LaRoche Traded Again
We really needed a clean one-for-one swap that featured players of the same position. Thankfully Boston and Atlanta answered the call, giving us Adam LaRoche for Casey Kotchman.
LaRoche heads back to Atlanta after a few days in Boston and two and a half years in Pittsburgh. His wOBA is an average .328, but he should hit a little better down the stretch as his BABIP recoups to normal LaRoche levels. He’s a touch below average defensively and if nothing else gives the Braves a left-handed bat, but they aren’t gaining much, if any, value here because of LaRoche’s pending free agency.
Kotchman on the other hand is under team control for an additional two seasons. Essentially, Boston traded a third of a season of LaRoche for two additional seasons of Kotchman and the two are basically equals. LaRoche hits a bit better, Kotchman fields better, but at the end of the day they look almost exactly alike in the WAR column.
Presumably Kotchman plays the bench role that LaRoche would’ve, and allows Mike Lowell, Victor Martinez, or even Kevin Youkilis to be lifted or swapped around if needed.
Maybe Bobby Cox doesn’t like Kotchman or Frank Wren wanted to add some left-handed pop, but this is basically a tit-for-tat deal, and tat is a free agent at the end of the season. Unless there’s something beyond the surface here, I’m not really sure I get the move for the Braves.
19
I’m officially lost.
I’d like to know what Atlanta’s thinking was
I think that Atlanta believes that they can resign LaRoche, having gotten Nate McLouth (one of LaRoche’s favorite teammates) in trade from the Pirates. If this is correct, this would be a nice humanitarian gesture at any rate.
And if wrong, this was the team that traded Charlie Morton and two prospects for McLouth, when Morton for McLouth “straight up” would have been a fairer trade.
I respectfully disagree. Wren/Cox and the fans all wanted out of the Kotchman experience. He doesn’t offer the level of power expected from a 1B, and it was felt all year. IIn the offseason, I wouldn’t be surpised to see ATL to push for a bigger bat at the position with LaRoche departing.
As far as Morton for McLouth being a fair deal, I disagree again. McLouth’s contract and numbers speak for themselves, and Morton is a #5 guy and doesn’t have a place in an organization with a pedigree for elite pitching. But, Gorkys Hernandez will turn out to be the gem for Pittsburgh in that trade, in 2 years probably.
Do the Braves have a platoon mate for LaRoche? He hits righties but is useless vs southpaws. I can see it making sense for them if they did, as Kotchman is pretty much evenly meh.
Wasn’t LaRoche close to a type B free agent? He could bring value that way; not sure if you’d want to offer him arb though.
The Braves are within striking distance of the WC, but not really close enough that making a move seems worth it.(4 back)
Is Atl. that hard up for $ that they wanted to trade Kotchmann (arb eligible this off-season) for an expiring contract?
Now we get to shell out a bunch of dollars for him to pick up about 600 PA’s in 3 years, COOL.
I read somewhere that the Red Sox plan on including Kotchman in another trade, not sure if that’s true but it would make sense. Not sure why any team would really want Kotchman though, he’s getting more expensive and he’s not really worth it.
The only logic i can think of is if the Red Sox DFA Kotchman so Anderson could become more expendable, even that’s a reach.
Either way, deadline’s passed, so unless something’s waiting for Selig to sign, we’re locked in.
I would think he platoons with Prado. And clearly the Braves planned on designating Kotchman after the season. Slow, soft hitting first baseman are not worth arbitration money.
Maybe the Braves are thinking Freddie Freeman will be ready for opening day next year. He has been doing well in AA. This could also free up some cash that would’ve been spent on Kotchman’s arbitration for some sort of free agent.
Honestly, LaRoche’s .328 wOBA is probably his true talent number. He’s a better hitter than Kotchman; ZiPS has him at .366 for the rest of the season. On the perfectly reasonable assumption that the Braves, like most baseball organizations, don’t care or know about 1B defense, the Braves probably see this as an upgrade for the current season over a player they were basically ready to release.
The verdict on this trade, if you ask me, is “meh.”
The Braves get a power bat for the rest of the season and clear the way for Freddie Freeman to take the reigns.
Some are speculating Boston is sending some cash which would help some but not sure if it is true.
LaRoche is an interesting guy. Diagnosed with ADD, I’ve read articles in the past that the Braves made it very easy on him given his condition. From going to Pirate games, I can tell you the Pirate fans sure didn’t make it easy for him. I also know that a lot of Braves fans were pretty fond of LaRoche so perhaps it is a PR move after the Glavine, Smoltz, and AJ debacles.
I think it is a pretty confusing deal as well but it wont hurt the Braves either way so whatever. If he were to bring back a comp pick, I would definitely like that especially if the Sox did throw a little cash our way.
LaRoche is known to be very good friends with the a lot of the Braves players, and he’s probably friends with McLouth as well. Maybe that has something to do with it.
So you are bashing the Braves for trading a horrific offensive 1B for an average 1B? Does anyone really want a .280 10 home run 70 RBI FIRST BASEMAN? I, among many do not care about defensive first basemen. LaRoche will hit .250+ this year with 25 home runs and brings a lot more to the club house than Kotchman.
Kotchman was blocking Freeman at first and it’s possible LaRoche could sign for a one year deal to give Freeman some more time to develop. We gave up zero talent in this trade and got back a fan favorite. Sounds like a win for the Braves to me, especially since none of us could take Kotchman’s offense for another 2 years.
Kotchman is a far better fielder, has a high BA/OBP and has shown power. I don’t think it’s to ridiculous to wonder what the Braves were thinking here no. To me, doesn’t really matter either way. I’m not confident Freeman is ready so would have rather kept the player under team control but we will see how it plays out. I always liked LaRoche just felt he was overrated as a Brave.
Look at OPS+. Both Kotchman and LaRoche have similar values, just above 100, so it’s a tit-for-tat trade in that regard. I wonder if the Red Sox acquired Kotchman primarily as a late-inning defensive replacement. He doesn’t have much range, but he’s a very sure-handed firstbaseman.
Also, ss mentioned above, LaRoche is friends with many of the Braves, in particular, Chipper Jones. They are hunting buddies in the off-season and are in business together. They have some kind of outdoors venture going. This might not matter so much with many clubs, but it does with the Braves.
For their careers, it’s 96 vs. 113, with 113 being 65th among active players. Not sure that OPS+ argument carries much weight, since you have to restrict it to only first half of 2009 to make a point.
This deal actually makes sense to me. The Sox had enough bats to rotate at the 1B/C/DH position so they preferred to upgrade defensively (in the playoffs, especially, they can put Youk at 3B and Kotch at 1B if the matchups warrant). I think the Braves felt they needed some power and LaRoche can provide at least moderate power. They also free up 1B for Freeman, as two other people stated, which also gives them some salary flexibility. This trade seems crazy at first, but it really makes a lot of sense. The Sox have wicked depth and I look forward to whipping them for the Pennant.
I’m gonna be unhappy to see Kotchman get many ABs in a Sox uniform. There’s not much reason to play him over Youk, VMart, Lowell, or Ortiz.
Doug Mientkiewicz caught the World Series winning out ball, and didn’t give it back for a long time. Being a late inning defensive substitute at 1B has its benefits.
The Braves are betting on the come, according to AJC’s Dave O’Brien.
“For his career, has a .252 average and .733 OPS before the All-Star break, and a .295 average and .900 OPS after the break. He has averaged one homer every 25.2 at-bats before the break, and one every 17.7 at-bats after.”
“Adam has historically been a slow starter and an offensive force in the second half,” Wren said. “Obviously we’re counting on that.”
Atlanta’s 1Bmen have 7 HRs and rank next to last in NL slugging.
I’m guessing they sign LaRoche to a 1-year deal, planning on Freeman, who’s only 19, in 2011.
LaRoche has a slightly better chance to have a better offensive couple of months than Kotchman, and the Braves needed more offense.
LaRoche peaked at a 130 OPS+ at age 26 and is a year removed from a 123 OPS+ season. Not that these are great numbers but Kotchman’s OPS+ high is 122 and Kotchman has never had the solid offensive seasons LaRoche has had.
So while it’s likely the trade is a wash, LaRoche has more potential upside for the two remaining months (if you can use that word discussing older players).
I think its fairly obvious the Braves acquired Laroche for his yearly second half power outbreak. Laroche has consistently been a much better player after the All-star break over his career.
pre all-star:
.252/.326/.447 .773 OPS
post all-star break:
.295/.356/.544 .899 OPS
Kotchman was not in the Braves plans for next season and Laroche gives the Braves more flexibility for next season. They can resign AL to a 1 or 2 year deal (probably below market considering he came up w/ the Braves and is good friends with Chipper and McLouth), have Prado play 1B next season until Freeman is ready, or finally move Chipper to first and play Prado at 3rd. This move makes a lot of sense for the Braves.
LaRoche came to ATL with cash considerations. His salary is $5-6mil more than Kotchman’s. I think this and it being LaRoche’s final year says they want to fix the power outage at the position. But I don’t see Friedman fixing it. Maybe Delgado could fill the roll at a good price until he does.
I wonder if Nick Johnson could be in the cards for Atlanta. It will likely depend on what other teams get involved because he’ll likely be the most desirable firstbaseman and will likely come relatively cheap.