In just the second blockbuster trade of the season, the Angels have acquired ace starter Dan Haren from the Arizona Diamondbacks for Joe Saunders, Patrick Corbin, Rafael Rodriguez, and a player to be named later, per Andrew Baggerly of the Mercury News. The PTBNL is a top prospect, according to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic, via Twitter. The prospect in question is not, however, Mike Trout, says Jeff Passan. However, Arizona seems thrilled with the PTBNL, according to Ken Rosenthal.
Enough with the news part of this. What does it mean for the Astros? It's hard to say until we know who the PTBNL is, but on the surface, this looks like a solid return, if Haren has similar value to Oswalt (or just slightly more).
Joe Saunders has obviously already been a serviceable back of the rotation inningseater for the Angels; he should be solid no. 4-type starter for the Diamondbacks, and he's under team control for a couple more seasons on a reasonable contract. If you want to draw an analogy to the rumored Astros trade with the Phillies, he would be similar to J.A. Happ. Much more reliable, but less team control and upside.
Patrick Corbin is a projectable young lefty in A-Advanced who has a fantastic minor league K/BB ratio and has been performing very well in his first full season. Think of him as being similar to Tanner Bushue, but perhaps better. A grade B type prospect with the upside to potentially become a B+ or A- in the future. He throws in the high 80s/low 90s range with some sink, and while his breaking ball and changeup are raw, they should develop into plus pitches in the future. Most importantly, he's athletic and has a lot of projection in his frame. Make no mistake, this is a very good pitching prospect; he could be a no. 2 down the road.
Rafael Rodriguez is not an important part of this deal; he's a young MLB-ready relief pitcher with average stuff, who profiles as a possible middle relief contributor. A low-end grade C throw-in, in other words.
The deal hinges on the PBTNL. Until we know who that is, it's hard to say what this bodes for the Astros in terms of the quality of return. If it is one of the Angels' top five prospects (besides Mike Trout), then it would be a fine return. If it's more of a grade B-/C+ guy, then it's about what you would expect.
If I were a Diamondbacks fan, I would be fairly satisfied with this trade.
One thing this does is that it gets the only other ace pitcher off the market; that means any teams who were trying to get Haren may now be interested in Oswalt. It could result in a bidding war, which would be the ideal circumstance for the Astros.
What do you think of the return the Diamondbacks got? Would you be happy with it if it were Oswalt traded to the Angels instead?