Adam Hyzdu Traded

by Randy Booth on Mar 22, 2005 7:00 PM EST in News Comment 24 comments

I just got the word from Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy in the booth that outfielder Adam Hyzdu has been traded to San Diego for relief pitcher Blaine Neal.

I like the trade because not only do we get another solid relief pitcher, but Hyzdu has a chance to be in the major leagues on a consistent basis in San Diego. I'll have more analysis on this trade later.

What does the rest of Red Sox Nation think?

0 recs | Comment 24 comments

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Oh No!!!

The Adam Hyzdu era is OVA!!!
Fortunately we have no use for an aging minor league OFer and we get a fairly young pitcher in return. Not this is a real impact move by any means but this looks like another good trade by Theo.

by bohous on Mar 22, 2005 8:14 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Hyzdu

All Hyzdu would have done for us this year is hit 20 + home runs in the minor leagues, and we really didn't need that. And you're right; his age is a big factor.

OverTheMonster.com

by Randy Booth on Mar 22, 2005 8:36 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Theo

i don't know about blaine neal (besides that he's young and has a pretty high WHIP), but i generally trust theo to do a good job trading players at their height and getting upside players.

though curtis leskanic made me crazy.

by NolaSox on Mar 22, 2005 8:26 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Leskanic

Curtis "The Mechanic" Leskanic was a pretty good pickup by Theo in my mind. He did have an impressive 3.58 ERA while he was a Sox. Who's going to argue with those results?

OverTheMonster.com

by Randy Booth on Mar 22, 2005 8:38 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

yeah, but

he was torture watching. you're right, though, he wasn't as bad as he seemed when you were watching. he had that one impressive inning in game 4 where i thought it was all over with, especially after his performance in game 3.

my sister went to LSU (where curtis went) so i had a soft spot for him, despite the mental anguish he caused me. didn't he have a partially torn something in his arm all season?

by NolaSox on Mar 22, 2005 8:49 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Leskanic

I'm not sure about any injury, but I do know he was a great guy in the clubhouse. Everyone seemed to love him. He was definitely a great influence.

OverTheMonster.com

by Randy Booth on Mar 22, 2005 8:51 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah,

I'm not sure what it was, but he was definitely pitching injured for most, if not all, of last season.

by Boston Fan in Michigan on Mar 23, 2005 1:11 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

partial tear in his rotator cuff

i looked it up late last night.

"If anything, it makes me realize that Alex Rodriguez is more of a genetic freak than we ever thought." Curt Schilling's Congressional testimony

by NolaSox on Mar 23, 2005 7:06 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Anyone else notice...

...that Neal was converted into a position player for a year in 1998? What's the story behind that?

More relevantly... I like this pickup; we weren't going to use Hyzdu (seeing as we already have four outfielders plus Millar), and get injury insurance in the bullpen. The difference between Neal's major league performance (league-average) and minor league performance (good) basically appears to be just hits allowed and home runs allowed (126 hits in 101 MLB innings, about 11 H/9 IP, compared to 274 in 306 minor league innings, about 8 H/9 IP, and a HR/9 rate NINE TIMES higher in MLB than in the minors). I think he's a solid Quadruple-A relief pitcher at the moment, with some potential; that high hits allowed rate is basically the result of his awful 2003 (8.14 ERA, 16 H/9 IP), and he lopped off one walk per nine innings last year. Plus I like anyone who can post an ERA under 3 in the Pacific Coast League. ;)

by Reidmar the Mediocre on Mar 22, 2005 11:03 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

What about the park

One thing that concerns me is those numbers are in a great pitcher's park and doesn not include throwing to a DH. Do you think that matters?

I'm an oblique man, so I'll be obtuse.

by cdmphy on Mar 23, 2005 11:25 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Since you asked:

The minor league numbers were in the following parks:

Portland, ME (AA), park factor of 1050 (increases runs scored by about 5%)
Calgary (AAA), PF of 1096
Albuquerque (AAA), PF of 1140
Portland, OR (AAA), PF of 935 (decreases runs scored by about 6.5%)

Neal threw to the DH in the minors, so he's dealt with that already.

The park factor for Petco last year was a 919; for Pro Player Stadium, the park factors were 954 in 2002 and 947 in 2003. Fenway's park factor last year was 1040.

by Reidmar the Mediocre on Mar 23, 2005 3:29 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

bye bye BK Kim

I think this signals that Kim's days with the sox are numbered.

by djslippyb on Mar 23, 2005 11:47 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Kim's days

I think they were numbered by the middle of last season...

by Brian Martin on Mar 23, 2005 3:08 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Kim

If we are lucky...

OverTheMonster.com

by Randy Booth on Mar 23, 2005 4:25 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I have prayed for this

Please, Please make it a small number of days.

We don't throw at .265 hitters

by Dirty Water on Mar 24, 2005 3:18 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Kim's days are numbered anyway

but not because we picked up another pitcher. I think the guys on the pitching staff are already pretty much set. I imagine Neal will start the year in Pawtuckett.
Kim will be tough to get rid of even if the Sox eat the entire $5m owed to him. You would be lucky to find somebody to trade a fungo bat for him at this point.

by bohous on Mar 23, 2005 12:25 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Pitching Staff

If Neal starts in Pawtuckett, who's starting the season with the Sox?

by djslippyb on Mar 23, 2005 2:15 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Err, good point

I wasn't really taking into account Schilling and Miller starting the year on the DL so if we were to rid ourselves of Kim, Blaine might make it onto the major league roster to start the season.

Shilling-DL?
Wells
Clement
Wake
Arroyo

Embree
Timlin
Foulke
Halama
Mantei

The last spot (or 2) are up for grabs Kim, A. Martinez, DiNardo* or Alverez* I guess.

*currently listed as non-roster

by bohous on Mar 23, 2005 2:49 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Bullpen Spots

With Schill on the DL, I think the best chances are for Mark Malaska (LHP), Lenny DiNardo (LHP) and Blaine Neal. Malaska has shown impressive stuff this spring training, and the same goes for DiNardo. DiNardo also pitched for Boston last year, and was very impressive for a guy who never pitched above AA ball.

OverTheMonster.com

by Randy Booth on Mar 23, 2005 4:26 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I like it

They gave up a career minor leaguer for a potential major league arm. Neal's PETCO numbers for 2005 look like he could be a pretty decent pickup. 60 innings with a 3.78 ERA? I'll take that as our 10th or 11th pitcher.

by Brian Martin on Mar 23, 2005 3:10 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Neal

Not to mention that his potential is also very high.

OverTheMonster.com

by Randy Booth on Mar 23, 2005 4:27 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Neal

He's out of options so I wouldn't mind seeing him stick around for the year. I'm sure we're going to have at least one pitcher on the DL at any given time, so I'm sure he'll have a spot.

This was actually the kind of deal I was hoping for when they traded away Mientkiewicz. I would think that a bullpen arm is more valueable than a AA first baseman coming off of an injury plagued season. So I'm wondering why we couldn't really get much for Minty, but we were able to get a decent guy in return for Hyzdu...

by Brian Martin on Mar 23, 2005 5:38 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

kim

I'm one of the few people whose hoping that Kim can make it all the way back. He's supposedly healthy and throwing with velocity again in spring training. I think it was just a bad idea to move him to starter, but as a reliever, he could really help us out. True we already have Halma, Embree, and Timlin, but Timlin and Embree are pretty old, and I see them both spending time on dl this season. As much as I liked how DiNardo pitched last year, I would much rather have BK throw ahead of him and Malaska, just because he has so much more game experience. Besides, its absolutely pointless to eat BK's 5 mil salary next season and lose him if we don't get another bat in return (which is looking unlikely).

On another note, I'm looking for Bronson Arroyo to have a breakout season. The man definitely shows flashes being a front-of-the-rotation starter, and hes really young (28). What do you think?

by forage on Mar 25, 2005 2:15 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Arroyo

I think Arroyo HAS to start. His numbers from last season were great and Wakefield's weren't. It's that simple. But I've heard some great comments on here why Wakefield should start, and I've got to agree with some points. Like, if Wake were in relief, Tek would, odds are, be the catcher and we saw how bad that was last season.

The only thing I have to say about Kim is that he has potential, but we haven't seen the "old" Kim for a long time.

OverTheMonster.com

by Randy Booth on Mar 25, 2005 4:32 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs