Anthony Rizzo trade for Andrew Cashner is 43% Fresh

Key points though:
1. Cashner and Na for Rizzo and Cates is not a good trade on paper by itself.
2. When you account for the presence of Alonso, Guzman and Blanks, then you basically see the trade as a marginalized player (Rizzo) and a low level prospect (Cates) for a major league ready, albeit injury prone backend reliever with starter potential and a some guy named Na.
3. Of course, that’s a bit unfair because the reason Rizzo was marginalized is the GM’s own doing from when he included Alonso in the Latos trade.
4. Still, getting any other Reds prospect in the Latos trade other than Alonso would have represented getting less value for Latos.
5. Waiting for Alonso to establish himself this year would have only hurt Rizzo’s trade value, because other teams would noticed that the Padres had no where to play him.

Cashner is a poor man’s kerry wood/mark prior. Hooray.

Forgive me for the bluntness, but as a Dbacks fan, I love this trade. We don’t have to deal with Rizzo, and instead have to deal with a reliever. Not a good trade for you guys, I don’t think

but proved nothing as a pro. I get that he’s young but we traded him for a guy with a high ceiling getting higher at PETCO. Rizzo’s ceiling got lower at PETCO.

could start in the future. him with boxberger, brach, and a couple others give us a shutdown pen. starting pitching is 3 deep (leubke, stauffer, volquez) and 2 more good pieces that will end up traded or will lose their jobs to the kids. I guess I’m just of the opinion that this solidifies our pitching staff and, with an improved lineup, gives us a legitimate chance to win now.

and willing to wait years to see who “won” this trade, but it’s the first transaction by Byrnes that has me wishing we still had Jed pulling the trigger.

I agree with the notion of moving Rizzo over Alonso because the latter is a much better fit for Petco. I agree with the timing because Rizzo did not need to spend another year in AAA “rebuilding value” as some have suggested, success in the majors was the only thing that could’ve enhanced his value further. I’m completely underwhelmed by the return. Cashner’s nice and all, but I think we could’ve done better.

Cates for Na just rubs salt in the wound. Cates may not be one of our top 25 prospects, but that’s more indicative of how good our top 25 is than anything.

short stop, for Rizzo. I am thinking that Josh would of done it.

This trade though imo deserves a 33ish rating.

Rizzo seems like your typical 4A player. Petco wasn’t causing him to strike out in 30% of his plate appearances. The guy’s swing is a huge problem at the big league level. It’s like Chris Young trying to hold runners. There’s just too many limbs to unfurl to effectively hit MLB pitching.

Since the beginning of the off season they have rebuilt the bullpen and added two bats. Yea, it would of been so much better if Josh had just waited around for the farm to fill in the holes.

I think we all just got tricked by Hoyer/PCL. Rizzo was a highly regarded prospect in the Red Sox system which isn’t excellent. Maybe we think it was good because the Red Sox just won two WS but in actuality, the farm system isn’t anything spectacular. We figured since Hoyer helped build those Red Sox WS teams, he was an excellent evaluater of talent and that Rizzo was going to be a future star. Couple that with a fantastic stats in the minors (not taking away what he did at SA because that’s considered a pitchers park – see Logan Forsythe’s stats at SA) but the PCL stats are obviously inflated. At the end of the day a prospect is nothing more than a prospect. After Blanks hit those homers after he got called up we thought we had a gem, maybe we do, maybe we don’t, but it sure looks a lot gloomier now (regarding Blanks) than it did a couple of years ago. What’s to say the same thing doesn’t happen to Rizzo?

It’s all about perception. If Byrnes makes this trade for a high ceiling A player like say the Cubs Baez (I know they Cubs can’t trade this years DP, just an example) then we would probably love the deal. We just got middle infield help and our minor league system just got SO much better. Hell, i would be happy. BUT, there’s a solid chance that any high ceiling prospect will never make it. Cashner would prove to be much better than said prospect.

The problem with Cashner is that he is neither a PROVEN major leaguer or a high ceiling prospect. He’s a marginal major leaguer with some upside. As fans, we frown upon marginal major leaguers because they don’t add any flash to the major league club and they don’t add hope the future. Cashner will only help us win games in 2012 and beyond, he may not blow us away but he’s more of a sure thing than Rizzo.

I will feel a lot better about all of this if we sign Maybin to a long term deal in the next week or two.

I like Cashner, and I’m eager to see what Balsley can do with him. At the same time, Rizzo has that light tower power potential that the Padres have so rarely boasted.

We have 4 1Bs right now and Rizzo was number 4 on the depth chart. His swing was garbage that may have been unfixable, his D was meh, and he was the worst of our four options. Frankly I’m shocked we got a 100 mph setup/future starter/future closer for him. He was not worth it. Cubs got jobbed because of Hoyers unhealthy obsession with the kid. Frankly I think that is the real issue. People bought into Jed’s BS he fed us after the Adrian trade about Rizzo.

Scan seems to think it’s fresh.

Cashner, in return, gives the Pads what they need right now in a potentially overpowering set up man for Huston Street, and a possible starter down the road.

Kudos to Josh Byrnes for being willing to make bold trades, holding no sacred cows, and for recognizing the need to bring a tougher edge to the clubhouse makeup in reshaping the organization.

Rizzo + Spacious PetCo Park = Crap
Cashner’s 100+ mph Fastball + Friendly Confines = Crap
Rizzo + Friendly Confines = Awesome Sauce
Cashner’s 100+ mph Fastball + Spacious PetCo Park = Awesome Sauce

Although I like Rizzo what is the point in acquiring a left handed pull power hitter in PetCo? I have a sneaking suspicion Rizzo would be used as trade bait all along. He was brought up last year to appease the masses. Or maybe this is a conspiracy theory on par with the JFK shooting and Jen and Theo new all along that they were going to Chicago, even when they were in Boston…something to think about.

We already went the safe route w Bud last year. I would go for a Byrnes bobble head.

What’s Byrnes nickname? Can we steal Hacksaw’s nickname for Latos? Byrnes is Kid Gun.

Not a lot to go on, but this guy has legit 99 consistent velocity with a nice slider. In short bursts this guy could be a replacement to Mike Adams in terms of effectiveness. Let me say this though, he will be a total failure if they try to make him a starter. Won’t happen. Bank on it. Looking at his video, he puts a ridiculous amount of strain on that shoulder. In his case it’s not a question of if he’ll need shoulder surgery, it’s just a matter of time. If they try to make him a starter he’ll fail like Chris Young or Erik Bedard.

Another note; he has what I like to call “Dead Heat”. There is absolutely no life on his pitches. It’s just pure velocity for velocities sake. Yeah, he’ll get some Ooohs! and Ahhs! with the radar readings, but hitters will simply time him the second time around. If you look at the video, his best pitch is 97. It had some late life and he caught the outside corner for a strike. He could really benefit from taking a little off his fastball. I hope Balls catches that.

but there’s a reason why Josh Byrnes is the general manager for a Major League Baseball team and I’m sitting on a couch, scratching myself, watching reruns of ‘American Pickers’.

I’ll trust his judgment.