Royal Rooters > AZ ships Valverde to HOU, acquires Haren in 8-player trade

Full Version: AZ ships Valverde to HOU, acquires Haren in 8-player trade

Royal Rooters > WE'RE TALKIN' BASEBALL > AROUND THE MAJORS

czar

Dec 14 2007, 07:56 PM

Big day for the D-Backs...

QUOTE

One of the best pitching staffs in the National League just got better.

The Oakland A's sent All-Star Dan Haren and prospect Connor Robertson to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday for pitchers Brett Anderson, Dana Eveland and Greg Smith, infielder Chris Carter and outfielders Aaron Cunningham and Carlos Gonzalez.

Haren will join a talented pitching corps that already includes Cy Young Award winner Brandon Webb and starters Doug Davis and Livan Hernandez that helped carry the D-backs to the 2007 National League Championship Series. Arizona also hopes to get Randy Johnson back from injury next year.

QUOTE

In a separate deal Friday, Arizona traded major league saves leader Jose Valverde to Houston for reliever Chad Qualls, infielder Chris Burke and right-hander Juan Gutierrez from the Astros.

ESPN

Red Sox Fan2

Dec 14 2007, 07:56 PM

QUOTE

PHOENIX -- The D-backs acquired pitchers Dan Haren and Connor Robertson from the A's in exchange for six prospects on Friday, and also dealt closer Jose Valverde to the Astros for pitcher Chad Qualls, infielder/outfielder Chris Burke and pitcher Juan Gutierrez.
Haren, 27, has won at least 14 games in each of the past three seasons for Oakland. Last year, he was 15-9 with a 3.07 ERA, he was 14-13 in 2006 and 14-12 in 2005.

Robertson appeared in three games for the A's last year, but had a good year at Triple-A Sacramento, where he was 4-1 with a 4.35 ERA in 31 relief appearances.

Included in the trade to Oakland are pitchers Brett Anderson, Greg Smith and Dana Eveland, along with outfielders Carlos Gonzalez and Aaron Cunningham and first baseman Chris Carter.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20...7&fext=.jsp

FourthBase

Dec 14 2007, 08:03 PM

The DBacks are going to mop up the NL if RJ is healthy.

Sox Sweep Again

Dec 14 2007, 08:09 PM

QUOTE(FourthBase @ Dec 14 2007, 06:00 PM)

The DBacks are going to mop up the NL if RJ is healthy.

Even if not, they should be okay.

Courtesy of Trotsky on UoTM, there's already an MLBTradeRumors.com analysis:

"Dan Haren Trade Analysis
The first domino fell tonight as an ace starter, Dan Haren, was dealt to the Diamondbacks for a bevy of prospects. I believe the D'Backs won this one. Let's dig into the details.

Take Haren, a horse of an American League pitcher, and throw him in the easier league. The D'Backs got themselves a bona fide ace to pair with Brandon Webb, and they get him for three years at a reasonable price. He makes a mere $16.25MM over 2008-10; he's worth at least three times that amount. (Arizona also gets 26 year-old reliever Connor Robertson, who hasn't really conquered Triple A yet.)

We've discussed 21 year-old first baseman Chris Carter recently; the D'Backs just acquired him for Carlos Quentin. Who knew it was setting up a Haren deal. He's a slow guy with massive power and plenty of strikeouts. He'll give High A ball a try in '08.

To balance out the immense value of Haren, the A's get six young players. Four of them represent the #1, 3, 7, and 8th ranked prospects on Baseball America's top ten for the team.

Carlos Gonzalez, 22, is the stud of the group. He can play right or center and has definite star potential. However, he's no lock to become Carlos Beltran or Jeff Francoeur.

Southpaw starter Brett Anderson turns 20 in February. He's more about polish and command than stuff, and is a curious guy to be the main pitching prospect in the Haren deal. He'll try to tackle Double A in 2008.

Outfielder Aaron Cunningham turns 22 in April. He's one of those guys who doesn't do anything poorly but isn't great at any one skill either. Baseball America thinks he'll become a solid fourth outfielder.

24 year-old southpaw Dana Eveland came to Arizona along with Doug Davis. He's drawn David Wells comparisons and has proven himself in the high minors. He missed a lot of '07 with a torn tendon in his pitching hand.

Greg Smith is a 24 year-old southpaw starter with a good curveball and mediocre fastball. His strikeout rate was just 5.85 per nine at Triple A in '07.

I'm surprised Billy Beane didn't get more "sure thing" young players for his best trading chip. Gonzalez will probably pan out, but he really needed a high octane near-MLB young gun starter too and he didn't get it. Josh Byrnes gets an ace without giving up anyone he needed in '08."

Okay, this should speed up Santana. At one point, I thought Santana would go first and Haren would be the Consolation Prize.

scapegoat mo

Dec 15 2007, 04:27 PM

QUOTE(Sox Sweep Again @ Dec 14 2007, 07:06 PM)

Okay, this should speed up Santana. At one point, I thought Santana would go first and Haren would be the Consolation Prize.

If that's all it took to get Haren, we might be offering too much for Santana.

RedSoxExtraInnings

Dec 25 2007, 09:56 PM

MLB.com says that the Red Sox got Carter.

czar

Dec 25 2007, 10:27 PM

QUOTE(RedSoxExtraInnings @ Dec 25 2007, 09:53 PM)

MLB.com says that the Red Sox got Carter.

Different Chris Carter.

The Chris Carter (25) on the Sox (traded in the WMP deal).

The Chris Carter (21) now in Oakland (traded in the Haren deal).

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