Trade Central:
2/7/11
2011
Fremantle Acquires:
Aramis Ramirez-3B
$600,000
Jersey City Acquires:
Jason Hammel-P
Casey McGehee-3B
The Deal:
Fremantle acquires a solid right handed bat to insert into the middle of the batting
order with Mark Teixeira. This move will hopefully improve on the team’s offensive
production from last year, where the Cormorants hit .254 as a team, finished in the
bottom 3 in homeruns and last in RBI. Ramirez hit .292 last year with 36 home runs and
111 RBI’s (his HR and RBI production would have lead Fremantle last year). Ramirez’s
bat should pay immediate dividends and help improve the offense for the Cormorants. In
addition, Aramis’ is in the last year of his contract and will be looking to make as much
money in the off season as possible so he will be motivated to improve upon last years
production. The addition of Ramirez does put Fremantle right up against the cap, but
improved its offense with this trade.
Jersey City makes this deal to free up much needed cap room and get some financial
flexibility. It’s obvious that the Jackals feel the offensive production lost by moving
Ramirez can be made up with the production of guys like Mauer, Hamilton, Butler and
Tulowitzki. McGehee is an affordable option at third for the Jackals and he is locked up
through 2013. His .254 average last year was not eye popping, but he did hit 19 homers
and should be an adequate replacement at 3B for the Jackals. Jason Hammel is a 27 year
old RH pitcher who pitched at AAA last year going 5-6 with a 3.90 ERA in 15 starts.
AAA batters hit only .258 against him last year and he had 94 K’s in 101 innings pitched.
Hammel should compete for the #5 spot in the rotation or at the least a long reliever job
with JC, but another year at AAA wouldn’t be out of the question.
Winner/Loser:
I like the deal for Fremantle as they add a productive bat in Ramirez who will hit for
average and power for the Cormorants (at least for this year) and only had to give up
one major league player in McGehee to get him. This is obviously a deal to clear cap
space for Jersey City and should be viewed that way. But McGehee should provide some
production lower in the order and if Hammel can develop into a back of the rotation arm
for the Jackals, that would be a plus.
