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Red Sox acquire INF Jonathan Herrera for Morales, Martin
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Post by PedroKsBambino on Dec 18, 2013 13:57:24 GMT -5
Red Sox trade RP Franklin Morales and RP Chris Martin to Colorado for IF Jonathan Herrera per Ian Browne.
@ianmbrowne: Rockies MLB.com reporter Thomas Harding and I have confirmed that Franklin Morales is going to the Rox for Jonathan Herrera.
Ian Browne ?@ianmbrowne Prospect Chris Martin also going to Rockies in this trade.
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Post by jcn92 on Dec 18, 2013 14:03:04 GMT -5
Well Cherrington got that IF he wanted for the left side of the infield. Wonder who signs Drew now.
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Post by jmei on Dec 18, 2013 14:06:50 GMT -5
Thomas Harding ?@harding_at_mlb #Rockies close to reacquiring LHP Franklin Morales from #RedSox along with Minor League RHP Chris Martin. Details coming ..
Shame about Martin-- he was one of my favorite guys to follow up through the system.
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jimoh
Veteran
Posts: 3,982
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Post by jimoh on Dec 18, 2013 14:08:55 GMT -5
www.purplerow.com/2013/10/23/4948064/2013-colorado-rockies-player-reviews-jonathan-herrera"no pop, no speed and at age 28, he has likely reached his big league potential. What Herrera does bring to the table though is often overlooked. Solid defense at multiple infield positions and the ability to take good situational at bats." " Jeff Huson for one (take that for what it's worth) raves about how Herrera effects the clubhouse with his upbeat personality and constant smile. "
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Post by bmitchsox on Dec 18, 2013 14:10:04 GMT -5
Solid pickup considering Morales carries a fairly weak value. Herrera had a decent year hitting .292 with a .336 obp. He's supposed to be a decent defender who could play SS/3B/2B/OF. Has good hands, and a reliable but not amazing arm. Okay bat, but nothing to be excited about. More of a slap hitter.
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jimoh
Veteran
Posts: 3,982
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Post by jimoh on Dec 18, 2013 14:14:32 GMT -5
vid of nice play at SS mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130429&content_id=46149392¬ebook_id=46149398&vkey=notebook_col&c_id=colwww.purplerow.com/2013/2/25/4027408/monday-rockpile-a-surprising-jonathan-herrera-fact"Jonathan Herrera has been a polarizing figure here at [Rockies fan website" "Since April 9th, 2011, Jonathan Herrera has made 116 STARTS for the Rockies, and in those 116 starts, the Rockies are a .500 team. I've checked the math on this about eight times! 58 up, and 58 down. Meanwhile in the 202 games he didn't start, the Rockies went 75-127" [...] "Do the defensive metrics underrate Herrera? Is he even better with a glove than he's given credit for and silently helping the team win more games that way than anyone realizes? Does he make others around him better? Do pitchers feel more confident with him in the infield? Is the fact that he's a decent on base percentage threat enough to minimize his complete lack of power at the plate? Or is it possible that all of this, 100% of these "team records Herrera starts the game" stats are a fluke?"
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Post by GyIantosca on Dec 18, 2013 14:15:24 GMT -5
I knew it. Farrell lost faith in him. Not surprised at all.
I didn't see the MArtin move that sucks.
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Post by thelavarnwayguy on Dec 18, 2013 14:20:02 GMT -5
We originally got Morales from the Rockies didn't we? Heh, I'm ok with this deal but anyone with a live arm is worth a lot in this market. Not sure this was the best we could do. Other teams must have been spooked some by Morales lack of performance last year ( injuries mainly ) and his cost.
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Post by jmei on Dec 18, 2013 14:22:45 GMT -5
I'm pretty disappointed this was all they could get for Morales, especially since the Red Sox also threw in Martin (an intriguing relief guy with six years of team control left). Herrera is something like a Brock Holt clone-- makes contact, will take some walks, but no power and not a lot of upside (as was mentioned, he turned 29 in November). He does look like a better defender than Holt, appears to have one minor league option left, and is a switch-hitter who is better versus RHP (.271/.336/.331 (71 wRC+) career line versus righties, compared to .248/.295/.336 (58 wRC+) versus lefties). But I see him as the type of guy you claim off waivers, not give up two mildly valuable pieces for. ADD: Herrera is also arbitration eligible this offseason and is only under team control through 2015. MLBTR projects him to get $1.2m this year. So this move isn't even really a salary dump, as the Red Sox would only gain $600K in salary relief (Morales is projected to get $1.8m). If this is all Morales is worth on the market, I'd have preferred to keep him on the team through Spring Training as an injury backup. It's still just a really minor trade, but I really don't like it.
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Post by Gwell55 on Dec 18, 2013 14:24:38 GMT -5
www.purplerow.com/2013/10/23/4948064/2013-colorado-rockies-player-reviews-jonathan-herrera"no pop, no speed and at age 28, he has likely reached his big league potential. What Herrera does bring to the table though is often overlooked. Solid defense at multiple infield positions and the ability to take good situational at bats." " Jeff Huson for one (take that for what it's worth) raves about how Herrera effects the clubhouse with his upbeat personality and constant smile. " Doesn't look like he has an options left either. grrrrrrrrrrr
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Post by PedroKsBambino on Dec 18, 2013 14:26:31 GMT -5
Herrera isn't a free agent until after the 2015 season. This is his second year of arbitration
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Post by jmei on Dec 18, 2013 14:29:49 GMT -5
www.purplerow.com/2013/10/23/4948064/2013-colorado-rockies-player-reviews-jonathan-herrera"no pop, no speed and at age 28, he has likely reached his big league potential. What Herrera does bring to the table though is often overlooked. Solid defense at multiple infield positions and the ability to take good situational at bats." " Jeff Huson for one (take that for what it's worth) raves about how Herrera effects the clubhouse with his upbeat personality and constant smile. " Doesn't look like he has an options left either. grrrrrrrrrrr I *think* Herrera has an option left. He reportedly had options left as of March 2013, and he wasn't optioned to the minors in 2013, so he should still have at least that one option left.
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Post by JackieWilsonsaid on Dec 18, 2013 14:32:58 GMT -5
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Post by jimed14 on Dec 18, 2013 14:37:13 GMT -5
I'm pretty disappointed this was all they could get for Morales, especially since the Red Sox also threw in Martin (an intriguing relief guy with six years of team control left). Herrera is something like a Brock Holt clone-- makes contact, will take some walks, but no power and not a lot of upside (as war mentioned, he turned 29 in November). He does look like a better defender than Holt, appears to have one minor league option left, and is a switch-hitter who is better versus RHP (.271/.336/.331 (71 wRC+) career line versus righties, compared to .248/.295/.336 (58 wRC+) versus lefties). But I see him as the type of guy you claim off waivers, not give up two very mildly valuable pieces for. ADD: Herrera is also arbitration eligible this offseason and is only under team control through 2015. MLBTR projects him to get $1.2m this year. So this move isn't even really a salary dump, as the Red Sox would only gain $600K in salary relief (Morales is projected to get $1.8m). If this is all Morales is worth on the market, I'd have preferred to keep him on the team through Spring Training as an injury backup. It's still just a really minor trade, but I really don't like it. Isn't the problem with Holt is that he's a really weak option at SS? That's probably the most important ability a utility IF should have.
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Post by elguapo on Dec 18, 2013 14:45:10 GMT -5
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Post by jmei on Dec 18, 2013 14:46:38 GMT -5
Yeah, it's true that Herrera's ability to play a competent defensive shortstop (and 3B/2B to boot) while merely being bad and not awful with the bat has some value. And since Morales is pretty much a reliever-only type at this point of his career who only has one year of team control left and has been plagued with consistency issues, he probably couldn't have fetched anything more valuable (see, for instance, how cheap Badenhop came). So if the deal had been Morales for Herrera, I'd probably be OK with it.
But I kind of really liked Chris Martin, and I think he can be a decent 6th/7th inning guy. He's only got OK stuff with solid command, but he's an MLB-ready reliever who has all his options left. An up-and-down reliever like that is worth something to me, especially since he doesn't need to be added to the 40-man until you need him, and I think he's the real loss here.
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Post by jimed14 on Dec 18, 2013 14:48:09 GMT -5
Yeah, it's true that Herrera's ability to play a competent defense shortstop while merely being bad and not awful with the bat has some value. And since Morales is pretty much a reliever-only guy at this point and is a pretty inconsistent one to boot, maybe he didn't have a lot of trade value (see, for instance, how cheap Badenhop came). So if the deal had been Morales for Herrera, I'd probably be OK with it. But I kind of really liked Chris Martin, and I think he can be a decent 6th/7th inning guy. He's only got OK stuff with solid command, but he's an MLB-ready reliever who has all his options left. An up-and-down reliever like that is worth something to me, especially since he doesn't need to be added to the 40-man until you need him, and I think he's the real loss here. We probably had to throw Martin in because Morales might be a tad overpaid.
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Post by jmei on Dec 18, 2013 14:52:44 GMT -5
Yeah, it's true that Herrera's ability to play a competent defense shortstop while merely being bad and not awful with the bat has some value. And since Morales is pretty much a reliever-only guy at this point and is a pretty inconsistent one to boot, maybe he didn't have a lot of trade value (see, for instance, how cheap Badenhop came). So if the deal had been Morales for Herrera, I'd probably be OK with it. But I kind of really liked Chris Martin, and I think he can be a decent 6th/7th inning guy. He's only got OK stuff with solid command, but he's an MLB-ready reliever who has all his options left. An up-and-down reliever like that is worth something to me, especially since he doesn't need to be added to the 40-man until you need him, and I think he's the real loss here. We probably had to throw Martin in because Morales might be a tad overpaid. He's only going to get paid $600K more than Herrera in 2014 (per the MLBTR projections), and Martin is worth way more than that for me.
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Post by fenwaythehardway on Dec 18, 2013 15:07:55 GMT -5
vid of nice play at SS mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130429&content_id=46149392¬ebook_id=46149398&vkey=notebook_col&c_id=colwww.purplerow.com/2013/2/25/4027408/monday-rockpile-a-surprising-jonathan-herrera-fact"Jonathan Herrera has been a polarizing figure here at [Rockies fan website" "Since April 9th, 2011, Jonathan Herrera has made 116 STARTS for the Rockies, and in those 116 starts, the Rockies are a .500 team. I've checked the math on this about eight times! 58 up, and 58 down. Meanwhile in the 202 games he didn't start, the Rockies went 75-127" [...] "Do the defensive metrics underrate Herrera? Is he even better with a glove than he's given credit for and silently helping the team win more games that way than anyone realizes? Does he make others around him better? Do pitchers feel more confident with him in the infield? Is the fact that he's a decent on base percentage threat enough to minimize his complete lack of power at the plate? Or is it possible that all of this, 100% of these "team records Herrera starts the game" stats are a fluke?"Yeah, I'd say it's about 100% possible. And about 99.998% likely. Nice move consolidating some excess bullpen depth into a useful utility player.
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Post by jrffam05 on Dec 18, 2013 15:11:07 GMT -5
I look at this trade in two ways. One is Morales and Martin probably did not have a defined role on the 2014 team. We had an overstock on LHRP (Britton, Miller, Breslow, Morales) and Martin was probably nothing more than a DL call up.
The other side I think we might have undersold on Morales. I really think it all depends on how good of a defender Herrera is and how much value you put into Morales 2012/2013 season. An argument could Herrera is considered a good defensive SS who won't drive a terrible OBP it's a solid pickup.
Brian MacPherson tweeted:
Brian MacPherson ?@brianmacp 1h
Herrera trade doesn't preclude Drew returning, but then a move inevitably would be made with Middlebrooks. That'd be too many infielders. Collapse
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Post by jimed14 on Dec 18, 2013 15:32:15 GMT -5
Morales had turned from a possible starting pitcher into an injury prone LOOGY in the last year and a half.
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Post by fenwaythehardway on Dec 18, 2013 15:36:21 GMT -5
Morales had turned from a possible starting pitcher into an injury prone LOOGY in the last year and a half. I think oft-injured pitchers can sometimes appear to offer a level of upside that they don't really possess, because they're not actually on the field long enough to regress. I call this the Buchholz Principle.
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Post by charliezink16 on Dec 18, 2013 15:52:06 GMT -5
I don't like the idea of giving up Martin, considering he has all three options remaining and is on the cusp of the majors. He seems like the type of bullpen arm that Ben likes to store in AAA, so this trade surprises me a bit. But overall I like the move. I'm just not a fan of Morales at all, in fact I thought he was a potential DFA candidate. Unlike some here, I don't think you can view him as a starter anymore, and his control worried the hell out of me. From 2012 to 2013 his K% dropped from 23.4 to 18.8, his BB% rose from 9.2% to 13.4% and he gave up significantly more line drives.
Additionally, Morales is entering his Arb-3 year, so will be a free agent after the 2014 season. I see Drake Britton as a full-time reliever at this point so that puts Andrew Miller, Craig Breslow, and Britton ahead of him as LH's out of the pen. I agree w/ jmei that having Morales around for ST couldn't have hurt, but acquiring Herrera really fills a hole. He provides versatility (can play 3B, SS, 2B, & LF) and has (somewhat) better numbers against RHP's (.272/.337/.332/.669 career vs. RHP, .248/.295/.336/.631 career vs. LHP) which can only be a positive when your projected 3B, SS, & 2B are all RHH. It hurts to lose Chris Martin, but overall I like this move.
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Post by Chris Hatfield on Dec 18, 2013 15:54:25 GMT -5
Speier reports that Herrera has one option left. Looks to be the case at first glance.
Honestly, it's probably not an important enough move to get too excited or upset over. I also disagree with BMac regarding the Drew implications. They can just option Herrera and be right back where they started. Now, this probably puts the writing on the wall re: Drew, but if he's out there for really cheap, he could certainly come back if they want him.
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Post by thelavarnwayguy on Dec 18, 2013 16:14:24 GMT -5
It was almost a forgone conclusion that they would trade Morales. It's just a little surprising that he didn't get a better return but they probably held him out there for all takers and the fishing was dry. It might just solve the reserve infielder problem though, which was an issue.
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