The A’s traded Juan Cruz to Arizona for Brad Halsey today. At first glance, it’s a bit of a head-scratcher. Does this really improve the A’s?
You look at Juan Cruz, with his impressive stuff, and his dominant numbers in AAA, and you think he should be a star. You hate to give up on him. But with the exception of one good year in Atlanta, it hasn’t happened. He’s been hit pretty hard in the majors. He’s 27 now, and there isn’t room for him on the A’s roster. His trade value probably isn’t going to get any higher than it is right now.
So the A’s get Brad Halsey, who has some advantages over Cruz:
- He’s two years younger than Cruz.
- He has more options remaining than Cruz.
- He’s cheaper than Cruz.
- The A’s will control his rights longer than Cruz.
- He might be a better pitcher than Cruz.
- He’s more left-handed than Cruz.
If the A’s do have an opening on their 25-man roster, it’s for a left-handed relief specialist. Halsey has been a starter, but he does has some pretty nifty career numbers against left-handed batters: a .245 batting average against, and a 1.14 WHIP. If they decide not to use him as a reliever, he provides pitching depth at Sacramento, and another option to replace Barry Zito when he departs to free agency next year.
PECOTA projects Halsey to be worth about four more wins over the next five years than Cruz. Here’s a comparison of their projected Wins Above Replacement Player:
Year Cruz Halsey 2006 1.5 2.9 2007 1.7 2.7 2008 1.5 1.9 2009 1.2 1.8 2010 0.9 1.7 Total 6.9 11.0
Halsey’s not a great talent, but he is a useful role player. With this trade, the A’s get a better, younger, cheaper player who can potentially fill more roster holes for the A’s than the player they lose. Unless Cruz suddenly matures into the player people thought he could become but never did, what’s not to like?
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Just as I type this, Frank Thomas hits a monster home run in his second Cactus League AB. What’s not to like?
1. I think I'd like better numbers against lefties from my lefty specialist. Those are fine, but if you're going to waste (in my opinion) a spot on a guy who's only going to face on kind of hitter, then that guy better be really good at his job.
2. It's a pretty small sample size, only about 40 IP, so I don't know what Halsey's true talent level is against left-handed batters. Is there anywhere you can get minor league splits?
3. Yankee fan here. I really liked Halsey, but, naturally, he never got a real shot in pinstripes. He seems to have solid #3 or #4 starter stuff, he's a lefty, he's young, and he's pretty much unflappable out there on the mound in tough spots. IMO, solid move by Beane.
4. I like the trade, but it only just begins to make up for the highway robbery that was the Hudson deal. Has there been any sign of life from Meyer this spring?
5. Meyer has indeed been better this spring. Better velocity, better command, better results. He'll spend the summer in Sacramento and see if the shoulder has fully healed, and if he can regain his old top prospect status.
6. I've yet to stumble across minor league splits freely available anywhere. It's a huge gap in our available knowledge, IMO.
But you're right that ~120 lefty batters faced isn't much of a sample.
At the Baseball Cube, by the way, I discovered that Halsey pitched for UTexas in 2002, along with Huston Street.
7. A's draftees Omar Quintanilla and Dustin Majewski were also on that team.
8. Was Jeremy Brown on that team too?
9. Jeremy Brown went to Alabama.
10. I played ball with Brad in HS....and wrote about it when he got the call with the Yanks....
http://tamu-and-baseball.com/archives/arch20040620.html#halsey2
a quasi-look at him beyond the numbers
11. oh, and Brad didn't pitch in the CWS for texas, although he started a good portion of their Friday night games because he was hurt....I can't remember his injury but it wasn't anything that has bothered him since
12. Fantasy question to A's fans from a Dodger fan:
Is Dan Johnson platooning and what kind of numbers do you predict for him this year?
Thanks a lot in advance!
13. Sorta, kinda platooning, yeah. I imagine he'll end up playing five days out of six.
I think the standard projections (PECOTA, ZiPS, Marcel) for Johnson will be pretty accurate in his case. .270-.280 BA, .340-.350 OBP, .450-ish SLG, 15-20 homers.
14. Thanks for that Ken. I'd be thrilled if he played 5 of 6. I took him very late but am thin at the corners, I'm going to have to start him. His numbers in the minor leagues impressed me. Anyway, I really appreciate your response.