Deal #1 - Castilla to the Padres for Lawrence

[tomterp]

SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego Padres today acquired third baseman Vinny Castilla from the Washington Nationals in exchange for right-handed pitcher Brian Lawrence. Executive Vice President/General Manager Kevin Towers made the announcement.
A two-time National League All-Star, Castilla, 38, batted .253 (125-for-494) with 12 home runs, 36 doubles and 66 RBI in 142 games with the Nationals in 2005. From July 4, 2004 through April 21, 2005, Castilla successfully fielded a Major League record 272 changes at third base. He finished 2005 ranked second among all NL third baseman with a .970 fielding percentage (11 errors in 362 total chances).

Over parts of 15 Major League seasons with Atlanta (1991-92; 2002-03), Colorado (1993-99; 2004), Tampa Bay (2000-01), Houston (2001) and the Nationals (2005), Castilla has a career batting average of .278 (1821-for-6547) with 315 home runs, 339 doubles and 1,078 RBI in 1,767 games.

A native of Oaxaca, Mexico, Castilla owns two of the top 10 highest single-season RBI totals for a third baseman after driving in 144 in 1998 (second) and 131 in 2004 (eighth). His 144 RBI in 1998 are an NL record by a third baseman, while his 131 RBI in 2004 paced the senior circuit. Additionally, Castilla holds Major League records for most hits, home runs, RBI, runs scored (876) and doubles by a Mexican-born player.

Lawrence, 29, went 7-15 with a 4.83 ERA (105 ER/195.2 IP) in 33 starts for the Padres in 2005. He enjoyed his best month in June when he went 2-1 with a 3.05 ERA (14 ER/41.1 IP), allowing two or fewer runs in four of his six starts.

Over parts of five Major League seasons with the Padres (2001-05), Lawrence has a career record of 49-61 with a 4.10 ERA (426 ER/934.0 IP) in 162 games (146 starts). Originally selected in the 17th round of the June 1998 First-Year Player Draft, Lawrence is one of only eight pitchers in franchise history to toss 200.0 or more innings in three consecutive seasons (2002-04) and ranks among Padres' all-time leaders in wins (11th), innings pitched (ninth), strikeouts (12th with 579) and games started.

[Dave B]

at least the guy seems to eat innings

[The Chief]

at least the guy seems to eat innings

Yeah, seems to be the only positive thing.

Nationals.com - Castilla traded

They seem to think he'll do better at RFK.  We'll see.

[JMW IV]

Not a Major deal, but a Solid one, I think.

gets rid of extra baggage, and partially fills a hole.

he's a back-of-the-rotation Innings-Eater starter, and that's something we could really use.

He'll be 4th or 5th starter.

[tomterp]

Well, every team needs a #5 starter.  With Drese, we have depth at the position!!

Actually, I don't know anything about the guy.  His record is unimpressive, except for the innings.  I look forward to some of the more knowledgable analysts on this board (Scot, Kenzafan, for two) giving us reason to cheer this move.  Like, does the guy pitch a lot of fly balls that go out in SD but will stay in at RFK?  Any reason to think he'll be better with us?

My feeling is, it is a good thing to move Vinnie for a starter.  Is going without depth at 3rd a risk?  Of course.  But is going with 2 starters an option?

One thumb up on this one, JimBo.

[JMW IV]

from what I've found, Lawrence is a ground-ball pitcher.

and we aren't sacrificing depth at third.

what trading vinny does is just about assure Brendan Harris a spot on the 25-man as the backup 3rd-baseman.

and he deserves the shot.

[PC]

I can't see what's in this trade for the Padres.  Why would they want a 38 year old, 3rd baseman who's chronically injured and isn't likely to get much healthier?

[cacaman]

You did well on this deal.

Blaw is a much better pitcher than his record indicates and many of his problems came because Bochy does not know how to manage pitchers. This guy will pitch quick games, keep your team in it and I am sad to see him go.

[Kenz aFan]

At best Brian Lawrence is a 5th starter, but by trading Castilla for Lawrence, who's a much more valuable trade commodity than Castilla is at this stage, Bowden just may have improved his chances for making a deal for a better pitcher, or that elusive leadoff (top of the order) hitter. Lawrence's numbers might improve a tiny bit because of his pitching in games at RFK, but that's no guarantee, since he went from one pitcher's park to another one.

Trading Castilla, in my opinion, was a no brainer. The Nats obviously wanted to go with Zimmerman at 3B next season, and at $3.2 million, Castilla was too expensive to keep as a bench player.

I disagree with JMadisonIV, I think before the Castilla trade, that the signing of Damian Jackson pushed Harris out of the picture, and with both Jamey Carroll and Jackson being quality backups at pretty much every infield spot, I think (again, only my opinion) that Brendan Harris will be part of a trade or sent back to AAA.

[Kenz aFan]

at least the guy seems to eat innings

Yeah, seems to be the only positive thing.



They seem to think he'll do better at RFK.  We'll see.

Gee, Chief, I never expected such a long mlb.com type ugly link from you... Not quite as long a link
Sorry, I just couldn't resist, the devil made me do it... LOL  wink wink nudge nudge...

[natslive]

from what I've found, Lawrence is a ground-ball pitcher.

and we aren't sacrificing depth at third.

what trading vinny does is just about assure Brendan Harris a spot on the 25-man as the backup 3rd-baseman.

and he deserves the shot.

think this is a good trade for the Nats - gets rid of Vinny (since it didn't seem like he was willing to be a backup and with his injuries just wasn't the same player late in the year) and let Zimmerman have his shot with Harris as possibly the backup and get a pitcher who's relatively young and think will be a decent 4th or 5th starter.....best of luck to Vinny as he did provide some memorable moments for us last year....

will be interesting later in the year when we see how this trade actually works out....

[The Chief]

at least the guy seems to eat innings

Yeah, seems to be the only positive thing.



They seem to think he'll do better at RFK.  We'll see.

Gee, Chief, I never expected such a long mlb.com type ugly link from you... Not quite as long a link
Sorry, I just couldn't resist, the devil made me do it... LOL  wink wink nudge nudge...

Yeah I didn't mean to, I just forgot.  I need to find a PHPBB mod so that making short URLs is a little easier, like in Vbulletin.  The default setup doesn't give you any way to do it at all other than a hidden hint about how to type it yourself if you mouse over the URL button.

[Kenz aFan]

Yeah I didn't mean to, I just forgot.  I need to find a PHPBB mod so that making short URLs is a little easier, like in Vbulletin.  The default setup doesn't give you any way to do it at all other than a hidden hint about how to type it yourself if you mouse over the URL button.

You could do like I do, I use "ShortKeys" with a fake link macro, then simply replace the link and the description with my own and viola...

[Nationalzfanatic88]

haha, oops, i never thought ppl actually went to other things than the general discussion!! So, this is were u guyz are all posting?? I miss u guyz, right now school is hell, its so stressful cant wait to graduate!!