Friday, July 30, 2010

Today's Moves...And No Pirates Gone (Yet)

-- Twitter is all atwitter with Paul Maholm trade rumors. The Padres, Mets, and Dodgers have all been associated with him; we'll find out soon enough. Nothing even suggesting a move for the bullpen vets, surprisingly.

-- The Twins acquired Matt Capps, 26, and $500K from the Nationals for LHP Joe Testa and highly touted C prospect Wilson Ramos today.

Ramos, 22, was ranked 58th among all MLB prospects on Baseball America's preseason list. He hit .241/.280/.345 in AAA with five homers this season. Joe Mauer's presence in Minnesota made him expendable for the Twins, but Ramos is considered an eventual MLB starter.

Testa has a 5.50 ERA between high A and AA and the 24 year-old has yet to pitch above AA.

So now we know his value; a young, highly thought-of AAA prospect and a AA project. Of course, the Pirates might have never rebuilt Capps' value; he had 25 saves and a 2.80 ERA with the Nats. Still, he did have some worth, and the Pirates didn't collect a bag of scuffed BP balls for it.

Others would argue that the Capps affair was, in reality, a straight-up swap for Octavio Dotel. So we'll see what OD fetches on the marketplace before we pass judgment. And we may not get to see that happen in the next 24 hours; Jon Paul Morosi of Fox Sports tweets that "action has been light" on him. The Pirates place closer value on him; other teams see him as a set-up guy and an insurance policy.

-- The Pirates acquired outfielder Mitch Jones, 32, from the Braves for cash and assigned him to Indy. Jones hit .250 with 18 homers for AAA Gwinnett, and had a cup of coffee last season with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Maybe the move is presaging a call for Brandon Moss from the big club, although the suits deny it. Until then, he's just a little more organizational depth.

-- The Dodgers designated LHP Jack Taschner for assignment. LA picked him up after the Bucs DFA'ed him. Taschner got one guy out of the six batters he faced, not a very good way to establish yourself as a team's LOOGY.

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