It's Official — Hendrickson and Hall for Navarro and Seo
Similar to what was reported this morning by the Tampa Tribune and L.A. Daily News, the Dodgers and Devil Rays have completed a trade that will send Dioner Navarro and Jae Seo to Tampa in exchange for LHP Mark Hendrickson and C Toby Hall. Some cash will be tossed L.A.'s way as well.
In the previous post, I talked about the trade, and the addition of Seo doesn't really change any of my analysis, other than to say I was very disappointed in Seo's performance in L.A. When he was brought in from the Mets — for a valuable reliever in Duaner Sanchez — I thought he'd slide into the back of the rotation and give the Dodgers some solid innings. I'm gonna go ahead and say I got that one wrong.
Click below for the press release on the trade, courtesy of Dodgers PR. If nothing else, the Dodgers are putting together quite a hoops team. More to come as it comes in.
—BK
DODGERS ACQUIRE HENDRICKSON AND HALL FROM TAMPA BAY FOR NAVARRO AND SEO
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers announced today that they have acquired left-handed pitcher Mark Hendrickson and catcher Toby Hall from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, along with cash considerations for right-handed pitcher Jae Seo, minor league catcher Dioner Navarro and a player to be named later, according to Dodger General Manager Ned Colletti.
“Mark will add some depth to our starting rotation as we head into the second half of the season,” said Colletti. “Toby is an experienced catcher who will serve us well both behind the plate and off the bench.”
Hendrickson, who turned 32 on Friday, has been among the top left-handers in the American League this season, posting a 2.20 ERA on the road, the lowest mark in the league. He has also held AL batters to a .241 batting average which ranks eighth in the league. Overall, he has posted a 4-8 record and 3.81 ERA in 13 starts, going six or more innings in 11 of those outings while receiving just 3.1 runs per start by his offense (40 runs/13 starts).
Among AL lefties, Hendrickson ranks eighth in ERA behind Johan Santana (2.75), Scott Kazmir (3.21), Mark Buehrle (3.27), Barry Zito (3.36), Nate Robertson (3.38), Kenny Rogers (3.44) and Jamie Moyer (3.51).
Hendrickson began his professional baseball career in 2000 following a four-year career in the National Basketball Association. The six-foot, nine-inch southpaw was a second-round pick of the Philadelphia 76ers in 1996 and spent four season with Philadelphia (1996-7), Sacramento (1997-8), New Jersey (1998-99) and Cleveland (1999-2000), averaging 3.3 points and 2.8 rebounds in his 114-game career and became the 10th player in Major League history to also appear in the NBA. He will become the tallest player in Dodger history and joins teammate Derek Lowe as two of the 12 players in franchise history to top six-feet, six-inches in height.
The Washington native played baseball and basketball at Washington State University and was drafted six times in baseball from 1992-97. He made his big league debut in 2002 and has won 37 games in the Majors, including team-high totals of 11 victories in 2005 and 10 wins in 2004. This season, most of his success has come on natural grass, where he has a 2.09 ERA in six starts, compared to a 5.40 mark on artificial turf.
Hall, 30, is hitting .231 with eight homers and 23 RBI in 64 games this season. In seven Major League campaigns with the Devil Rays, he has a lifetime average of .262 with 44 homers and 251 RBI, including career-highs of .287 in 2005, 12 homers in 2003 and 60 RBI in 2004. He has thrown out 35 percent of runners attempting to steal off him in his career (145-for-412).
Navarro, 22, batted .280 with two homers and eight RBI for the Dodgers before suffering a contusion to his right wrist and being placed on the 15-day disabled list on May 5. The Tampa resident was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas on June 15 after being reinstated from the DL.
Seo, 29, appeared in 19 games for the Dodgers, including 10 starts, posting a 2-4 record and 5.78 ERA. In 90 career big league games (76 starts), the right-hander has a 24-26 record and 4.13 ERA.
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Good deal. Definitely worth doing. They need someone to go at the bottom of the rotation, and if they didn't need to give up one of their top prospects to get him, then it's worth doing. Hendrickson's numbers are even more impressive considering the division he was in. Good stuff.
Posted by: Aaron | June 27, 2006 at 12:31 PM
Whoa! Whoa!! Whoa!! Stop the f’n bus right f’n now!!!
Seo??!!??
WTF!!
How the heck did we end up dealing Navarro AND Seo for a 4-5-spot pitcher??
I know Seo was inconsistent, but I am sure that under the right tutelage he would end up getting better. We gave up Navarro AND Seo for a mediocre Tomko-type pitcher?
Mark my words….WE WUZ ROBBED!!
Posted by: LoLo | June 27, 2006 at 12:32 PM
Ned, Ned, Ned. Say it ain't Seo (was that better, BK, HAHA!!)
Posted by: LoLo | June 27, 2006 at 12:33 PM
BK,
Any idea as to when this guy can make his first start for us?
So what happens to Bills and Perez? With Seo gone we just lost our long reliever. If Tomko is hurt then Perez will have to start.
Posted by: LoLo | June 27, 2006 at 12:44 PM
Lolo-
With the addition of another starter, Seo was going to be the odd man out on the pitching staff. Since he clearly hasn't shown the ability to pitch well out of the pen, he was going to get squeezed.
And they did get Hall, who will provide a veteran presence and injury/slump insurance with Martin.
It didn't come cheap, but the addition of Seo doesn't bother me.
BK
Posted by: Brian Kamenetzky | June 27, 2006 at 12:45 PM
If this guy comes in and struggles after pitching well with Tampa, then we definitely need to start assessing blame to Honeycutt. He can join the long list of pitchers under Ricky that have pitched well only to struggle under his watch. The NL is a pitcher’s league and Dodger Stadium is a pitcher’s park. There should be no reason for Baez, Carter, and Hendrickson to struggle here, other than bad coaching.
Posted by: LoLo | June 27, 2006 at 12:48 PM
I gotta believe that this guy is an improvement on Seo. I don't care how young Seo is an how much "potential" he has, because if that never turns into results, it doesn't mean anything. Hendrickson has the best road ERA of any lefty in the American league, and an ERA under 4.00. That's nothing to scoff at, especially considering how hard pitching is to come by. Sure his career numbers may not be that great, but he hasn't been around that long.
So the way I see it...an improvement over Seo, which is why they wanted Navarro...and we get Hall in case Alomar or Martin goes down.
How are we getting robbed LoLo? Seo has been flat out terrible, and we don't need Navarro now. Navarro is good, but I don't think his ceiling is as high as most people think.
Posted by: Nathan | June 27, 2006 at 12:50 PM
BK,
But Seo was the long relief guy. Perez will have to take Tomko’s spot until he returns. I don’t think you put Bills in the pen. So we are short a long reliever until Tomko returns.
Oh no!! What’s that sound? That sound can only be the return of…
Tim Hamulack and/or Lance Carter!!!!
Lord save us!!!
BTW, now we have 3 catchers?
Posted by: LoLo | June 27, 2006 at 12:53 PM
Lolo-
Hamulack and Carter haven't been much worse in the pen than Seo. Yeah, that's not comforting, but at this point, you're talking about guys to eat innings in blowouts.
BK
Posted by: Brian Kamenetzky | June 27, 2006 at 12:56 PM
Well, Seo wasn't going to be an easy piece to move anyway, so Colletti was right to move him when he could. The other alternative was to keep him, and waste a roster spot, or try to outright him to the minors and risk losing him for nothing in return. As for Hendrickson, he's tall, and he's a lefty, so that makes him valuable by default. In any case, I doubt he could do any worse than Seo. Of course, moving Perez would have made all of us feel much better about this trade, but I doubt the D-Rays would have been up for doubling their team salary over the course of the next two seasons.
As for Hall, he's not quite chump change as a trade piece. He's got a .260 career BA, with a little above-average (for a catcher) power, and has decent defense. Package him with a prospect like Aybar or Guzman to right team, and bullpen help is only a phonecall away.
Posted by: Makoto Ueno | June 27, 2006 at 01:03 PM
Lolo,
Try this one on for size.
"Seo long, Jae!"
haha
AK
Posted by: Andrew Kamenetzky | June 27, 2006 at 01:03 PM
Nathan,
Just because we don’t need Navarro it doesn’t mean we should give him away. I just don’t like the fact that we are trading Navarro AND Seo for this guy. Heck, I had a problem with trading Navarro for this guy straight up.
No doubt that Hendrickson is having a good year. But look at the guy’s history. When the league hits .292 against you it’s not a good thing. One year does not make a career. And it’ not like the guy has upside; he’s 32. I am not convinced that this was the best deal Colletti could have made.
Seo might have struggled here, but I am starting to believe that Honeycutt has something to do with it. It find it very odd that we have so many established pitchers struggling right now (all year, for that matter).
I don’t have a good feeling about this. I hope for the life of me that I am completely wrong for sake of our team, but like Manny said to Tony Montana, “I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all, man.”
Posted by: LoLo | June 27, 2006 at 01:05 PM
I have to say I don't know much about the guy we traded for (what's his name again haha) but what I do know is the starting rotation, heck the whole pitching staff wasn't getting it done (with some exceptions)...so I'm for change. I'm just not sure that change is worth Navarro though (like Lolo said).
P.S. How much does this trade have to do with Billingsley's struggles in the Twins game? I had the feeling that they weren't going to do anything if he'd been great (consistently like 3-0) maybe just get bullpen pitching instead of starting pitching. I'm probably far off...forgetaboutit! lol
Posted by: Faith | June 27, 2006 at 01:39 PM
For the record, I hope I am wrong on this. Very wrong, in fact.
Posted by: LoLo | June 27, 2006 at 01:59 PM
i dont think navarro was worth it for this guy. navarro is a good catcher who just needs to work on mechanics and he would be great. at least colleti is doing something about this pitching sit., but narvarro? that guy besides prospects was the best chance at getting a 2-3 pitcher(with someone esle)IMO. seo, thats cool with me, but i prefer OP instead. maybe we can send odalis to the yankees! im not to sure bout this trade.....
Posted by: THE WOLF | June 27, 2006 at 02:17 PM
I agree that Honeycutt has to go. Lets trade him to Pittsburgh for Jim Colborn!
And what is Eddie Murray doing? Start working some full counts for a change! I guess its alright if Nomar hacks at the first pitch, since he's getting the job done. But the Dodgers really need to make starting pitchers work harder. (Carlos Silva? Are you kidding me?)
Posted by: steve | June 27, 2006 at 02:21 PM
Faith, I don't know if Billingsley's performance had that much of an influence on the trade. Apparently, things seemed to be afoot in the D-ray's catcher situation a couple of days ago.
Billingsley was certainly overmatched last night, but that could be the result of any number of things. It was his start on turf, it was his first start in an AL park, and he was facing the hottest team in the majors right now.
The Dodgers needed (and still need) pitching help in the rotation and bullpen. I think this is just the first in a series of moves that Colletti has planned to bring us some serious help before the trade deadline.
As for Hendrickson, the Dodgers don't need him to pitch well beyond this season. It would be nice if he turns out to be a diamond in the rough, but he will have served his purpose if the Dodgers advance to the playoffs this year.
Posted by: Makoto Ueno | June 27, 2006 at 02:42 PM
Oh man, I'm so excited that I'm going to get Mark Hendrickson on my fantasy team!!! NOT!!!
Hm, we just gave up 2 decent players for a pitcher and a catcher that we don't need (We already got a good veteran catcher, his name is Sandy!). I just don't really know about this trade. I thought that we can do a little bit better than this. Oh well, nothing we can do now. The trade is final! And who knows, this big lefty may pitch better because he's on a better team now. Well We would probably see him pitch this weekend against the Halos.
Lets cross our fingers that this acquisition goes well!
Posted by: Anthony T. | June 27, 2006 at 02:42 PM
i think this was a decent trade but my problem is why did we have to give up navarro? everything else, fine. navarrro, was that really all ned could do? my whole thinking was that navarro was to be used in a major trade for a 2-3 guy(i think he is still a prospect) and someone else. maybe they know something we dont so i wont pass judgement. im really nervous about this one...
i hope colleti still hasnt stopped looking for pitching help though. im with faith and lolo on this one
Posted by: THE WOLF | June 27, 2006 at 02:44 PM
AK/BK,
Got a hot one here...
A friend of mine jut told me that there is possibly another trade with a third team that is piggybacking off of this one. Any truth to that??
Posted by: LoLo | June 27, 2006 at 02:45 PM
I have to agree with Nathan on this one. I don't really have much of a problem with this trade, especially since the Dodgers got cash back and were able to dump Seo. Seo was out of LA the second he walked the winning run home in the 17 inning Oakland game. Navarro hasn't panned out the way the Dodgers figured he would, his defense has been way shakier than advertised and his hitting was getting worse and worse. He couldn't throw guys out, if you remember the beginning of the season, Jim Tracy's Pirates were running all over us! JIM TRACY! In the end, maybe Navarro will fix his hitting and throwing problems and be a decent catcher (I don't see a superstar here by any means), but if the Dodgers win the NL West and Hendrickson ends the season with 12+ wins and a 3.5 ERA it will probably have been for the better. Remember, pitching comes at a premium these days, so the Dodgers are already a step ahead of the NL west counterparts with this move. With Gagne hopefully coming of the DL soon, bullpen help is on the way!!!! GO DODGERS!
Posted by: Dodger Fan | June 27, 2006 at 02:47 PM
the pitching crisis has to come from the coaches. arent they there to help them be more efficient? some of these guys(baez,carter,seo,hamulak,and even ) were pitching better than they are now when they was on other teams. it seems RH needs to be evaluated. if the new guy tanks, RH is definitely to blame.
Posted by: THE WOLF | June 27, 2006 at 02:51 PM
Wolf,
I'm saying the same thing. I just don't think Colletti made the best trade possible (didn't use the Navarro chip properly). I also thought that Navarro plus a top prospect would yield a SOLID No.3 pitcher.
Posted by: LoLo | June 27, 2006 at 02:59 PM
This is not a bad deal on its face. Martin displaced Navarro as the catcher of the future;Hall can actually throw runners out;Hendrickson will pitch as well as Seo. The mistake is not this trade, but was Duaner Sanchez for Seo. This is just damage control.
Posted by: richard lewis | June 27, 2006 at 03:02 PM
The Lakers need this guy more than the Dodgers do. Another Tampa Bay pitcher thats going to be useless
Posted by: David Chu | June 27, 2006 at 03:25 PM