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Tigers may be working out trade for Rangers’ Galarraga

Jon Paul Morosi is reporting the Tigers may ship out outfield prospect, Michael Hernandez, for Armando Galarraga, who is a pitcher in the Texas organization. Galarraga was designated for assignment to make room for Jason Jennings on the Rangers’ 40-man roster. This acquisition would be identical to the way the Tigers acquired Yorman Bazardo last year.

Unfortunately, Michael Hernandez has a little more going for him right now than Jeff Frazier did when the Tigers shipped him out for Bazardo. Hernandez hit .260/.326/.478 in Lakeland last year, where he spent most of the season before a callup to Erie. That .218 ISO was good for fourth in the FSL among hitters with more than 350 plate appearances.

Hernandez also made large strides in getting his walk rate up while he was in Lakeland, going from 5.1% in West Michigan in ‘06 to 9.0% last year in Lakeland. Once he was called up to Erie, it dropped back down closer to the ‘06 level but that still represents progress.

This progress and what seems looks to be a powerful bat - along with some positive comments from his coaches last year - make me a little sorry to hear about this potential trade. After all, Hernandez was one of my personal favorites because he was an interesting story. The Whitecaps picked him up as an undrafted free agent in 2006 and ever since he’s hit the ball with authority for the Caps, Flying Tigers and SeaWolves.

But let’s not get too sentimental. Generally when you’re on the Tigers’ side of a deal like this you’re getting the better talent because you have all the leverage. For Galarraga to stay in the Texas organization he’d have to clear waivers and if the Tigers are willing to give up a player to get him that’s clearly not going to happen. That means they have to find a trade partner or lose him for nothing. As much as I rooted for Hernandez’s continued success and love stories like his, I have to admit this appears to be another instance where the team with the leverage will win.

As recently as November of 2005, Galarraga was named a Top 10 prospect in the Nationals system by Baseball America. That was before he was dealt alongside Terrmel Sledge and Brad Wilkerson to the Rangers in the Alfonso Soriano trade. The scouting report that accompanied his being placed in the Nationals’ top ten list had him throwing a low 90s sinker and a slider that rated as the best in that system. That was after a very successful 2005 campaign which saw him throw over 150 innings before throwing quite a few more over the winter. According to Baseball America and Galarraga himself, all those innings were the source of his disappointing 2006 campaign.

In 2007, with a closer watch on his workload, he spent most of the season at Double A Frisco and turned in some promising numbers (127.2 IP, 122 H, 114 K, 47 BB) that earned him a cup of coffee in Arlington. Assuming that scouting report is still accurate and it was his stuff - not just his age relative to the league - that allowed Galarraga to post those numbers this could be a good pickup for the Tigers.

He is, after all, a 26-year old who appears to have two good pitches and a pretty good minor league track record. To get that for a player you picked up without even using a draft pick is a pretty good way to go about acquiring talent. I realize that’s not an accurate or fair way to depict Hernandez, but the Tigers are pretty flush right now with right-handed power bats who can play the OF/1B/DH role. Flipping him for potential bullpen help who still has an option left may not be a bad idea.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 4th, 2008 at 8:58 pm and is filed under armando galarraga, mike hernandez. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.