The Astros needed Keppinger, to be sure, but was it worth giving up Sutton? No. Not at...

The Astros needed Keppinger, to be sure, but was it worth giving up Sutton? No. Not at all.

Drayton McLane and Ed Wade are slowly but surely putting this franchise into the Dark Ages, and they just re-upped manager Cecil Cooper for another year despite Cooper being the overwhelming favorite to be the first manager fired. Clearly, the Astros will be a non-factor for years to come

The Hardball Times on the Sutton for Keppinger fallout. (You've got to scroll down a little bit to get to it)

about 3 years ago Stephen Higdon 8 comments 0 recs |

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did you notice the comments about Paulino and Arias recalled...

(and of course this was before Arias was sent back down, after seeing no duty). I didn’t understand their comment about Arias. Hard to tell if it was a positive or negative statement.

by clack on Apr 20, 2009 3:10 PM CDT reply actions

Never has so much been said

about the trade of a 2-star prospect.

by Only_A_Lad on Apr 20, 2009 3:22 PM CDT reply actions

I'm going to make a semi-appropriate, hypothetical comparison:

If, when driving down the street, G.W. Bush ran over a deer, people would have been outraged.

"He could have avoided it! Poor living creature.."

Ultimately (in my opinion, sorry Astros fans that are also PETA supporters): it’s just a deer. But because the guy who killed it was an unpopular figure, much more would have been made about it.

The Astros are known (probably rightfully) as one of the dumbest organizations in baseball. Since it the Astros who made this trade, it was time to pile on, beat a dead horse, etc. People are drawn to train wrecks, and thats what we may be…

If the Red Sox, or Indians or Braves had made a similar trade, it would never have registered like this trade. It’s just the nature of the beast, I suppose.

by Evan Hochschild on Apr 20, 2009 3:37 PM CDT up reply actions 2 recs

yeah

it’s the trade of a C-level prospect for a decent bench player. Sadly, the Astros have to use that bench player as a platoon player, but that’s just the way it is.

And what seems to be lost in all of this is that Sutton only appeared on the Astros’ top-prospect lists because of a single season of (admittedly very good) AA numbers put up in a hitter’s ballpark by a guy who was old for the league. Yeah, I liked Sutton, too, and I would have liked to have seen him get a shot in Houston, but it’s not like he would have been a great prospect in any other team’s system. He looked good for the same reason we all look good in bars – the lights are dim, we’re all drunk, and most of the other people in the establishment aren’t too great looking, either.

by Only_A_Lad on Apr 20, 2009 3:48 PM CDT up reply actions

Rec’d.

I love the commentary from the THT post…

He could make it as a starting second- or third-baseman for the Reds

Hey dimwits! We had a hole at 3B, too! Why do you think we got Kepp?! If Sutton was starter-worthy (or even platoon-worthy), we wouldn’t have made the trade. And had we plugged Sutton in at the hot corner, we would have gotten ridiculed for that, too, likely in the form of another Astros name being added to the Replacement-Level Killers list over at BPro.

This is another case of doing analysis by fitting the trade into a narrative, rather than an objective look at the relative situations of both sides of the trade in terms of payroll, positions of need and performance statistics. Numbers get cherry-picked and mitigating factors ignored (for instance, the AFL where Sutton raked is still minors-level talent; Keppinger’s depressed 2008 stats came in a season where he fractured his kneecap, a very serious injury that was going to take some time to rehab).

I think the most telling point here is that everyone is blasting the Astros for giving up Sutton, but no one is really applauding the REDS for acquiring him. Meanwhile, Kepp fills a hole that in the past would have been filled by Aaron Boone or Mark Loretta, which basically means we got younger at that position than the default.

by AstroAndy on Apr 20, 2009 4:57 PM CDT up reply actions

yeah...that is an extremely optimistic comment on Sutton's potential value to the Reds.

If the Reds like Sutton better than Encarnacion, I would love to have jumped all over that trade. Of course, Sutton doesn’t come anywhere close to Encarnacion’s level. I feel kind of sorry for Sutton in this whole deal. I think he has gone from an organization where his competition was relatively weak— to the Reds, where he will have more difficulty making the major leagues. From what I have read, the Reds have more potential 2d base talent than the Astros. Let’s keep in mind that Keppinger was available because the Reds have good young middle infield talent.

by clack on Apr 20, 2009 5:11 PM CDT up reply actions

Which is why I still don't understand

Why they took Sutton.

The Crawfishboxes
A good friend of mine used to say, "This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains." Think about that for a while.

by Stephen Higdon on Apr 20, 2009 5:27 PM CDT up reply actions

oh yeah,

this pretty much dooms Sutton. With the Astros, there was at least the chance he’d be called up whenever Kaz got injured. The Reds don’t really need him, so he’ll be left in their AAA affiliate for the rest of the season. This puts Sutton on the full-time track for being deemed “AAAA,” getting the occasional September callup, but never being given any real chance to succeed.

by Only_A_Lad on Apr 20, 2009 5:30 PM CDT up reply actions

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