The Cubs sent a PTBNL to the Arizona Diamondbacks today in exchange for 30-year-old lefty reliever Stephen Randolph.
Well, I dunno. Randolph was bad in his debut year of 2003 and worse last year -- his walk/strikeout ratios are putrid (76 walks and 62 strikeouts in 81.2 innings), and he also allowed 11 homers last year -- though as the article on the Cubs website points out, only two were to lefthanded batters. Don't throw him against righties at all -- sixty of the 76 walks were to RH batters, nearly a quarter of all the right-handed hitters he faced. Yeesh!
Or maybe they want him as a lefty bat off the bench. He was 5-for-12 last year with three doubles.
But hey, the guy throws lefthanded. Unless the PTBNL is a top prospect, and I doubt he will be, this is a zero-risk trade.
Well, I dunno. Randolph was bad in his debut year of 2003 and worse last year -- his walk/strikeout ratios are putrid (76 walks and 62 strikeouts in 81.2 innings), and he also allowed 11 homers last year -- though as the article on the Cubs website points out, only two were to lefthanded batters. Don't throw him against righties at all -- sixty of the 76 walks were to RH batters, nearly a quarter of all the right-handed hitters he faced. Yeesh!
Or maybe they want him as a lefty bat off the bench. He was 5-for-12 last year with three doubles.
But hey, the guy throws lefthanded. Unless the PTBNL is a top prospect, and I doubt he will be, this is a zero-risk trade.