MVN - Most Valuable Network

One More SCUD; Another Move Coming?

The Sox parted ways with catcher Chris Stewart today, shipping him to the Rangers for flame-throwing youngster John Lujan. Giving up Stewart isn’t much of a loss; although he was reportedly excellent with the glove, his career minor league hitting line of .252/.317/.364 left a lot to be desired. Furthermore, he’ll turn 25 next month, making him a fringe prospect at best. Lastly, the Sox’ acquisition of Toby Hall last month made Stewart expendable.

Lujan, who will be 23 next season, fits perfectly alongside Kenny Williams’ other recent acquisitions. The right-handed reliever brings serious heat (a fastball clocked as high as 96 or 97 mph), but has control issues: he walked 5.61 batters per nine innings last year at high A Bakersfield. That profile is not so dissimilar from those of David Aardsma, Nick Masset, Andrew Sisco, and, before last season, Matt Thornton. I’ve decided to call this type of pitcher a “SCUD,” after the Russian missiles brought into the American psyche during the Gulf War, because they too were powerful but inaccurate. Under this analogy, K-Will is the late Saddam Hussein, stockpiling SCUDs in the hopes of someday unleashing them on his enemies (in this case, the rest of the major leagues). Unlike Hussein’s power-crazy ambitions, however, this is one arms race I can get behind (even if it bets too heavily on Don Cooper’s magic).

Lujan has some things going for him beyond the heat — for his minor-league career, he’s given up just 0.55 homers per nine innings — but the fact that he has a (much) higher ceiling than Stewart is not my favorite part of this deal (although it’s certainly a positive). That accolade is reserved for the fact that this deal opened up a spot on the Sox’ 40-man roster. Now, while they technically don’t need to fill that vacancy any time soon, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the prelude to another move. Or, at least, I hope it is. Kenny, if you’re reading this (and I know you’re not), please, please use that spot to shore up the outfield, especially left.

Now, I’m not the begging type, so rather than just ask for something, I’m going to offer something in return; in this case, a specific player who could solve a number of the Sox’ problems: Craig Wilson. A converted catcher, and now, at age 30, a free agent, Wilson put up some pretty nice numbers in his time with the Pirates (2001 through this past July), before stumbling a bit in the Bronx last year (.212/.248/.365 in 104 at-bats). But what his career line of .265/.354/.480 doesn’t tell you is just how well he hits lefties: he’s a career .296/.395/.543 against them. That’s not just good — it’s great.

Wilson could platoon with Mackowiak in left, providing pretty decent production at the plate (if less than stellar work in the field). Using their platoon-splits over the past three seasons (because recent results tend to be more predictive), we’d probably be looking at production from left-field somewhere in the .275/.360/.450 range. Given the cost (Macko will make $2.75 million, and I think we could sign Wilson for about $3 million), that’s pretty good. Plus, against some lefties the Sox could use Pablo Ozuna in left-field, thereby allowing Wilson to DH in place of Jim Thome (I’m firmly in favor of always sitting him against southpaws) and Hall to play behind the plate. The difference between Ozuna, Wilson, and Hall against lefties, as compared to Mackowiak (or Scott Podsednik), Thome, and A.J. Pierzynski, is substantial. In all seriousness, it might be the difference between the Sox winning 95 games and making the playoffs and the Sox winning 88 and staying home in October.

Additionally, Wilson could lead off against lefties. He’s hardly the prototypical leadoff hitter, but a .395 OBP is a .395 OBP, and that’s really all that matters. This still doesn’t solve the issue of who would lead off against righties (perhaps Tadahito Iguchi and his .350 OBP?), but I’m not Superman; this would at least provide a nice platoon partner for Macko in left, give us a potent righty bat off the bench, and someone to lead off one-fourth to one-third of the time. Whaddaya say, Kenny?

This entry was posted on Friday, January 12th, 2007 at 11:51 pm and is filed under Transactions, Minor Leagues/Prospects, Rumors. 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.