Ray Durham: a good Giant, a good trade
Today, Ray Durham was traded to Milwaukee for high minor league left-hander Steve Hammond and low minor league outfielder Darren Ford. This was a good deal for the Giants and for Durham and signals that the white flag has been raised on 2008 for the Giants. The team was slumping going into the All-Star break and is still slumping and it is time to pull the plug and dump some veteran players.
Ray is now in the middle of a pennant race on a good team. He should be in a position to be a role model for Ricky Weeks and get significant playing time off the bench or at second base. That should be a much better situation than a team that was trying to find a way to push him out of the lineup in favor of younger players.
Impressively, the Giants held on to Durham long enough for his value to jump up to a point where they could unload him without having to eat salary. It is estimated they saved $3M in this transaction/salary dump.
Neither of the prospects are can't miss guys, but you can't expect too much when the main reason for moving a player is to get salary relief and open up playing time for other guys. Ford is supposed to be an athlete who needs to learn how to play baseball. I'm always a bit skeptical about these sorts of projects, but we'll see in 2-3 years how he's ended up.
Durham was a very good Giant. He came over as a lead-off hitter and left as a number 3 or 5 guy in a weak lineup. I admire his professionalism and his ability to hit well this year after a tough 2007. He made a lot of great plays for the Giants and I thank him for the memories and wish him best of luck in Wisconsin.
Ray is now in the middle of a pennant race on a good team. He should be in a position to be a role model for Ricky Weeks and get significant playing time off the bench or at second base. That should be a much better situation than a team that was trying to find a way to push him out of the lineup in favor of younger players.
Impressively, the Giants held on to Durham long enough for his value to jump up to a point where they could unload him without having to eat salary. It is estimated they saved $3M in this transaction/salary dump.
Neither of the prospects are can't miss guys, but you can't expect too much when the main reason for moving a player is to get salary relief and open up playing time for other guys. Ford is supposed to be an athlete who needs to learn how to play baseball. I'm always a bit skeptical about these sorts of projects, but we'll see in 2-3 years how he's ended up.
Durham was a very good Giant. He came over as a lead-off hitter and left as a number 3 or 5 guy in a weak lineup. I admire his professionalism and his ability to hit well this year after a tough 2007. He made a lot of great plays for the Giants and I thank him for the memories and wish him best of luck in Wisconsin.
Labels: giants
posted by beatdodgers at
4:23 PM
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