"This was not a blockbuster. This was a value trade, a chance to get a guy with unfulfilled potential at a reasonable cost.

"The last two years, there were high expectations that didn’t come together for him. His performance certainly hasn’t been as good the last two years as it was in 2007. I can tell you that’s the reason we were able to acquire him today. Had he maintained that performance or had linear progression from 2007 to today, there’s no way we would have been trading for him, let alone in this kind of a deal.

"Hermida is a player who hasn’t fulfilled his potential yet. We acquired him today for a reasonable cost to see if he might be able to fulfill that potential with us. He’s somebody who has positive indicators that future performance might be better than his past performance. His minor-league track record, his age, his draft pedigree, our scouting reports over the year indicate there’s a chance that he can turn into the player he was once thought to be.

"Certainly this is a good time to acquire him when his value is a little bit low and to see if with a change of scenery he will be able to fulfill his potential.

"He is somebody who had and we feel may still have considerable promise. This is a player who was highly sought after as an amateur. We liked him in the draft.

"He’s about to move into his prime years. Sometimes talented young players who struggle at the big-league level put it all together and sometimes they don’t. We had a chance to acquire one for what we deemed to be a very reasonable cost."