Why Trade

by alex cole on May 17, 2008 6:58 AM EDT

I have been reading through the list of possible corner outfielders that the Indians could possibly trade Sowers and some prospect for.

My question is why trade for a guy like Giles and not try to just sign Kenny Lofton again.

Here is his 2007 and career line:

SPLITS	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Season	136	490	86	145	25	6	7	38	56	51	23	7	.296	.367	.414	.781
Career	2103	8120	1528	2428	383	116	130	781	945	1016	622	160	.299	.372	.423	.794

Here is Giles

SPLITS	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Season	40	156	16	45	12	1	3	18	26	19	1	2	.288	.386	.436	.822
Career	1678	5894	1037	1724	371	51	276	1008	1096	771	107	45	.293	.404	.513	.917

They are really not that different so why give up a player,

If the goal is to get more of a power hitter....there is Barry Bonds still available. I do not like the idea of trading any of the Indians pitching depth right now when it is very likely that CC will not be an Indian next year and the Indians will probably need all the pitching that they have.

0 recs | Comment 8 comments

Story-email Email | Print |

Comments

Uh, this is about Delucci, not Giles vs. Kenny. Looch is already our left-handed hitting LF. Grady has CF locked down. Kenny isn’t suitable as a DH. Kenny can’t play third-base. Kenny can’t play second base. Kenny can’t close.

Giles is somewhat intriguing because he can play RF, and we’ve had a defecit at that position, and he hits LH whereas our other RFers are RH. But Giles, like Kenny, lacks power. Above all else we still need power.

If (God forbid) Delucci loses time to injury, then it might again be Kenny time.

by jhon on May 17, 2008 12:09 PM EDT 0 recs

Also! I’m a big Alex Cole fan.

by jhon on May 17, 2008 12:09 PM EDT 0 recs

wow, LGFT times 3!

by Brick. on May 17, 2008 1:12 PM EDT 0 recs

I think we’d have to look at more specific numbers here. First off, if we signed Kenny (I guess the move Dellucci to RF and play Kenny in LF vs. RHP.) he would be used in a platoon situation, because he had a .545 OPS vs. LHP last season in 109 PA, but had a .838 OPS vs. RHP or a 115 sOPS+ (OPS+ for the split relative to major league OPS for the split)

Kenny wouldn’t be the everyday outfielder, but would in effect be platooning in LF with Ben Fran.

Now Brian Giles, you are doing him quite a disservice by simply looking at non-park adjusted stats considering he plays the majority of his games in that mammoth park in San Deigo. So even though Brian Giles only had a .822 OPS last season, his OPS+ was 125.

Now looking at Gile’s last two seasons, you might have a point in that he had OPS+ of 109 and 107 respectively. I think a Loften/Ben Fran split can give us close to that in LF and a Gutz/Dellucci split can give us that in RF. Giles can give us that with one less roster spot being taken up though.

by hans on May 17, 2008 1:17 PM EDT 0 recs

I don’t find them to be that similar. Did you not notice the 124 point difference in career OPS? How is that similar, given that Lofton is even further past his prime? A 90-point difference in career slugging is massive, and the fact that Lofton stole 500 bases in the previous century doesn’t do us much good.

Giles is a legitimate RF, Lofton is not. Giles’ 2007 numbers are severely dampened by playing half his games in Petco, one of the most severe pitchers’ parks in the majors.

I agree that the team should (and will) consider the difference in the cost of acquiring via free agency as compared to a trade. It may well be that Giles isn’t worth acquiring via trade, but it’s definitely true that Lofton isn’t worth acquiring via free agency, even if it does cost less.

by Jay on May 17, 2008 5:21 PM EDT 0 recs

The point is, I do not think that Giles is that much better to give up good prospects at this time.

I think that Lofton can play right sufficiently. And if I had my choice between Lofton or Delluci I would put Lofton in the lineup every day over Delluci.

Just a preference…No stats to back that up

by alex cole on May 17, 2008 8:09 PM EDT 0 recs

Lofton’s arm is just adequate for LF at this point. You won’t find any contending club giving him even ten innings in RF this year.

I’ll let the Lofton/Dellucci preference pass, since you’re not claiming it’s rational. But you did bring up the question of relative cost, which is an important point to consider. Is your preference for Lofton considerable enough to be worth signing him, either taking up the roster spot or trading Dellucci (eating some of his contract), when we already have Dellucci for no extra cost?

by Jay on May 17, 2008 8:51 PM EDT up 0 recs