Former Baltimore Orioles’ third baseman Miguel Tejada was traded to the San Diego Padres on Thursday afternoon for 24-year-old Double-A prospect Wynn Pelzer.
My first thoughts on the deal were, “the Orioles actually got something for Tejada?” Color me impressed. Tejada has an uninspiring .269/.308/.362 line with a .296 wOBA, while Tejada’s defense at third base — his range looked fine to me, but he made a lot of bad errors – weighed his WAR down to its current 0.1 mark. So, almost by definition, getting something of value in return for essentially a replacement-level player is impressive. The Padres must be banking on Tejada’s production improving in the midst of a pennant race for them to even bother making this deal, and I bet it will.
Further, I’m sure every Orioles’ fan got sick of Tejada always hacking away at the first pitch of a plate appearance. How many times did we see Tejada swing at the first pitch and make an out right after the Orioles’ pitcher labored in the previous half-inning?
I don’t know where the Padres plan on playing Tejada with Chase Headley entrenched at third base. The Padres will apparently use Tejada at shortstop a little bit, but I don’t think that experiment will last very long. I think Tejada may very well just end up being a right-handed bat on the bench.
Orioles’ general manager Andy MacPhail was on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight just after midnight on Friday morning and said that the Tejada trade is primarily about giving Josh Bell an extended look at third base at the big league level so the team can evaluate whether he is capable of being the everyday third baseman next year. Bell’s held his own during his first year at Triple-A, posting a .275/.326/.478 line. He was overmatched by big league pitching in his brief time with the Orioles this season, striking out eight times in 19 at-bats. The goal for Bell during the final two months of the season should be to hold his own at the plate and show defensive competence at third. I’d love to see a lot of range from Bell — he can grow out of errors on routine plays, but range is something that really can’t be taught.
The return on Tejada from San Diego is the 24-year-old Pelzer, who ranked as Baseball America’s seventh-best prospect in the Padres’ organization coming into this year. Here are the basics on Pelzer, per Dan Connolly of The Baltimore Sun:
“Pelzer, 24, was the seventh-rated prospect in the Padres system by Baseball America. He was the former closer at the University of South Carolina and was taken in the ninth round in 2007, getting an above-slot bonus of $190,000.
The right-hander was 6-9 with a 4.20 ERA in 22 games (18 starts) for San Antonio, the Padres’ Double-A affiliate. He’s 6-foot-1 and 205 pounds and can throw in the mid 90s, though his velocity dropped some this year.
He is mainly a starter but was switched back to relief recently. One scout that has seen him calls him raw and said he needs work on his delivery and command. But he has a strong live arm and closer’s mentality. There’s definitely an upside there.”
Baseball America also noted that Pelzer rated as having the best fastball and slider in the San Diego system, while projecting that he would be the Padres’ closer in 2013. Pelzer has made 18 starts for Double-A San Antonio this season, but the Orioles already view him as a reliever, so I’d assume that he’ll immediately become a part of Bowie’s bullpen. Here is a take on Pelzer from Keith Law, a talent evaluator for ESPN.com and Scouts Inc. (link only for ESPN Insiders):
“Wynn Pelzer is a good inventory arm, a future reliever who has trouble repeating his delivery and thus has struggled with command and control. He’ll touch 94 mph but has never quite recovered the velocity he showed as a college freshman, when he was touching 96 and above and looked like he’d be a first-rounder after his junior year. He’s a good arm for Baltimore to add given what they gave up, but not so good that the Padres are likely to regret giving him up down the road.”
Sounds like the Orioles have some work to do in cleaning up Pelzer’s delivery to get him back to the velocity at which he’s capable of throwing, and the control that he’s shown in the past. In 105.2 innings in 2009, Pelzer walked 3.5 batters per nine innings and struck out 8.8 batters per nine. In 94.1 innings this year, Pelzer has walked 5.3 batters per nine and has struck out 7.9 batters per nine. His strikeout-to-walk ratio ratio has gone from 2.49 in 2009 to 1.48 this year.
But I’ll take a potential power arm out of the big league bullpen any day of the week in exchange for a player with as little value as Tejada.