Break the Reimold
It’s looking like the Rays will trade Jason Bartlett to the Orioles for Nolan Reimold, and judging from RJ Anderson’s early tweets, the reception in Tampa will be positive.
The reasons for trading Bartlett are clear. This will be his last year of team control, his defense seems to be fading, and he’s coming off of his worst season since he became a regular. Even if one of those things weren’t true, the team also has Reid Brignac coming up behind him. Brignac’s defensive numbers get an incomplete, his plate discipline stats (6.1% walk rate, 25.6% strikeout rate) aren’t very impressive, and the knock is that he can’t hit lefties. Then again, his .214 wOBA against lefties has only come in 74 major league PAs, his defense seemed strong in 2010, and there’s a chance for more power with Brignac. All of this may be moot – Brignac is under team control for another five years and if his defense can be scratch or better, he’s a valuable piece.
So the Rays would deal from surplus to get Reimold, a firstbaseman at best or DH at worst, to fit a need. Trading for a DH that has been underwhelming so far may make many reasonable men nervous – a DH that can’t hit is no major league ballplayer. We can’t close the door on him 143 games into his career, though, even if he’s a little older than one might expect (27) and put up a sub-.400 slugging percentage in Triple-A last year.
What Reimold has shown isn’t actually all that terrible either. He can take a walk (10.9% career, >13% in Triple-A the last two years). He doesn’t strike out a ton (21.7% career, 21.5% MiLB career). As much as his power disappeared in 2010, his rookie season showed a .187 ISO that would make the Rays happy – and his minor league career (.215 ISO) points to some more upside beyond.
Can Dan Johnson do all of this already? After all, his career walk rate (13.3%), strikeout rate (17.1%) and power (.176) all compare favorably with Reimold’s numbers to date. As much as batting average is a flawed stat, it’s worth noticing that Johnson hasn’t hit .200 since 2007, .250 since 2005, and has his own platoon split issues. He’s no sure thing, and even if he were, the team still needs a DH.
What about the free agent market? There are certainly some options left available, but with Lance Berkman getting $8 million, the Rays may have to wait the available firstbasemen out a little. The team, according to Jason Collette at the Dock of the Rays and the Process Report, may only have about $14 million to spend, in all. Acquiring Reimold assures them that between him and Johnson they’ve got a chance at one good player at first base or DH – and jettisoning Bartlett saves them almost $5 million. So that improves their chances of finding a strong bat on the market and having money left over for relievers.
The mold says not to trade a shortstop only a year removed from a ~5 WAR season for a DH who slugged under .400 in Triple-A in 2010. In this case, though, it might make sense to break the mold.
And if Alfredo Simon is the sweetener, as the rumors suggest – it’s a no-brainer then.
With a phone full of pictures of pitchers' fingers, strange beers, and his two toddler sons, Eno Sarris can be found at the ballpark or a brewery most days. Read him here, writing about the A's or Giants at The Athletic, or about beer at October. Follow him on Twitter @enosarris if you can handle the sandwiches and inanity.
This seems pretty bad for the Orioles to me.
agreed. they only get one year with bartlett they should look elsewhere
Does this make any sense from the O’s perspective?
As an O’s fan, I’m not enthusiastic about this at all.
From an O’s fan…Oh Dear God No, this can only work out horribly for us.
I thought this trade fell apart?
as I finished posting it, yes it did fall apart. If it was Simon scuttling the trade, then that’s just silly.
I think it had more to do with the O’s getting positive reports on Reimold’s off season progress from Brady Anderson than it had to do with Simon.
Goodbye Athletes Performance Institute in Arizona . . . and hello Brady Anderson’s Super Cool Roller-Blading and Fruit Smoothie Adventure!
Needless to say, Reimold is in for a huge 2011 breakout. And those sideburns will be epic. To quote the Clash, “MacPahil don’t like it. Rock the Lambchop. Rock the Lambchop.”
as if anything could work out well for the O’s…
Bedard worked out.
eh had it worked out, it would be a huge upgrade over cezar izturis for a AAA outfielder that hasnt been able to hack it in the majors (yet).
may i suggest “judge reimold” as the title of any follow-up post?
Would he get EP?
This would be a great deal for the Rays
Reimold suffered an Achilles injury in 2009 that required surgery. This may have affected his ability to play defense in LF in 2009 (his numbers were poor, but he got decent reviews in the minors), and, in my opinion, drastically affected his 2010. He posted solid numbers all through the minors and as a 25-year old. I think giving up on him after an injury plagued 2010 would have been a very bad idea for the O’s.
As an O’s fan, I’m glad this deal fell apart.
That’s one way to look at it.
You could also say that the O’s were thinking of trading a young guy who put up an .840 OPS in his rookie year, playing hurt, in a new corner of the outfield, for one year of an average SS who will make $5M because of a fluky 2009.
I would love if the Orioles got a good SS, but rather than give up on a player they’ve come so far with in Reimold, I’d rather watch the SS travesty of 2007 all over again.
I don’t even think that you tell the whole story. I am extremely high on Reimold. You say we cannot write him off after 141 games. In fact, people are writing him off over only 39 of his games. There was little wrong with his rookie campaign. Then, last year, his slump coinciding entirely with extreme personal distress. It is not as if there was simply some inexplicable decrease in his productivity. The slide began only as a result of his personal issues. Last I have read from Baltimore, it appears that the Orioles may be pulling back on Reimold’s availability. I think that you have to give the kid another chance to play ball now that he has his life straightened out and his head cleared.
Sounds like you’re talking about more than a torn achilles?
@ Captain Hindsight- there’s this thing called Google…
What a douche. Is Google how you get by with no friends?
There’s also something called conversation. Sharing information between people pertinent to a topic of discussion.
Bro…umad?