Oscar goes to..The Padres for RP Cla Meredith

[DrungoHazewood]

C'mon Moose, Andino has an OPS+ of 41. The kid's a much better fielder than I had hoped but let's not make excuses about his bat.

I view this trade as *meh* (I guess that would be one way to abbreviate Meredith)

Let's put the discussion of Salazar aside for a moment.

Perhaps someone can give us several good reasons why we should be excited about a guy with an ERA below league average, coming out of Petco Pitchers Park.

He's an extreme ground ball pitcher who's playing in front of a poor defense. The Padres' infield UZR is -14.3. Their defense at second and short has been particularly awful.

I'd guess that Mora, Izturis and Roberts will have more of an effect on his numbers than the distant fences at PETCO. His career home/road splits aren't very pronounced, and prior to this year were pretty equal. He's still a generic reliever, but not someone I'd expect to blow up just because he had a pedestrian ERA in a pitcher's park.

[nadecir]

Relievers that are 26 and have had 3 good ML seasons are a lot harder to find than 31 y/o journeyman bench players.

Meredith has had 2 good seasons in the majors. His last two seasons, including this one, he's had an ERA+ of 93 and 90 respectively.

Meredith's strikeout rate has declined significantly over the past two seasons, and Meredith's hits/9 has been over 10 the last three years even in Petco. Meredith is showing signs of losing it, so I am sure that is one reason the Pads give up on him.

Salazar for Meredith is a trade that involves a player who didn't have a spot on the roster for a player in which the team has given up on him. Let's hope the Pads gave up on Meredith too soon.

[ChaosLex]

Did you look at Meredith's stats before this year or is this the only year that matters to you?

Keeping Pie over Salazar is obvious to 99% of the people on the board and in the baseball world.

Salazar is no more of a long term option than Meredith is...We will probably be able to pick Salazar back up sometime in the next year anyway....And if not him, we will be able to pick up several guys just like him.

Relievers that are 26 and have had 3 good ML seasons are a lot harder to find than 31 y/o journeyman bench players.

Perhaps we got a diamond in the rough? A lot of Pads fans seemed to think Meredith would be traded to a contender and were a little disappointed that all they got in return was Salazar.

[Stotle]

Perhaps we got a diamond in the rough? A lot of Pads fans seemed to think Meredith would be traded to a contender and were a little disappointed that all they got in return was Salazar.

From what I've seen, Meredith's issue last year (and this year so far) has been control. I think this is due to his losing consistency in his release point, which is tough with his arm action. When everything clicks, he's quite effective. Seems like a no-risk, mild reward kind of move. Nothing I'm super excited about, but certainly nothing to get upset about (in my opinion).

[Stotle]

I don't know that we should be excited, but we most certainly shouldn't be despondent.

Didn't see this -- I agree with Hank, here.

[DrungoHazewood]

Meredith has had 2 good seasons in the majors. His last two seasons, including this one, he's had an ERA+ of 93 and 90 respectively.

Meredith's strikeout rate has declined significantly over the past two seasons, and Meredith's hits/9 has been over 10 the last three years even in Petco. Meredith is showing signs of losing it, so I am sure that is one reason the Pads give up on him.

Salazar for Meredith is a trade that involves a player who didn't have a spot on the roster for a player in which the team has given up on him. Let's hope the Pads gave up on Meredith too soon.

As I said before, I think a lot of his performance is related to a poor Padres' infield defense. He still has a ridiculous (over 3:1) G/F ratio. His ERA and BAvs is highly dependent on the performance of others, and the Padres' others are pretty bad.

[allstar1579]

Horrible trade for the Orioles. This is the worst trade that MacPhail has made since the Bradford deal. This is an example of poor roster management, and a typical Orioles move of the past.

Meredith is a mediocre pitcher in a pitcher's park. Salazar was a cheap power bat off the bench.

I'd rather lose Andino or Pie than Salazar.

What a waste! :cussing:

...I don't even know where to start, but Meredith looked like he was the closer of the future before Bell emerged, he was lights out for 2 years. Any groundball pitcher is a good thing for BAL, especially one that can help replace anything lost by dealing Baez or Sherrill. So remember how "horrible" this trade is when we don't need to find bullpen help and we have prospects back for the other two.

[hatepaste]

The fact we got anything is amazing. Everyone knew he was getting DFA'ed. So to get a 26 year old major league reliever is a win in my book. Plus Salazar can play first for them next year when they trade Adrian Gonzalez (to the O's? haha) this offseason.

Salazar is a scrub. Jon Knott, JR House, Oscar Salazar. They are the same person.

If at 31 he finally makes it then shame on the Oakland Athletics, Detroit Tigers, New York Mets, Anaheim Angels, Kansas City Royals, Cleveland Indians and Baltimore Orioles for all giving up on him too early. A lot of GM's to blame besides MacPhail.

[rolliefingers]

C'mon Moose, Andino has an OPS+ of 41. The kid's a much better fielder than I had hoped but let's not make excuses about his bat.

I view this trade as *meh* (I guess that would be one way to abbreviate Meredith)

Let's put the discussion of Salazar aside for a moment.

Perhaps someone can give us several good reasons why we should be excited about a guy with an ERA below league average, coming out of Petco Pitchers Park.

Well, here's one: his consistently excellent GB percentage. His control seems to have wavered in the last few years, but maybe Kranitz can get him straightened out. Either way, he has a good shot to be a serviceable reliever for a few years. Compare that to a 31-year-old UTI guy who can't field, and I'll take my chances with Meredith.

[Dipper9]

Salazar could have been a piece to the future, Andino, Pie and Meredith are not IMO. Do we reallly need to worry about roster flexibility on a team going nowhere this season. Shouldn't we worry about keeping potential pieces that can be part of a contending team, instead of keeping projects that haven't filled their potential?

I have not been a big Pie fan, but the bolded part is EXACTLY the reason we kept Pie and traded Salazar. Pie could in fact be a part of the Orioles future, where Oscar was not. I like Salazar a lot, but the fact of the matter is you are getting upset about a pinch hitter. Nothing more, nothing less.

[nadecir]

As I said before, I think a lot of his performance is related to a poor Padres' infield defense. He still has a ridiculous (over 3:1) G/F ratio. His ERA and BAvs is highly dependent on the performance of others, and the Padres' others are pretty bad.

Yep, a better defense will help Meredith. But the park effects of Camden certainly won't help him compared to Petco.

Petco has been the toughest place to get a hit in the majors in the last three seasons, and this season it has been the toughest to get a hit in by a pretty wide margin. Camden Yards has been a much easier place to hit. Camden Yards is actually tougher than the average park to get a double or a triple, but easier to get a base hit in general.

[Mackus]

I have not been a big Pie fan, but the bolded part is EXACTLY the reason we kept Pie and traded Salazar. Pie could in fact be a part of the Orioles future, where Oscar was not. I like Salazar a lot, but the fact of the matter is you are getting upset about a pinch hitter. Nothing more, nothing less.

Yeah great point. Salazar is a nice bench piece, but even now still would have to get over some long odds to remain a vaiable bench piece beyond next year or so. Pie, Andino, and Meredith have much greater chances of helping the team in the future than does Salazar.

[Mashed Potatoes]

It seems like Cla changed up his pitching style this year, he's throwing less fastballs, more than twice as many sliders, and less than half as many changeup as he did in 2006-2008.

His fastball has dropped from 87.5 to 86.2 to 85.3 miles per hour from 2007-2009.

http://www.fangraphs.com/pitchfx.aspx?playerid=7613&position=P

These may be significant factors, in addition to the SD infield defense, high BABIP, increasing walks and decreasing strikeouts.

[rolliefingers]

Yep, a better defense will help Meredith. But the park effects of Camden certainly won't help him compared to Petco.

Petco has been the toughest place to get a hit in the majors in the last three seasons, and this season it has been the toughest to get a hit in by a pretty wide margin. Camden Yards has been a much easier place to hit. Camden Yards is actually tougher than the average park to get a double or a triple, but easier to get a base hit in general.

Park effects matter when you allow a bunch of flyballs and line drives. Meredith doesn't, although his LD% is 18 this year (still below league average), versus 14, 14, and 13, for the previous 3 seasons. Anyway, grounders are grounders, no matter the park.

As for the second part, where are you getting these numbers?

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/meredcl01-pitch.shtml

[RVAbird]

Park effects matter when you allow a bunch of flyballs and line drives. Meredith doesn't, although his LD% is 18 this year (still below league average), versus 14, 14, and 13, for the previous 3 seasons. Anyway, grounders are grounders, no matter the park.

As for the second part, where are you getting these numbers?

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/meredcl01-pitch.shtml

Well this isn't true. Some stadiums have faster infield grass than others. Some are turf. Some stadiums have visual atmospheres more conducive to hitting, some have distractions in the outfield. Some parks have weather that makes movement on pitches more or less effective, changing a pitcher's sinker and breaking pitches.

Park factors are more than just the size and shape of a park. They affect groundballs just as they affect walk rates and strike out rates.