MLB Trade: Texeira to the Angels for Kotchman/Marek

[Kevin]

Mark Teixeira to the Angels in exchange for Casey Kotchman and Minor League pitcher Stephen Marek.

****. Stephen Marek isn't even a prospect. What a nice steal for the Angels.

[V3r1f13d]

Ya, but it still sucks to let Kotch go. He was producing for us. Everyone complains about our bats but we have a really good line up. So we added some power, but Angels never played the long ball. I know its a steal, but we didn't need it.

I just dont want to end up bieng some high powered team with all our new additions, and then become the team that people love to hate (Yanks, Red Sox, etc.).

We were doing perfectly fine with Kotchman in the line up, the guy is reliable. Sure he doesnt crush balls out of the park (think he has about 12 so far) but hes a solid contact hitter, close to impossible to strike out. Angels play contact ball, small ball, aggresive, etc. They are making changes when we dont need to. Garland and Hunter was big enough, now Texeria? Comon, this is a little over doing it.

I dont know. Mark isn't an Angel ball player...Kotchman was.

Ha, dont mean to make it sound all sappy but I don't think it was necessary.

[bookiekilla]

From a Braves standpoint, don't think they had much choice here. The market just wasnt there to get a bigger trade for Texeira and the Braves aren't competing this year. so they had to get something in return, and I think getting Kotchman who's not eligible for Free Agency until I think 2011 is pretty good. From what I've heard of him, he's solid on the field and like V3r said, he's almost impossible to strike out....I don't know why, but I was just never sold on Texeira...i just dont think he's going to be worth the 20+ million a year he's going to make this coming off season...I mean, he's was here with the Braves for 1 calendar year, and truly can't remember any memorable moments / big hits in a big moment that he's had...yes he's had good numbers, and i'm sure he'll put up his usual very very good numbers with the Angels, but with the Braves planning to have a payroll of 85-90 mil next year, there's no way in hell he would be worth almost 1/4 of their payroll..i just don't think he's one of best players in the game, and he's going to get paid as such. Yes i know his numbers are very very good, but just didn't see him being that 'it' type of player...you give me a choice of having him in the lineup with the braves or chipper jones in the lineup, give me chipper any day of the week...with tha being said, tex and vlad sure do give the angels a hell of 1-2 punch in the middle of thier lineup, but...still don't think they're in the same league as a 1-2 punch like ortiz and manny....but the rest of the angels lineup and thier pitching, they were the team to beat *before* this trade in the AL and still are the team to beat in the AL..imo, they have the best team in the majors..not sure if this made sense or not, but just my 2 cents...

[V3r1f13d]

Exactly.

What makes a ball club is the chemistry. You need a good mix and all around players. Kotch was an all around ball player. He didn't do anything spectacular, but he did everything great.

Mike said it best in 02 when we played the Yankees in the ALDS, when the league considered us a fluke.

"It's not who's better on paper, it's who plays better ball."

We all know I hope I am dead wrong and this trade ends up bieng the best move of the season. Just a little sketchy about it...

[Biff_Tannen]

I agree that I don't see a huge improvement giving up Kotchman for Tex. He's a switch hitter, but he's much much weaker from the right side and I wouldn't think he'd make much of an impact on team chemistry. If anything he takes something away from a young infield that has played very well together for 3 years. I hope he stays hot in Anaheim for you Verified, because I really didn't see the need to make that trade either. Kotchman put the ball in play for a team that is one of the best about getting runners in scoring position. He has 23 Ks in 373 ABs. That's what you need w/ RISP. He was hitting .300 with RISP, and .350 w/ RISP and 2 out. Tex is hitting under .300 in both of those situations and he has 70 Ks in 381 ABs. Scratching my head as well.