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Pearly Gates: An Angels Blog
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Friday, November 19, 2004

Mr. Guillen goes to Washington

Jose Guillen to Washington for Juan Rivera and Maicer Izturis. No time to blog at the moment, but Chronicles is all over this.

UPDATE: I'm pretty happy with this deal. Obviously Guillen is the best player involved, but it looks like Stoneman got pretty good value considering the position of weakness he was dealing from, acquiring two guys who fit nicely on a major league roster. He's also managed to dump a fair bit of salary in the process. The only thing that disappoints me is that he didn't manage to fill any of the glaring holes on the Angels' roster. I would have thought that someone would be willing to offer a middle reliever of some standing in return for Guillen.

Rivera is serviceable fourth outfielder, but nothing more. A free-swinger with some pop, he's basically Jeff DaVanon without the walks at this stage. He's young still - just 26 - so it's possible he could improve. I don't see a spot for him on this club, so he could be trade-bait.

Izturis has a slick glove and shows some promise with the bat. Like his brother Caesar, his power isn't going to impress anybody. But he has displayed a very good eye throughout his minor league career (105 BB to just 81 SO), and if he follows a similar path he should turn into an acceptable hitter. He seems a more than worthy heir to Alfredo Amezaga, and could (should) get a chance to prove his worth with the Angels' middle infield problems. I've always liked the younger Izturis - he's a keeper.

UPDATE: Early indications from the Washington Expos/Nationals/Grays/Senators blogosphere show that they are pleased with the deal. So everybody's happy. Isn't that nice?

UPDATE: Baseball America named Maicer Izturis as one of their "Breakout Players" for 2005 back in September.

UPDATE: Mad props from David Cameron as well.

I don't agree that the Angels have "[a]quired a player who should be reasonably expected to contribute a similar performance to the one he gave up at ten percent of the cost" in Rivera. Besides the fact that the numbers just don't add up (correction: the numbers are similar - 118 OPS+ for Rivera to 119 for Guillen. But the rest of the argument still stands.) let's remember that Guillen's power was sapped by nagging injuries for much of the season. His April wasn't so hot (.398 SLG) because of a hand injury, and his September was horrible (.329) for any number of reasons. What's he going to do with an entire healthy season?

Juan Rivera is a nice player, but he isn't a replacement for Guillen, nor is he "the answer" for a club with title aspirations. I would be very surprised if he ever pulls on an Angels jersey - this deal is just getting the house in order in anticipation of a big arrival (or two).

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