Thursday, July 16, 2009

Trade Review - Josh Beckett for Derek Jeter

Here is the second trade between these two teams, in which Orc Mischief sends Derek Jeter to Naterade in exchange for Josh Beckett. I feel that people tend to overrate both these players, but let's see how this trade will affect these two teams.


Orc Mischief has done a good job of strengthening his team's pitching this year through trades; in his previous trade with Naterade, he received Jered Weaver in exchange for Jose Guillen. Clint's team has had mediocre records in the pitching categories this year, and the addition of Beckett should help him win an extra game or two each week, helping him in his quest for a playoff spot. After an awful first month, Beckett has been very good the rest of the year. One of the reasons that I think people overrate him is that they overlook his injury history and the inconsistency he's had as a starter throughout his career, instead tending to focus on the team he plays for and the opportunities for wins that team gives him. It can be very hard to predict wins, as evidenced by the fact that Jason Marquis has as many wins as Beckett despite playing for a team with a worse record. Though he hasn't been consistent enough in his career to be considered an ace, Beckett is a very solid pitcher due to his ability to get strikeouts. He's put up numbers similar to this season's in the past, so I think that, barring an injury, he should continue his dominating season on the mound. Clint was able to make this trade without losing much offensively thanks to the offensive resurgence of Alexei Ramirez and his pickup of Elvis Andrus a couple of weeks ago.

Derek Jeter tends to be overrated because he has a reputation as a power/speed shortstop, when he hasn't had a 20/20 season since 2004 and he has produced more than 15 steals once since that same year. With that said, Derek Jeter is on pace to have a season to rival any other in his career. He's already hit 10 HR and 17 SB with a .321 average this year. I don't think he'll keep his current paces up, but he should continue to be, at the very least, a decent source of Runs and BA. Naterade's offensive record hasn't been very good this year and Jeter should help Nate in a couple categories each week, but I'm not certain that getting Jeter will help secure Nate a playoff spot. Losing Beckett will weaken this pitching staff, but hopefully Jeter can make up for it on offense.

1 comment:

Clint said...

I'm hoping Brandon Wood can give me some SS production as well. He did hit a HR in his first game this year, so they'll probably send him down the second Hunter or Vlad gets back.