Meet the Red Sox’s insurance policy on Jason Bay and J.D. Drew. His name is Josh Reddick and he’s a 22-year-old outfielder who made his majors debut last Friday. The most noticeable thing when looking at Reddick is his eyewear, opting against contacts for whatever reason. The next thing you’ll notice is his impressive athleticism and ridiculous arm strength and accuracy.

A 17th round pick in 2006, Reddick has impressively shoot through the Red Sox system, reaching Double-A in his first pro season, albeit for only a game. Reddick has since recorded 420 plate appearances in Double-A, hitting .257/.332/.492 all the while shifting between right and center field. Reddick has an impressive 41 career assists; it’s not just luck either, his arm is ranked above average by nearly every scouting report.

Reddick has flashed improving pitch recognition skills and walk rates, but be forewarned: he’s going to strike out a bit. If he can stick in center his power (.235 ISO in AA) figures to exceed expectations for the position. Oh, and he’s a left-handed bat, which just makes everything even sweeter for Boston.

With Reddick’s impending inclusion, which current Sox outfielder will be going?

Drew is under contract for an additional two seasons, Bay qualifies for free agency at season’s end, and it seems unlikely the Sox mess with Jacoby Ellsbury. With two lefties already roaming the outfield, it would seem that keeping Reddick around as the fourth outfielder simply hurts lineup flexibility. Letting Bay walk and replacing him with Reddick does the same, but replacing Drew or Ellsbury doesn’t seem realistic either.

So where in the world is he going to play? Beats me, if nothing else I suppose he would make a nice part of a potential trade package.

With the Orioles promotion of Brian Matusz to start tonight’s game, the shift to a young starting rotation is nearly complete. Matusz follows fellow top prospect Chris Tillman, who was promoted last week and has now made two starts in the big leagues. Tillman, who the Orioles got from the Mariners in the Erik Bedard swindling, is the focus of this post.

One of the concerns I had about Tillman when he was coming up through the lower minors with Seattle was how often he pitched up in the strike zone with his fastball. It helped him rack up a good amount of strikeouts, but also spelled danger for his future home run rates when he started facing guys strong enough to put those pitches in the seats. Through his first two starts in the majors, he’s quickly learning that big league hitters like high fastballs.

Here’s his strike zone plot from last night’s performance against the Tigers, via Brooks Baseball.

That’s a lot of green in the high part of the strike zone. He did a pretty good job of not hanging the curve ball, but the fastballs are very heavily concentrated in the middle-high part of the zone, and unfortunately located in the middle of the plate to boot. The result?

Of the 37 balls in play he’s allowed over his first two starts, he’s only induced eight ground balls compared to 21 fly balls and eight line drives. Four of those 29 balls in the air have cleared the fence, as Tillman has been undone by the long ball.

Now, he’s not going to keep giving up home runs on 19% of his flyballs, but there’s little doubt that Tillman’s style of pitching is going to make him an extreme flyball pitcher, and home runs are always going to be an issue for him. As he matures, he’s going to have to spot his fastball down in the zone with some more frequency – it will cost him a bit off his strikeout rate, but the reduction in balls in the air will be worth it.

At the expiration of the Major League Baseball trading deadline, 35 prospects had changed hands (beginning July 19 with Milwaukee’s acquisition of Felipe Lopez). Over the next week, FanGraphs will take a look at each prospect, while also ranking them individually in value from 35 down to one. Players such as Justin Masterson, Clayton Richard, Kevin Hart, and Jeff Clement were not considered in this list because they have expired their rookie eligibility. However, they can still technically be considered “prospects” because they are young and have yet to establish themselves at the MLB level. Yesterday, we took a look at the players ranked 35-29.

As a teaser for the final rankings, the Top 5 winning organizations in terms of prospect value are: 1. Cleveland, 2. Oakland, 3. Toronto, 4. Pittsburgh, 5. Baltimore.

Neftali Feliz made his big league debut last night, and he came with the shock and awe. Feliz was brought in to defend a one-run lead against Oakland in the sixth inning, and struck out the first four batters he faced, flashing a nasty breaking ball and a fastball that reached the triple-digits. Here’s a look at his movement in graph in Pitch F/X.

Reading various scouting reports on Feliz, aside from his fastball and curve, he also throws an 85-87 MPH change-up. The reports say nothing of a sinker, so I wonder if that 90 MPH pitch is mislabeled as a two-seamer and should be categorized as a change-up. No matter. What we are certain of is Feliz pumps in the gas — he threw two pitches over 100 MPH — and he generates an impressive amount tail on his fastball. For a more intuitive look, check out his flight paths.

(You can click on the image for a larger view).

That’s just “whoa” worthy, and what makes it even more “whoa” worthy is that he makes it look so effortless.

The Rangers will work Feliz out of the bullpen for now. They did the same with Derek Holland at first; maybe it’s just their way of breaking in a player, but it’s not as if their rotation couldn’t use the help. Only the Orioles’ rotation has a worse FIP in the American League, as the Rangers’ stellar defense that has masked much of what is a lackluster staff. And it’s not as if Texas has no playoff hopes — they’re three games behind Boston in the wild card race.

Regardless of the Ranger’s early usage, Texas fans have plenty to look forward to with Feliz. If I followed the Rangers, I’d be sending former Braves’ GM John Schuerholz a Christmas card every holiday season for that Teixeira trade.

Boston has perhaps the best front office in baseball. Theo Epstein has shown himself to be a savvy dealer and negotiator, usually taking advantage of the trade deadline to add an extra bat or arm for Terry Francona. He clearly understands the value of things like defense (see: 2004) and how variable a bullpen is, which is exactly why producing fluff like this is both brilliant and transparent.

Daniel Bard is a fantastic arm with an ethereal fastball, but the idea that he is untouchable seems chimerical at best and foolish at worst. Since Epstein took over, he’s shown to be willing to reshuffle his pen at any point and trade just about any pitcher if it comes to that. Bard ranked as the fourth best prospect in the Sox system last winter by Baseball America, look at the other top 10 Sox prospects that happened to be pitchers and their current organization:

2009 – Michael Bowden (BOS), Nick Hagadone (CLE), Bard (BOS), Stolmy Pimentel (BOS)
2008 – Clay Buchholz (BOS), Justin Masterson (CLE), Bowden, Hagadone
2007 – Buchholz, Bowden, Bard, Bryce Cox (B0S), Craig Hansen (PIT), Kris Johnson (BOS)
2006 – Jon Lester (BOS), Jonathan Papelbon (BOS), Hansen, Manny Delcarmen (BOS), Buchholz
2005 – Papelbon, Lester, Anibal Sanchez (FLA)*, Abe Alvarez (Indy Leagues), Delcarmen

Tally: 14 pitchers, 9 in the system, 4 elsewhere, and 1 completely out of MLB. Sanchez technically wasn’t dealt under Epstein, so you could say 8/13 were kept. The idea that Epstein is willing to keep his top young arms stands true, although not to the extent where anyone – especially a reliever – is technically untouchable. Break the list down by pitchers who joined and stayed on the club as relievers and you get: Bard, Masterson, Hansen, Papelbon, Delcarmen. Two of those have been dealt, one is usually a top three reliever in the land, and Delcarmen has been mentioned in trade talks before.

Excuse me for being captain obvious, but the label of untouchable is a great way to boost perceptive value while doing nothing else. A few days ago Derek Zumsteg had a great piece on how the Yankees use their media machine to persuade thinking towards their favor, this same thing applies here in a different facet. The media is going to run wild with this tag and perception and inflate Bard’s worth to the Red Sox and any team.

Maybe the Red Sox truly view Bard as an elite reliever and untouchable, but they would they say so unless they had other intentions in mind?

A huge blow was hit to the Reds this week as Edinson Volquez underwent Tommy John surgery today and it was reported that his UCL ligament was “almost completely torn”. Given the timing of the surgery, Volquez should be able to return in some form next season, but beyond just the immediate return, it is not unusual for pitchers to need more time to fully regain their velocity and command to pre-injury levels. Thus, Volquez’s ability to meaningfully contribute to the 2010 Reds season is in serious doubt now.

Volquez was a four win pitcher last season, but struggled mightily with his command this season. Whereas he had previously hung around 48 to 49% of his pitches inside the strike zone, this year that fell to just 41%, a massive drop and a level not conducive to any kind of sustained success. That was the primary culprit behind Volquez’s increase in walk rate, to nearly six per nine.

If Volquez is able to return to the command he displayed in 2007 he could come back to being a big piece of the Reds’ playoff hopes, but that is not going to happen in 2010. How does the Scott Rolen trade look now to the front office?

The diagnosis and surgery came about two months after Volquez was placed on the disabled list with soreness in his elbow. He was cleared to throw twice and had even made it through bullpen sessions to the point of a simulated game before being shut down for good. Given the reported extent of the tear, one has to wonder if an MRI done initially in June would not have revealed the tear in a more minor state and saved the Reds at least a couple months of rehab time, if not many more.

It’s only fitting that the Rays release Wade Townsend only days after Andrew McCutchen delivers on a three homer game. Back in 2005 the team was in the midst of transitioning to a new owner. Still in large for one last draft, Chuck LaMar and company decided to override the scouting department’s recommendation of McCutchen and instead select Townsend eighth overall. McCutchen went a few picks later (as did Jay Bruce and Cameron Maybin) and the rest is history.

Townsend was the second consecutive pitcher from the University of Rice taken by the Rays in the first round; joining Jeff Niemann who is currently enjoying his first season in the Rays rotation. Prior to the 2004 draft Townsend was pegged by Baseball America as the eighth best prospect in the draft, saying this about the 6’4” right-hander (The talented trio comment refers to the rotation formed by Niemann, Townsend, and former Mets/Twins prospect Phil Humber):

Townsend has the best fastball among Rice’s talented trio, but he must mature and improve his command.

Other scouting reports talked glowingly about Townsend’s hard curve and his bulldog mentality. Stating that at some point a switch to the bullpen might be best. After helping deliver a championship trophy to the University cabinets Townsend was selected eighth by the Baltimore Orioles but couldn’t come to terms with the team and instead returned to college, gaining his degree and re-entering the 2005 draft. The Rays took him despite reports of down velocity in pre-draft workouts and never saw him reach Triple-A.

Townsend endured arm injury after arm injury, including Tommy John Surgery that caused him to miss the entirety of 2006. Upon returning to action in 2007 Townsend pitched decently in A-ball and reached Double-A in 2008 as a reliever. Entering this year false reports of his retirement coincided with Townsend being assigned to the Gulf Coast League.

After three appearances, Townsend’s line sat at 2.2 IP, 1 HR, 7 BB, and 3 SO. 26-year-old pitchers struggling in the GCL are simply biding their time before finding a new profession. Ultimately a draft bust, Townsend’s name will live in draft folklore as to highlight the dangers of taking an overworked arm.

Too bad, because his college career was a thing of beauty.

At the expiration of the Major League Baseball trading deadline, 35 prospects had changed hands (beginning July 19 with Milwaukee’s acquisition of Felipe Lopez). Over the next week, FanGraphs will take a look at each prospect, while also ranking them individually in value from 35 down to one. Players such as Justin Masterson, Clayton Richard, Kevin Hart, and Jeff Clement were not considered in this list because they have expired their rookie eligibility. However, they can still technically be considered “prospects” because they are young and have yet to establish themselves at the MLB level.

As a teaser for the final rankings, the Top 5 winning organizations in terms of prospect value are: 1. Cleveland, 2. Oakland, 3. Toronto, 4. Pittsburgh, 5. Baltimore.

For the last few years, the Angels offensive game plan has been to try to get a few fast guys on the bases in front of Vladimir Guerrero and then hope he hits a three run homer. They could afford some offensive weaknesses thanks to their starting rotation, and they built a winner out of run prevention with just enough offense to get by.

Between injuries and age, Guerrero has struggled this season, as he currently has just four home runs. So, what happens to an offense who loses production from their best – and sometimes only – hitter?

They lead the league in scoring runs, apparently. After thumping Minnesota all weekend, the Angels have now scored 590 runs, or 5.73 runs per game, passing the Yankees for the #1 spot in offensive production. The Yankees still have the league’s highest wOBA, but the Angels are #2, so it’s not like this is some kind of clutch-hitting fluke. They really are pounding the tar out of the baseball.

The bulk of the credit has to go to Kendry Morales, Juan Rivera, and Mike Napoli, who all entered the season as question marks and have responded by hitting like All-Stars. The Angels have gotten a .383 wOBA from that trio, far outpacing their expectations. When you add in an on base machine like Bobby Abreu, a career year from Torii Hunter, and another strong offensive performance from Chone Figgins, the Angels have six guys who are among the best in the league in production at their respective positions.

Even their “weak spots” have produced league average hitters, as Erick Aybar is having the best season of his career and Howie Kendrick has been on fire since returning from the minors. The balance of having no holes in the line-up has given the Angels a multi-pronged attack that can exploit holes in different kinds of pitchers. Regardless of what kind of pitcher you put on the hill, the Angels have a couple of guys who can whack that pitcher type.

Toss in the fact that they have five switch-hitters, and the Angels can be a nightmare to match up with. Even with Ervin Santana injured or ineffective for most of the season and the loss of John Lackey for the first part of the season, the Angels have run up the best record in the AL West by bludgeoning other teams. This isn’t traditional Angels baseball, but it works really well.

Bedlam ruled the day of the trade deadline, and the Nick Johnson for LHP Aaron Thompson deal was no exception. The Nationals broke from their age old custom of clenching to tradeable players, and the Marlins (!) acted as buyers at the trade deadline.

The Fish will gladly insert Nick Johnson and his .417 on base percentage at 1B. In consequence, Jorge Cantu gets bumped over to third and Emilio Bonaficio gets booted to the role of utility infielder.

Johnson’s OBP matches his slugging percentage and moving to spacious Dolphin Stadium can’t really help his projection for a power recovery. ZiPS projects a .389 wOBA the rest of the season, I’d say that’s a tad too hopeful. .375 for the next 60 games seems a little more realistic. He’s normally been solid with the glove, but this year he’s slipped to a -7 per 150 games.

For his career, Cantu has been a disaster at the hot corner (-19 over 204 games), but the Marlins will absorb the hit so long as it gets Bonaficio and his sub-.300 OBP out of the lineup. After a hot start, Bonaficio rates along with the likes Jeff Francoeur as one of the worst regular players in the Senior Circuit with his -0.5 WAR.

Add this all up, and the gist is the Marlins got a win or two better. I’m not sure that helps them catch the Rockies or Giants in the Wild Card race; as a team they’ve been a bit of an overachieving bunch to begin with, but Johnson is a decent value bet.

The cost is lefty Aaron Thompson, who is better known as “Not Matt Garza” to Marlin’s fans. Thompson was Florida’s 1st round pick in the ’05 draft, but hasn’t really pitched up to scratch. He’s repeating Double-A, and is striking out a little less than 6 batters per nine innings. He works with an 89-91 MPH fastball, a curve and a changeup which grades as above average. He looks like a future back-end starter at this point.

It’s not an earth-shattering deal for either side, but I got to give the Nats some credit for turning Johnson, a player that was of no use to them, into something.