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Reds Trade Sean Casey to Pirates for...

Valadius Dec 06 2005 07:58 PM

Dave Williams?!?!?!?!?!?!? DALLAS (Ticker) - The Cincinnati Reds made a move to improve their pitching, but it cost them one of their most popular players to do it. ESPN 1000 Radio in Chicago is reporting that the Reds have dealt first baseman Sean Casey, who led the team with a .312 batting average this past season, to the Pittsburgh Pirates for lefthander Dave Williams. The trade will not be announced until both players pass a physical. The 31-year-old Casey, who owns a career .305 average, has played all but six games of his major league career with Cincinnati, joining the team before the 1998 season. He began his career with the Cleveland Indians. In Williams, the Reds get a 26-year-old who won 10 games last season and would have finished with a winning record for the first time in his career if not for losing his final three starts. He finished the season with a 10-11 record and a 4.41 ERA, striking out 88 in 138 2/3 innings. This trade makes less sense than... well... Mike Cameron for Xavier Nady.

Nymr83 Dec 06 2005 08:04 PM

i think this is a good trade for the Reds. Williams is a talented young pitcher probably at least on par with Heilman. Sean Casey has always been overrated and more importantly overpaid (while i can assume Williams is still a year or two away from arbitration much less free agency)

Johnny Dickshot Dec 06 2005 08:08 PM

OTOH, it's a trade for what both teams need, just weird that when Pittsburgh finally decides to splurge on a player, they get an overpaid one.

abogdan Dec 06 2005 08:29 PM

I like this deal for Cincinnati, assuming they aren't pickin gup too much of Casey's contract. Williams was pretty solid last year and is better than most of what the Reds put out there on the mound last season. This also decreases the likelihood that the Reds will deal one of their outfielders. The Reds had five players for four spots and they were able to deal away the least productive one of the group. Move Dunn over to 1B and Wily Mo Pena finally gets an every day job.

smg58 Dec 06 2005 08:44 PM

Casey can't be too overrated if the best the Reds can do is Dave Williams. Those 20 HR in 139 IP ought to have been a concern, especially since those 139 IP came over 25 starts (barely 5 IP/game) and the last homer-prone lefty starter they brought in worked out so poorly. Casey has some solid road splits -- .840 OPS last year, .901 from 02 to 04 -- so he could thrive in Pittsburgh. And the Pirates have enough young pitching to absorb the loss. I'd give a big advantage to Pitt on this one.

DocTee Dec 06 2005 10:00 PM

FWIW, Casey is a Pittsburgh native.

Nymr83 Dec 06 2005 10:55 PM

Casey has a career OPs+ of 113, which i'll assume (i havent looked and wouldnt even know where to look) is decent but not good for a first baseman. his last 4 years are 78, 98, 142, and 104. He is 31 years old and made 7.8 million last year (i can only assume that goes up a bit as most contracts are backloaded) the Reds had 5 guys for 4 spots and they aren't a NY team, purging that salary without a downgrade to their lineup is probably a benefit in and of itself, the question is did they get rid of the right guy? Player- positions* (age**) OPS for 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 Casey - 1B (30) 78, 98, 142, 104 Griffey - OF (35) 100, 140, 128, 138 Dunn - RF/LF/1B (25) 118, 112, 152, 135 Kearns- OF (25) 130, 113, 97, 99 Pena - OF (23) 52***, 66***, 121, 100 *my own extrapolation of where they can play, i havent checked games played to see so feel free to disagree or correct me. **the age at which they played last season according to baseballreference.com *** Pena had only 18 ABs in 2002 and 185 ABs in 2003 Dunn is flat out better and younger. Pena is the youngest of the bunch, could be just as good a hitter, and is probably seen as the future in CF (a position far harder to fill than 1B.) Griffey certainly has more upside but with more age, injury risk, and a higher contract he is arguably the worst bet of the bunch. Kearns was a highly regarded prospect but seems to have gotten progressively worse in the majors, he might have been a better choice to deal than Casey (except for contract considerations and 5 years of age.) in the end they'd have probably done better to trade griffey (but only if they didnt pay the salary which is unlikely) or Kearns (but only if they got a better player than Williams back since Kearns is cheap) in a deal for Williams i think Casey was the best choice to give up, if they're not paying the contract at all. The money saved with which they might be able to afford ANOTHER starting pitcher is a good thing for this team.

DocTee Dec 06 2005 11:22 PM

]weird that when Pittsburgh finally decides to splurge on a player, they get an overpaid one. Looks like Kevin Young might have company as most-overpaid 1B men in Buccos history...

Edgy DC Dec 06 2005 11:23 PM

So I guess Brad Eldred isn't the firstbaseman of the future. They seemed to be slotting in some young players nicely at a lot of other positions the second half of last year. Casey'll be billed as the veteran presence they all need.

old original jb Dec 06 2005 11:54 PM re: how many games he should have won...

]would have finished with a winning record for the first time in his career if not for losing his final three starts And the Mets would have had a perfect record last season if not for those pesky 79 losses scattered throughout the season.