by Ben Davey
In case anyone didnt see this Hacksaw, MLBTR, and a few other sources are saying the Padres sent 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff to the A’s for former Padre Scott Hairston and Aaron Cunningham. I guess a prospect is also being sent the A’s way but I will take a wild guess and assume its not going to be a top prospect. Maybe someone like Chad Huffman or a low level prospect
To me this is a good move by the Padres. Adding Hairston and Cunningham to the OF rotation will help out a lot defensively (especially considering no more Headley in the OF). Also we already know Scotty can help offensively which will hopefully make up for the loss of Kouz.
I dont know much about Cunningham, but he seems to draw a lot of comparisons to recently DFA’d outfielder Eric Byrnes. He has not had much success playing limited time in the majors the past 2 seasons. He is only 23 (turns 24 in April) and put up .309/.382/.493 averaging about 25 SB and 20 HR for a full season. Baseball Reference has him playing all 3 OF positions, mainly RF and CF the past couple years.
Just based on the little knowledge I know of the prospect and of course of Scotty I think its a good trade by the Padres
More links Bleacher Report
SF Gate
Cunningham is supposed to be a promising player and I like the idea of moving Headley to third permanently. My problem is that the national media seems to think that every arbitration eligible player on the padres is rumored to be on the trading block. Bell fine, but I don’t want to hear about Headley being traded when he hits arbitration.
Pad fans shouldn’t forget that we also have THREE promising 3b in the minors and now Headley back at 3rd (where he should be) makes it 4. This gives the management a great opportunity to see what Headley can be at 3b and if it isn’t great…they can ship him out also. But the other 3 won’t be ready for 1-2 yrs at the earliest so we should get a good look at Chase. I like the trade.
Writing up my analysis of the deal right now … not sure I particularly like this one, but I think it may be a fair deal. A’s had a logjam in the outfield, Padres had one at third, so it makes a lot of sense.
Kouz is probably the most valuable player in the deal, but it might be up to Sogard vs. Cunningham to decide who wins this one. Cunningham is probably the better prospect, but I’m not sure Sogard is that far behind.
Myron-I’m curious to see your analysis. I just posted mine, concluding that this deal was a “serious win for the Padres.” That conclusion was based on my belief that Cunningham is vastly superior to Sogard. Obviously if you do not accept that assumption, your conclusion may be vastly different.
Hah — just glanced at your post, and thought it was mine. We have similar takes, I think, at least in general (still have to actually read yours). I think I will sit on mine until tomorrow …
Anyway, I came to the conclusion that Kouz is quite a bit more valuable than Hairston, mainly due to an extra year of control. But I also think that neither of those two guys are that important in the big scheme of things.
So, yeah, it comes down to Sogard and Cunningham, to a large degree. I think Cunningham is probably a better prospect, just not sure by how much (okay, lemme read your post now …).
One other aspect of the trade the Padres were headed for a bit of a logjam in AA and AAA with Sogard, Antonelli, Zawadzki, Forsythe and Darnell.
For 2b/SS prospects I think Zawadzki is clearly the best bet and the frontrunner to take over for Eckstein next year. The trade of Sogard also allows them to give Antonelli his third shot in AAA – and allows Forsythe to Portland and Darnell at San Antonio at 3b.
I liked Sogard quite a bit, but he is limited to 2b and the organization had some concerns about his defense and range.
I completely agree with John. I have heard a lot of criticism about the Padres trading Sogard when we “dont have 2B depth,” but I think the deal clears up a log jam at 2nd and gives the Padres an opportunity to move Forsythe to 2nd (if need be). I would not at all be surprised to see Zawadzki as the Padres starting 2nd by the all star break or at the very least September.
I like the trade and think if Cunningham is given a chance (which I will guess he will since why else would Hoyer trade for him) he might surprise us all and take the starting RF job away from Venable so we see Hairston and Venable platoon in CF
Do you think Cunningham is going to be on the big club’s roster next year? Right now I count 6 OF (Blanks, S Hairston, Gwynn, Venable, J Hairston and Salazar) on the roster, and while Salazar’s pretty replaceable, I can’t see enough playing time for all those guys, especially since Blanks needs to play every day and Venable needs to prove he can play.