TRADE - Toronto Acquires Pair of Picks for Gonzalez

Toronto manager Thomas Sheridan is at it again, completing a second deal within the week.  As has been the case in his deals in the past, draft picks are on the move.  Here are the particulars:

TORONTO send Alex Gonzalez (FLA) to

ARIZONA for the Apaches 2001 1st round pick and their 2002 2nd round pick

Gonzalez is the only player involved in this deal.  It needs to be noted that this is the Alex Gonzalez that played for the Florida Marlins in the 2000 season and not the one who was playing for Toronto at the same time, although in this case, Arizona manager Tom Morse might be wishing it was.  The Alex Gonzalez in this deal was coming off an All-Star year in 1999, his first full season in MLB.  But in 2000, he managed to hit only .200 with a dismal .229 on-base percentage.  His OPS for the season was only .548.  His OPS+ was a career low of 40.  With 100 being the league average OPS+, you can see how poorly this Gonzalez performed at the plate in the year 2000.

Gonzalez did have a long career in the majors though, playing as a regular in the league through the year 2011.  But he never was much of a hitter, compiling a career triple slash line of .245/.290/.395.  His defense improves in 2002 to the point where you could call him a good, or even a very good fielder at the shortstop position.  But again, his offense is consistently sub-par.  His career best season was in 2007 when he had a batting average of .272 and an on-base percentage of .325.  Mind you, these are CAREER BEST numbers.  He never once cracked the 100 mark in OPS+, meaning in essence he was never at the league average offensively.

Gonzalez only played in nine games for Toronto prior to the trade, collecting six hits in 17 at-bats.

Alex Gonzalez Career Statistics:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gonzaal02.shtml

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DEAL SUMMARY

This deal is a hard one for me to figure out.  I realize that Tom and the Apaches are in desperate need of a shortstop for now and in the future, but is Alex Gonzalez that guy?  Apparently in Tom's mind he is, but I have to wonder.  I don't see how Gonzalez cracks the Arizona lineup this season.  His defense is poor, and his offense, as documented above, is atrocious.  I see both Craig Grebeck and Felix Martinez ahead of him on the Apaches depth chart.  Of course, Grebeck has limited at-bats, and Martinez is flat out unplayable against left handed pitching, so I can maybe see Gonzalez seeing some action later in the year out of sheer necessity.  I'm assuming he will take over full-time at the position in 2001, but again, his offense is below average at best.  His excellent defense doesn't kick in until the 2003 season.  Trading two high picks for this guy seems like a real reach in my opinion.

Of course, for Thomas and the Redcoats, this is a downright steal.  Gonzalez, in my estimation, was a borderline cut candidate for Toronto.  Mark Loretta and Melvin Mora were both capable shortstops ahead of him on their roster.  Gonzalez was drafted in the 30th and final round of the dispersal draft, so his roster spot was never guaranteed.  To land a 1st and 2nd round pick for him is akin to grand larceny.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm sure that Tom is thinking that he will be picking at the end of the round, and that assumption is probably a safe one as Arizona is one of the better teams in the league for sure.  Regardless, I think this draft will be fairly deep.  I'm almost positive that a player with better credentials than Gonzalez will be available even with the 24th pick in the 1st round.  Adding a future 2nd round pick is just gravy.

Toronto now has acquired two additional 1st round picks, to go along with their own, in the upcoming draft, having picked up Miami's initial selection in the deal that sent Will Clark out of town.

TRADE - Toronto Ships Will The Thrill To South Beach

The MBL's trading frenzy continues with a deal involving aging first basemen.  Here are the particulars:

TORONTO send Will Clark and their 2001 2nd round pick to
MIAMI for Todd Zeile and their 2001 1st round pick

Will Clark was in his final season in the year 2000, but that doesn't mean he was slowing down at all.  As a matter of fact, Clark had one of the better years of his entire career, and easily his best since the strike shortened season of 1994.  The Thrill hit .319 with a .418 on-base average.  Clark brings an impressive stat line to Miami.  His current triple slash line in the MBL is .353/.495/.634 for an OPS of 1.129.


Will Clark's Career Statistics:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/clarkwi02.shtml
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Going to Toronto is Todd Zeile.  He is also nearing the end of the line, although he does have a couple more seasons left in the tank.  In 2000, he made the full-time switch from third to first base.  He put up a  batting line of .268/.356/.467.  His following season, his batting average and on-base percentages are very similar to 2000 (.266/.359), but his power completely disappeared.  He dropped from 36 doubles to 25 and 22 homers to 10 in only 13 fewer at-bats.  Those dips decreased his slugging percentage from .467 to an anemic .373.

Zeile goes on to play one season in Colorado in 2002, switching back to third base.  The move to Mile High doesn't improve his numbers as one would expect.  He does increase his power numbers slightly, belting 18 home runs and jumping his slugging back up to a respectable .425.  He finishes up his career with a couple of seasons hitting around .230.  He comes to Toronto having hit .211 with 11 homers in 51 games for Miami.

Todd Zeile's Career Statistics:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/z/zeileto01.shtml




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DEAL SUMMARY
Clark clearly has the better card for our current season.  He is also completely crushing the ball, whereas Zeile is somewhat struggling.  Zeile is a hard sell for me as a first baseman in 2001 because of his lack of power.  He does rebound somewhat in 2002 with his switch back to third base.  Player-wise, Toronto is receiving a couple years of decent production out of Zeile in exchange for Clark's awesome card in 2000.

This deal pretty much boils down to the draft picks swapping sides. Toronto receiving Miami's 2001 first round selection, while the Panthers get back a 2nd round pick from the Redcoats.  This has the potential, in my opinion, to be a very strong and deep draft.  The pick from Miami is most likely going to be in the bottom half of the round.  They currently hold the 7th best record in the MBL, and the acquisition of Clark should only make them better.  Even so, there should be a decent player available when Toronto makes the pick.

The rub in this instance is the difference in the picks.  Toronto would currently select 9th in the round if the draft were held today.  If we are to conclude that Will Clark will improve Miami's standing, while decreasing Toronto's, then the picks won't be that far apart.  Let's say the Panthers improve a couple spots while the Redcoats drop a couple.  That would mean Toronto would select a player with the 20th pick in the 1st round, while Miami would pick a player with the 31st selection.  Basically ten spots difference.  Is that difference worth the difference between Clark and Zeile?  I dunno.  We'll have to wait and see how the draft plays out to make a final determination.

In the end, this is another deal where I like both sides.  Toronto makes a gamble by giving up the best player in the deal.  But they now hold two 1st round picks in the upcoming draft.  Miami, on the other hand, picks up an awesome Clark card for the current season.  The swap of him for Zeile is a huge improvement.  He's a perfect guy to get on base ahead of sluggers Sammy Sosa and Tim Salmon in the Panthers lineup.  Clark has a "Clutch" rating, "A" intagibles, and is a absolute monster against right-handed pitching.  If it's not apparent, I love his card.  For this reason alone I'm going to give Miami the advantage in this deal.  Again, it's hard to pronounce a winner until we find out who both teams select with the draft picks that exchanged hands.  But I do know that Joe is going to love having Clark in his lineup to finish out the year.