Good stuff from Baseball Prospectus:Wednesday's big news was a surprising deal in which the Yankees replaced Jorge Posada—who underwent surgery on his shoulder, ending his season—with Ivan Rodriguez, at a cost of Kyle Farnsworth. The price seemed light, given Farnsworth's "disappointment" label and his spot as about the fourth-best reliever in the Yankees' bullpen, and the name value and career accomplishment of the two players is as disparate as you'll find. Certainly, Rodriguez is an upgrade for the Yankees, for whom Jose Molina has been a hole in the lineup.When you look deeper, though, you can see that this trade isn't quite that special for the Yankees, although the price was right, and it wasn't that bad for the Tigers, who won't miss Rodriguez and were desperately in need of bullpen help. Consider that Rodriguez and Molina are very similar players in type: excellent defensive catchers with little speed, middling power, and a tendency to swing at everything. Molina hasn't hit lefties very well this year, but he has a fair track record of doing so—.268/.311/.405 for his career, and over .300 with good power since 2004. It is a skill he possesses, and in a platoon role, would be acceptable.Pudge has produced nine runs above replacement this season in 328 PAs, Molina five runs below in 218. Over the last two months, the offensive upgrade for the Yankees won't be worth more than that 14-run gap, and with the defense a wash, this trade is a one-win upgrade, not nearly enough to get excited about. Rodriguez makes the number-eight spot in the lineup a little better, especially against righties, but the idea that adding him is a coup is misguided, largely because he has a reputation and Molina doesn't. The skill sets are similar.The Yankees didn't really need a guy like Pudge. They needed a left-handed-hitting catcher with some OBP skills. Gregg Zaun, very available, would have been a strong platoon partner for Molina, getting him out of the starting lineup four days a week against the guys he can't hit, and giving the Yankees an OBP boost at the bottom of the order, while sacrificing defense for six innings each night. Now, not only do the Yankees get just that small upgrade at catcher, but they'll be wasting a roster spot on Molina; you don't need a backup catcher who is a writ-small version of your starter, you need a backup catcher who does the things the starter doesn't do. Carrying Molina will be a wasted roster spot for a team whose bench is already pretty sad.Farnsworth goes from a forgotten man behind Edwar Ramirez and Jose Veras, to a critical piece of the Tigers' puzzle. With Todd Jones and Fernando Rodney both imploding, and the ever-present danger that Joel Zumaya will turn up lame, Farnsworth moves into high-leverage innings in Detroit, quite possibly as the closer. He's the biggest winner in this trade: six weeks from hitting the market as a nobody, Farnsworth could turn 20 good innings and 15 saves into another long-term contract in an industry in which no one remembers anything but the last thing you did. He has a chance to shed the labels put on him going back to his time with the Cubs. Even if he doesn't quite cash in the chance, his ability to miss bats will make him a welcome addition in Detroit, and his struggles with the long ball could be masked by a home park that reduces home runs.The Tigers replace Rodriguez with Brandon Inge, completing the cycle in which Inge moved from catcher to utility guy to third baseman to utility guy and back to catcher. Inge can throw, he's a good receiver, and he hits and runs well for a catcher. The gap between what he is and what Rodriguez is thought to be is wide; the gap between what the two players are, however, is tiny, and a gamble well worth taking on an upside play for a bullpen leaking oil and dropping parts.
at "quality player".
at "quality player".
