The White Sox added some nice depth to the MLB bullpen today, but it came at a cost.
Tony Pena, a hard-throwing righty from Arizona whose fastball averages over 95 mph, was picked up from the Diamondbacks for AAA first baseman Brandon Allen, one of the organization's best hitting prospects.
It's not that I don't like Pena, but I really liked Allen. I figured he could slide in for Paul Konerko when his contract is up after 2010 or play some DH if Jim Thome leaves after this year. Allen has excellent power and was really starting to come around with the rest of his offensive game in the last couple of years, which is why it's curious that the Sox traded him for nothing more than a middle reliever.
Pena hasn't been spectacular this year, either. Granted, he's been victimized by a pretty high BABIP, but for a guy with such a volatile fastball/slider combo, he doesn't get a ton of strikeouts. That's not saying he's bad, but I'm not sold that he was worth a prospect of Allen's talent.
What's interesting is that this move could mean a bigger role for Aaron Poreda. If Jimmy Gobble is booted from the majors to make room for Pena, it would make Poreda the second lefty in the bullpen and would get him more opportunities to pitch than he's getting now.
Or, it could mean that Gobble stays and Poreda is sent back to the minors to work as a starter, maybe putting the heat on Clayton Richard.
Comments
Very unusual this move. As far as I can gather, this means the Sox have confidence in their depth at 1st (Flowers?Viciedo?Fields?) or/and are planning a trade of Dotel. But still...Pena aint no great shakes. Hoping for another Cooper revamp?
If Flowers moves to first, there's no successor to AJ, so I don't think it'll be him unless his defense is REALLY bad (which I don't think it'll be). Fields probably doesn't have much of a future with the organization, but Viciedo could be that guy if Ramirez and Getz force Beckham to play 3B for the foreseeable future. It'll be interesting to see if he moves there next year
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