"The Florida Marlins Get your Marlins Tickets now! traded power-hitting first basemen Mike Jacobs to the Kansas City Royals for pitcher Leo Nunez Thursday, according to the team. Jacobs, coming off a career-best 32-homer season, had been deemed expendable due to his poor defense at first and an arbitration-fed salary bump that could put him over $2 million next season. Former University of Miami standout Gaby Sanchez, who spent last season in Double-A, is the frontrunner to replace Jacobs. Nunez, 25, was 4-1, 2.98 in 45 relief appearances with the Royals in 2008. He held right-handed hitters to a .230 average, while opposing batters hit just .249 with two home runs off him overall. He was scored on in just one of his last 13 appearances and had a stretch of 21 consecutive batters retired Sept. 13-26." Source: SunSentinel.com
I used to HATE Leo Nunez... thought the kid looked more like he belonged pitching on a 12-year-old Little League team than in the majors. But he became a big-time bullpen guy, tough to replace him. I love the trade for a young power bat, though. The sub-.250 average can be fixed, and with guys like David DeJesus, Mike Aviles, and Jose Guillen hitting around him, he'll have plenty of opportunities to succeed.
We traded someone expendable for a real need. I see cantu at first and our first round pick from two years ago to make a run at third.
Thats 32 Home Runs gone... traded for some reliever I've never even heard of, seems like a good deal for the Royals.
What the hell were the Royals thinking? They already have Gload, Butler, Teahen, Shealy, and Ka'aihue split between 1st base and DH. Now they have another guy who could play either position, but ideally is restricted to DH because of his horrible defense. I guess the .299 OBP was just too good to pass up? :shrug: I can understand wanting a power bat, but a guy with only 30 homers who strikes out as much and walks as rarely as Jacobs is nothing special. One of those other guys is going to have to be dealt for this deal to even start to make sense. Definitely a win for the Marlins. Those are the kinds of relievers you want to pick up. Bullpen arms are so fickle and replaceable that it's goobered to go out an pay a huge amount of money for somebody. This kid has electric stuff and is a great pickup for the Marlins. This is how the Mets should be rebuilding their bullpen, by dropping dead weight and picking up unknowns who can simply pitch. Instead they'll go out and hand an oversized contract to Fuentes.
