Ray Durham goes from San Francisco to Milwaukee in exchange for cash and prospects, details pending, per WGN radio. No word on any other Bay Area players (cough...Huston Street...cough) at this time.
Updated: More info here - Weeks is keeping the job (for now) and the prospects have been confirmed.
Durham and Jack Taschner have been subject of gone-to-Milwaukee rumors for a couple of day snow, but the relief pitcher apparently was not part of the deal. Just 20 minutes before the mention on Cubs' pre-game, MLB.com said Taschner could still be included, and mentioned Darren Ford and Steve Hammond as part of the package going to San Francisco.
A former White Sox, Durham has a career .787 OPS and is actually over that number so far in 2008. It is more OBP than SLG, as Ray has just three home runs this year. He's also walking a bit more than both 2007 and career numbers.
Hey, wow, the Cubs just hit two straight doubles. I must be watching a re-run.
Rickie Weeks has been the everyday second baseman for Milwaukee, with Craig Counsell as back-up. Weeks has made 77 of 97 starts for the Brewers. Rickie has an OPS+ of just 82, which is put to shame by Durham's 112. Still, it is hard to imagine Durham making a major difference.
10 comments:
Durham won't make much of a difference. I'm not a big fan of Weeks as I think he's been wildly overrated for years now, but he still has more potential than Durham. Durham is just more of a sure thing. Weeks was outstanding for a month or 2 down the stretch last year and is capable of having a stretch of 4-6 weeks of outstanding hitting. Durham probably isn't.
Overall it's a small upgrade, but not much at all. It makes sense from the Brewers standpoint if he becomes the everyday 2nd basemen and they flip Weeks for something else. I read last night that Durham would be the back-up and that the Brewers had no intention of trading Weeks. If that's the case it's barely an improvement at all and you lose the potential of dealing Weeks for perhaps something else you need.
You have to also realize that Rickie Weeks is probably the worst defensive player on the Brewers, which is no small feat. (Okay, so he's not the worst defensive player - shockingly enough that's a guy named Fielder. But Fielder at least is a hitter. Weeks is not a hitter or a fielder.)
But Durham is one of the few 2nd basemen actually worse than Weeks on defense.
so, the point of this trade was what, again?
I don't think Weeks is better than Durham on defense. Okay, lemme rephrase that - I don't think that we can assume that Weeks is better then Durham on defense. They're both past peak age for 2B defense, and Durham has been better than Weeks over the past several seasons.
This year's RZR and ZR data both favor Weeks, sure, but that very well could be a sampling issue. I have RZR mapped to IDs going back to 2004 now, and so I hope to do projections for RZR like I did for ZR.
pontif - I'm interested in your research, got a link?
Apparently the point of the trade, Harry, was to make a trade. Durham is an OK back-up, probably better than Counsell, but that's 3 horrible options at 2nd base. This may or may not improve them. The fact it's hard to even figure out how it improves them is enough to say it does not improve them much if it does.
Silly trade. Then again, this is Melvin doing the trading and he's not the brightest man around.
Brewer fan here, not to flame just explain. The point you're missing is that Durham is a SH, more importantly a solid LH bat. Something the Brewers have been lacking.
Although they're not saying it, I would expect a platoon between Weeks/Durham.
In any case, I don't know how you can say it's a meaningless trade. A LH bat with a career .352 OBP (385 this year.)
And we give up a journeyman AAA pitcher with no upside and a low minor leaguer who's not part of any future plans.
I understand Durham doesn't have the impact of a Sabathia or Hardin trade, but I wouldn't shrug it off as nothing.
I didn't mean to shrug it off as nothing, anon, and it is likely an improvement of some sort. And as you said, the Brewers didn't really give much up so who cares.
Put it this way, the Brewers just added veteran depth at a position where they are shaky, and it likely won't make or break their season, but it helps, and it was, essentically, a freebie. I think the pitcher is already 26, and Ford doesn't look like much of prospect, either.
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