39  39  329  143  51   83  9  17 .937 3.66 .752
Lopez Tot 123 121 1065  482 149  310 23  62 .952 3.88 .776
CareerSS  452 418 3764 1816 587 1155 74 232 .959 4.17 .816

NAME    TM  AB   R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO SB CS  AVG  OBP  SLG  OPS
Kearns Cin 325  53  89  21  1 16  50  35  85  7  1 .274 .351 .492 .843
Kearns Was 154  22  37   9  1  5  26  33  32  2  3 .240 .377 .409 .786
Kearns Was 479  75 126  30  2 21  76  68 117  9  4 .263 .360 .466 .826
Career    1747 270 463 101  8 76 289 239 444 22 10 .265 .360 .463 .823

Name    Lg W L  ERA  G SV   IP  H  R ER HR BB SO GO/AO AVGA WHIP
Wagner INT 1 3 6.34 35  1 38.1 55 29 27  3 14 28  2.32 .344 1.80
Wagner PCL 0 0 4.00  6  0  9.0  8  4  4  0  2  5  3.20 .250 1.11
MinorsTot  1 3 5.89 41  1 47.1 63 33 31  3 16 33  2.47 .328 1.67

NAME    TM  G    IP   H  R ER HR BB  SO  W L SV HLD BLSV  ERA WHIP OPSA
Wagner Was 13  18.0  18 12  8  3 11  12  3 2  0   1    0 4.00 1.61 .856
MajorsTot 121 137.0 146 80 70 16 67 113 11 6  0  27    5 4.60 1.55 .774

Majewski’s health concerns have been well documented, and could be pointed to in order to explain his total collapse since being acquired by the Reds. I really expect that he will rebound next season and pitch decently in middle relief. The combination of injury and playoff pressure spelled disaster for him.

Bray has also pitched a bit worse after he was obtained. As bad as the pen was before the trade, perhaps a 1.66 WHIP and an .823 OPSA are improvements. His youth and the playoff environment should explain his dropoff. Look for him to be a big part of our bullpen next season.

Interesting to note that Wagner, who absolutely reeked in AAA this season, has actually pitched as well for the Nationals since his recall as Bray has for the Reds. Don’t expect that to continue.

You’d have to say that the trade failed to stabilize the Reds pen for the stretch run as was hoped for when it was made. It’s very possible however that it will shape the Reds bullpen moving forward.

Royce Clayton has pretty much provided the Reds what they had hoped, more stability and consistency at a key defensive position. I don’t believe he’s been outstanding defensively at SS, but he has been an improvement defensively over the erratic defensive play of Lopez. Unfortunately, he is one of the worst hitting fulltime players in baseball, and he has more than lived up to that in his time with the Reds. Interestingly enough, the Reds have even begun to start Rich Aurilia over him at SS to get Aurilia’s bat into the lineup. We can only hope that Clayton will no longer be a Red after the season ends.

Lopez has continued to struggle, even worse, with his defense since the trade. Perhaps he is pressing to impress his new employers. He’s continued to be an above average offensive SS, though his decreased power this season has kept him from being amongst the better offensive shortstops. It will be interesting to see if he ends up playing 2B or 3B instead of SS as his career progresses.

Kearns has slumped a bit since joining the Nationals. He’s been more selective and his average and power numbers have dipped. But still overall, his .826 OPS makes him a solid everday righfielder and he has proven this season that he can withstand the daily rigors of a full season in the majors. He’s a very solid player and will be for years to come.

Offensively, the Reds gave up two average to above average everyday positon players for a half season of an abysmal hitting SS. Defensively they gained some consistency at SS.

For the minor league players included, Daryl Thomson appears to be a pitcher on the mend. Expect to see him at single-A Dayton next year, if healthy. Him becoming a major leaguer is a crap shoot at best. Brendan Harris intrigues me a bit. He had a nice little season at AAA, and it is not out of the realm of possibility that he could be in the running to be the Reds 2B next season should Brandon Phillips be moved over to SS. Harris could prove to be the best player we recieved in this trade.

Overall, considering immediate and expected long term gains from this trade, I’d have to say this is one of the worst trades I’ve seen the Reds make in recent years. We can only hope it will be the worst trade Krivsky makes as the Reds GM. The trade failed to address the immediate needs it was made for and weakened the team in the long term. I can’t fathom how the Reds ever thought it might be a good trade to deal two solid everyday position players for two middle relievers, a SS we didn’t need, and two questionable prospects. I think I can still hear Jim Bowden giggling as our playoff hopes are fading away.